Meet the Team
Gerald Higginbotham
Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Lab Director
Gerald Higginbotham is the director of the CHIP lab and an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Utilizing social and cultural psychological insights, he researches the imprint of history on people’s modern social perceptions and policy attitudes, and the psychological underpinnings of how people perceive history and its consequences.
Before joining the Batten faculty in Fall 2023, Dr. Higginbotham was a postdoctoral research associate at the Batten School. He earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology and M.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He achieved his B.A. in Psychology with a minor in African & African-American Studies from Stanford University.
Outside the lab, you can probably see him jogging (when warm), hear him learning how to play bass guitar (sorry in advance), or find him preoccupied at Charlottesville’s best taco spot (also sorry, can’t tell!).
Amira Dennis
Lab Manager
Amira Dennis is the lab manager for both the CHIP Lab and the Applied Public Policy and Leadership Experiments (APPLE) Lab at the Batten School. Before becoming a lab manager, she earned a B.A. in Psychology and African American & African Studies at the University of Virginia.
Outside of the lab, she enjoys being creative, particularly painting and playing piano. Se also enjoys spending time with friends, thrifting, reading, listening to music, and doing yoga.
Maura Austin
Postdoctoral Researcher
Maura Austin is a senior research scientist at UVA’s National Security Institute. Prior to her current position, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and a graduate student of the Department of Psychology at UVA. She studies person perception, motivation, social judgment and decision-making, and moral character judgment. Recent projects have focused on the cognitive processes that underlie how people think about moral character growth and how people make decisions about whether a transgressor deserves a second chance. In other work, Maura has focused on the social dynamics of gossip, competitive relationships, and collective long-term goal pursuit.
Kyle Barrentine
Social Psychology PhD Student, 5th Year
Kyle Barrentine is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Social Psychology program. He works primarily with Adrienne Wood in the Emotion Behavior lab. His primary focus is to unravel the causes and subjective consequences of social exploration. He is also interested in researching the interplay between our identities (such as being a Black male and a gun owner, e.g.) and how they shape our social networks and vice versa. He looks forward to working with Gerald within the CHIP lab. Outside of academia, Kyle finds solace in journaling, watching anime, and playing video games.
Roshanda Bissainthe
Postdoctoral Researcher
Roshonda Bissainthe is a second-year fellow in the Bridge to the Doctorate Program within the social psychology department, where she is advised by Drs. Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi and Sophie Trawalter. Her research focuses on inequality in education, media, and policy. Roshonda enjoys spending time with friends and family in her free time, traveling, and cooking new recipes.
Xanni Brown
Postdoctoral Researcher
Xanni Brown is a Mellon Postdoctoral Research Associate in Race, Place, and Equity at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. She studies racial and political attitudes in the U.S., with a focus on how people react to increasing diversity in various contexts. Currently, she is particularly focused on the relationship between attitudes toward increasing diversity and backlash against democratic institutions. She also studies how to confront bias effectively in a variety of contexts, including schools and workplaces. Brown received her PhD in social psychology from Yale University and was recently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
Hu Young Jeong
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hu Young Jeong is a Mellon Race, Place, and Equity postdoctoral fellow at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, he researches how individuals who have experienced collective violence make sense of their experiences and how these interpretations affect intergroup relations, conflict escalation, and resolution in global contexts. In addition, he investigates how perceptions of group power among racial and ethnic minority groups either facilitate or obstruct efforts to challenge unequal power structures.
Jeong received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Clark University and his M.A. and B.A. in Psychology from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea.
Research Assistants
Sabrin Niamathullah
Sabrin Niamathullah is a first-year Politics student at the University of Virginia, interested in the relationship between identity, history, and policy. She aims to study how a population's attitudes and behaviors influence policy decisions, as well as how policies can, in turn, shape behavior and beliefs. She wishes to dissect the intricacies of history and culture, and their effect on individual political ideology. In her free time, you can find her discovering new music or reading a good book.
Ria Kaith
Ria Kaith is a second-year student majoring in government and minoring in philosophy. She is interested in exploring how culture and identity can shape the outcome and impact of policies. Some policy issues she is interested in are gun control, housing, and healthcare. In her free time, you can find her reading, hiking, painting, and volunteering.
Nusaybah Reid
Nusaybah is a second-year student at UVA, double-majoring in Psychology and SALL (South Asian Language & Literature). She is interested in researching cultural psychology and advocating for more minority inclusion in cross-cultural studies. Her favorite Urdu literature includes Sufi poetry and short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto.
Tavian Boone
Tavian Boone is a first-year student majoring in neuroscience and cognitive science while minoring in Spanish on the pre-med track. He is interested in examining how cultural interactions can shape the perspectives of individuals and groups, which later shape policy outcomes. After earning his undergraduate degrees, he plans to attend medical school. In his free time, you can find him taking photos, volunteering, listening to music, and looking for new food spots.
Noor Haque-Meyers
Noor Haque-Meyers is a first-year student double-majoring in behavioral neuroscience and religious studies. She is particularly interested in researching the influence of culture and history on contemporary social and political issues. In her free time, she likes to read, draw, and play sports (taekwondo, basketball, and roller-skating).
Kiara Wright
Kiara Wright is a third-year student student double-majoring in Public Policy & Leadership and Psychology. She is interested in understanding how cultural identity, personal identity, and attitudes can shape policies and legislative decisions. In her free time, Kiara enjoys reading, cross-stitching, and practicing yoga.