Team
Meet the core team and collaborators of the ISCL!
(melissa.ferguson@yale.edu)
Melissa Ferguson is an experimental social psychologist. She received her doctorate in social psychology from New York University in 2002, was a faculty member in the psychology department at Cornell University from 2002-2020, and then joined the psychology department at Yale University in 2020. Her research focuses on the implicit cognitive processes that enable evaluation, goal-pursuit, self-control, and social behavior. Three recent topics of research in the lab are how we can change our memories, how we control our behavior, and how we express prejudice. Her research has appeared in outlets such as Psychological Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Her CV is available here.
Melissa Ferguson - Lab Director
Zoma Marino - Lab Manager
(zoma.marino@yale.edu)
Zoma Marino (she/her/hers) graduated with honors from Yale College in 2026, earning a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Visual Art. Her research focuses on affective science, intergroup interactions, and interpersonal relationships, with a particular interest in how social technology mediates affective interactions in marginalized communities. Beyond her lab work, Zoma enjoys painting, playing video games, and spending time with her cat.
Graduate Student Advisees
Helen Devine
Ming Ma
Kai Sheu
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(ming.m.ma@yale.edu)
Ming is a fifth-year graduate student in social psychology at Yale. She is interested in (a) how people form impressions of individuals and groups and update them after learning new information, especially implicitly, (b) how target and perceiver characteristics (such as their social group memberships, personality, and life experiences) influence person perception, and (c) how judgments derived from people’s appearances (for example, how competent or trustworthy someone’s face looks) can fuel social inequalities and how to best reduce biases in first impressions. Ming earned her Honors BSc with high distinction in Psychology and Statistics at the University of Toronto where she worked with Dr. Nick Rule in the Social Perception & Cognition Lab. Outside of the lab, Ming enjoys taking nature walks, doing yoga, and trying out new restaurants.
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(chengkai.sheu@yale.edu)
Kai is a second-year PhD student at Yale University. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Yale-NUS College in Singapore. In general, Kai is interested in how people form and revise causal beliefs in social contexts, and how these beliefs shape and interact with impressions, moral judgment, blame, and perceptions of inequality. His interests span social cognition and moral psychology, examining topics such as growth mindset, victim perception, and structural explanations of behavior. Outside of research, he enjoys surfing, hiking, and trying out new banana bread recipes.
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(helen.devine@yale.edu, website)
Helen Devine is a first-year graduate student who studies legal and moral psychology. She focuses on how people judge those implicated in the legal system — both victims of crime and those accused of wrongdoing. Her research looks at how fear may shape these judgments, often making people quicker to blame victims or assume guilt. She is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Previously, she was a lab manager in the Deepest Beliefs Lab with Dr. Kurt Gray. She completed her B.S. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she was also lab manager in the Well-Being, Health, and Interpersonal Relationships Lab with Dr. Amie M. Gordon.
Undergraduate Students
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Sarah Michel
Sarah is a senior at Yale majoring in psychology. She's currently a RA to Emily Ritchie and aiding her investigation into implicit attitudes towards stigmatized groups/divisive policies. Outside of the lab, she loves all things social psychology with a passion towards moral judgements and cross-cultural research. Beyond psychology, Sarah enjoys watching movies, learning data science, doing stand up comedy, and posting videos on social media (sometimes serious, mostly jokes).
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Sanaa Carrimjee
Sanaa is a senior in Pauli Murray College from London majoring in Cognitive Science, with a certificate in Modern Standard Arabic. Her concentration within Cognitive Science-Morality and Justice-focuses on how implicit biases shape moral judgment, decision-making, and perceptions of fairness. She is particularly interested in how unconscious associations influence the way we evaluate others’ intentions and moral worth.
Outside of the lab, she serves as Co-President of The Nourish Project, a student organization that designs and leads educational programming for senior residents in New Haven living facilities. In her free time, she enjoys scuba-diving, practicing the martial art Tang Soo Do, and pottery.
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Jasmine Rossetti
Jasmine is a senior and transfer student at Yale, majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience. She is the first traditional student in known history to transfer from Gateway Community College, New Haven, to Yale. She is working with Ming Ma at the Ferguson Lab, and is especially interested in the way prejudice can be formed and eventually changed. She is the Transfer Student Alliance's Director of Public Affairs, a member of the Middle Eastern and North African Community as well as the Afro-American Cultural Center. After Yale, she hopes to get her PhD in Clinical Psychology and research how minority status can influence mental health and illness. Through this research she plans to improve mental healthcare for minorities, making resources more accessible and culturally appropriate. Jasmine also enjoys reading, hanging out with her cat, and doing yoga.
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Jaewon Cha
Jaewon is a sophomore at Yale majoring in psychology and computer science. He is currently an RA for Debbie Lim and is interested in how implicit attitudes can affect cooperation and collaboration. He is also interested in the ways computer software can aid in psychological research. Apart from psychology, Jaewon enjoys playing and making video games with Amoriem Labs, helping the Yale FSAE team’s business division, and teaching programming in the community with CodeHaven.
Former Post-Doctoral Researchers: Where Are They Now?
Benedek Kurdi
Benedek Kurdi is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Paul Stillman
Paul Stillman is an assistant professor at Boston University.
Xi Shen
Xi Shen is an assistant professor at Texas Tech University.
Yochanan Bigman
Yochanan Bigman is an assistant professor at the Hebrew University.
Lab Alumni
Graduate Students—Primary Advisees
Stav Atir, Jun Fukukura, Hope Harrington, Arin Korkmaz, Tony Maiolatesi, Thomas Mann, Shanette Porter, Emily Ritchie, Benjamin Ruisch, Xi Shen, Nicholas Surdel, Michael Wojnowicz