Class of 2018

Quentin Coppler

Quentin received his Bachelor of Science in Social Psychology from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. During his time at Westminster, Quentin was actively involved in the psychology department, as an officer in the Psych Club and contributing to multiple research projects. He was a research assistant for Dr. Amburgey and worked with the geology department studying awareness, preparedness, and communication of Earthquakes in the Salt Lake Valley. Quentin also worked with Dr. Simonds studying attractiveness, gender, and the perception of criminality. As an undergrad, Quentin also received a grant to work as a consultant helping local businesses in the Salt Lake area create and implement marketing strategies. In his free time, Quentin enjoys running, riding his bike, and playing board games.

Second Year Internship: Net Pop

Jeana Herring

Jeana earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Virginia Tech in 2014. Her undergraduate research focused on community-wide behavioral interventions, transportation safety, and human-computer interaction. After completing her undergraduate degree, Jeana worked as a research laboratory coordinator for the Center for Applied Behavior Systems (CABS) at Virginia Tech under Dr. E. Scott Geller. CABS significantly influenced Jeana's interests in positive psychology and applied behavioral science through its Actively Caring for People (AC4P) Movement which hopes to create a culture of compassion by recognizing and reinforcing prosocial behaviors. Jeana remains an active supporter of the movement and hopes to incorporate these experiences into her I/O education and career. Jeana also spent much time working at a transportation research facility studying naturalistic driving behaviors and their effects on automobile safety. This experience cultivated in Jeana a deep interest in human factors as well. In her free time, Jeana enjoys relaxing with friends, traveling, exploring San Francisco, and playing with her puppy.

Second Year Internship: Logitech

Brenna Huntley

Brenna received her B.A. in Psychology from SDSU, where she participated in David Marx's threat, emotions, and stereotyping (TEST) social psychology laboratory. She assisted with the development and implementation of a study examining factors influencing perception of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, and hopes to someday streamline hiring and management practices in the tech sector to retain potentially marginalized employees. While not busy studying, she volunteered as a first responder for sexual assault victims and tutored SAT students. Though she leads an active lifestyle, she reserves a special place in her heart for cozy nights of home cooked meals and dry comedies.

Second Year Internship: Koff & Associates

Jackie Lenta

Jackie graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY with B.S. degrees in Psychology and Communication and a minor in Criminal Justice. While at RIT, she completed a year long senior research project on rumors in the workplace (under the advisement of Dr. Nicholas DiFonzo) which helped her develop a stronger interest in research as well as the overall topic of I/O Psychology.  The research focused on the cognition, emotion, and communication patterns of the hearers of a negative rumor about a co-worker rather than that of the target of the rumor. Over the summer, Jackie worked as a communications intern at EnCompass LLC, a business management consulting firm that focuses mainly on leadership and organizational effectiveness, learning and capacity strengthening, and technical assistance/ evaluation of various international development institutions. Although Jackie's senior project helped form an interest in counterproductive work behaviors, she is also interested in learning more about how psychological testing is used in the workplace (personality tests, etc.), work-life balance, and stress management. In her spare time, Jackie enjoys biking, traveling/ going on adventures, and cooking/ baking.

Second Year Internship: Life Dojo

Hydie Pavick

Hydie received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis. As an undergrad, she worked in the Luck Lab, studying the effects of attention on memory, and was in a group study designing lobby furniture for the Shrem Art Museum. Hydie then decided to take a gap year before she continued to higher education. In that time she took a job with Lorain & May Design Associates as a Business Systems Manager, interned at VacaHills Psychology Clinic, volunteered with Chi Alpha Ministries, filmed a documentary in Haiti, and discovered a love for salsa dancing and tacos. Currently, Hydie is a Graduate TA for psychological statistics at San Francisco State University. Her favorite hobby is learning new hobbies.

Second Year Internship: Rain Forest QA

Hope Wear

Hope graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Sociology from Chapman University in Orange, California. She developed an interest in I/O Psychology her junior year of undergrad and solidified this fascination by taking an I/O course in her senior year. At Chapman, Hope was an active member of The International Honors Society in Psychology, Psi Chi. Prior to graduation, Hope worked as an entry-level manager with the responsibilities of training and leading new hires, as well as providing feedback to upper management about which seasonal hires should be offered permanent positions. After graduation, she worked full time at a small business in the areas of sales, website management and human resources. She helped the growing business develop policies and procedures; such as health and safety training. Hope is interested in a wide range of I/O topics such as motivation, leadership, communication and job satisfaction. In her free time, Hope enjoys playing video games, drawing, and taking photos of the interesting sites around her.

Second Year Internship: SFSU Academic Insitutional Research

Sarita Upadhyay

Sarita Upadhyay earned a Bachelors of Science in Science of Natural and Environmental Systems from Cornell University. After working in stormwater management at an innovative sustainability think tank in Chicago, she changed her focus to industrial organizational psychology. Sarita has acquired perspective and context around industrial organizational psychology through her research and her work experiences. She worked for a year and a half as a research associate in Dr. Epel’s lab at UC San Francisco, where she contributed to research on the Healthy Beverage Initiative, which looked at how UCSF’s elimination of sugary beverage sales affect employee decision-making and health. Her other research was centered on the ways mood, exercise, and behavior impact cellular aging. She also worked in Dr. Cohen’s lab at Stanford University, looking at the impact of affirmation interventions on teachers and their students in the United States and Chile. Her research interests include organizational culture, learning and development, and employee retention. Sarita has also led study abroad trips for high-school students to Costa Rica, Vietnam, and Spain, and is an avid traveler. She enjoys mentoring high-school students, spending time in the outdoors, and gardening.

Second Year Internship: 3D Group

Ruoying (Lara) Yang

Lara earned her B.A. in Psychology and Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley. During her undergrad years, she worked in Dr. D’Esposito’s cognitive neuroscience lab where she studied brain regions that inhibit functional connectivity using fMRI. She also worked in Dr. Campos’s infant studies lab, where she examined the relationship between onset of locomotion and language development. Lara learnt about I/O Psychology while taking an I/O Psychology class, and discovered that it was perfect for her interests in applications of psychological principles. After graduating in May 2016, she moved across the Bay Bridge and is now studying at SF State, happily exploring life as a graduate student. Her research interests include workplace diversity, selection, and training. During her spare time, Lara enjoys watching animation movies, exploring the city by foot, and singing in the shower!

Second Year Internship: Competition Economics

Lea Lynn Yen

Lea Lynn earned her B.S. in Cognitive Science with a concentration in Psychology from Pomona College in Claremont, CA. During her undergraduate years, she was on the tennis team, earning All-American honors twice, and was the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She was a research assistant in Pomona College’s cultural neuroscience lab under the supervision of Professors Sharon Goto and Richard Lewis, studying the processing cost of switching between work and home settings for Asian-Americans and Caucasians. Her interests in sports and racial minority issues led her to receive a grant to attend the NCAA convention as a student delegate for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which solidified her commitment to help equalize access to sports and sports administration for members of minority groups. In the future, she hopes to remain in the athletics world, working for the NCAA, the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association), or a sports corporation. In her free time, Lea Lynn enjoys going on self-led pizza tours, playing tennis, and going on spontaneous adventures with friends.

Second Year Internship: Zuora