People
Caitlin Clements, PhD leads the BRAIN lab and is passionate about understanding and supporting autistic individuals and their families. Dr. Clements is an assistant professor in the Notre Dame Psychology Department. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology (child track) at the University of Pennsylvania and at the CHOP Center for Autism Research. She completed clinical internship at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital.
Lab Manager
Elle Fox graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in May 2025 with a B.S. in Biology and Honors Psychology. Her passion for supporting the neurodivergent community stems from her experience growing up with an autistic sibling, which sparked a commitment to advocacy and inclusion. She completed her undergraduate honors thesis in the Social Brain Lab at IU, studying differences in social gaze patterns between autistic and non-autistic individuals. Outside of the lab, she enjoys volunteering with Special Olympics, playing the flute, hiking, and attempting to bake.
Graduate Students
Yvonne Kuo is a second-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Notre Dame. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with university honors from Syracuse University in 2024 with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and forensic science with a minor in data analytics. Her interests stem from her previous experiences at the CARE Lab at Syracuse. She is interested in the intersections of autism, neuro-imaging methods, processing differences in autistic children and adolescents, and ways to support autistic individuals and families. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, cafe hopping, listening to music, and exploring!
Mikayla "Kaylee" McEllin earned a BA in psychology from Indiana University- Bloomington in 2023 and began her career as a Registered Behavior Technician where she discovered a passion for supporting autistic individuals and their families. She spent a year and a half as the Lab Manager for the BRAIN Lab before transitioning into a Clinical Psychology PhD student in the lab. She is broadly interested in the development of autism during early childhood and how differences in neural processes impact behavior. Outside of the lab, she enjoys listening to Taylor Swift, reading, practicing pilates, and playing with her cats, Maisie and Clover.
Chenhao Li is a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Notre Dame. She graduated from Emory University with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Linguistics. Before joining the BRAIN lab, she worked as a postgraduate associate in the Hampson Lab at Yale School of Medicine for two years. She is broadly interested in social development and the brain mechanisms underlying differential social processing in autism. In her free time, she enjoys weight lifting, reading, exploring escape rooms, and traveling.
Austin Wyman is a third-year graduate student in the Quantitative Psychology program. He earned his BA in Psychology from Notre Dame and is a recipient of the NSF GRFP, Burns Fellowship, and is a Lucy Graduate Scholar. His research interests include the intersection of machine learning and psychometrics, but he applies quantitative methods broadly towards the improvement of diagnostic measures for autism. He is particularly interested in the development of inclusive and equitable autistic assessments through differential item functioning (DIF). He is also a member of the Autistic Researchers Committee (ARC) for INSAR. In his free time, he spends time with his three cats: Gremlin, Grimace, and Aang.
Undergraduate Students
Annabella "Anna" Mayer is a junior studying Neuroscience and Behavior with minors in Compassionate Care in Medicine and the Glynn Family Honors Program. The summer before she left for college, she worked at a summer camp for children with developmental differences and became passionate about autism advocacy after watching the campers there grow and thrive. Anna is from the greater Cleveland area and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time on the Flaherty Hall patio with her friends.
Caden Baudek is a sophomore from Joliet, Illinois, majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. He developed a passion for working with autistic individuals in high school through volunteering with Special Olympics, which he continues to do at school. Outside of school, he enjoys staying active, whether through lifting, running, or playing just about any sport.
Laura Chillemi is a sophomore from New York majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior with minors in Health, Humanities & Society and Compassionate Care in Medicine. Her passion for working with children began at 14 as a babysitter and grew through her internship with a STEM education alliance for children with special needs. On campus, she serves as a clinical volunteer with Global Medical Brigades and enjoys reading, listening to music, and playing pickleball.
Nicholas Mays is a junior from Springfield, Minnesota. He is on the neuroscience track of the Biology major, with a minor in Psychology, at Holy Cross College. He found his interest in neuroscience research from growing up in a rural area that lacked most psychological support services, which led to a delayed autism diagnosis and few resources to manage his underlying symptoms. He is currently involved in Holy Cross’ campus with research for the Melatonin Project and is the vice president of both the HCC Psychology Club and HCC Psi Chi chapter. Outside of classes, he enjoys taking walks over to St. Mary’s Lake and petting the dogs.
Daniel Nguyen is a rising Junior from Wall, NJ with a Neuroscience and Behavior Major in the College of Science and a minor in Science and Patient Advocacy. His younger brother was diagnosed with autism nine years ago and is his motivation for autism research. Outside of the lab, he enjoys traveling to new places with friends and family, cooking, baking, and playing chess.
Emma Simard is a junior from Bar Harbor, Maine, majoring in psychology and Spanish with a minor in Sociology. Last year she started working with individuals with autism through a practicum class at Notre Dame, growing her passion for autism advocacy and research. On campus, she is an outreach and advocacy chair for the Active Minds Mental Health Club and a captain of the women’s Ultimate Frisbee Club. Emma loves to run, read, listen to music, and spend time outside exploring new places.
Sophia Waddell, a resident of Granger, IN, is currently a rising senior at Saint Mary’s College majoring in Psychology and pursuing a minor in Business Administration. Having personal experience with autism, she wanted to do research in this field. When outside of the lab, she is often either watching international TV shows, listening to podcasts and music, messaging with friends or knitting.
Tierneey Gasaway is a senior from Houston, Texas who is pursuing a double major in Psychology and Gender Studies. Her experience with family members diagnosed with autism and her passion for child, and adolescent, clinical and developmental research inspired her to join the lab. Outside of research, Tierneey is an active member of various cultural clubs on campus. She also enjoys reading, baking, and tap dancing in her free time.
