BUILD Lab
Biosocial Underpinnings in Learning & Development
BUILD Lab undergraduates, Brooke and Ellie, were recently inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. This organization recognizes outstanding seniors for their interdisciplinary academic accomplishments in the liberal arts and sciences. Incredible!!
Congratulations to graduate student, Chaela Nutor, and BUILD Lab PI, Dr. Patricia Brennan, who both won 2025 Eleanor Main Graduate Mentor Awards!
These prestigious awards recognize graduate faculty and students that set the standard for mentorship at Emory! We are so proud of them!
Nia Barbee successfully defended her dissertation on Wednesday. Her dissertation examined links between racial discrimination and child neurodevelopment with a specific focus on identifying risk and protective factors for Black children. Congratulations, Dr. Barbee!!
Our superstar undergraduate honors students, Brooke and Chaeyeon, both successfully defended their theses and earned Highest Honors!! Amazing work, ladies!
Ellie Yang was accepted and committed to Stanford's Education Data Science program. We are beyond proud of you, Ellie!
Jocelyn's Master's Thesis was published in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence! Her work can be found here. Congrats, Jocelyn!
We are so proud of Chaela, who was selected as a Finalist for Emory's 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Great job, Chaela!
Nia Barbee's first dissertation paper was accepted for publication by the Infant Mental Health Journal! Congratulations, Nia!!
Read her paper here!
BUILD Lab graduate students presented their research at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology Conference in Chicago! Great work everyone!
Chaela Nutor was interviewed for her latest publication in the International Society for Autism Research, listen to her interview here.
We are so proud of you for representing the lab well, Chaela!
Our summer undergraduate students, Naomi and Ellie, presented their research projects at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. They did a great job!!
Chaela's second first-author manuscript was published in the Journal for Autism Research. Her paper extends findings from her Master's Thesis by examining the link between prenatal cannabis exposure and child autism traits. Congrats, Chaela! Read her paper here.
Jocelyn successfully defended her Master's Thesis in April. Her thesis looked at the associations between substance use and depression during pregnancy. Good job, Jocelyn!
Shania Friedman, gave birth to a beautiful little boy in November. Congratulations, Shania and welcome to the world, Joey!!
Dr. Brennan and Jocelyn Stanfield collaborated on an article about the impact of prenatal tobacco use on psychosocial development. The piece was recently published in the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development!
Read their work here.
Chaela Nutor was accepted as a 2023-2024 LGS EDGE Fellow! In her new role, she will represent Laney Graduate School at various local to national recruitment events and she will work on ways to enhance diversity in the graduate community at Emory. Go Chaela!
Nia Barbee recently submitted her Master's Thesis manuscript, and first, first-authored paper, to a journal for publication! Good luck, Nia!
Chaela Nutor published her first first-authored paper in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders! Congrats, Chaela!
Read her paper here.
Dr. Brooke McKenna's dissertation work was recently accepted for publication by Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health. We are so proud of her!
A PDF of this work is available here.
Congratulations to Brooke, Elle, Melissa and Madeleine for successfully defending their dissertations!
