Ellyn is a second-year clinical psychology doctoral student at Wayne State University under Dr. Chris Trentacosta.

About Ellyn’s Research

I am interested in the mechanisms that promote adaptive neural, cognitive, and emotional development, in order to better understand risk and resilience in historically underserved youth. The neurodevelopment of self-regulation abilities, specifically emotion regulation, is a special interest of mine. I plan to study how prenatal stress and psychopathology shape early neurodevelopmental pathways that are implicated in executive functioning, emotion regulation, and cognitive abilities. I am also interested in how these variables impact long-term emotional and cognitive functions and how protective factors, including positive parent-child interactions, can help mitigate these risk factors. I graduated from the University of Oregon in 2019, where I worked as a research assistant in three developmental psychology labs which focused on research and treatment of social, cognitive, and emotional impairments in young children. Most recently I worked in the Computational Neuroimaging and Connected Technologies Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I conducted a variety of psychological and neurocognitive tests as part of a study that examined brain network correlates of cognitive dysfunction.


More about Ellyn

I was born and raised just North of Chicago. However, I’ve been to many cities and states all across the country, because I love road trips and exploring national parks! I enjoy trying new coffee shops, the beach, and watching movies with friends and family.