People
Lab Director
Alex Cohen, Ph.D.
Current Position: Professor, Dept of Psychology, Louisiana State University
Post-Doc: University of Maryland
Grad Education: Kent State University
Undergrad Education: Portland State University
Alex Cohen is a licensed clinical psychologist who focuses on understanding and improving the lives of individuals with serious mental illnesses. His work focuses on adapting biobehavioral technologies, notably automated computerized analysis of natural behavior, for assessing a wide range of clinical issues, including suicidality, depression, psychosis, mania and anxiety. His work has been featured in top psychology and psychiatry scientific journals, and he has received funding at the state, federal and international levels.
For his efforts, he was recently awarded the 2016 LSU Rainmaker award for mid-career scholar. He is currently adjunct at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health Sciences, and he maintains a team of doctoral students and undergraduate research assistants. His clinical team provides clinical services at a variety of outpatient and inpatient clinics in the greater Baton Rouge area.
Fun Fact: Alex is possibly the unluckiest, and most stubborn, of all fisherpeople in south Louisiana.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Zachary Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Status: Postdoctoral Fellow
Grad Education: Louisiana State University
Undergrad Education: Clarkson University
Research Interests:
- Investigatingthe mechanisms that drive adaptation, evolutionary innovation, and phenotypic diversity using bioinformatic approaches (comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and population genomics)
- Evolutionary history and genomics of green blood in tropical lizards
Fun Fact: Zachary is a herpetologist, science communicator, and chef
Graduate Students on Predoctoral Internship
Thanh Le, MA
Status: 6th year doctoral student, Louisiana State University
Predoctoral Internship: UCLA, Dept of Psychiatry
Undergrad Education: University of San Diego
Research Interests:
- Utilizing a multimodal approach (i.e., behavioral, digital, and objective measures) to investigate the cognitive and affective mechanisms underlying communication and social functioning deficits in individuals with schizophrenia.
Fun Fact: Thanh knows the lyrics to every Backstreet Boys song every written.
Graduate Students at LSU
Tovah Cowan, MA
Status: 4th year doctoral student, Louisiana State University
Predoctoral Internship: TBD
Undergrad Education: Concordia University
Research Interests:
- Psychosocial, social cognitive, and affective aspects of psychosis, and how those are connected to lived experience
- Novel assessment methods, especially those which allow integration of information from several modalities
Fun Fact: Tovah is a polygot and world traveler.
Michael Masucci, MA
Status: 2nd year doctoral student, Louisiana State University
Predoctoral Internship: TBD
Masters Education: New York University
Undergrad Education: The George Washington University
Research Interests:
- Identity disturbance in psychosis
- Idiographic measurement of psychotic symptoms using novel methods and analyses
Fun Fact: Expertise extends into obscure music and art (i.e., stuff you probably never heard of).
Ole Edvard Granrud, BS
Status: Incoming doctoral student, Louisiana State University
Predoctoral Internship: TBD
Undergrad Education: Louisiana Centenary College
Research Interests:
- TBD
Fun Fact: By the time Edvard completes the doctoral program, he will have lived nine years in Norway, New Zealand, and Louisana respectively.
ASAP Lab Alumni
Elana Schwartz, Ph.D.
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoc: UCSD, Dept. of Psychiatry
Predoctoral Internship: Maryland VA Healthcare System
Jessica McGovern, Ph.D.
Current Position: Assistant Project Scientist, UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Postdoc: Greater Los Angeles VA
Predoctoral Internship: West Haven Veteran's Administration
Kyle Mitchell, Ph.D.
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoc: San Diego VA
Predoctoral Internship: Central Texas VA Healthcare System
Rebecca MacAulay, Ph.D.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Maine
Predoctoral Internship: Medical University of South Carolina
Tracey Auster, Ph.D.
Current Position: Staff Psychologist, South Texas VA HSC
Postdoc: BIDMC/Harvard
Predoctoral Internship: South Texas VA Healthcare System
Kyle Minor, Ph.D.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Indiana Univ-Purdue Univ Indianapolis, Dept of Psychology
Postdoc: BIDMC/Harvard
Predoctoral Internship: Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Dept of Psychiatry
Sean Morrison, Ph.D.
Current Position: Staff Psychologist, Central Texas Veteran's Healthcare System
Predoctoral Internship: Central Texas Veteran's Healthcare System
Gina Najolia, Ph.D., JD
Current Position: Forensic Psychologist, Western Washington State Hospital
Predoctoral Internship: Western State Hospital
Laura Brown, Ph.D.
Current Position: Staff Psychologist, East Louisiana Mental Health System
Predoctoral Internship: Northeast Florida State Hospital