People

Amy Gentzler, Ph.D. – Lab Director and Professor of Psychology

Amy received a B.A. from Miami University and then pursued a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (specializing in Social Psychology) at Kent State University, working with Dr. Kathryn Kerns. From 2001-04, Amy completed a NIMH postdoc in Developmental Psychopathology at George Washington University, then worked for 3 years as a Research Psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh focusing on depression in children. At WVU, Amy runs the I.D.E.A. Lab and has taught undergraduate courses in Applied Social Psychology, Emotions & Mood, and Positive Psychology, and graduate courses in Child Development, Developmental Research Methods, Social Psychology, and seminars focused on emotions, emotion regulation, or emotion and cognition.

Graduate Students

Avneet Batra,M.S.

Avneet is a fourth year international graduate student working in the Gentzler lab. I have completed my B.A. and Master’s in Psychology from the University of Delhi, India. I am interested in the area of parenting and adolescent adjustment outcomes. Apart from my scholarly interests, I enjoy poetry, cooking, hiking, and Indian classical music. 

Jeanette Pool, MSW, LICSW

Jeanie is a second-year graduate student from Morgantown, WV. She received a B.S. in Psychology from West Virginia University in 2017 and an MSW from Concord University in 2019. She is certified in several therapeutic modalities and in addition to her research in the I.D.E.A Lab also holds a small list of clients. Jeanie’s research interests include implicit beliefs of emotions, emotion regulation strategies, anxiety, and parental attachment. In her free time, Jeanie enjoys gardening, being outside, and cooking. 

Kimia Izadinia

Kimia Izadinia is a first-year graduate student in the Gentzler Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology at WVU in 2024. Her research interests are focused on how parental attachment, early life stress, and cultural factors impact adolescence. She is particularly interested in understanding what predicts resiliency in this age group. In her free time, Kimia likes to read, cook, and spend time with her family. 

 

Undergraduate Students

 

Brianne Bernstein

Brianne is a 2nd year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology on the pre-medicine track. After graduation, she would like to attend medical school with the hopes of becoming a pediatric psychiatrist in the future. Her research interests are in clinical psychology with a special focus on pediatrics. She is particularly interested in how receiving a child’s diagnosis affects the family’s dynamic/relationship. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, spending time outside, and being with family and friends.

Hannah Allen

Hannah is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Addiction Studies. Her research interests involve how mental health impacts education in children and adolescents. In her free time she enjoys painting, exercising, and socializing. 

 

Arthur Hilton

Arthur is a senior undergraduate student majoring in psychology with a minor in sociology. His areas of interest are in clinical psychology with a more focused interest on children and adolescents. After graduation, Arthur plans to go to graduate school and then work as a child therapist. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his cats, camping/hiking, playing guitar, and cooking. 

 

Imalay Ruiz

Imalay is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and Criminology with a minor in Forensic Science. Her research interests are in clinical psychology and forensic psychology. In her free time she enjoys reading, exploring new restaurants, and spending time with friends.

I.D.E.A. Lab Alumni

Graduate alumni

Jeffrey Hughes, M.S.

At WVU, Jeff studied social media use in relation to well-being in adolescents and young adults. He previously graduated from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania with a B.A in Psychology in 2016 and an M.S in Psychological Science in 2018. 

Matty Johnston, M.S.

Matty earned a M.S. in 2024, with a thesis focused on parent and teen self-control and understanding when and how these may be related. Research interests included adolescent development, with specific focus on parent-child relationships and the development of perceived control. Matty previously received a B.S. in Psychology from West Virginia University in 2021.

 

Anna Park, Ph.D.

Anna (Ph.D., 2023) has been studying the development of courage and emotion regulation, positive and negative risk-taking and its development, and positive youth development, including social and cultural factors affecting well-being. Anna is now doing a postdoc in the Human Development and Social Justice Lab at Fordham University.

 

Tyia Wilson, Ph.D.

Tyia (Ph.D., 2020) completed a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh in the Pediatrics Department, and now is a Research Scientist there. While at Tyia often studied negative and positive emotion socialization in families, and how people’s experience of discrimination may affect this process. Tyia’s current research focuses on racial discrimination in relation to emotion regulation and coping among Black youth and ways to promote resiliency and improve mental health outcomes.  

Katelyn Romm, Ph.D.

Katelyn’s (Ph.D., 2020; volunteered as a secondary lab) dissertation examined the role of adolescents’ reasoning about parenting behaviors on the associations among parental psychological control and adolescents’ health-risk behaviors. Katelyn completed a postdoc at George Washington University, and now is an Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, focusing on sociocontextual influences on young adults’ tobacco and other substance use.

