

Calvin Lai (he/him)
Associate Professor
Somers Family Hall 425B
calvinlai@wustl.edu | CV | Google Scholar
[Pronunciation: “KAL-vin LYE“]
Graduate Students

Jennifer Beatty
Graduate Student
Jennifer is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. She has master’s degrees in Psychological and Brain Sciences (Washington University in St. Louis ’22), Applied Positive Psychology (University of Pennsylvania ‘18) and Education (University of Pennsylvania ‘15). Prior to her doctoral program, she worked as a research coordinator at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She was also a K-8 teacher with Teach for America before graduate school. Her primary research interests include interventions for long-term bias regulation, emotion regulation, intergroup relations, and broader theories of behavior change and maintenance. In her spare time, Jenn enjoys culinary adventures both in her kitchen and at new restaurants.

Grace Drake
Graduate Student
Grace is a fourth-year graduate student in the Diversity Science Lab. Before coming to Washington University, she earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Health and Human Values at Davidson College and worked as a lab manager of the Davidson Intergroup Studies Lab. Her research interests broadly include reducing bias and discrimination, confronting prejudice, and perceptions of allyship.

Messi Lee
Graduate Student
Messi is a fourth-year graduate student in the Diversity Science Lab. He is in the Psychological and Brain Sciences track of the Division of Computational and Data Sciences (DCDS) at Washington University in St.Louis. Prior to joining WashU, Messi was an undergraduate at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he earned his BSc in Quantitative Social Analysis. Now, his research focuses on the intersection of social psychology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), where he examines human-like biases reproduced by Large Language Models (LLMs).

Selin Toprakkiran
Graduate Student
selintoprakkiran@wustl.edu | CV | Google Scholar
Selin is a third year graduate student in the Diversity Science Lab. She recently graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Psychology and minors in Statistics and International Relations. Before coming to WashU, she worked as a head research assistant in the Social Stress Lab and completed her honors thesis on the potential effects of COVID-19 on dynamics between international and domestic college students. Her primary research interests include social identity and intergroup processes, particularly in the context of stereotypes and prejudice.
Postdoctoral Research Associates

Katie Lewis
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Katie is a postdoc in the Diversity Science Lab at Washington University in St. Louis. Katie completed her bachelor’s at Ohio State University and her PhD in Social Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Katie’s primary research interests include gender, sexism, stigma, bias, and interpersonal relationships. Her current research examines consequences of threats to masculinity for well-performing women, the role masculinity plays in sexual violence, and incorporating a feminist lens into the psychological study of empathy.

Ashley Tudder
Postdoctoral Research Associate
tudder@wustl.edu | CV | Google Scholar
Ashley is a postdoctoral research associate in the Diversity Science Lab. She completed her master’s degree in Psychological Research at Pennsylvania State University and her doctoral degree in Experimental Health Psychology at Ohio University. Her primary research interests focus on the efficacy and outcomes of interpersonal emotion regulation. In particular, her program of research examines co-rumination as one emotion regulation strategy that has both costs and benefits for mental health and close relationships.
Research Assistants

Carmen Boll
Research Assistant
Carmen is an undergraduate research assistant at WashU majoring in Psychology and Brain Sciences and minoring in both Legal and Urban studies. After graduation, she plans to work in the legal field and combine her interest in law and social justice work. In her free time, Carmen loves to run, bake and spend time with her friends and family!

Taylor Demus
Research Assistant
Taylor is majoring in Psychological and Brain Sciences, with a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. After undergraduate school, she plans to go into civil rights law. She’s interested in not only looking into implicit biases, but the interventions being researched that might reduce said biases. On her free time, she likes to write, read, cook, and travel!

Amelia Johnson
Research Assistant
Amelia, an undergraduate research assistance at Washington University in St. Louis, is pursuing majors in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Communication Design. Combining these two areas of study, she is particularly interested in the role of equitable and effective public health campaigns and policies on marginalized communities.

Dylan Martin
Research Assistant
Dylan Martin is an undergraduate research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Economics. He is interested in combining these two fields and would like to work in the field of behavioral economics after graduation.

