| |
ABOUT DR. COIFMAN:
| Karin G. Coifman, Ph.D. |
|
|
 |
|
Karin grew up in southern Connecticut and attended Yale University where
she completed an undergraduate degree in English. From there, she
worked for several years for a community health and education agency in
NY where she got her first real taste of the field of psychology. In
2001, Karin went to graduate school at Columbia University and worked
under the mentorship of George Bonanno, completing a Ph.D. in Clinical
Psychology in 2008. Karin stayed on at Columbia for a two year
post-doctoral fellowship, under the mentorship of Geraldine Downey and
Eshkol Rafaeli. She has been on the faculty in the Department of Psychological Sciences,
as part of the Clinical Psychology Program at Kent State University since 2010.
Karin currently lives in Akron, OH with her husband, two daughters and their dogs.
Curriculum Vitae |
Graduate Students
Undergraduate/Post
Bac Research Assistants
Collaborators
Lab Alumni
GRADUATE STUDENTS
|
Shaima Al-Mahmoud |
|
|
 |
|
Shaima Almahmoud is a doctoral student in the clinical psychology
program at Kent State University. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in
general psychology from Kuwait University. She previously worked as a
teaching assistant at Kuwait University and as a school counselor in
public schools at State of Kuwait. Currently, she has a graduate
scholarship from Kuwait University for her doctoral program. Her
master's research topic examines "Psychological Resilience in Adult
Patients with Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia." Her research
interests include emotion, health behavior, and chronic illnesses.
Curriculum Vitae |
Al-Mahmoud’s Recent Publications:
Coifman, K. G. & Al-Mahmoud, S.Y. (2017). Emotion Flexibility in Psychological Risk and
Resilience. In U. Kumar (Ed.) Handbook of Resilience: A Psychosocial Perspective, New
York: Routledge.
Al-Mahmoud, S.Y., Coifman, K. G., Ross, G. R., Kleinert, D., & Giardina, P. (2016).
Evidence for Multidimensional Resilience in Adult Patients with Transfusion-Dependent
Thalassemias; Is it more common than we think? Transfusion Medicine, 26(3), 186-194.
Al-Taiar, A., Al-Sabah, R., Elsalawy, E., Shehab, D., & Al-Mahmoud, S.
(2013). Attitudes to knee osteoarthritis and total knee replacement in
Arab women: a qualitative study. BMC research notes, 6, 406.
Bajwa, H., Al-Turki, A., Dawas, A., Behbehani, M., Al-Mutairi, A., Al-Mahmoud, S.,
Shukkur, M., & Thalib, L. (2013). Prevalence and factors associated
with the use of illicit substances among male university students in
Kuwait. Medical Principles& Practice, 22, 458-463.
|
Maria Nylocks |
|
|
 |
|
Maria is a fifth year graduate student in Clinical Psychology. She graduated from Georgia
State University with a B.S. in Psychology in 2012 where she worked as a Laboratory Assistant
under Dr. Erin Tone. After graduating, Maria worked for two years as a Research Specialist at
Emory University and the Grady Trauma Project under Drs Kerry Ressler and Tanja Jovanovic.
During this time, Maria further developed her research interest in emotion within the context
of trauma or stress. Specifically, she developed an interest in genetic factors that may
contribute to development of psychopathology in the aftermath of trauma. She later pursued
this interest in her Master’s thesis work at Kent State University. Currently, she is continuing to
focus on the etiology of fear-based psychological illness. Specifically, she is interested in how
fear reactivity, fear recovery, and emotion regulatory resources, may interact and contribute to
the development of fear-pathology. Maria is using a multimethod approach to better
understand these associations, and she hopes to continue this line of work in her future
research endeavors.
Curriculum Vitae |
Nylocks’s Recent Publications:
Coifman, K.G., Halachoff, D.M., Nylocks, K. M. Mitigating risk? (2018). Set-shifting ability in
high threat sensitive individuals predicts approach behavior during simulated peer-rejection (in
press, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology).
Nylocks, K. M., Gilman, L.T., Latsko, M.S., Jasnow, A.M., Coifman, K.G. (2018). Increased
parasympathetic activity and ability to generate positive emotion: The influence of the BDNF Val66Met
Polymorphism on emotion flexibility. Motivation and Emotion, doi: 10.1007/s11031-
018-9679-1
Gilman, T.L., Shaheen, R., Nylocks, K. M., Halachoff, D., Flynn, J.J., Matt, L.M. & Coifman,
K.G. (2017). A Film Set for the Elicitation of Emotion in Research; A Comprehensive Catalog
Derived from Four Decades of Investigation. Behavior Research Methods, doi:10.3758/s13428-
016-0842-x
Latsko, M.S., Gilman, T.L., Matt, L., Nylocks, K. M., Coifman, K.G., & Jasnow, A.M. (2016). A
novel interaction between tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) gene polymorphism (rs4570625)
and BDNF Val66Met predicts a high-risk emotional phenotype in healthy subjects. PLOS One,
11(10), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162585
|
Pallavi Aurora |
|
|
 |
|
Pallavi is a third year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program.
She graduated from Creighton University with a B.A. in Psychology in 2016
where she worked as a Research Assistant under Dr. Alicia Klanecky and Dr.
Jill Brown. Pallavi’s research as an undergraduate focused on understanding
the relationship between emotion regulation and substance use, by looking at
the role of drinking motives. Currently, Pallavi is working on her Master’s
thesis where using experience-sampling methodology, she is examining maladaptive
behaviors associated with social anxiety and the role of extraversion as a factor
which may predict behavioral choices. In the future, Pallavi hopes to continue
looking at the associations between emotion processes and healthy and maladaptive
behaviors in affective disorders by examining both state and trait variables.