Katy DeLong, Ph.D.

Katy (Ph.D. 2020) is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania. Her research broadly focused on individual differences that contributed to self-regulation development across the lifespan (e.g., childhood adversity, implicit beliefs), and emotional abilities through acting training. More recently, she balances her time between her interests and supporting her students’ project ideas.

Karena Moran, Ph.D.

Karena (Ph.D., 2018) was interested in the regulation and socialization of positive and negative emotions. Her dissertation examined how parents and friends socialize emerging adults’ emotion regulation. Karena is now an Improvement Optimization Advisor at Geisinger Health System.

Meagan Ramsey, Ph.D.

Meagan (Ph.D., 2015) studied parent socialization of gratitude and positive emotion regulation, and the regulation of positive emotions in adulthood. For her dissertation, she created and conducted gratitude interventions in the family context. She had a postdoctoral position at the University of Utah and now works at the University of Michigan as Manager of the Proposal Development Team at the Weil Institute.

Chit Yuen Yi, Ph.D.

Frankie’s (Ph.D., 2015) main interests were in emotion regulation and substance use. Her dissertation examined emotion regulation flexibility of negative and positive emotions in relation to substance use among adolescents. Her thesis focused on mood effects on emotion perception and social interactions. Frankie is an Associate Teaching Professor of Psychology at Florida International University.

Cara Palmer, Ph.D.

Cara Palmer (Ph.D., 2014). Cara’s research broadly focuses on the regulation of emotions, particularly positive affect. Her thesis focused on children’s regulation of emotion and parental socialization of this process in a sports context. In her dissertation, she experimentally manipulated savoring in adults to understand variability in ability to sustain positive affect. Cara completed a postdoc at the University of Houston and is now an Associate Professor of Psychology at Montana State University.

Jennifer Morey, Ph.D.

Jennifer Morey (Ph.D., 2013). Jennifer’s master’s thesis focused on how attachment related to responses to positive events in romantic relationships. Her dissertation examined parents’ perception of and responses toward children’s negative and positive emotions, and how these were predicted by parents’ attachment and meta-emotion philosophy. After WVU, Jennifer was a postdoc at the University of Kentucky and now is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Thomas Nelson Community College.

Amanda Wheat, Ph.D. (volunteered as a secondary lab)

 

Brian Creasy, Ph.D. (volunteered as a secondary lab)

 

Danielle Nadorff, Ph.D. (volunteered as a secondary lab)

Danielle Nadorff (Ph.D., 2011) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Mississippi State University.

Emily Keener, Ph.D. (volunteered as a secondary lab)

Emily Keener (Ph.D., 2010) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Slippery Rock University.

Undergraduate alumni

  • Joseph Angioli
  • Amanda Barboza
  • Brandon Benchoff
  • Kaitlyn Berry
  • Jessica Billups
  • Caleb Brown
  • Derek Burns
  • Isabella Camerlin
  • Sasha Canan
  • Anthony Carilli
  • Alyssa Carpenter
  • Anthony Casella
  • Ashley Cecconi
  • Ashley Clement
  • Chelsea Coder
  • Alyssa Cordani
  • Zach Dengler
  • Ben Duplaga
  • Carinna Ferguson
  • Kristen Fisher
  • Helena Garren
  • Brianna Godfrey
  • Becca Hall
  • Riley Harris
  • Kiana Hayes
  • Rebecca (Catherine) Kincaid
  • Amanda King
  • Ben Kristanto
  • David Lewis
  • Sarah Lempka
  • Olivia Lin
  • Alexis Lohm
  • Alika Lopatka
  • Hannah Lubman
  • Liam McCabe
  • Kelsey McCoy
  • Lora McDonald
  • Molly McGhin
  • Emma Mendoza
  • Ginny Milsap
  • Robert Moles
  • Anna Moody
  • Kayley Morrow
  • Matthew Murry
  • Ashley Noah
  • Jackie Patzer
  • Kelly Pearse
  • Colton Peloquin
  • Madeline Price
  • Angela Pubal
  • Lorena Rose
  • Hattie Rowe
  • Emma Shaffer
  • Arik Sheets
  • Jesse Shorts
  • Vicki Shrensky
  • Brittaney Sikorski
  • Mary Kevan Smith
  • Larry Sobek
  • Skylar Spanburgh
  • Aaron Testoff
  • Taija Thomas
  • Chad Thompson
  • Stefani Thompson
  • Cal Wilson
  • Elizabeth (Shea) Wright