Meet Our Research Team!

Graduate Students

Hannah Javidi

4th year doctoral student

Hannah (she/her) entered the Applied Social and Community Psychology Ph.D. program in Fall 2018 after graduating with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Hannah's work in the Teen Health Lab broadly focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating digital interventions to promote adolescent sexual health. Specifically, she aims to improve sexual consent knowledge, attitudes, and skills among youth through these online interventions. Hannah’s favorite part of her job is teaching Psychology of Gender at NC State. She also enjoys traveling (when safe!), thrift shopping, singing too loudly, and spending time with her Siamese cat, Winnie.

Julia Brasileiro
3rd year doctoral student
jcbrasil@ncsu.edu

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Julia Brasileiro is a third year PhD student in the Applied Social and Community Psychology program at North Carolina State University. Julia holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. After a brief stint working for a global health nonprofit managing and evaluating HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs, she decided to pursue a PhD focused on improving adolescent health and wellbeing. Julia is interested in designing, implementing, and evaluating sexual health/HIV prevention interventions for vulnerable populations of youth.

Julia enjoys yoga, sipping hot tea, and adventuring outdoors with her partner, toddler, and two scruffy dogs.

Jeffrey Hurst
2nd year doctoral student
jlhurst@ncsu.edu

Jeff Hurst is a second year graduate student. He did his bachelor's at Brigham Young University majoring in psychology and minoring in statistics and family studies. Broadly he is interested in improving adolescents' sexual health with a particular emphasis on online sexual health such as pornography use and sexting. He is also interested in the role that parents have in their children's sexual development and hopes to develop an intervention that increases parent's efficacy in talking to their children about sexual health.

In his free time, Jeff enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his wife and three cats.

Jordyn McCrimmon
1st year doctoral student
jnmccrim@ncsu.edu

Jordyn entered the program in Fall 2021. She has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Psychological Science from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Broadly, she is interested in improving aspects of adolescent sexual well-being, with a particular interest in the influence of culture on adolescent sexual development. Additionally, she hopes to design sexual health interventions focused on minority youth.

In her spare time, Jordyn enjoys spending time with friends, watching tv, and cooking.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Megan Armstrong, Senior

Megan is a fourth-year student studying Psychology and Applied Nutrition with a minor in Spanish. She hopes to study the ways in which proper nutrition impacts brain development, particularly in under-developed communities. She plans to attend graduate school after serving for a year or two in the field of public health.

In addition, Megan is deeply passionate about the environment and has a great sense of adventure. She loves traveling and backpacking and most activities that involve being outdoors!

Anjali Singh, Senior

Anjali was born in Charlotte, NC and came to NC State to pursue a major in Psychology and a minor is Statistics. After graduation, she hopes to earn her PhD in clinical psychology. Anjali is extremely passionate about mental health and hope to spread more awareness and eventually help those who struggle with their mental health.

In her free time, Anjali enjoys dancing on stage with her team NCSU Nazaare, listening to music, and you can find her working at Valentine Commons.

McKenzie Rowland , Senior

McKenzie is a senior from Burlington, NC and she is currently pursuing a Psychology major along with a minor in business. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school and earn her Psy.D. in clinical psychology. Her current interests include working as a registered behavioral technician and studying ADHD. She is passionate about improving the lives of children with Autism as well as providing parental support to parents in need.

In her free time, McKenzie enjoys volunteering with Express Test NC, reading, traveling, and making TikTok videos.

Lily Mullins , Junior

Lily was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is currently a junior at NCSU and is working towards getting her B.A. in Psychology. Lily is especially passionate about working with those with chronic illnesses and hopes to continue her education in graduate school, for clinical health psychology.

In her free time, Lily enjoys listening to music, baking, and spending time with her family and cats.

Carina Becker, Junior

Carina is a junior from Greenville, NC pursuing a B.S. in Women's and Gender Studies, concentrating in Biological Sciences. After graduation, she plans to take a gap year before beginning medical school, where she hopes to specialize in women's reproductive health. Carina is very passionate about making comprehensive sexual education accessible to adolescents, as well as putting an emphasis on LGBTQ+ sexual education as well.

In her free time, Carina enjoys working within the Feminist Collective of NC State, snuggling her cat Ozzy, cycling, and baking wayyy too many baked goods for her friends (and herself).

Teen Health Lab Alumni

Past Graduate Students

Kristyn Kamke, PhD - kristynk@rainn.org

Kristyn graduated in July 2018 with her PhD from the Applied Social and Community Psychology Program at NC State. Broadly, Kristyn's work aims to understand the etiology of adolescent health outcomes to inform health promotion interventions, particularly among marginalized and health disparity populations. While her primary interest is in adolescent sexual and relationship health, Kristyn has also conducted work focused on understanding racial/ethnic disparities in tobacco use and cessation as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities from 2018-2020. She recently began second postdoctoral fellowship at the Rape Incest and Abuse National Network (RAINN), where she will focus on 1) evaluating the use of a new mobile app designed to aid sexual assault survivors in seeking support and managing their mental health, and 2) understanding concerns of youth sexual assault survivors contacting the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

J. L. Stewart, PhD - j_stewart@ncsu.edu

J graduated in May 2020 with her PhD from the Applied Social and Community Psychology program. J's research broadly focuses on sexuality and sexual health among adolescents and emerging adults. All of her work is guided by a rights-based approach to positive sexuality development. This approach posits that all people are entitled to fully experience, express, and enjoy their sexuality safely and consensually. Specifically, she explores topics such as parent-child sexual communication, sexual fluidity, consensual non-monogamy, HIV/AIDS, and technology-based sexual health interventions. J is currently revising an F32 postdoctoral fellowship application at NIH to continue with her research on adolescent and young adult sexual health.

Abby Nance, PhD

Abby joined the Applied Social and Community Psychology program in 2015. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and taught college composition and journalism courses. As a writing instructor, she developed research interests in the health outcomes of writing interventions, and the connection between diction and resilience.

Reina Evans, PhD

Reina Evans completed her doctoral program in the Applied Social and Community Psychology Program at North Carolina State University in the Spring of 2021. She received her bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Neuroscience from St. Edward’s University, where she began research on the long-term effects of early sex education on the sexual health of emerging adults. Her research broadly examines adolescent sexual health with a focus on implementation and evaluation of sexual health interventions, parent and family influences on adolescent sexuality, and sexual communication.