Dr. Sacha Bunge, Associate Professor of Psychology, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of California, Berkeley in 1988. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford’s Children Hospital in 1990 and a postdoctoral training in Forensic Psychology at the Department of Social Services in San Francisco in 1991.Her current research is on attachment relationships and cycles of abusive parenting in Latina and African-American teenage mothers. Her longitudinal studies have been funded by NIMH and the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. She is the Program Director for the COR and Pre-COR programs.

Dr. David Gard, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received his Masters degree in clinical psychology from San Francisco State University in 1996 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005. He has been lecturing at San Francisco State University since 1997 and was hired as an Assistant Professor at SFSU in the fall of 2005. His research interests are broadly in the area of emotion and motivation dysfunction in various disorders including schizophrenia, chronic pain, and depression. He has mentored COR students, as well as give  workshops on how to prepare personal statements. He coordinated our COR Speaker Series in the Spring 2007. Dr. Gard will fill in for Dr. Bunge as Program Director in the Spring 2008 semester.

Dr. David Anderson, Associate Professor of Kinesiology, received his Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Experimental Psychology from Louisiana State University in 1994. His current funded research is on: the learning and transfer of prosthetic control in persons with amputations (NIDRR); the link between self produced locomotor experience and infant psychological development (NSF); and the impact of locomotion training on infant psychological development (NICHD). He has mentored one COR student for two years.

Dr. Alvin Alvarez, Assistant Professor of Counseling, received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1996. His principal research interests are: the experience of racism among Asian Americans; and the impact of academic support service on academic and psychosocial performance service utilization. He has mentored a COR student for the past two years.

Dr. Avi Ben-Zeev, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University in 1997. His currently funded research is on the instability of mathematical problem solving (NSF-ROLE Grant) and on gender differences in mathematical competence (SFSU). He mentored one Pre-COR student and presented a workshop for COR students on preparing personal statements.

Dr. Jeffrey Cookston, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Human Development and Education from the University of Texas in 2000 and completed a NIMH postdoctoral fellowship in Prevention Research at Arizona State University in 2002. His research interests are interparental conflict; social and emotional development in childhood and adolescence; and contextual influences on parenting behavior. He is currently mentoring a COR student, and presented a workshop for COR students on how to prepare personal statements.

Dr. Rafael Diaz, Professor of Sexuality and Ethnic Studies, received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Yale University in 1982 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in AIDS Prevention Studies at University of California, San Francisco in 1994. His currently funded research is on the relationship between drug use and sexual risk in Latino gay men (NIH/NIDA); the protective effects of community involvement in HIV/AIDS sexual risk behavior among Latino gay/bisexual men (NIH/NIMH); and training and support for faculty research on minority mental health (NIH/NIMH.) He currently mentors two COR student and has presented to both COR and Pre-COR students.

Dr. Jessica Fields, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. Her currently funded research is on innovative training in sexuality (Ford Foundation) and on the study of sexuality education and sexual health in marginalized communities (MRISP sub grant.) She currently mentors one COR student, has presented two workshops for COR students one on qualitative methodologies and the other on public speaking.

Dr. Megumi Fuse, Assistant Professor of Biology, received her Ph.D. in Zoology (neurobiology) from the University of Toronto in 1998 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Zoology (physiology) at University of Washington in 2001. Her currently funded research is on the neural regulation of a complex behavior; namely ecdysis, or the shedding of the outer cuticle, in insect (NRI) and neuromodulation of behaviors involved in ecdysis (shedding of the old cuticle) in the moth, Manduca sexta (MBRS-SCORE). She has been a colloquium presenter for both COR and pre-COR students.

Dr. Mark Geisler, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Biopsychology from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1994 and completed two postdoctoral fellowships in Biopsychology and Neurophysiology, one at SUNY, Neurology Clinic in 1995, the other at UCSD Medical Center in 1998. His currently funded research is on using ERP to assess the relationship between neuropsychological and electrophysiological measures of cognition, and quantifying and characterizing human information processing (NARAS, SFSU).

Dr. Linda Juang, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University in 1997 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Developmental Psychology at the University of Jena, Germany in 2000. Her funded research is on the experiences of culture and family among Chinese-American teenagers (NIH/MRISP Subproject). She has mentored four COR students, has taught the workshops in responsible conduct in research, has coached students on oral presentations, and has assisted with the selection of students applying to the COR program.

Dr. John Kim, Professor of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. His current research is in language and cognitive development in infants and toddlers. He has additional research interests in syntax and statistics.

Dr. Julia Lewis, Professor of Psychology, received her Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA in 1979. Her current research is on the long-term impact of divorce.  Her primary research interests are the development of early intervention and prevention programs for children at risk for developing psychopathology. She currently mentors one Pre-COR student.

Dr. David Matsumoto, Professor of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. His current research is on examining the relationship between culture and human emotions. His current research lab, Culture & Emotion Research Laboratory, is one of the largest, most active and most productive training and research facilities at SFSU.

Dr. Ezequiel Morsella, Assistant Professor of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, received

his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Columbia University in 2002, and completed his 

postdoctoral training (2003-2007) at Yale University. His research focuses on the nonconscious

and conscious (e.g., urges) mechanisms in human action production. To understand the nature 

of these mechanisms, he has investigated action production at different levels of analysis and 

in different contexts, including simple actions, subjective urges, speech production, social action,

and language use (communication cognition). His approach is broadly based in terms of dependent 

measures: cognition, affective, social, and neurobiological. He has mentored a COR student for one year.

Dr. M. Dawn Terrell, Professor of Psychology, received her Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology from Yale University in 1989. Her current research is on coping, acculturation and cultural identity in substance abuse. She has mentored two COR students for two years,  and has lead a workshop on conducting research interviews.

Dr. Pauline Velez, Assistant Professor of Psychology, received her Ph.D. in Psychology (with an emphasis in Social and Personality Psychology and Industrial/Organizational Psychology) from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. Her current research focuses on inter-organizational and intra-organizational relationships.  Her active research projects are exploring topics such as cheating in academia, internet surveys as a research modality, risk tolerance and risky behaviors, and coping strategies of Latina and African American women with breast cancer.  She is currently mentoring three COR and pre-COR student and coordinated our COR Speaker Series for Spring 2004.

Dr. Grace Yoo, Assistant Professor of Asian-American Studies, received her Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from UCSF in 1999. Her currently funded research is on risk factors associated with cervical cancer in young Asian women (NCI); quality of life among breast cancer survivors (NCI subproject); social support among Asian elderly immigrants (with Dr. Wong at UCSF, NIA, NINR, NIH); and oral histories of mothers who lived through the Korean War (SFSU, Association of Korean Studies). She has mentored two COR students.