People
Meet Our Team
Senior Lab Members
Jamil Zaki
Lab Director
Jamil received his BA from Boston University, his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and postdoctoral training at Harvard University. When he’s not writing about social connection for work, his hobbies include writing about social connection for fun, slow but enthusiastic middle distance running, and trying to find any new recipes the lab kids will actually eat.
Alex Le
Lab Manager
Alex received his undergraduate degree from Stanford with a major in Psychology and a minor in creative writing. As an undergraduate, he worked with the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab to research how emotion regulation affects feelings of meaning in life. He is interested in how psychological research can help people live more fulfilling and meaningful lives. Outside of the lab, Alex can likely be found working on the next great young adult romance novel, living out of his Honda Odyssey, or at a music festival with friends.
Rui Pei
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rui (/ˈreɪ/) received her B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University, and her PhD in Communication from University of Pennsylvania. Rui studies how people take social risks (behaviors such as reaching out and disclosure), as well as how technology and adolescent development shape these choices. She combines large-scale field studies, lab experiments, and neuroimaging to understand and strengthen real-world connection. Outside the lab, Rui can usually be found on a rock face somewhere, conducting field research on trust one belay at a time.
Catherine Garton
Graduate Student
Catherine graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in psychology and environmental science. She studies how people navigate disagreements about personal and political issues, examining the role of expectations, misperceptions about others’ beliefs, and desires to engage in (or avoid) difficult conversations. Outside of research, she climbs, skis, and scuba dives. Lacking any real artistic talent, she also enjoys paint-by-numbers.
Isabella Aslarus
Graduate Student
Izzy graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in Neuroscience and a minor in English, then worked as a lab manager in the FeldmanHall Lab at Brown before joining the SSNL. Broadly, she is interested in how we understand the emotional lives of the people around us, and how this understanding shapes our social connections and wellbeing. She leverages large-scale, real-world social networks and complementary experiments to study the relationships between social cognition, interpersonal emotion regulation, and the affective dynamics of social life. Outside of the lab, Izzy enjoys spending time outdoors, reading, cooking, and doing anything arts and crafts.
Su Doğa Karaca
Research Assistant
Su graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.S. in Data Science and a B.A. in Psychology. Her prior research focused on decoding political bias through linguistic insights of large language models. At the SSNL, Su primarily focuses on analyzing the Stanford Communities Project's complex social networks and behavioral data while implementing data maintenance and governance practices. Outside of the lab, Su enjoys exploring new places—sometimes by intentionally getting lost—and befriending all the dogs, cats, and recently sea lions, along her way.
Junior Lab Members
Alula Alderson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Alula is a sophomore planning to major in Political Science and minor in Communication. She is interested in understanding the psychological underpinnings of political polarization and in developing interventions to increase empathy across divides. As a part-time RA, Alula supports Catherine’s research on how people respond to moral and political disagreements. In her free time, she enjoys reading and writing – whether journalism, fiction, or poetry – getting outdoors, and watching movies.
Uno Yanagi
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Uno is a sophomore planning to major in Human Biology or Psychology with a minor in music. She explores how people connect and express themselves—particularly in times of hardship—how they form identities, and how culture shapes these processes. In her free time, she likes drawing and watercolor painting, listening to live music, and exploring new places.
Ryder Thompson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ryder is a junior studying Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. He is interested in neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities in adolescents, specifically how digital media use can exacerbate social misperceptiosn and lead to internalizing behaviors. In his free time, Ryder enjoys acting, singing, and listening to all of Lizzy McAlpine’s discography.
Zeina Hashem
Masters Student
Zeina is a masters student in Symbolic Systems. She is interested in psychopathology and the neural basis of social and emotional wellbeing. In her free time she likes to read, cook (badly) and enjoy live music.
Junior Junior Lab Members
Alma Zaki
Lab Kid
Alma is a tenacious, creative 3rd grade scholar. Her research interests include crafting a perfect floor routine, writing mystery comic books, and exploring new painting styles. In her spare time, Alma enjoys trips to the mall with friends, time near any body of water with her cousins, and mentoring her junior colleague, Luisa.
Luisa Zaki
Lab Kid
Luisa is the lab's youngest member, but don't let that fool you. Now cruising through second grade, her research interests include cake-making, high fashion (including designing her own clothes), and all things craft-y. During her spare time, Luisa can be found making everyone around her crack up, and doing carpool karaoke to songs from Fleetwood Mac, Chappell Roan, and everyone in between.
Lab Alumni
Molly Arnn ◇ Dean Baltiansky ◇ Liza Benabbas ◇ Tyler Bonnen ◇ Annabel Bouwer ◇ Rachel Calcott ◇ Ryan Carlson ◇ Mina Caraccio ◇ Lauren Chen ◇ Christina Chwyl ◇ Marissa Clark ◇ Skylar Cohen ◇ Eleanor Collier ◇ Dustin Deinhart ◇ Isabel Dibble ◇ Jacqueline Do ◇ Julia Doody ◇ Roma Dziembaj ◇ Jake Elder ◇ Virsaviya Efraim ◇ Wicia Fang ◇ Lizzie Frankel ◇ Stephen Frey ◇ Ian Ferguson ◇ Courtney Gao ◇ Sam Grayson ◇ Leor Hackel ◇ Sahar Hashemian ◇ Ngan Kim Hoang ◇ Emily Huang ◇ Christina Huber ◇ Brent Hughes ◇ Averylia Jacintha ◇ Preeti Kakani ◇ Samantha Kargilis ◇ Naveen Kassamali ◇ Isabella Kahhale ◇ Derek Kincade ◇ Zoe Kleiman ◇ Hanna Kuhn ◇ Layo Laniyan ◇ Matt Leipzig ◇ Yuan Chang Leong ◇ Jocelyn Lin ◇ Yvette Lugo ◇ Marissa Maas ◇ Rucha Makati ◇ Natasha Marley ◇ Emma Master ◇ Alison Mattek ◇ Christopher Middleton ◇ Aaron Mitchell ◇ Sylvia Morelli ◇ Eric Neumann ◇ Laura Ngan ◇ Erik Nook ◇ Daniel Ogunbamowo ◇ Desmond Ong ◇ Omri Raccah ◇ Mahnaz Roshanaei ◇ Natalie Samuels ◇ Luiza Almeida Santos ◇ Mriganka Singh ◇ Michael Smith ◇ Jae-Young Son ◇ Rebeca Soyk ◇ Chipper Stotz ◇ Alex Sweetser ◇ Amanda Szerdi ◇ Diana Tamir ◇ Valerie Taylor ◇ Emma Templeton ◇ Brittany Torrez ◇ Erika Weisz ◇ Craig Williams ◇ Sophie Wood ◇ Emily Yeh ◇ Geshi Yeung ◇ Kylie Ann Yorke