People

Dr. Miller

Karissa G. Miller, PhD (she/her/hers)

Director

Dr. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at CSULB who completed her PhD in Biological and Health Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh where she was a trainee in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine. Prior to her PhD training, Dr. Miller completed her BA degree in Cognitive Science at UC Irvine and MA degree in Psychological Research at CSULB. Dr. Miller’s work examines the physiological mechanisms linking psychosocial experiences to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk with a particular emphasis on studying the pathways leading to CVD disparities and interventions that might be used to improve health equity. In her free time, Dr. Miller enjoys practicing yoga and playing with her two tiny dogs.

Hi! My name is Chris Tran and I recently graduated from CSULB with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. I plan to take a gap year to gain more experience in the field and hopefully decide if I want to go to graduate school. I’m still exploring my options and figuring out my research interests, but I really like positive and clinical psychology. I’ve been a research assistant for Dr. Miller’s research lab for over a year now. In the lab, I’ve primarily worked on our Qualtrics surveys and the recruitment process. I’ve also done data entry, cleaning, and analysis on SPSS. I recently finished an internship with Viet-C.A.R.E, a mental health non-profit organization, and will be staying on as a volunteer. I currently work as a behavioral therapist for kids with autism. In my free time, I like to hang out with friends, go to concerts, and binge watch TV shows. I also love to sing, play piano, and boba!

Hello everyone! My name is John Lucero! I just completed my undergraduate studies in Psychology at CSULB and I plan to continue my studies in Clinical Psychology. My research interests are in anxiety and the eating disorders with a focus on sexual minority individuals. I am also broadly interested in sexuality as a whole including but not limited to romantic and consensual non monogamous relationships. In my free time I enjoy listening to music, relaxing with friends, and anything related to fashion!

I have a Bachelor’s in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, and am focusing my research on transgenic effects of trauma. Miller Lab has been one of my most rewarding experiences (aside from raising my old soul, Murphy). I am currently working to enter graduate programming – hopefully I will have some positive updates come 2022!

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-callender-76343920b

Hellos! I am interested in Clinical Psychology, especially anxiety disorders and different treatments available. I am currently the Lab Coordinator for Dr. Miller’s lab. I organize the meetings and shifts that the other RAs attend to work on participant tracking in addition to participating in these shifts myself. I also communicate with new RAs and get them started in the lab. I plan to help with data cleaning as well as learning the statistics side of labs as time goes on. After graduating, I plan to apply for a Clinical PhD program. Wish me luck! Other than that, I love organizing, reading manga/manhwa/manhua, and watching Cdrama/Kdrama.

Hi!  My name is Sophia, and I am currently a 4th year psychology student at CSULB. I am mostly interested in Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology.  After graduating, I plan on furthering my education by pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology.  I am new to research so I’m very excited to be a part of Miller Lab!  Other than my love for psychology, I am very passionate about water color painting, playing video games, and taking care of pets and plants.

Hiya! My name is Grace Schroeder, and I’m currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Psychology here at CSULB. Having joined Dr. Miller’s research lab in January of 2020, I have done a variety of tasks such assisting in the design of our study, engaging in scientific writing, and analyzing data using systems like SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Beyond my love of psychology, I come from an artistic background and have creative roots in performance and fine arts. Outside of research, I am employed as a supplemental instructor for biopsychology here at CSULB and will soon start an internship at Advances in Mental Health & Addictions Treatment Center. Beyond psychology, I love reading plays, exploring nature, hanging out with friends, and getting boba with my little sister! I am looking forward to continuing to grow in my passions and absorb all of the new learning experiences and challenges life throws at me!!

Hello, my name is Janet Tran. I am currently pursuing my undergraduate degree in Psychology and I plan to graduate in Fall 2020. I joined Dr. Miller’s psychophysiology lab in the summer of 2019. As a research assistant I have helped clean data, compiled literature reviews, created a data dictionary and ran analyses on SPSS. I have a published abstract on the relationship between Salivary Alpha Amylase and coping styles which also got accepted into the American Psychosomatic Society. I am interested in pursuing a degree in quantitative/qualitative psychology or Applied Behavior Analysis(ABA). I was a registered behavioral technician for a year which caused me to fall in love with ABA. Outside of lab, I am a Student Assistant (SA) for a general psychology course with 170+ students. I also like to swim, cycle, and play videogames.

