Meet the BEELab
Our research trainees at the BEE Lab come from a variety of academic backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Lab Director
Dr. Margaret (Meg) Moulson
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Margaret (Meg) Moulson
Graduate Students
Tatjana Kay
- CV
- ResearchGate
Completed:
MSc Global Health, McMaster University
Hon. BSc Psychology & Sociology, University of Toronto
Tatjana is an MA student in the Clinical Psychology stream working under Dr. Moulson’s supervision. Broadly, her research interests include emotion development in vulnerable populations and the impact maternal post-partum mood disorders have on a child’s emotion development and facial perception processes.
She is also currently involved in Pediatric Psychiatry research at Sick Kids Hospital, and in Psychosocial Oncology research at Sunnybrook Hospital. Tatjana is excited to bring her previous research experience at Toronto hospitals and her education in Global Health to understand how early experiences affect the developing mind!
Krischanda Bemister
Completed:
BA (Honours) Psychology (minor in Sociology), Ryerson University
Degrees in Progress:
MA Psychology (Psychological Science), Toronto Metropolitan University
Krischanda (Krissy) Bemister is a second-year MA student in the Psychology program. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate career, Krissy has investigated ways to enhance educational outcomes for children with learning difficulties, led community-engaged projects to promote equity in learning and care for children in marginalized communities, and studied how group membership plays a role in social judgments. As a self-identified person of colour, Krissy has experienced the effects of race-based discrimination in both her personal and professional life and thus has a particular interest in both the developmental roots of racial bias and the mechanisms that affect learning from social others. Krissy’s MA thesis combines her passion for working with children and her interest in these domains; she is examining how race and choice accuracy impacts learning in preschool aged children.
Outside of academia, Krissy advocates for causes close to her heart, such as animal rights, mental health awareness and racial justice. She is a member of the Indigenous Youth-Centred Justice Project and the Graduate Student Anti-Racism Initiative at TMU. In 2022, Krissy was awarded a Mitacs Accelerate research grant; using a participatory qualitative methodology, Krissy investigated the impact of compassion fatigue on Metropolitan Toronto Zoo staff that care for sick, injured, or dying animals. Krissy is a Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (SSHRC) recipient (2020-2021) and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship recipient (2021-2022). Krissy is also a Vanier Scholar (2022-2025).
In her free time, Krissy enjoys yoga, reading science fiction and spending time with her bunnies – Olivia and Alfie!
Menahal Latif
Completed:
MA Psychology (Psychological Science), Ryerson University
BSc (Honours) Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Toronto
In progress: Ph.D. Psychology (Psychological Science), Ryerson University
Menahal is a first year Ph.D. student at Ryerson University working under the supervision of Dr. Moulson. Her research interests include studying face perception and emotion regulation in adults, children, and infants. Her MA thesis examined the importance of internal and external features for the recognition of faces that vary in race and familiarity, in adults. In 2021, Menahal completed a research practicum under the supervision of Dr. Rebecca Neel, in the Stigma and Motivation lab at the University of Toronto, conducting research on the phenomenon of prejudice and social invisibility as it relates to stigmatized groups. Recently, Menahal has also been awarded the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship for the years 2022-2026.
Menahal is an animal lover with two furry friends of her own. In her free time, she enjoys designing and sewing clothes.
Shira Segal
Completed:
MA Clinical Psychology, Ryerson University 2018
BSc(H) Psychology, Queen’s University 2016
In progress: PhD Clinical Psychology, Ryerson University
Shira is a Clinical Psychology PhD student. Broadly, she is interested in the development of social and emotional competence, and how the mechanisms supporting these processes change across infancy and early childhood. Her Master’s thesis examined the development of emotion recognition in 7-month-old infants using eye tracking to better understand what affective information guides infants’ visual exploration of emotional expressions. Her dissertation research is focussed on the socialization of emotion regulation with an emphasis on understanding how caregiver-infant interactions contribute to the development of emotion regulation in the first two years of life. Shira has also been involved in a number of other projects in the lab, including the examination of emotion recognition by own- and other-race faces in adults and children, and examining how infant temperament influences infants’ completion of lab tasks.
When she is not testing babies, Shira loves spending her time reading, listening to music, playing guitar, and doing crossword puzzles.
Shira will begin her predoctoral residency in child clinical psychology at BC Children’s Hospital in September 2022.