Former Student & Research Assistant Collaborators
Nichele Abeyesundere (2024–2026) was a member of the BRAIN lab since our first semester is 2024, and continued for 5 semesters. During her time with the lab, she made the BRAIN Lab logo, was integral to getting the TREAT study underway at Notre Dame, and supporting various projects in the lab. We are excited to see the great things she will do in medical school at Case Western!
Ava Batz (2025–2026) joined the BRAIN Lab as a summer intern in 2025 and completed her psychology honors senior thesis in the lab the following year. She presented 2 first author posters, and was included as an author on many more. Her invaluable skills in working with children were an amazing asset to the team as she staffed more study visits than we can even count. We cannot wait to see the amazing work she does as a Master's student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Boston College.
Mariela Rodriguez (2025–2026) joined the BRAIN lab in summer 2025 as an intern and was a member for the next 2 semesters before graduating in spring 2026. She helped tremendously with community outreach, recruiting participants and connecting the BRAIN Lab to the community. She also supported many ongoing projects in the lab as a trained behavioral coder. We are excited to see her future work as she pursues a career in speech and language pathology!
Brett Foster (2024–2025) was a member of the BRAIN Lab for three semesters before graduating in fall 2025. During his time with the lab, he supported the transition to a new data system by assisting with participant organization and data entry. We are excited to see the great things he will do in medical school at Columbia University!
John Kaste (2024-2025) joined the BRAIN Lab in our very first semester and played an integral role in getting the TREAT study underway at Notre Dame. He stayed with the lab during the summer of 2024 where he staffed many study visits, was an author on multiple posters, and was an incredible team player. We look forward to seeing all of the wonderful things he does in medical school!
Julia Savino (2024-2025) joined the BRAIN Lab in our first semester as a lab and has been with us every semester since! During her time in the lab, she first authored a poster, was a secondary author on multiple other posters, and was overall an incredible asset to the team. She also successfully completed our lab’s first senior thesis! We are so excited to see all of the wonderful contributions she makes to autism research during her post-baccalaureate position at Mount Sinai!
Sophia Agurcia (2024-2025) first joined the BRAIN Lab as a summer intern in 2024 and was a strong leader in the lab ever since. She staffed countless study visits, was an author on multiple posters in the lab, and had a natural ability to connect with the children who participated in the TREAT study. Brown University is beyond lucky to have Sophia as a post-baccalaureate researcher!
Ximena Palacios Zimmermann (2024-2025) was in the BRAIN Lab for two semesters before graduating in 2025. She supported the lab through staffing study visits, completing literature reviews, and volunteering for every possible opportunity! Her passion for supporting autistic individuals was a defining characteristic and made her a strong asset to the team. We cannot wait to see all of the amazing things she accomplished during her Master’s in Special Education program at Vanderbilt University!
Debbie Obiajulu (2023-2024) conducted her undergraduate thesis work with Dr Clements and Dr Charles Nelson. Debbie worked as a student assistant with Dr Clements at Boston Children’s Hospital and facilitated the transition of the TREAT study to Notre Dame. Debbie was instrumental in designing PressMORE, the pressing Measure Of Rewarded Effort. Debbie graduated from Harvard College in May 2024 and was a co-author on the FIT’NG poster presenting TREAT EEG data from Boston, and the ABCT poster presenting TREAT pressMORE data from Notre Dame.
Molly Vedra (Spring 2024) worked as a research assistant in the BRAIN Lab where she played a major role in the transition to South Bend. She graduated from Notre Dame in May of 2024. She is now a Clinical Research Assistant for the Center for Autism Research in the Infant Brain Imaging Study at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Mehrael Atkins (2023-2024) worked as a part-time research assistant in the BRAIN Lab and successfully completed and defended her senior thesis with Dr. Clements. She graduated from St. Mary's college in May of 2024 and is pursuing her PhD at the University of Virginia.
Marine Nimblette (Spring 2023) worked as a student assistant to set up and run the TREAT study with Dr Clements at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital. Marine was an all-star at recruiting participants! She is a co-author on the poster presenting the TREAT pilot data. Marine graduated from Northeastern University in 2023 and plans to become a physician.
Sarah Krystkowiak (Spring 2023) worked as a student assistant to set up and run the TREAT study with Dr Clements at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital. Sarah was a wonderful presense in the lab and created countless personalized stimuli for participants. She was a co-author on the FIT'NG poster presenting the TREAT pilot data. Sarah majored in psychology at Northeastern University and is pursuing a PsyD.
Karina Ascune (2021-2022) reviewed literature on typical and autistic early development and co-authored a manuscript on the developmental model of reward processing during her junior and senior years at Harvard. Karina was a brilliant thought partner and produced beautiful graphics! Karina is currently pursuing her PhD in neuroscience at Yale.
Jennifer Bertollo (2017) worked part-time with Dr Clements while a research assistant on other projects at the Center for Autism Research at the Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia. Jen recruited and coordinated study visits, and was a welcoming presence for families with 22q11.2 deletions or duplications who traveled far to participate at the lab. Jen earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech and is completing a postdoc at Children's National.
Alisa Zoltowski (2015-2017) worked closely with Dr Clements as a research assistant at the Center for Autism Research at the Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia. Alisa had amazing programming skills and conducted sophisiticated Item Response Theory analyses, in addition to helping with the 22q11.2 study and a million other things. Dr. Zoltowski earned her PhD in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2023. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Affective and Sensory Research.