Kamila Redd
Research Assistant
Kamila is an undergraduate research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis. She is a third year student majoring in Psychological and Brain Sciences and minoring in Statistics. After completing her undergraduate career, she hopes to attend graduate school for psychology and obtain a Ph.D. in counseling psychology. In her career as a researcher, she hopes to further investigate the university experience for students of color—particularly students who attend predominantly White institutions. She is interested in researching interventions that improve the academic, mental, and social domains of their undergraduate career.

Rosetta Spratt
Research Assistant
Rosetta is an undergraduate research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis. She is pursuing a biology-neuroscience major and a psychology minor. She hopes to attend medical school after her undergraduate studies and continue studying the bias and discrimination that minority communities face regarding access to healthcare.

Marley Wiemers
Research Assistants
Marley Wiemers (she/her) is an undergraduate research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, planning to double major in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Anthropology: Global Health and the Environment. She hopes to attend law school upon completion of her undergraduate studies, where she intends to study civil rights and healthcare, specifically their intersection within the scope of law.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Scholars
- Pierce Ekstrom (Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Nebraska – Lincoln)
- Michael Park (Assistant Professor at Rutgers School of Social Work)
Graduate Students
- Megan Wilson (continuing her PhD in Social/Personality Psychology at Patrick Hill‘s lab at WUSTL, studying when & how adversity leads to activism)
Lab Managers
- Joel Le Forestier (completing a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Toronto)
- Jackie Lisnek (completing a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Virginia)
- Kimia Saadatian (completing a PhD in Social Psychology at Stanford University)
- Izilda Pereira-Jorge (completing a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Connecticut)
Research Assistants
Natalie Valles, Jenny Park, Maddie Hammer, Melissa Li, Elena Murray (2019-2022), Sarah Ayala (2021-2022), Yash Erukulla (2021-2022), Lily Gordon (2021-2022), Alicia Zhang, Andrea Esparza, Ansley Calandra, Becca Clark-Callender, Gina Vellequette, Grace Boney, Grace Campbell, Jacqueline Kumble, Jasmine Jaggers, Jo Christina, Julia Norman, Kelly Wang, Mackenzie Hines-Wilson, Max Klapow, Mira Reed Twiss, Nick Blake, Nicole Chang, Sabrina Genovese, Sean Dunnsue, Shelby Miller, Vivian Hao
Lab Photos













Lab Pets

Harriet Dowling-Lai
Harriet Dowling-Lai‘s favorite food is popcorn. A single pop from the microwave will get her running down from the other side of the house!

Kiki Dowling-Lai
Kiki Dowling-Lai was adopted as a kitten at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s had the privilege of being raised by two cat parents that are home everyday!

Twinkle Drake
Twinkle Drake is thirteen years old but that doesn’t stop him from chasing small animals. He is very talkative and sweet and he enjoys taking cat naps when he is not tormenting other creatures.

Sushi Lee
Sushi Lee was adopted as a kitten back in 2015 and got his name from a Korean word meaning early admissions. He is the youngest of the three cats that Messi resides with back in Korea.

Yoshi Lee
Yoshi Lee was adopted as a kitten back in 2013 and got his name from the green dinosaur in the Mario series. He is the second eldest of the three cats that Messi resides with back in Korea.

Zoey Lewis
Zoey is an 11-year old puppy. She loves going for walks, getting every ounce of attention, and barking during her mom’s Zoom meetings. She is also highly food motivated, but honestly who isn’t?!

Charlie Toprakkiran
Charlie Toprakkiran is a 2-year-old overgrown puppy. When he’s not wreaking havoc around the house, he’s busy using his puppy eyes to be spoiled by everyone around him.

Minnie (Minerva) Tudder
Minnie (Minerva) Tudder is an immortal god cursed to existence in a tiny feline body. She expects to be treated as such. Her hobbies include fluffing her toe floof and demanding sink water.

Mr. Darcy Tudder
Mr. Darcy Tudder operates on no thoughts, only vibes. Expert at nose boops upon request. His hobbies include eating stolen paper towels and playing fetch.