People

Danny Rahal is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department and an affiliate of the interdisciplinary Global and Community Health Program. Dr. Rahal completed his undergraduate training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in psychology and biochemistry under the mentorship of Drs. Beth Kurtz-Costes and Vanessa Volpe (currently at NC State University). He received additional training from Dr. Stephen Porges’ lab, primarily under Dr. Greg Lewis. Dr. Rahal then completed his doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles under the mentorship of Drs. Andrew Fuligni and Theodore Robles with support from a NIDA NRSA F31, and then completed his postdoctoral training at The Pennsylvania State University as part of the Prevention and Methodology Training Program. His research is broadly focused on understanding the daily experiences of racially and socioeconomically diverse youth throughout development. He employs psychobiological measures to examine how marginalization, with respect to being treated as and feeling of lower status, can negatively impact on health, with a focus on alterations in stress processes as one pathway. CV

Christine is a PhD student in the developmental psychology program at UCSC. She graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Psychology. Before being a graduate student, she worked as a lab manager at UC Davis, looking at how biological and environmental factors predict social disconnection in youth and the impacts on well-being. She is currently interested in how adolescents’ social relationships help buffer against stressors and adversity from a biopsychosocial perspective, especially among those with marginalized identities. Outside the lab, she likes to crochet, embroider, and spend time with her family (and cat)! CV

Narissa is a second-year student studying Psychology and Legal Studies. Her primary research interests are within the field of psychology and law. She wants to explore not just why people commit crime, but how they are affected by the penal system, such as the psychological effects of solitary confinement. Although there are many directions within the subfield she finds interesting, she particularly wants to work with female prisoner populations, a demographic she finds to be underrepresented in the field and societal conversation. She wants to help in the crucial fight for the expansion of psychological data’s presence in the legal system with her future work and plans to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation. Outside of school, Narissa loves reading, thrifting, listening to music, and going on adventures, both in nature and around downtown Santa Cruz.

Sydney is a third year double major in intensive psychology and feminist studies. Her research interests surround studying stress, trauma, discrimination, and poverty within childhood and how that possess a greater risk for psychopathology amongst youth. After undergraduate she hopes to obtain a PhD in clinical psychology and publish research on childhood adversity and practice part time as a clinical psychologist focusing primarily on adolescents. In her free time outside of the lab, she enjoys going to the gym, hiking, trying out new cafes in the area, and learning new cooking recipes. 

Check out her LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/violet-kwan/

Check out her LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelyn-ma-sf/

Check out her LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahara-cuevas-kovanis-b37b10310/

Check out his LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armaan-singh-38abb41a2/