Dr. Salerno and the lab over the years!
Dr. Jessica M. Salerno
Lab Director
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We are excited to report that we are moving to Cornell University in 2025!​
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Jessica M. Salerno is an associate professor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences division of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University and an Affiliated Faculty member in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She is a founding member of the ASU Program on Law and Behavioral Science and a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychology and the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Middlebury College in 2003 and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012.
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Dr. Salerno’s research interests include several lines of inquiry that apply social psychological theory and experimentation to legal contexts. Dr. Salerno's work has been published in empirical journals and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Justice, the American Psychology-Law Society, the American Bar Foundation, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She serves on the editorial board for Law and Human Behavior and Psychology, Public Policy, & Law. She has won several research awards, including the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award, the New College for Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Outstanding Research Award and the American Psychology-Law Society's Saleem Shah Early Career Award.
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Dr. Salerno is also a trial consultant and serves as an expert witness on a variety of topics, including juror decision making, cognitive biases, disturbing emotional evidence, factors leading to wrongful convictions, and 911 Call Analysis.
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To learn about Dr. Salerno's research download her CV HERE. ​​
Associate Professor of Psychology
School of Behavioral Sciences
New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
Arizona State University
jessica.salerno@asu.edu
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Alia Wulff (any pronouns) is a postdoctoral scholar in the lab. Alia's work has mainly concentrated on failures of eyewitness memory and attention. They have investigated both the theoretical mechanisms behind these cognitive phenomena and potential consequences of these failures occurring in the real world. Their current work in the SPL Lab further centers the real-world justice system, focusing on identifying potential factors in initial investigation decisions and long-term consequences of policy changes.
You can reach Alia at: alia.wulff@gmail.com
Click here to view their CV
Alia Wulff
Postdoctoral Scholar
Logan is a 5th year PhD student with ambitions of becoming a trial consultant. He has been steadily growing his presence in the field over the past two years, working with various consultants around the US. His research interests include juror and jury decision making, particularly in civil trials. He has been examining the effects of emotion on verdicts as mediated by metacognition.
You can reach Logan at: lbussey1@asu.edu
Click here to view his CV.
Logan Bussey
PhD Student
Breanna Olson is a 5th year PhD student in the Law and Psychology program. Broadly speaking, she is interested in juror and jury decision-making in civil litigation. Her research explores factors that influence perceptions of individual and corporate defendants and damages awards. Breanna has experience as a trial consultant and is interested in how law and psychology research can be used to inform trial strategies.
Breanna Olson
PhD Student
Samantha Bean is a 4th year PhD student in the Law and Psychology program. Her research interests primarily concern juror decision-making and investigating how attention and emotion, evidence presentation, and extra-legal factors influence decision-making. Samantha is also interested in what makes people suspicious and what behavioral factors lead to more or less suspicious inferences in the context of 911 calls.
You can reach her at: srbean1@asu.edu
You here to view her CV.
Samantha Bean
PhD Student
Megan Lawrence is a 3rd year PhD student in the Law and Psychology program. Megan is working on Dr. Salerno's NSF-funded study on identifying behavioral factors that generate suspicion, and she is exploring the effectiveness of implicit bias interventions in the courtroom for her thesis. Megan's other research interests include identifying strategies to effectively study racial bias in experimental settings and understanding perceptions of Miranda rights decisions.
You can reach Megan at: mllawre4@asu.edu
Click here to view her CV.
Megan Lawrence
PhD Student
Rose Eerdmans is a 3rd year PhD student in the Law and Psychology program. Rose’s main research interests lie in understanding and addressing racial disparities and discrimination in the legal system. She is currently focused on exploring the psychological processes underlying racial bias correction in experimental and real-world settings, as well as ways to more effectively study racial bias in legal contexts.
You can reach Rose at: reerdman@asu.edu
Click here to view her CV.
Rose Eerdmans
PhD Student
Kristen is a 2nd year PhD student in the Law and Psychology program. Her research interests are broadly related to understanding the impact of intersectional factors (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation) on juror decision-making. She is also interested in investigating factors that impact perceptions of victims, particularly underrepresented victims. Currently, Kristen is working on several projects that study racial and gender bias in different stages of the legal process.
You can reach Kristen at: kgitting@asu.edu
Click here to view her CV.
Kristen Gittings
PhD Student
Sara is a 1st year MS student in the Law and Psychology program. Her research interests are related to racial and gender bias within legal settings as well as perceptions of wrongful convictions. Sara has aspirations to continue her studies in a JD program upon graduation, with hopes to become a practicing attorney and fight inequalities within legal settings.
You can reach Sara at: snthoma9@asu.edu
Click here to view her CV.
Sara Thomas
MS Student
Psychology & Law Research Assistants
Azucena (Suzie) Villalobos Lopez
Psychology
TJ Morgan
Forensic Psychology / Criminology
Isabelle (Izzie) Reeder
Forensic Psychology
MJ Sarraf
Forensic Psychology/ Neuroscience
Kayla Parsons
Forensic Psychology
Jasmine Decker
Forensic Psychology
Grace Ellersick
Forensic Psychology
Rhiannon Gnerer
Psychology
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Gina Mersonia
Forensic Psychology
Charlotte Tappenden
Forensic Psychology
Julie Reid
Psychology
Elizabeth (Libby) Mijares
Forensic Psychology/ Criminal Justice
Heather McDermott
Psychology/ Criminal Justice
Fatima Botello
Psychology/ Spanish Linguistics
Mia Galletti
Forensic Psychology
Mirei Ienaga
Psychology/ Political Science
