Current Graduate Students
Jaboa Lake, M.S.
Jaboa Lake received a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from the University of California, Merced in 2013. At UCM she worked in various research labs, such as with Dr. William Shadish, a quantitative psychologist, and Dr. Eric Walle, a social-developmental psychologist. She is currently enrolled in PSU’s Applied Psychology doctoral program, working with Dr. Kahn with an emphasis on social psychology. Jaboa’s interest broadly involve intergroup relations and prejudice, with an emphasis on intraminority intergroup coalition and support for collective action movements. She is also involved with a number of community social justice programs and networks. Jaboa is a strong believer in bridging the gap between academia and the community, and strives towards accessibility of research and active engagement in community-based participatory research.
Emma Money, M.S.
Emma E L Money received a B.S. in Psychology from Western Washington University and was an undergraduate assistant in social psychology and cognition research labs. As an Applied Psychology doctoral student working with Dr. Kimberly Kahn at Portland State University, she earned her M.S. in 2020. Using experimental methods, her Master’s thesis looked at the intersectional impact of race and pregnancy on perceptions of police use of force against women.
As a PhD candidate, her dissertation work uses national datasets to examine the impact of implicit racial bias and gender stereotyping on racial disparities in women’s incarceration across the United States. In her broader program of research, her interests center around how race and pregnancy/parenthood impact ambivalent sexist attitudes, dehumanization, and victim blame of women in criminal justice contexts, and how incarceration predicts reproductive health outcomes at the community level. Other research interests of hers concern social consequences for women who confront sexism, and how gender expression and sex-based phenotypicality play a role.
As a graduate researcher, she has managed a series of projects assessing the impact of face masks on stereotype threat during the COVID pandemic, as well as perceptions of emotional pain across communities after fatal police shootings. She has used a wide variety of methods (e.g., field experiments, online and in-person experiments, correlational surveys, community canvassing), analytical approaches (e.g., SEM, process, multilevel modeling, secondary analyses), and technologies (e.g., augmented reality, photoshop) to support her work. She also teaches undergraduate Research Methods as an adjunct professor at PSU.
Jared Cutler, M.A.
Jared Cutler earned a M.A. in Psychology from Northern Arizona University in 2019. His Master’s thesis examined the effects of an early Buddhist mindfulness intervention on implicit attitudes, as measured by the affect misattribution procedure. Currently, his dissertation project examines which types of people may benefit most (and potentially be harmed by) mindfulness interventions to reduce prejudice, and which types of interventions (attention only versus attention and acceptance) may be most effective. Additionally, Jared is also interested in applying contextual approaches to understanding implicit associations, and is currently investigating the relationships between different components of gender context diversity and implicit gender-career stereotyping within regions. Broadly, Jared’s research interests include mindfulness meditation, the examination of implicit and explicit attitudes and biases, and interventions to attenuate said biases. Jared is also enthusiastic about open science, new methods of teaching, and learning new quantitative analyses.
Current Research Assistants
Angel Steele
Brooke Yankowitz
Graduate Student Alumni
Aeleah M. Granger, Ph.D.
Aeleah M. Granger received a B.A. in Psychology with highest honors from the University of Maine in 2017 where she worked with Dr. Jordan LaBouff on research concerning the conflation of ethnic and religious identities of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim using a threat-based, socio-functional approach to prejudice. Aeleah joined the GRASP lab as a Portland State University doctoral student working with Dr. Kahn in the Applied Social Psychology program in 2018. She earned her M.S. in 2021, with a focus on the roles of ideological differences in support of anti-Muslim police surveillance policies, and earned her Ph.D. in 2023, with a focus on the interplay between individual attitudes and contextual cues of bias (e.g., policy change) in perpetuating anti-Muslim bias in the United States. Aeleah’s general research interests concern identity intersectionality, the perpetuation of group-based stereotypes and discriminatory policies (e.g., the Muslim ban), and incorporating more systemic and historical approaches to understanding how bias and discrimination within law and policing systems persist in different forms. She is also interested in and dedicated to ethical and transparent open science practices. Upon finishing the Portland State University doctoral program, Aeleah became a post-doctoral fellow for the Center for Policing Equity where she will continue research aimed to reduce racial bias in public safety systems.
Jean McMahon, Ph.D.
Jean McMahon joined Dr. Kahn's GRASP lab in 2012 and completed Portland State University's Applied Psychology doctoral program in 2018. She now holds a Master's and Doctorate in Applied Psychology from Portland State University and a B.A. in Psychology from Reed College. Her research focused on the intersection of race and gender prejudice, particularly modern forms of subtle prejudice that appear harmless or positive, such as benevolent sexism, shifting standards, or positive stereotypes. During her time in the GRASP lab she assisted with projects concerning police use of force, conducted field experiments, and taught Research Methods courses at Portland State University. Her dissertation was titled, "Benevolent sexism & racial stereotypes: Targets, functions, & consequences." Upon finishing the program, she became an Evaluation Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, & Obesity. She has since joined the COVID-19 Response, analyzing and synthesizing data as a temporary FTE.
Aurelia T. Alston, M.S.
Aurelia T. Alston completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Saint Mary’s College of California and her Master's degree in Applied Social Psychology at Portland State University. She is currently a UX researcher at Amazon.
J. Katherine Lee, M.A.
J. Katherine Lee received her Master's degree in Psychological Research at California State University, Long Beach, working with Dr. Dustin Thoman in May 2012. She is currently a Human Behavior Researcher for the Diversity Analytics Team at Amazon.
Research Assistant Alumni
Lyndsey Meador
Kiara Hunt
Sage Fuentes
Heather Firestone
Danielle Rosenscruggs
August Krater
Maria Villarreal
Amanda Sundah
Karlo Valle
Brandon Labadie