Graduate Research Assistant

Cecilia is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at UIC. She received her BA in Sociology and minor in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed the post-baccalaureate program in Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. Cecilia’s research interests fall within the domains of substance use, harm reduction, and behavioral economics. In her research work, Cecilia has used behavioral economics principles (e.g., delay discounting, demand analysis) to understand decision-making related to drug use and other risky behaviors. Her masters thesis focused on sexual risk behavior in cocaine use disorder. Other work has focused on understanding how possible fentanyl adulteration affects the perceived value of cocaine. She was awarded a Diversity Supplement through the NIH HEAL Initiative to support this research.

Graduate Research Assistant

Jennifer is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at UIC. She received her BA in Biology with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior and a minor in Psychology from Cornell University and completed the post-baccalaureate program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Her master’s thesis analyzed emotional factors and decision-making in cocaine use disorder. Her research interests include stress, cognition, and reward processing in substance use disorders.

Graduate Research Assistant

Krista is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at UIC. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Iowa. She completed a post-baccalaureate program at the University of Chicago conducting research on alcohol and e-cigarettes. Krista's research interests include exploring the role of anger and violence in substance-using populations. She is currently working on her doctoral dissertation involving the effect of reward sensitivity on the relationship between problematic alcohol use and anger.

Graduate Research Assistant

Samantha is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at UIC. She received her B.A. in Human Biology and Psychology at the University of Kansas, and her M.S. in Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. Samantha’s research interests center harm reduction and community partnerships to develop/implement novel treatments for substance use disorders. She is currently working on her master’s thesis involving the development of alternative metrics of severity for cocaine use disorder.

Graduate Research Assistant

Laura is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her BS degree in Psychology from Truman State University and subsequently completed a post-baccalaureate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with a specific emphasis on alcohol use. Laura's research pursuits revolve around addiction, craving, drug reward processing, and the advancement of accessible treatments for Substance Use Disorders.

Research Assistant

Benedicta is a fellow in the Psychology Department's post-baccalaureate program at UIC. She received her B.A. in Applied Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago. She is currently assisting with our Buprenorphine Adherence and Fentanyl Safety Stimulant Users studies. Benedicta's research interests include investigating the racial disparities in harm reduction behaviors and efficacy.

Research Assistant

Rachel is an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign pursuing a B.S. in clinical psychology and statistics. She previously completed the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) with Dr. Wardle, where she researched data-driven methods for delineating severity in cocaine use disorder. She is currently working on a continuation of this project in collaboration with Sam. Her research interests are in psychometrics, substance use, and adolescent psychopathology. In particular, she is interested in addressing issues related to methods and measurement and leveraging machine learning prediction models to better position prevention and intervention initiatives.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Jenna is an undergraduate at UIC majoring in psychology. She is on the pre-medicine track. Her research focuses on gaining an understanding of drug usage as well as addiction with the goal of being able to improve addiction treatment outcomes.

Graduate Student

Efrain Leal worked with the ART lab as both an undergraduate in the Applied Psychology program at UIC and a graduate student in the Masters of Social Work program at UIC. He graduated with his BA in 2019 and his MA in 2023. His research interests in the lab included how treatment outcomes are affected by things such as socioeconomic factors (low income, education, community safety), race, and gender. From the ART Lab he went to a full-time social work position with Trilogy, a community mental health services provider in Chicago.

Post-baccalaureate

Diego worked with the ART Lab as a fellow in the Psychology Department's post-baccalaureate program at UIC from 2022-2023. He received his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago. Diego's research interests in the lab included investigating the relationship between motivation in reward processing and substance use disorders, as well as how to improve motivation using treatments. From the ART Lab, he went to a full-time research position in Dr. Robin Mermelstein’s lab, conducting studies on smoking and vaping of nicotine and cannabis products.

Post-baccalaureate

Kate graduated with a BA in neuroscience from Oberlin College and spent a year as a clinical research assistant at the University of Kentucky before working as the ART Lab Manager from 2019 - 2022. Her research interests in the lab focused on integrating treatment programs into community settings, destigmatizing substance use disorders, and increasing access to treatment. From the ART Lab, she went to the Science Communication Master’s Program at UC Santa Cruz.

Undergraduate

Ang majored in Neuroscience as an undergraduate at UIC and was a research assistant in the ART Lab. She completed two cycles of the UIC SROP Program. She investigated factors surrounding addiction, including childhood maltreatment and impulsivity. She graduated in May 2022. From the ART lab, she went to the Masters of Public Health program at Washington University of St. Louis.

Undergraduate

Ta’Sharick was an undergraduate integrated health studies major with a concentration in health science and a minor in psychology at UIC. She was a research assistant in the ART lab and learned about trauma, addiction, and its effect on the individual and their families. She graduated in 2022 with plans to attend medical school.