Graduate Students
Office: Psychology Building 2133
Email:
Ashley Marin is a postdoctoral researcher in the Childhood Cognition Lab. She recently earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in Summer 2026. She first joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant and earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Education from UCR in 2021.
Ashley’s research explores how U.S. children develop their social identities, with an emphasis on religious identity. She is particularly interested in how children learn to engage in culturally salient practices, how they categorize themselves and others, how they conceptualize higher deities, and the formation of essentialist beliefs. Her work examines the socialization and cognitive processes that support these developing aspects of children’s identities. She also studies overimitation as a learning mechanism through which children acquire culturally relevant practices and skills.
Jiayue Sun is a third-year graduate student in Developmental Psychology. Her research focuses on how children make sense of the world through conversations with their parents, particularly how culturally specific practices and values shape parenting and child development. She earned a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Office: Psychology Building 2133
Email:
Amberley Stein (she/they) is a second-year doctoral student in Developmental Psychology. She completed her B.S. in Clinical Psychology and post-bacc research at the University of California, San Diego, where she primarily studied children's causal reasoning in question asking. As a graduate student, she is interested in studying how learners' developing beliefs and social contexts influence their epistemic practices and emerging understanding of their own uncertainty (e.g., as seen in question asking).
Office: Psychology Building 2117
Email:
Research Administrator, Developing Belief Network
Email:
Carole Meyer-Rieth is the Research Administrator of the Developing Belief Network. She is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (BA, Psychology) with over twenty years of professional experience in academic administrative support, event planning, graphic design, and project management. As a trustee of a private foundation since 2011, Carole is experienced in grants administration and has an ongoing role in local, national, and global philanthropy as a member of Southern California Grantmakers and the Council on Foundations.
Amy Maatouk
Angelle Mercado
Amber Summers
Angel Tang
Casey Min
Danyelle Do
​Vallery Ayala​
Jessica Fu
Jessica Lo Presti​
Natalie Hwang
Rifah Sanjidah
Sage Saludares Kuck
Sakina Poonawalla
Current Research Assistants
Past Research Assistants
Alison Garcia
Anthony Zafra
Bryan Hernandez
Elena Guerrero Galaz
Jamison Cortez
Gabriela Morales
Jennifer Hoang
Laura Posada
Emily Fox
Frida Rodriguez Becerra
Marlen Gonzalez Duran
Preeti Sivakumar
Roger Morales
Sara Panameño
Taylor Martin del Campo
Rasheed Singh
Karen Lam
Misah Edwards
Jieun Baek
​Marce Kikkawa