Lab Members – STAR Lab

Meet the Lab!

Deena Skolnick Weisberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Villanova University. In addition to directing the STAR Lab, she is a co-founder and senior advisor of the Galapagos Education and Research Alliance (GERA). She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University and received postdoctoral training at Rutgers University and at Temple University. Her research interests include imaginative cognition, scientific reasoning, and the intersection between them. Her work has been published in a variety of scholarly journals, including Science and Cognition, and has received funding from the Templeton Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Learn more about Dr. Weisberg here.

Graduate Students

Rayan Magon was a Pearson Scholar at the University of Toronto, where she majored in Psychology and Philosophy. Her research interests began in high school when developing a storytelling game aimed at reducing implicit gender biases, inspiring her long-standing focus on imagination in human development. Her academic interests include creativity, causal reasoning, Mental Time Travel, risk and resilience, autistic social cognition, and awe and curiosity in learning. Rayan aspires to become a Creativity Researcher in School Psychology, applying cognitive developmental theory to enhance educational practices that foster creativity, resilience, and academic success in all students. In her free time, she enjoys reading philosophy, dancing, making music, and singing.

Jillian Umstead graduated from Northwestern University in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She’s interested in the intersection of close relationships and social identity, and her research focuses on how different types of couples are stereotyped. In her free time, she loves reading, crocheting, and watching movies.

Earl McBride graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. His academic interests center on adolescent development and psychopathology from a clinical perspective. Outside of his studies, Earl enjoys singing both independently and in a cappella ensembles, exploring new foods, and watching Sci-Fi TV shows.