Faculty
J. DAVID CRESWELL, PH.D.
Principal Investigator
William S. Dietrich II Professor in Psychology
Areas of Specialization: Health Psychology, Psychoneuroimmunology, Social Neuroscience, Positive Psychology, Social Cognition, Social Psychology, and Clinical Psychology
Interests: Self-regulation, stress and coping, mind-body relationships, behavioral interventions, meditation, research methods, the science of consciousness, and performance enhancement
David’s research focuses broadly on understanding what makes people resilient under stress. Specifically, he conducts community intervention studies, laboratory studies of stress and coping, and neuroimaging studies to understand how various stress management strategies alter coping and stress resilience. For example, he is currently working on studies that test how mindfulness meditation training impacts the brain, peripheral stress physiological responses, and stress-related disease outcomes in at-risk community samples (click here for a mini-review paper of this work). Much of this recent work on mindfulness meditation training focuses on the important role of learning acceptance and equanimity skills for stress reduction and health. David also explores how the use of simple strategies (self-affirmation, rewarding activities, cognitive reappraisal) can buffer stress and improve problem-solving under pressure.
David has made some recent research forays into other areas, such as developing new experience sampling research on mental health and resilience among college students, describing the role of unconscious processes in learning and decision making, developing new theory and research on behavioral priming, and helping build a new field of health neuroscience.
David’s work has been published in general science, health psychology, social psychology, neuroscience, and medical journals. He was recognized in 2011 as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, and in 2014 received the American Psychological Association Early Career Award, and in 2017 he received the Herbert Weiner Early Career Award from the American Psychosomatic Society for his scientific contributions.
JANINE M. DUTCHER, PH.D.
Faculty
Assistant Research Professor
Areas of Specialization: Social and Health Neuroscience, Social Psychology, Behavioral Interventions, Psycho-oncology
Interests: Janine’s research seeks to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of stress reduction interventions. She uses multiple methods, including functional and structural neuroimaging, psychoneuroimmunology, and ecological momentary assessment to explore how these processes have effects on physical health and well-being. She also conducts translational work that investigates the role these stress reduction interventions play in improving mental and physical health among clinical and at-risk groups, including patients with cancer, young adults at risk of depression, and lonely individuals.
Janine’s work has been published in neuroscience, social psychology, health psychology and psychoneuroimmunology journals. She has received grant funding from the National Cancer Institute (R01) and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (L30 and K01). Janine has received the Young Investigator Colloquium Award and MacLean Scholar Award from the American Psychosomatic Society. Janine completed her PhD at UCLA in Social Psychology in 2016, and her BS in Psychology at Carnegie Mellon in 2010.
Janine is additionally the Co-Director of the CMU-Pitt BRIDGE Center, a state-of-the-art research-dedicated neuroimaging facility.
KIRK WARREN BROWN, PH.D.
Quantitative Psychologist
Special Faculty Researcher
Interests: Kirk Warren Brown is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and is affiliate faculty in Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research centers on the importance of awareness of internal states and behavior to healthy human functioning, with a particular interest in the nature of mindfulness and the value of mindfulness training to enhance emotion regulation, behavior regulation, and well-being.
He has authored numerous scholarly articles on these topics and published the Handbook of Mindfulness: Theory, Research, and Practice (2015) and the Oxford Handbook of Hypo-egoic Phenomena (2016). His work has been featured in a range of national and international media outlets. Dr. Brown is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Social and Personality Psychology, and the American Psychological Association. He also teaches the evidence-based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
Post-Docs & Graduate Students
Asal Yunusova
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California Irvine ‘18
Carnegie Mellon University ‘26 PhD in Social, Personality & Health Psychology
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Research Interests: Broadly I am interested in mind-body interventions and protective biopsychosocial factors that aid in positive health outcomes in populations coping with chronic health conditions. More specifically, I am interested in the mind-gut connection and investigating interventions (i.e., mindfulness meditation) and factors (i.e., emotional validation) that can improve well-being in patients with gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Fun Fact: I love going to immersive art museums, concerts, hammocking, and painting. When I'm back home in California, you can find me watching a sunset at the beach with some In-N-Out. Something that's next on my bucket list is seeing the northern lights!
Staff
Shriya Kale
Project Manager
Emory University, B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Women's Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2022
Teachers College Columbia University, M.A. in Clinical Psychology, 2026
Hometown: Mumbai, India
Research Interests: BMy research interests center on examining the biopsychosocial factors that shape emotion regulation and the mechanisms underlying anxiety, depression, stress, and maladaptive coping strategies such as self-injury. Specifically, I am interested in understanding individual differences in vulnerability and resilience to emotion dysregulation.
Fun Fact: You can always find me taking on a new baking project or fussing over my sourdough starter, Pennie!
Juliette Bonchonsky
Project Manager
Providence College, B.A. in Psychology with minors in Mathematics and Music, 2026
Hometown: Northport, NY
Research Interests: I am interested in intervention research for mood disorders such as Depression, Anxiety, and OCD to improve and create evidence-based and scalable digital mental health interventions. In the past, I have done research using Ecological Momentary Assessment and digital Single-Session Interventions to make mental health care more accessible to those in need.
Fun Fact: I have played the flute for 12 years, and still play in local community bands!
Solana Morningstar
Lab Director
Carnegie Mellon University, B.S. in Neuroscience, 2021
University of Groningen/Ghent University/University of Eastern Finland, M.S. & M.A. in Clinical Linguistics, 2023
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Research Interests: neurodegenerative diseases, aphasias, and biological impacts of stress
Fun Fact: Over the 2 years I was working on my master's degree, I travelled to over 20 countries.
Rory Dutcher
Nickname: Lab Lab
Ruffgers University, Ph.D. in Environmental Studies, June 2020
Research Interests: My one great passion is reducing people's stress through social interaction. I have donated my body via pets and stomach rubs, always for the good of science, countless times. While I focus mainly on relationships and connections, I can also be found researching Pavlovian conditioning, positive reinforcement in the form of blueberries, and the benefits that stem from a good nap in the sun.
Fun Fact: I am regularly dubbed the "most walked dog" in the neighborhood.
Maurice Metoyer
Project Manager
University of California Irvine, B.A. in Psychology, 2021
Hometown: San Bernardino, CA
Research Interests: I am interested in the development of adolescents’ emotional and behavioral difficulties, including emotional dysregulation and callous-unemotional traits, particularly within the context of community violence and environmental adversity. I am interested in understanding how these environments shape youths’ identities, behaviors, cognition, and developmental trajectories, as well as exploring effective digital mental health strategies to promote positive and prosocial behaviors.
Fun Fact: During my undergraduate studies, I took a year off to live in Zhengzhou, China, where I taught English as a second language to children.
Research Assistants
Patrick O'Connell
Hometown: Lyme, CT
Research Interests: Meditation, research methods, ayurveda
Fun Fact: I am a certified yoga teacher and ayurveda health practitioner