Mills Cognition Lab Members

Director

Dr. Christie Chung is an Associate Professor of  Psychology at Mills College. She received her Honours BSc as a Psychology Specialist from University of Toronto, her MA and PhD in Applied Cognitive Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, and postdoctoral training in Behavioral Neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT). When Dr. Chung is not busy thinking about how memory changes with age, she enjoys baking, traveling around the world, going to the gym, playing music on her piano, and singing (PlayStation karaoke games!).

Research Assistants

Avalon Baldwin, Data Specialist, is currently an undergraduate student at Mills College. With a Biopsychology major, Avalon intends to go to medical school with the intent to play with brains. She is interested in the history and present issues of psychology and how humans relate to each other in the modern world. Outside of school, Avalon has a black belt in Shaolin Kempo and a newborn baby brother. She enjoys listening to music and surfing the interwebs.

Monica Bower, Lab Manager, is an undergraduate student at Mills College. She is majoring in Research in Psychology. She plans to continue her education to obtain her doctoral degree and work with law enforcement to become a forensic psychologist. While not working in the lab, Monica is a member of the Executive Board in the ASMC as Academic Affairs Chair. Monica has an obsession with Oliver Sacks, a love of cheese, and a phobia of jewelry.

Soo [Yeonsoo] Choi, Research Assistant, is currently an undergraduate student at Mills College, Class of 2013. She is majoring in Research Psychology and minoring in Child Development. She is interested in school psychology, especially in the role of play in social and cognitive development and adolescent identity formation in children from multicultural background. Soo loves to cook, create and play board games with her friends during her free time. She hopes to enter a PhD program in clinical or school psychology. Eventually, she wishes to travel around the world working with as many children as she can (because they are amazing!). She strongly believes in the words of Tolstoy, "I have learned that all men live not by care for themselves but by love in a passer by."

Shannon Ryan, Senior Research Assistant, graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2010, taking her degree magna cum laude in Psychology. She developed an interest in working with people before college, and realized that academically, research in psychology fueled that goal. Her background is in educational psychology, with prior research focusing on the predictive validity of standardized fluency tests used in elementary schools across the United States. She is very interested in research in clinical psychology, particularly the development of adolescent girls and self-esteem. Shannon is also a staff member at Mills in the Admission Office. In her free time, she likes quirky British television and eating out at fine restaurants.

Frishta Sharifi, Senior Research Assistant, has graduated from Mills College, in 2008, with a BA in psychology and a minor in women studies. Her goal is to enter a PhD program in clinical-cognitive psychology or neuro-psychology. She is very interested in research in humans' physical health and its relations to cognitive aging. In the field of women studies, Frishta is interested in exploring the conflicts that modern day women (in particular women of the east) experience in terms of reconciliation of their faith/traditions with the necessities of modernity. In her free time, she is busy with personal training and teaching group exercise classes in a gym.

Devon Thrumston, Research Assistant, graduated from Mills College in 2012 with a B.A. in music with a concentration in cello performance. While at Mills, she double-minored in child development and psychology. She is currently working with multiple labs on campus, and her research interests include child language acquisition, the effects of culture on bilingualism, and the development of prosody and early music and rhythmic acquisition.

Abby Yip, Senior Research Assistant, is an international undergraduate student from Hong Kong who has been studying at Mills College since 2010. She has always been fascinated by the field of psychology, and she is often intrigued by how the intricate human brain functions. Abby has a variety of interests, ranging from playing and listening to music to traveling and learning about the cultures of other places. In her free time, Abby also enjoys writing short stories and spending time with her family and friends.