Director
Cathy Lau-Barraco, Ph.D.
Dr. Lau-Barraco joined ODU in the Fall semester of 2009. Dr. Lau-Barraco graduated with her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. She joined ODU in 2009 following the completion of her NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship from the Research Institute on Addictions at SUNY Buffalo.
On a personal level, Dr. Lau-Barraco immigrated to the States from Hong Kong at age 10. She lived in South Florida for most of her life but now considers Chesapeake, VA her home. She lives happily with her husband and twin boys. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her family, eat, and browse for craft/DIY ideas that she will never have time to execute.
For more information about her research, click this link to view her webpage.
Current Graduate Students
Audrey Bell, B.A.
Audrey joined the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology in fall 2025. She graduated from William & Mary in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology. Audrey’s research interests focus on the role of emotion regulation as it relates to factors in models of alcohol use and other health behaviors among young adults.
Melissa Manning, B.A.
{Bio Forthcoming}
Karolina Kazlauskaite, M.S.
Karolina is a fifth-year in the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. She graduated from the College of Charleston in 2019 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. Her research interests focus largely on social and peer influences on drinking in college students.
Contact: kkazl001@odu.edu
Alicia Moulder, B.S.
Alicia is a fourth-year student in the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 2022 with a B.S. in Psychology. Broadly, her research interests include sexual minority alcohol use disparities and other maladaptive coping behaviors exhibited by LGBTQ+ populations.
Contact: amoul001@odu.edu
Isabel Martinez, B.S.
Isabel joined as a graduate student in the Experimental Psychology M.S. program in fall 2024. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Her research interests broadly include the influence of psychological characteristics, coping strategies, and ethnicity on alcohol use.
Contact: imart002@odu.edu
Alumni – Graduate Students
Ashley Linden-Carmichael, Ph.D.
Ashley Linden-Carmichael graduated from the Applied Experimental Psychology PhD program in August 2016. Ashley is primarily interested in identifying influential and underlying psychosocial predictors and consequences of substance use patterns among young adults. Ashley is currently faculty in the department of counseling psychology at the University of Oregon.
Brynn Sheehan, Ph.D.
Brynn graduated from the Applied Experimental Psychology PhD program in August 2016. She is currently the director of the Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE) at the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University.
Amy Stamates, Ph.D.
Amy graduated from the Applied Experimental PhD program in summer 2019. Her research interests include: (1) understanding impulsivity as predictor and consequence of alcohol use; (2) exploring patterns of risk associated with drinking and other health behaviors; and (3) identifying subgroups (e.g., nonstudents; bisexual women) of emerging adults at most risk for alcohol-related harms. Amy is currently faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island.
Peter graduated from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology in 2020. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2011 with BA degrees in Psychology and Political Science. Peter completed his internship at the Hines VA in Chicago, IL. Peter is currently with the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Cat graduated from the experiment psychology MS program in August 2019. Her current research interests are in alcohol and sexual health behaviors. She hopes to pursue her PhD in Applied Psychology to work towards a career in conducting research to support public health programs, policy, and education.
Michael graduated with his Master’s in Psychology in Spring 2021. His research interests are in mood disorders and alcohol use among college students. He hopes to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology to work with young adults.
Emily Junkin, Ph.D.
Emily graduated from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology in 2025. She is now a faculty member at the Univeristy of Southern Mississippi and she is the director of the CHEERS Lab. Her research focuses on diagnostic criteria related to impaired control over alcohol use, and she is currently testing an experimental paradigm of impaired control involving alcohol administration.
Douglas Glenn, Ph.D.
Douglas graduated from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology in 2025. He is now a faculty member at the Univeristy of Southern Mississippi and he is the director of the SPIRIT Lab. His research interests involve using experimental designs to study the factors that impact individuals who drink as a way to cope with negative emotions.
Alumni – Undergraduate Students
Many of our undergraduate researchers have been successful in gaining admission to graduate school to further their training:
- Isabel Martinez (lab member: 2022-2024) – Old Dominion University; Master’s in Psychology
- Christina James (lab member: 2022-2024)
- Emma Rawls (lab member: 2022-2023) – Old Dominion University; Master’s in Psychology
- Jasmin Lamanna (lab member: 2022-2023)
- Petra Momcilovic (lab member: 2021-2022) – George Washington University; PhD in I/O Psychology
- Alicia Moulder (lab member: 2021-2022) – Virginia Consortium Program; PhD in Clinical Psychology
- Ryan Collier (lab member: 2021) – Old Dominion University; Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Philip Laxton (lab member: 2020-2021) – Salisbury University; Master’s in Social Work
- Kenacia Goings (lab member: 2018-2020) – Marymount University; M.A. in Forensic & Legal Psychology
- Rhiannon Roberts (lab member: 2018-2019) – George Washington University; Master’s in Criminology
- Georgiana Lee (lab member: 2015-2016) – University of VA; Master’s in Counseling
- Kacy Amory (lab member: 2014-2016) – George Washington University; Master’s in Criminology
- Nicole Ricketts (lab member: 2014-2015) – Western Carolina University; Masters in Clinical Psychology
- Austin Hearne (lab member: 2014) – Minnesota State University; PhD in I/O Psychology
- Melanie Evans (lab member: 2012-2013) – Old Dominion University; PhD in Counseling
- Brittany Hollis (lab member: 2010-2012) – Old Dominion University; PhD in Applied Psychological Sciences
- David Wisenauer (lab member: 2011) – Old Dominion University; Masters in Counseling
- Kayla Mendoza (lab member: 2010) – Old Dominion University; Masters in Counseling