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
Graduate Students
Hellen Rivera earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Kean University. She currently serves as a Project Manager at the TEEN Lab, where she oversees participant recruitment, study operations, and the training of undergraduate research assistants for the Puberty and Virtual Reality project. Her work involves managing and analyzing multimodal data, including mobile EEG, brain activity, heart rate, and behavioral measures, to support research on adolescent stress, emotions, and development. Her professional interests include data analysis, machine learning, multimodal data research, augmented and virtual reality technologies, and full-stack web development. In her free time, Hellen enjoys spending time with her dog.
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.
Undergraduate Students
I am a rising senior majoring in Psychology with interests in clinical psychology and neuropsychology. I am passionate about helping those struggling with mental health challenges and am interested in understanding how neurocognitive processes influence behavior and well-being across developmental periods. Through my involvement in TEENLAB, I hope to gain hands-on research experience and exposure to interdisciplinary methods across different fields of study. In the future, I aim to pursue a career that combines research and clinical practice to support others. In my free time, I enjoy reading and spending time with friends and family.
Jaslene De Jesus is an undergraduate student at Kean University. Currently majoring in molecular biology, she plans to pursue a genetic counseling degree following graduation. Passionate about science, helping her community through scientific study, and other hobbies, Jaslene is an important part of the puberty & VR project as SpF student fellow. By learning more about the use of VR in order to advance this project and learning to assay hormones in a lab, she plans to increase her knowledge of female puberty through this fellowship.
My name is Madeline Jewett, and I’m a junior at Kean University getting my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a concentration in Data Science, with an expected graduation of December 2027. I have a background working in healthcare and, combined with my interest in data analysis, I hope to combine the two to turn medical data into meaningful, actionable insights.
At the TEEN Lab, I am involved in two research initiatives. For Summer 2026, through the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Program, I will contribute to the Puberty & VR project, which uses virtual reality for multimodal data collection and analysis with Python.
In the fall, I’ll be switching focus to the NBDC EEG/ERP dataset to study infant development. Outside of the lab, I enjoy photography, gardening, and pretty much anything with nature. My favorite thing to do when I have time is to go camping with no screens to distract me, and working towards visiting all of the U.S. National Parks!
NSF Undergraduate Research Fellows (Cohort 2 from 2024 to 2026)
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!
Now Dan is accepted to Columbia University in 2026. She is excited to begin new chapter of academic journey in the Master of Science in Data Science Program
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 the 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.
In 2026, Guohao has received offers from several programs, including Carnegie Mellon University, M.S. in Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering
and Brown University, M.S. in Computer Science, with a 25% scholarship, Johns Hopkins University, M.S. in Computer Science
Northwestern University, M.S. in Artificial Intelligence. However, he is still making his final decision and is also awaiting decisions from other programs.
Bobo Au-Yeung is currently a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology at
Kean University with a Bachelor's in Psychology and Criminal Justice. With experience in human subjects research, she is involved in the Puberty and VR project as a graduate volunteer at the TEEN Lab. Her main research interests are in the neurological underpinnings of psychopathology and neurocognitive disorders, with a focus on neuroinflammation and neuroprotective factors. Through the lab, she hopes to obtain a deeper understanding on stress hormones and cytokines in a psychological context.
Outside the lab, she enjoys drawing and taking care of her three cats.