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!).
Alec Davis
Lab Manager
Alec Davis is the lab manager for both the CHIP Lab and the Motivation Science Lab at the Batten School. Before coming to UVA, he earned a B.S. in Psychology with minors in Athletic Healthcare and Disability Rights & Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a member of the Men's Rowing team.
Outside of the lab, he enjoys being active, particularly climbing and training to complete a triathlon. He also enjoys spending time with friends, in nature, watching sports, reading, and playing video games.
Maura Austin
Postdoctoral Researcher
Maura Austin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. 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
Mira Hu
Mira Hu is an undergraduate economics major at the University of Virginia. She is particularly interested in the field of behavioral economics and is excited to explore how identity and social factors can collectively influence policy attitudes. In her free time, you can probably find her at a lacrosse game or the ice cream aisle in Kroger.
Sanjula Chitty
Sanjula Chitty is a third-year Cognitive Science major interested in the intersection between Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, and Public Policy. She hopes to research how a population’s attitudes and behavior affect policy decisions and how policy can affect behavior and beliefs. She is particularly interested in how research from psychology can be used to assist policymakers in constructing effective legislation. In her free time, she likes to read, listen to music, watch tv shows, and spend time with friends and family.
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.
Amy You
Amy is a third-year psychology major at the University of Virginia, interested in studying human behavior at workplaces to aid the implementation of policies that will benefit the workplace culture as a whole. She plans on applying for a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology after graduating. In her free time, she can probably be found trying to finish the books on her to-be-read list or spending time with her family.
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.
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Sofia Segura
Sofia is a fourth-year Psychology major who finds Social & Cross-Cultural Psychology especially interesting, as well as the more specific concept of subjective value, and how it is influenced by culture and identity. Sofia hopes to learn more about how cultures may impact perceptions of policies, both in smaller individualized and broader population settings. She plans to continue working in the research field before applying to graduate school. Sofia is a member of the Virginia Rowing Association, and when she isn’t training, you can find her drawing, reading, or preparing posts for the team’s social media account.
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.