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Psychology
Chad Jensen

Meet the Team

Chad Jensen

Email: chad_jensen@byu.edu

Program: Department of Psychology

Research Interests:

  1. To create and evaluate effective behavioral weight control programs for children and adolescents.
  2. To investigate the psychological and social experiences of overweight and obese youth (e.g. peer victimization; quality of life).
  3. To assess the utility of innovative technologies in pediatric obesity prevention and intervention.
  4. To examine peer and parental influences on child and adolescent weight control.

Shelby Seipert

Program: Clinical Psychology PhD
Research Interests:

  1. Multicultural Psychology
  2. Effects of Media on Body Image
  3. Autism Assessments

Aya Sadat

Program: Clinical Psychology PhD
Research Interests:

  1. Family and community-based health interventions to improve child well-being.
  2. Supporting children with chronic illnesses through targeted care strategies.
  3. Promoting healthy weight management in children.

Olivia Hubble

Program: Clinical Psychology PhD
Research Interests:

  1. Effects of the parent-child relationship on children’s health and well-being
  2. How family culture impacts obesity and body image
  3. Exercise interventions for mental health issues

Caroline Simmons

Lab Manager
Major: Psychology
Minor: Sociology
About: I am a senior in my undergraduate degree, and I am currently applying to graduate programs. I am passionate about pediatric psychology and implementing research-based interventions. I am particularly interested in how clinical insights can inform effective support strategies for children and adolescents in educational settings, especially those from disadvantaged and stress inducing backgrounds.

Ema Olenslager

Major: Psychology
About: I really enjoy pediatric psychology and school/educational psychology, especially school psychology relating to improving learning in elementary school students. I'm also very interested in stress management!

Kevin Wu

Major: Public Health: Health Science
Minor: Psychology
About: Kevin Wu is a third-year senior undergraduate and pre-medical student at BYU. Kevin is a Taiwanese native who moved to the United States in 2013. His research interests include the relationship between the metabolic system and mental health, autism in children, and the effect of social gradient on mental health.

Liliana Barragan

Major: Psychology
About: Liliana is passionate about promoting mental health in vulnerable communities.
Research Interests:

  1. Multicultural and multilingual factors that foster/hinder mental health
  2. Language acquisition and memory
  3. Reading development in childhood
  4. Mental health and literacy in vulnerable communities
  5. Social skills, technology and sleep during childhood and adolescence

Tavish King

Major: Psychology
About: My name is Tavish! I am a psychology major at BYU and getting ready to graduate this semester. I thoroughly enjoy hiking up the mountains here in Utah, having date nights with my wife, and watching college football. I joined the lab to better understand the challenges that come with disease management in both pediatric and young adult groups. I also love to hone my skills in data analysis through a range of statistical techniques I've learned while here at BYU.

Abbi Peo

Major: Psychology
Minor: English
About: I am an undergraduate junior at BYU. I am really interested in the psychology of addictive behaviors–my career aspiration is to be a substance abuse counselor. I also love studying social psychology. I additionally enjoy writing, hence the English minor!

Josh White

Major: Psychology
Minor: Family Life
About: My name is Josh White and I am a senior studying psychology. My career goal is to become a LCSW and work in a residential treatment center with teens that struggle with anxiety. My research goals are to conduct studies on the effects of weightlifting on anxiety. My hobbies are hiking, sports, weightlifting and adventures with my wife and dog.

Ellie Agler

Major: Psychology
Minor: Statistics
About: There are two things I absolutely love in life. One is doing new things, and the other is learning about psychology. I am a senior in my program and planning on going to graduate school for clinical psychology after graduation.

Brandon Ysasaga

Major: Psychology
About: I'm from Katy Texas and am now living in Provo with my wife Haven. We have been married for a little over 9 months. I enjoy being out in the mountains and traveling to new places. On my mission I realized that there were so many people looking for spiritual and mental help, they just didn't know where to find it. I am in the psych major as I want to better help fix that problem that I encountered.