A huge congratulations to Katarina, who just graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science degree. She majored in Psychological Sciences and double-minored in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science. She will be attending UConn Health as a Ph.D student in the fall.
We are so proud of you, Kat!
For our last Spring 2026 lab meeting, we celebrated with ice cream and a picnic at UConn’s Dairy Bar! Everyone contributed to making this an amazing year in the ACORN lab!
A big congratulations to Heather for successfully defending her Master’s thesis on May 5th, 2026! Your hard work and dedication paved the way for you to achieve this incredible milestone!
Lab members Natalie, Anna, Heather, Jillian, and Arielle presented at the Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS) end-of-year event last week!
Natalie & Anna presented: “The Mapping Attention, Psychopathology, and Lived Experience (MAPLE) Study: Protocol and Study Design.”
Heather presented: “Characterizing the Relationship Between Transdiagnostic Repetitive Negative Thinking and Attention Impairment.”
Jillian presented: “Instructional prompting and attentional engagement during naturalistic social-emotional video viewing.”
Arielle gave a talk on personalized neuroscience!
Great job, everyone!
Lab members Caitlin, Heather, Natalie, and Arielle attended the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) conference in New York City, where they presented their work!
Caitlin gave a talk: “Smartphone Ownership is Associated With Cognitive Performance and Variance in Brain Structure in Early Adolescence.”
Heather presented a poster: “Characterizing the Relationship Between Transdiagnostic Repetitive Negative Thinking and Attention Impairment.”
Natalie presented a poster: “Developmental Timing and Type of Early Life Stress Are Associated with Attentional Control in Individuals with Transdiagnostic Mood and Anxiety Symptoms.”
Arielle gave a talk: “Cognition varies across the calendar year in multiple large-scale datasets.”
They all did an amazing job representing our lab!
The ACORN Lab goes to Firestone to paint pottery in celebration of the end of the semester!
The Mapping Attention, Psychopathology, and Lived Experience (MAPLE) study launched on February 13th, 2026. A big thanks to Natalie, Heather, Caitlin & Arielle for leading this very first study session!
Natalie, Kat, Heather, and Caitlin presented at UConn’s Spooktacular Poster Night on October 29th, 2025.
Natalie and Kat presented “The Mapping Attention, Psychopathology, Lived Experience (MAPLE) Study: Protocol and Study Design”
Heather presented “The effect of the “exposome” on developmental brain health and cognitive outcomes”
Caitlin presented “Neural Abnormalities in Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Activation Studies”
Great job, everyone!!
ACORN Lab members had a pumpkin painting party on October 28th, 2025. Many beautiful pumpkins now live in our lab!
Lab members Heather Robinson, Arielle Keller, and Amar Ojha traveled to Dublin, Ireland, this past week to attend the Flux conference!
Heather presented the lab’s “The Effect of the “Exposome” on Developmental Brain Health and Cognitive Outcomes.”
Amar presented the poster, “Developmental Trajectories of Prefrontal – Nucleus Accumbens Subcircuits Support Cognitive and Affective Control Across Adolescence.”
Amazing job!