UNDERGRADUATE ALUMNI PROFILES

Sara Scherrer

Sara Scherrer studied graphic design and worked in the field for several years. A strong interest in music encouraged her to pursue an A.A. in liberal arts with the focus on music in the U.S. This career change ultimately lead her to continue her education in psychology. Sara completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology with honors at The City College of New York, graduating in Spring 2018. Sara's honors thesis investigated timing/rhythmic deficits in ADHD. Sarah then moved to Switzerland to complete her Master of Science (Psychology) at Universität Bern, Switzerland.

Nacima Chen

Nacima's undergraduate honors thesis examined whether anxiety moderates the relation between acute moderate-intensity exercise and working memory. She graduated with her honors degree in Psychology in 2016.

Geneva Hidalgo

Geneva graduated with a BA in Psychology from The City College of New York in Spring 2018. She was the recipient of a prestigious NIH-funded RISE fellowship. Her current research interests center on the assessment and treatment of ADHD among minority populations. Geneva is completing her Master of Arts (Psychology Education) at Teachers College, Columbia University and plans to pursue a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

Shelagh Mahbubani

Shelagh Mahbubani completed her Post-Baccalaureate studies in Psychology at Columbia University. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Yale University in 2011 but realized in 2014 that she wanted to be a Clinical Psychologist. Her research interests include the etiology and treatment of child and adolescent psychopathological disorders. Shelagh is a Ph.D. student at St. Johns University, Queens.

Saudia Baksh

Saudia graduated with a BS in Psychology at the Macaulay Honors College at City College. She has experience working closely with various populations of individuals with developmental disorders and mental illnesses, such as children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and young adults from underprivileged communities suffering from clinical depression. She is trained in Applied Behavior Analysis teaching methods. Saudia went on to complete her Master of Education (School Psychology) at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Anita Sztukowska

Anita graduated with her honors degree in Psychology in Spring 2019. Under the mentorship of Dr. Sarah O’Neill and Dr. Olga Berwid, Anita investigated the effects of acute moderate-vigorous intensity exercise on delay discounting in young adults, and whether these effects were moderated by factors such as ADHD. Her interests reside in health and neuropsychology, as well as behavioral economics. In the future she hopes to become a physician assistant and be able to help individuals maintain both good mental and physical health.

Laura Trahms

Laura graduated with an honors degree in psychology in 2019. Her honors thesis combined her interests of law and psychology, exploring the relations among ADHD, childhood maltreatment, and later criminal offending. After leaving CCNY, Laura was accepted into the University of Minnesota Law School to complete her J.D.

Nadira Bhowal

Nadira's research interests include ADHD among underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities. She hopes to pursue a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and use that knowledge to foster better access to mental health resources and tackle the stigma surrounding mental illness. She currently works with children with developmental disabilities receive therapy with horseback riding.

Sadé Ayana Dixon

Sade is interested in becoming a neuropsychologist in relation to understanding institutionalized racism on a psychological scale. She also is an advocate for people with A.D.H.D/Dyslexia. Her ultimate goal is to get a PhD. in neuropsychology to help change the education and the livelihoods of marginalized groups.

Zainab Baig

Zainab is a junior at City College pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Middle Eastern and North African Studies. Zainab completed her undergraduate honors thesis and hopes to pursue a career in medicine.

Elaine Johnson

Elaine completed her honors thesis investigating attention and obesity among underrepresented minoritized college students. Elaine was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including: Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship, the Colin Powell Fellowship in Leadership and Service, and the Psychology Department's Bernard R. Ackerman award. She left CCNY to pursue her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Emory University in Georgia.

Alyssa DeStefano

Alyssa's honors thesis investigated how maternal responsivity to infants’ behavior changes across early development (13, 19 and 25 months), and whether this differed for infants with and without central nervous system injury. Alyssa completed this work alongside Dr. Elizabeth Lennon at New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. Alyssa was the recipient of competitive CCNY Opportunities in Research and Creative Arts (ORCA) fellowship and she was named one of the Colin Powell School's salutatorians. Alyssa graduated from CCNY in June 2022 and is pursuing her PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Malai O'Keeffe

Malai graduated with a BS in Psychology from the City College Honors Program in 2021. Her honors thesis investigated whether attachment styles moderate the relation between ADHD severity and interpersonal functioning among college students. She received the Psychology Department's Joseph E. Barmack Award for best undergraduate honors thesis for her work. Malai has extensive experience working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD. She plans on continuing her education in graduate study to combine her passions of research and working with the ASD community. Malai currently works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a clinical research specialist.