Hello, I am Morgan Shakeshaft, and I am interested in behavioral neuroscience and processes related to dietary choices and individual differences in processing taste cues. I received my BA in Psychology at CSU Stanislaus where I studied HRV and its relation to threat detection and am currently finishing my MA in Psychological Research at CSU Long Beach. I will be pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience at Florida State University this fall. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, roller skating, and hanging out with my cat, Luna.

Hi! My name is Isabel and I graduated from the MAPR program in 2021. Currently, I am self-employed and the CEO of a research services company, Is Be Wonders, Inc. Most recently, I designed a sound-based intervention used to induce states of calm and motivation. For my thesis we utilized high frequency binaural beats to improve effectiveness of an attention-related task. Before my Masters work, I earned my B.S. in Human & Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University in 2013 and spent 7 years working on different research projects at: Stanford University, University of Southern California, and University of California, Santa Cruz. Outside of research, I have worked for various start-ups and nonprofits in the housing, education, and health sectors, most specifically handling operations of a Virtual Reality company teaching mindfulness VR in substance use disorder treatment centers. Also, I taught mindfulness and yoga in public schools for 2 years. Outside of work, I love yoga and hiking, and anything that has to do with the beach or ocean! I also love travel and have been to many beautiful places, some of my favorite include: New Zealand, Indonesia, Honduras, Chile, and Brazil. Oh, and I’m obsessed with my cat, Bodhi!

Hi! My name is Raimy and I have one more semester left at CSULB! I have an enormous passion for psychology and mental health and I am planning to pursue my PsyD in Clinical psychology after I graduate. I absolutely adore cats and have two of my own named Onyx and Honeybun, they are my fur-children and I love them very much! In my free time I enjoy listening to EDM, raving, and watching anime. I also love experimenting with makeup and reading journal articles. I hope to one day be a trained DBT specialist and administer therapy and testing to my future clients.

Hi, my name is Aaron, and I am interested in health psychology and I have enjoyed working in Dr. Miller’s lab. I am a career changer who formerly worked in finance. I grew up mostly in Nashville, Tennessee but I now consider Southern California my home. For fun, I enjoy reading, running and board games.

Hello! My name is Luke and I just completed my Bachelors in Psychology at Cal State University Long Beach. I look to pursue a career in Counseling Psychology and Clinical Psychological research with my concentration being stress research. While I am new to Dr. Miller’s lab I have experience working with other CSULB staff conducting stress research. In my free time I enjoy playing guitar, creating pottery, riding my bike, and going surfing!

Hi, everyone! I’m Mia, and I am a senior at CSULB. I’m currently working on my BA in Psychology. I have applied to various master programs in California and am looking to pursue a higher education in this field. I am very interested in research about person perception and emotion. I’d like to investigate more about the cognitive processes used when forming impressions, prejudices, and stereotypes about others, and if we can use these findings to help remove them as well. I’d also like to do research about the development of mental health education and how we can better implement mental health awareness in minority populations. Outside of class, you can usually find me reading or working out. I’m all about healthy stimulations of the mind and body!

Hi guys! I’m Natali, and I am a sophomore at CSULB. Like most of you, I am a Psychology major working on graduating next year. My goal after graduation is to get into the school psychology graduate program at Cal State Long Beach. My long term goal is to be a high school psychologist where I can give students the support that they search for but, I want to make it more accessible for them.

Hello! My name is Donica Matthews. I am a third year, psychology major, minoring in WGSS (Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies). I am a new member of Miller's lab, but I am so excited! I am interested in Clinical Psychology, emphasis on anxiety and affected mental health. In my freetime, I enjoy going to the gym, reading books, and thrifting (shopping second-hand/sustainably)!