Abby Boytos – REU Mentor
Dept/Major: Psychology
Title: Graduate Assistant-Teaching
Contact Information
Bio: Abby is a graduate student in the social psychology program at ISU. Her research examines the social aspects of autobiographical memory and how the process of describing life experiences to others might change how we view those experiences, and ultimately, how we come to view ourselves.
Andrew Zaman – REU Mentor
Dept/Major: Kinesiology/Psychology
Title: Graduate Assistant-Teaching
Contact Information
Bio: Andrew received BS in Psychology at the University of Utah. Currently, Andrew is a PhD candidate in Kinesiology and Cognitive Psychology at Iowa State. Andrew’s research examines the effects of stress on cognition, motor control, and brain activity in older adults and persons with Parkinson’s disease. Andrew also teaches yoga at the Iowa State University, in addition to specialized classes for persons with Parkinson’s disease and older adults. Andrew plans on staying in academia where he will continue to research the effects of stress, as well as mind/body interventions (i.e. yoga) aimed at reducing stress and improving cognitive function. In his spare time, Andrew likes to travel, hike, and cook.
Neil Barnett – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Human Development and Family Studies
Title: Graduate Assistant
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Bio: Neil received a BS in Psychology at the University of New Orleans. Neil is a MS/Ph.D student in the Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) department at ISU. His research focuses on the autonomic nervous system (also known as the ‘fight or flight’ response) in humans and the way they respond to a variety of stressors such as financial stress and virtual stressors.
Lucia Cherep – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Cognitive Psychology
Title: Graduate Assistant- Teaching/Research
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Bio: Lucia is a graduate student in the Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience department. Lucia earned her Master of Science in Psychology from Iowa State University (ISU), and also holds a certificate in Quantitative Psychology from ISU. During her graduate training, Lucia has co-authored several papers on topics related to basic and applied human spatial cognition, the neural mechanisms that underlie spatial navigation, and improvements in technology usability (e.g., distance underperception in immersive virtual reality). In her free time, she enjoys boxing and Netflix binges.
Lotte Van Dammen – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Human Development and Family Studies
Title: PostDoc Research Associate
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Bio: Lotte studies the link between stress, biomarkers and physical health outcomes. Lotte’s background is in medical psychology and epidemiology, and her previous work focused on cardiometabolic health outcomes in relation to lifestyle behaviors and early life stress. Lotte is interested in learning more about the real-time hormone measurement device VerOFy. Her research goal is to improve stress measurements and study the link between stress and cardiometabolic health. Lotte is from The Netherlands and enjoys Yoga, swimming, music and movies.
Ganesh Krishnan – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Statistics
Title: Graduate Assistant
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Bio: Ganesh is a PhD student in Statistics and Human Computer Interaction and a Research Assistant at the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE). Ganesh’s current research is in the field of forensic statistics. He works on identifying whether two objects come from the same-source by using methods from computer vision, machine learning and statistics. Ganesh has a background in Scientific Computing & Numerical Analysis with Masters from University of Stuttgart, Germany and Swansea University, UK. His research interests lie at the intersection of Probabilistic Graphical Models, Statistical Computing, Machine Learning and Visualizations. In his free time he likes reading, playing musical instruments and watching movies and sports.
Vignesh Suresh – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Mechanical Engineering
Title: Graduate Assistant
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Bio: Vignesh Suresh is a Ph.D. student in the department of Mechanical Engineering. Vignesh completed his Masters from Iowa State University. His research interest is in the area of optical metrology and high speed imaging. His recent research involved developing a calibration framework for structured light system, performing high speed high dynamic range 3D imaging for highly reflective surfaces. In his spare time he likes to listen to music and watch cricket.
Xiao Zhang – Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Title: Graduate Assistant
Contact Information
Bio: Mr. Xiao Zhang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Indus-trial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University. Prior to joining FEAP lab, he was a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University. His research focuses on experiments, data optimization, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping techniques,and he utilizes electrohydrodynamic jet printing to fabricate micro-level electronics on flexible substrates. In his spare time, he likes playing basketball, hiking, and swimming.
Yi Zheng– Research Mentor
Dept/Major: Mechanical Engineering; VRAC
Title: Graduate Assistant
Contact Information
Bio: Yi Zheng is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interest are high speed 3D imaging, image processing, and optical metrology applications. He has worked on projects like high dynamic range imaging for structured light system. His recent project focused on improving the quality inspection in additive manufacturing industry. In his spare time, he likes to watch movie and play basketball.