People

Jennifer Wagner, Ph.D.
Lab Director

Dr. Wagner joined the Psychology Department at CUNY College of Staten Island (CSI) in January 2013 and also has appointments in the Psychology Department at the CUNY Graduate Center in the Developmental Psychology training area and the Cognitive and Comparative Psychology training area. Before that, she received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University and then completed a postdoc at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Wagner has been using advanced tools (eye-tracking, psychophysiological measures, optical imaging, EEG) to study early social and cognitive development in typically-developing infants as well as infants at risk for developmental difficulties, such as autism spectrum disorder. Her research examines how early behavioral and brain responses might help to predict later development.

Email:
Office: 4S-209; Phone: (718) 982-4092
CSI Faculty website
Sapir Soker Elimaliah
Graduate Student

Sapir joined the lab in Fall 2017 as a graduate student in the CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. program in Developmental Psychology. Sapir received her B.A. in Psychology from Ben Gurion University in the Negev in 2015, and during her studies she started to gain work experience with toddlers with autism as an interventionist. Before joining the Ph.D. program, Sapir worked with toddlers with autism first as a teacher and then as an ABA therapist in her own clinic in Israel. Sapir's research interests focus on understanding the autonomic nervous system responses that might underlie characteristic behaviors in autism spectrum disorder, including restricted and repetitive behaviors.

Email:
Chloe Brittenham
Graduate Student

Chloe began in 2018 as a graduate student in the CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. program in Cognitive and Comparative Psychology (formerly known as the Cognition Language, and Development program) studying low-level vision in the Applied Vision Institute at Brooklyn College. She joined the Cognitive Development Lab in Summer 2020 to pursue her interests in visual and attentional processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Chloe received her B.A. in Psychology and B.F.A. in Painting from SUNY New Paltz in 2013. She received her M.A. in Psychology from CUNY Hunter College in 2017 where she used visual evoked potentials to study excitation/inhibition in autistic children and children with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome at the Gordon Vision Lab in collaboration with the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment. Chloe also works in applied behavior analysis as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and NYS Licensed Behavior Analyst in the greater NYC area. Chloe’s research interests focus on using objective measures of eye-tracking, including pupillometry, to examine global and local processing in ASD.

Email:
Christian Martinez
Graduate Research Assistant

Christian joined the lab in Fall 2019 as a graduate student in the CUNY Graduate Center Master’s program in Cognitive Neuroscience. He received his B.S. in Biology at University at Albany, SUNY. He is now working on his graduate thesis in the lab studying early neural responses to faces in infants with and without a family history of autism.

Maggie Grinshtein
Graduate Research Assistant

Maggie joined the lab in Fall 2020 as a graduate student in the CUNY Graduate Center Master’s program in Cognitive Neuroscience. She is now working on her graduate thesis in the lab and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology after graduation.

Alexis Rajpersaud
Lab Coordinator

Alexis joined the lab in Summer 2018 and completed her Honor's thesis in Dr. Wagner's lab in 2019. Since completing her degree at CSI, Alexis has stayed on as lab coordinator for the Infant Sibling Project.

Keren Isufi
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Keren joined the lab in Spring 2020 and is currently a senior at CSI double-majoring in Psychology and Elementary Education. Keren is working on a Psychology Honor's thesis in the lab and will begin a Psy.D. program in School-Clinical Child Psychology at Yeshiva University in Fall 2021.

Gagan Dhillon
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Gagan joined the lab in Spring 2021 and is currently a senior majoring in Psychology at CSI. She is interested in pursuing a career in healthcare.

Julia Niashuler
High School Research Assistant

Julia joined the lab in Spring 2020 and is currently a high school senior at Saint Joseph Hill academy. She will begin college in the fall with plans to major in Pre-Medicine.

Cognitive Development Lab Alumni

Jacqueline Baudanza
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2019–2020

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2020 entitled "The Relationship Between Pupillary Light Responses and Social-Communicative Behavior in Infants at High and Low Risk for Developing Autism"; planning to pursue a Master's in Mental Health Counseling.

Sandy Mettry
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2019–2020

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2020 entitled "Correlations Between Autistic Traits, the Pupil Light Reflex, and Sensory Sensitivities in School-Age Children"; planning to pursue a degree in Dentistry.

Nabeela Mustafa
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2019

Currently an Undergraduate at City College of New York majoring in Public Health with plans to pursue medical school.

Aviva Lehrfield
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2016–2018
Lab Coordinator 2018-2019

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2018 entitled "Visual Attention and Pupil Responses to Emotional Faces in Preschool-Aged Children and Relations to Temperament"; currently attending Medical School at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Joseph Gyasi
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2018–2019

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2019 entitled "Skin Conductance Response During Emotion Processing and Relations with Autism Traits"; currently pursuing a graduate degree in Advanced Practice Nursing at Columbia University.

Tuan Cassim
Research Assistant 2018–2019

Currently a research coordinator in Neuroanesthesia at Columbia University Medical Center with plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Jessica Ciurcina
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2017–2018

Pursuing a Master's degree in Occupational Therapy at Seton Hall University.

Sosima Navarrete
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2017–2018
Aruni Ahilan
High School Research Assistant 2016–2018

Currently pursuing an Undergraduate degree in Psychology at Northeastern University.

Mustafa Hashimi
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2016–2018

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2018 entitled "Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System Responses in Relation to Emotional Intelligence in Typically Developing Adults".

Marina Matta
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2016–2017

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2017 entitled "Predicting Early Developmental Difficulties in Younger Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder"; completed Physician Assistant Master's degree at City College.

Cailen Jennings
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2015–2017

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2017 entitled "Cardiac Autonomic Activity as it Relates to Social Behavior and Emotion Processing"; completed Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at CSI in 2020.

Kimberli Pule
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2015–2016
Adriana Lupo
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2015–2016

Currently working for a small non-profit focused on making healthy, nutritious food accessible to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Kafayat Bello
High School Research Assistant 2014–2016
Hana Moustapha
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2014–2015

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2015 entitled "Relations between Early Attention to Faces and Later Communication Abilities in Infants at High-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder"; graduate of Brooklyn College Master’s in Mental Health Counseling (MHC) program in 2017 and currently working as an MHC.

Laura Marque
Lab Coordinator 2014-2015

Graduate of SUNY Downstate Master’s in Occupational Therapy (OT) program in 2018 and currently working as an OT.

Sabrina Bragerton-Nasert
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2014–2016

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2016 entitled "Left Visual Field Biases in Relation to Social Behavior" and currently working as a radiation therapist in New York City.

Alima Toure
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2013–2016

Graduate of CSI Master's in Business Management in 2019.

Roseline Nkama
Undergraduate Research Assistant 2013–2015

Completed Undergraduate Thesis with Dr. Wagner in 2015 entitled "Scanning of Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces in 9- and 12-month-old Infants at Low and High Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder". Currently she is co-owner of Chidi Fashions and assistant director of the J. R. M. Reigners After School Program.

Eve Tam
Lab Coordinator 2013-2014

Graduate of SUNY Downstate Master’s in Occupational Therapy (OT) program in 2016 and currently working as an OT.