Curriculum Vitae |
Aurora’s Recent Publications:
Coifman, K. G., Kane, M.R., Bishop, M., Matt, L. M., Nylocks, K. M., & Aurora, P. (under review).
Estimating emotion regulatory capacity via working memory: Introducing the RSPAN-E and evidence
of reliability and validity, from the lab to daily life. Emotion.
Aurora, P., & Klanecky, A. (2016). Coping Motives Mediate Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Problem
Drinking. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 42(3), 341-350.
|
Stanley Seah |
|
|
 |
|
Stanley is a third year graduate student in Clinical Psychology. He graduated
from the National University of Singapore with a B.Soc.Sci. in Psychology in
2015 where he completed an honors thesis investigating mindfulness and emotion
regulation in the context of depression under the mentorship of Dr. Shian-Ling
Keng. After graduating, Stanley worked as a research assistant at the National
University Health System (Singapore) examining novel pharmacological and
non-pharmacological interventions in the treatment of depression. Currently,
Stanley is broadly interested in exploring the interaction between cognitive
and affective processes and their relationship with emotion regulation and
psychopathology using subjective and objective measures such as ecological
momentary assessments and psychophysiology. Relatedly, his Master’s thesis examined
the protective effects of emotion differentiation against the behavioral consequences
of rumination in the context of social anxiety disorder using an experience-sampling approach.
Curriculum Vitae |
Seah’s Recent Publications:
Derbyshire, S. W. G., Whalley, M. G., Seah, S.T.H., Oakley, D. A. (2017). Suggestions to reduce clinical fibromyalgia pain
and experimentally induced pain produce parallel effects on perceived pain but divergent functional MRI-based brain activity.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 79(2), 189-200.
Keng, S.-L., Seah, S.T.H., Tong, E. M. W., & Smoski, M. (2016). Effects of brief mindful acceptance induction on
implicit dysfunctional attitudes and concordance between implicit and explicit dysfunctional attitudes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 83, 1-10.
|
Chris Summers |
|
|
 |
|
Chris is a second-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. He graduated from San Diego
State University with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A.Ed. in Counselor Education from Virginia Tech.
After earning his master's degree, Chris worked as a research assistant at George Mason University
with Dr. Todd Kashdan and Dr. Keith Renshaw. His research interests lie at the intersection of affective,
cognitive, and physiological components of self-regulation and sleep difficulties.
Curriculum Vitae |
UNDERGRADUATE/POST BAC RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
| Ben Mitchell |
|
|
 |
|
Ben graduated in the Spring of 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology. His aim is to attend graduate school
for a PhD in Clinical Psychology after acquiring more experience as a research assistant. His research
interests include personality, as well as substance use and other externalizing behaviors.
|
| Ashley Martella |
|
|
Ashley is a senior with a double major in psychology and biology.
She is interested in how maladaptive coping strategies contribute to anxiety
and depression disorders. After graduating in December 2018, she would like
to attend graduate school and receive her master's degree in clinical mental health counseling.
|
| Olivia Shagla |
|
|
 |
|
Olivia is a Junior, psychology major. She is interested in looking
at the associations between relationships and emotions. Olivia plans
to go to graduate school for a masters in child psychology and hopes
to work with children experiencing grief.
|
| Chanin Hale |
|
|
Chanin is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
She is in her second semester of working in the Emotions, Stress, and Relationships
Lab. Following graduation in December of 2018, she plans to move to North Carolina where her family resides. There, she will
begin work in Human & Family Services to help children in abuse cases.
|
| Desiree Bechtol |
|
|
 |
|
Desiree is a senior Psychology major with a minor in Biology. She plans to go to graduate school for cognitive
neuroscience and research Alzheimer's disease.
|
| Michael Loeffler |
|
|
 |
|
Michael is an undergraduate junior honors student working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
He enjoys research on emotions and psychopathology, particularly in the contexts of what can be done
to improve the lives of those with mental illness in a clinical setting. He plans to attend graduate school,
where he will work towards his eventual goal of helping people with mental illnesses in a more direct setting.
|
| Breanna Coonce |
|
|
 |
|
Bre is a psychology major with research interests focused on heath and cancer.
Her future goals include attending to graduate school and working in a hospital with cancer patients and survivors.
|
| Victoria House |
|
|
 |
|
Victoria is a junior honors Psychology major with a Pre-Medicine concentration and minors in Chemistry and
Biological Sciences. She is especially interested in research into addiction and substance use disorders.
After graduation, she plans to attend medical school and then complete a psychiatric residency with the intention
of practicing as a psychiatrist in rural Appalachian Ohio.
|
| Matthew Ford |
|
|
 |
|
Matthew is a current psychology major. He plans to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology
and possibly perform research relating to depression and emotions.
|
CURRENT COLLABORATORS
Aaron Jasnow, PhD – Kent State University University
Kathy Kerns, PhD – Kent State University University
Jeff Ciesla, PhD – Kent State University University
Mary Beth Spitznagel, PhD – Kent State University University
John Gunstad, PhD – Kent State University University
Joel Hughes, PhD – Kent State University University
Doug Delahanty, PhD – Kent State University University
John Dunlosky, PhD – Kent State University University
Christopher Sheppard, PhD – Oak Clinic
Mike Kane, PhD – University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Eva Gilboa Schechtman – Bar Ilan University, Israel
Kathy Berenson, PhD – Columbia University
George Bonanno, PhD – Columbia University
Geraldine Downey, PhD – Columbia University
Anthony Mancini, PhD – PACE University
Anthony Papa, PhD – University of Nevada, Reno
Eshkol Rafaeli, PhD – Bar Ilan University, Israel
|
|
|
|
