nam lab
studying the psychology of politics and inequality
doctoral students
Doctoral students are admitted to the lab through the Basic and Applied Social Psychology training area in Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Haniya Rumaney
doctoral student
Haniya's research interests primarily revolve around investigating the antecedents and consequences of religious and other identity-based stigma using social identity and intersectionality frameworks. In one line of research, she examines the racialization of Islam, and the extent to which its construction as a racial versus ethno-religious category affects expressions of Islamophobic prejudice. In a second more theoretical line of work, she investigates how possessing a marginalized social identity may influence endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. In the past, she has conducted stigma and prejudice-focused research by employing survey experiments and natural language processing techniques. Prior to joining her graduate program, Haniya worked at the Sidanius Lab at Harvard University, and was a research assistant and program manager for a project funded by the International Growth Centre, UK. Haniya has a Masters in Applied Psychology from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.
Email: hrumaney@gradcenter.cuny.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haniyarumaney/
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XO6hd8kAAAAJ&hl=en
Michelle Stern
doctoral student
Michelle’s research seeks to explore the mechanisms and emotionality behind political polarization, investigating how this division both reflects and shapes broader societal dynamics through the lens of intergroup relations and social identity. She specifically examines why individuals are drawn to particular political groups, exploring how social identities influence these preferences.
Email: mstern1@gc.cuny.edu
Nick O’Donnell
doctoral student
Nick is interested in the contextual and dispositional factors that influence how we think—or struggle to think—about counterfactual or future worlds. Through his research, Nick hopes to build an understanding of how these forms of thinking guide people’s action or inaction with regard to societal change. Nick is also interested in lay beliefs about human nature, particularly in terms of how those beliefs relate to expectations of, and behavior toward, others.
Email: nicholas.odonnell62@gc.cuny.edu
Amy Wang
doctoral student affiliate
Amy’s research aims to address race and gender inequality in education, with a particular focus on making STEM classrooms and learning environments more welcoming, accessible, and meaningful for historically underrepresented students. Moreover, Amy is interested in investigating how cultural conceptions of STEM disciplines can be shifted and reimagined so as to transform classrooms into sites of political resistance and empowerment for students.
Email: amy.wang28@cuny.edu
Brendan Fee
doctoral student affiliate
Brendan’s research examines the psychological impacts of material inequality on political/economic ideologies, worldviews, and behaviors. He seeks to explore factors that foster/discourage radical political imagination, solidarity, and collective organization. Some of his recent work has examined the psychological effects of neoliberal meritocratic beliefs and the mechanisms of heteronormative ideology.
Email: bfee@gradcenter.cuny.edu
Elijah Castle
doctoral student affiliate
Elijah’s research explores how social power affects group dynamics and individual identity, attitudes, and behaviors. His work focuses on people who organize to resist oppression and build social power, what motivates people to act counter to sociocultural norms, and how these norms can perpetuate harmful behavior and beliefs. He is particularly interested in people who have had substantial and persistent changes in their moral beliefs.
Email: elijah.castle00@cuny.edu
master’s and undergraduate honors students
Master’s and undergraduate honors thesis students are admitted to the lab through the Psychology department at Brooklyn College.
Bismah Dhar, MS Program in Psychological Research, Brooklyn College
Sophie Smith, MS Program in Psychological Research, Brooklyn College
Khadija Fall, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Brooklyn College
Lola Nellis, Macauley Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Brooklyn College (2025-2026)
Abigail Toledo Gallardo, Macauley Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Brooklyn College (2024-2025)
Dakota Pashanova, NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Brooklyn College (2024-2025)
Arfa Zahid, Macauley Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Brooklyn College (2023-2024)
Chloe Dela Santa, Macauley Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Brooklyn College (2023-2024)
Amna Zamir, NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Brooklyn College (2024)
Nicholas Williams, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Stony Brook University (2021-2022)
lab alumni and ongoing collaborators
Nicolette Dakin, Ph.D. (doctoral student affiliate | now City Research Scientist, NYC Department of Mental Health)
Nicole Huffman, Ph.D. (doctoral student affiliate | now postdoc at University of Gothenburg)
Michelle Io-Low, Ph.D. (doctoral student affiliate | now Data and Policy Specialist, Crime and Justice Institute)
Adam Panish, Ph.D. (doctoral student affiliate | now Assistant Professor of Political Science, Louisiana State University)
Hillary Style, Ph.D. (doctoral student affiliate | now Assistant Professor of Political Science, Coastal Carolina University)
Kanisha Bond, Ph.D. (collaborator | Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Binghamton University)
Yana Kuchirko, Ph.D. (collaborator | Associate Professor of Psychology, Brooklyn College + CUNY Graduate Center)
Katherine Sawyer, Ph.D. (collaborator | Associate Professor of Political Science, Stony Brook University)
