Teen Lab Members
Dr. Yu Sun Chung is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Kean University, Union, NJ, USA. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology/Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. Her academic journey began as a master's-level clinician, driven by a desire to develop effective treatment and prevention strategies. Before she came to the USA, she got her master’s degree in clinical psychology from Korea University, Seoul, South Korea. During her time in South Korea, she conducted Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy sessions for people with social phobia and schizophrenia. Recognizing the critical need to understand neural mechanisms underlying psychopathology, she focused her graduate research on the neural mechanisms of reward processing, social cognition, and cognitive control using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) under mentorship of Drs. Deanna Barch and Todd Braver. She further expanded her research to understand both typical and atypical adolescent development, specifically in emotion regulation and response inhibition, using fMRI, event-related potentials (ERP), and saliva hormone methods at Duke University and the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center.
Her current research interests are to determine how pubertal development influences adolescents’ reward-based decision making, cognitive control and stress-induced immune function with a focus on sex differences.
In her free time, she enjoys watching Bluey with her kids, and cooking Korean food!
Curriculum Vitae | Google Scholar | linkedin
Isis Gonzalez is a fifth-year student at Kean University with a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and currently working on her master's degree in biotechnology. With two years of experience in diagnostic lab work, she is eager to be part of current research project about Estradiol and Probabilistic Reward Learning in Girls (project A) and get more experience through learning new methods. Her main scientific interests are Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), she hopes to be able to closely study and patent an HPV test for heterosexual men, as there are currently no FDA approved tests for routine check-ups in the market.
During her free time, Isis enjoys performing, singing, drawing, and going for long walks with her husband and puppy.
Hellen Rivera graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Information Systems at Kean University. At the TEEN Lab, she is involved in collecting and analyzing multimodal data for the VR project focused on adolescent girls. Her technical experience includes machine learning and model training, augmented reality development using Unity, and full-stack web development. In her free time, Hellen enjoys playing video games and spending time with her dog.
Aamillya Joseph is a third-year student attending both Kean University and Rutgers University, double majoring in psychology and psychiatric rehabilitation. As a McNair Scholar for the 2025–2026 academic year, she is conducting a literature review on the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) induced stressors on cognition and immune function. In the TEEN lab, Aamillya will contribute to VR projects through data collection, analysis, and exploring immersive technologies.
Passionate about psychology and psychiatric rehabilitation, Aamillya is dedicated to bridging research and practice to enhance the lives of individuals facing mental health challenges.
Outside academics, Aamillya enjoys spending time with her family which includes her two cats. Her hobbies include photography, trying new recipes, scrapbooking, and prioritizing self-care. She values personal growth, meaningful connections, and making a positive impact through her work and studies.
Hello everyone! My name is Jose Marchena, and I’m a senior Computer Science student with a background in AI-powered research and data analysis. I have co-authored publications focused on big data, multilingual document processing, and AI systems. I’ve worked on interdisciplinary projects that combine technology with various fields such as psychology, law, and business. These experiences have allowed me to explore how artificial intelligence can be applied to solve real-world problems, from document summarization to emotional analysis. I’m passionate about research that drives social impact and inclusion, an endeavor that led to my recognition as Student Researcher of the Year in Formal Sciences.
Previously, I have contributed to projects involving Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), data visualization, and multilingual frameworks, where I collaborated with faculty and peers to publish and present findings at conferences. My experience also includes working with tools like Python, Flask, and LLMs, and I enjoy learning new methodologies to support evidence-based decision-making.
Outside of academics, I enjoy playing soccer, trying new dishes and restaurants with friends
Gata Goumou is a rising senior in the School of Integrative Science and Technology (STME), majoring in Computational Science and Engineering with a focus in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Cybersecurity. I’ve conducted research through the SIAM summer program, where I worked on algorithms for cancer detection, and also explored foundational topics in machine learning. I’m skilled in data analysis, algorithm development, and applying computational methods to real-world problems.
I’m currently an undergraduate research fellow in the NSF Build and Broaden Program, where I’m working on a project titled “Ageist Language in Job Advertisements.” In this research, I collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team to identify and analyze age-related bias in job postings across various industries. We use machine learning techniques to detect ageist language and evaluate its potential impact on job seekers, contributing to broader efforts in ethical AI and inclusive hiring practices.
In addition, I will soon begin working in the TEEN Lab with Dr. Yu Sun Chung and Dr. David Joiner. In this VR project, I will apply my programming skills including Unity to help develop virtual reality simulations that model psychological and physical stressors. These tools will be used to study autonomic nervous system activity and stress-induced immune responses, such as changes in IL-6 and cortisol levels. I’ll support the development of the VR environment and contribute to data collection and analysis related to reinforcement learning and stress reactivity.
A fun fact about me is that I love trying new things, enjoy traveling, and always find ways to make everyday life fun and adventurous.
My name is Israel Imhomoh, and I am a rising senior Computational Science and Engineering Major with a minor in Cybersecurity. I am currently working with Dr. Jun as a fellow of the National Science Foundation.
At Teen Lab, I will be working with Dr. Chung to assist in Research that involves developing virtual reality scenes to study stress-inducing situations.
I enjoy engaging in physical activities like going to the gym, playing sports, and skateboarding.
Hi everyone. My name is Dan Li, a third-year Mathematics major at Kean University. As an NSF Build and Broaden Fellow, I analyze ABCD data to study urbanicity's impact on brain imaging and adolescent development. I have research experience in Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and testing large language models.
I am skilled in R, Java, Python, and data visualization, and I am passionate about solving real-world problems through machine learning and data analysis!
I am a senior Computer Science major at Kean University with research experience in computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), and visual question answering (VQA). As an NSF Student Fellow, I focus on data analysis, enhancing programming practices within our group, and bringing a fresh perspective to the ABCD research project.
I thrive on creating and exploring new experiences, whether in academics, business, or athletics
I’m a junior computer science major, transfer student from WKU, I have research experience with Dr. Kumar in AI testing. I’m also one of he Code Samurai in Kean University.
I enjoy the feeling when create new things, doing sports, Chinese calligraphy.
As NSF research student, my role is to handle the data with my programing skills.