Dr. Stephen Wilson – Associate Professor of Psychology

sjw42@psu.edu // (814) 865-6219

Dr. Wilson received his Ph.D. in clinical and biological/health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Wilson also completed the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition program in cognitive neuroscience, a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Wilson’s research reflects this training and combines theories and methods from psychology and neuroscience. Dr. Wilson studies addiction and other forms of behavior that negatively affect health. Much of his work focuses on cigarette smoking, a form of addictive behavior that is particularly harmful and costly. A goal of Dr. Wilson’s research is to provide new insights into why it is so difficult for people to quit using cigarettes and use that knowledge to advance the treatment of smoking.

Outside of the lab, Dr. Wilson loves spending time with his family.

Dr. Wilson’s CV

Young In Chung, M.A. – Doctoral Student

Young In is currently completing her clinical internship at Yale University School of Medicine. She is broadly interested in understanding why people repeat self-defeating behaviors and how we can help them towards better physical and psychological health. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and Art History from Swarthmore College. Before she came back to the U.S. she received her master’s degree in the Clinical and Counseling Psychology program at Seoul National University, where she used self-reports and experimental tasks to understand psychological and cognitive rigidity (e.g., set-shifting, rigid self-regulation) relevant to disordered eating behaviors. Outside of doing research, she is also a dedicated plant lover, an amateur swing dancer, and a cinephile.

Walter Dyer, M.S. – Graduate Student

Walter is a fifth-year graduate student in the adult clinical psychology doctoral program at Penn State. After graduating from Westmont College with degrees in Biology and Kinesiology, Walter worked as a project assistant at the University of Southern California on a laboratory study examining tobacco dependence and obsessive-compulsive symptom comorbidity. This formative experience paved the way for his current interests in how activity in the brain and body are involved in the onset and maintenance of appetitive risk behaviors, including substance use. Relatedly, he is also interested in identifying ways to address systemic biases in the diagnosis and treatment for substance use problems. Outside of his graduate work, he enjoys walking in the woods, making music, and eating (not cooking!) delicious food.

Tae Hun Cho, M.A. – Graduate Student

Tae Hun is a second-year student in the adult clinical psychology doctoral program at Penn State. He graduated from Yonsei University with a B.A. in English Language/Literature and Psychology. He also received his master’s degree in the clinical psychology program at Yonsei University, where he utilized the fNIRS to observe real-time neural activations of individuals at risk of internet gaming disorder while they played the games they were addicted to. His work also involved analyzing resting-state functional connectivity alterations in emotional laborers and individuals with high social anxiety. Tae Hun is broadly interested in using various methods including neuroimaging and physiological measures to investigate how addiction is experienced in the real world. Outside of doing research, he likes to play the electric guitar and watch movies in his spare time.

Dr. Siyuan (Josie) Huang – Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Arizona

Dr. Furer defended her dissertation (“Sex differences in dorsal striatal volume and interest in quitting smoking”) in May, 2020. Her project used voxel-based morphometry to examine associations between sex differences in brain structure and interest in discontinuing cigarette use among adults who smoked on a daily basis. Dr. Huang completed a predoctoral internship in clinical psychology at the Medical University of South Carolina. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate in Public Health at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Melinda Furer – Assistant Professor of Psychology at Penn State Altoona

Dr. Furer defended her dissertation (“The impact of construal level manipulation on real [non-hypothetical] snack food choice”) in July, 2020. Her project tested whether thinking broadly (i.e., seeing the forest through the trees) helps people make healthier choices regarding what foods they eat. Dr. Furer completed a predoctoral internship in clinical psychology at the Counseling & Psychological Services center at Penn State University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Penn State Altoona.

Dr. Shannon Henry – Licensed Psychologist at the Eugene Center for Anxiety and Stress

Dr. Henry defended her dissertation (“Examining associations between peer context, social anxiety, and alcohol expectancies in undergraduate students”) in June, 2019. Her project used a novel laboratory-based approach to investigate the various ways in which the reduction of social anxiety may serve as an important source of motivation for alcohol use in young adults. Dr. Henry completed a predoctoral internship in clinical psychology at the Counseling Center at Bowling Green State University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stony Brook University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Dr. Henry is currently a licensed clinical psychologist at the Eugene Center for Anxiety and Stress in Eugene, Oregon.

Dr. Ross MacLean – Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine

Dr. Travis Nichols – Clinical Psychologist in the Phoenix VA Health Care System

Dr. Nichols defended his dissertation (“Changes in brain networks involved in reward processing in cigarette smokers”) in May, 2016. His thesis used cutting-edge analytic methods to examine factors that influence functional connectivity (defined as the degree to which the activation of spatially distinct brain regions correlate) among areas of the brain linked to reward and motivation. Dr. Nichols completed a predoctoral internship in clinical psychology at the George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center (Salt Lake City), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the VA North Texas (Dallas) Health Care System. Currently, Dr. Nichols is a clinical psychologist in the Phoenix VA Health Care System.