Shruti Vyas
Completed:
MA, Psychology, Ryerson University 2020
BA, Psychology, Ryerson University 2017
In progress: PhD Psychological Science, Ryerson University
Shruti is a PhD student in the Psychological Science stream of study. Shruti’s research involves using video-based eye tracking and other neurophysiological methods such as electrodermal activity, electromyography, and electroencephalography, to study emotion perception and emotion learning in infants and children. Her Master’s thesis titled “Infants’ ability to recognize and respond to negative emotional expressions”, examined how infants between 7 and 10 months of age integrate emotional facial and vocal expressions, and how infants implicitly respond to others’ emotional facial expressions. Shruti has been involved in other projects in the lab that involve eye tracking, including a study of how natural variability in faces can influence infants’ face learning.
Outside of the lab, Shruti spends her time testing out different kinds of coffee, running long distances, making oil paintings, going on long walks, and writing poetry.
Research Assistants
Yasmine Noureddine
In progress: Bachelor of Arts, Psychology – Ryerson University
Minor in Philosophy and Biology
Yasmine is a research assistant who has assisted in multiple lab studies, including the Bimodal Emotion study, the ERA Emotion study, as well as other infant eye-tracking and adult face perception studies. She is also responsible for managing various aspects of the lab, such as leading lab meetings and devising and implementing solutions to lab tasks. Yasmine completed her thesis on resilience, coping, and emotional distress in mild traumatic brain injury in 2021. As of summer 2021, Yasmine is a summer research student involved in the SSuRe program at SickKids Hospital. Yasmine is interested in child development and abnormal psychology, and in the future hopes to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology.
When not busy in the lab or school, Yasmine enjoys baking (especially creme brulee!), watching anime and horror films, and teaching her cats new tricks!
Emily McLaughlin
Completed
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology,
Minor in Sociology, Ryerson University
Emily is a research assistant who has assisted in multiple lab studies, including the Bimodal Emotion project and the ERA project. Previously, Emily was the 2020-2021 undergraduate thesis student. Her project investigates how natural variability in appearance during learning influences face recognition in adults. Emily is currently the NSERC USRA recipient for 2021, where she is extending her thesis project and assisting in other lab studies. She is interested in pursuing graduate studies in Clinical Psychology.
Ivy Chau
In Progress
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology – Ryerson University
Minor in Child Youth Care
Ivy is a research assistant who has assisted in the ERA Emotion study and has been involved in a study on the Other-race effect in learning for young children as well as other infant eye-tracking studies. As of the 2022-2023 year, she will be starting her graduate studies at York University in Developmental Psychology with her main research interests in long-term memory formation and attention in infants. During her spare time, Ivy likes to watch cute cats, bake arduous desserts, read manga, and go dancing!
Alumni
Postdoctoral Researcher
Xiaomei Zhou
Alumni Lab Managers
- Anastasia Mekhael
- Alysha Bernstein
- Keisha Gobin
- Madeleine (Quinn) Morris
- Anthony Atell
- Abdel Elshiekh
Alumni Graduate Students
- Alexandra Marquis, PhD
- Kristina Safar, PhD
- Nicole Sugden, PhD
- Belle Nicole Reyes, MA
Alumni Undergraduate Students
- Elena Kastoras
- Tehreem Khan
- Sumayya Saleem
- Nancy Shekarak Ghashghaei
- Karen Carolo
- Monica Ganhadeiro
- Anthony Miller
- Shannon Riley
- Charlee Rutten
- Adrienne Mehak
- Jessica Lima
- Sarah Baker
- Anya Kondrousseva
- Ashley Maresch
- Tasneem Patel
- Ada Kwan
- Lilah Vassilenko
- Shehzeen Fatima
- Heala Maudoodi
- Naomi Angert
- Zaynab Rana
- Jasmeen Bassi
- Nicole Soriano
- Jennifer Gould
- Amy Mackenzie
- Montana Vascotto
- Sagana Vijayarajah
- Dania Abu-Sharkh
- Adina Max
- Layla Bayyoud
- Maria Blanquera
- Kristen Jorge
- Alexandra Stiller-Moldovan
- Suellen Festa
- Emily Parolin
- Rachel McPhail
- Stephanie Wong
- Hanan Fattah
- Sophia Martin-Schmitz
- Isabel Arruda
- Aalim Makani
- Leah Sack
- Ledja Peci
- Kapilasshan Divakaran