Contact Information
Research Areas
Biography
I am a doctoral candidate in the Clinical/Community program. I did my undergraduate degree in secondary education and psychology at Northern Illinois University. There, I graduated with degrees in secondary social studies education and psychology. I briefly worked as a high school teacher before switching careers. After teaching, I worked under Dr. Laurie Wakschlag in the Developmental Mechanisms lab at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine in downtown Chicago before I started at UIUC for graduate school.
At The University of Illinois I am advised by Dr. Wendy Heller and Dr. Greg Miller in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience of Psychopathology Lab. Additionally, I am an intramural graduate student researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, where I work with Dr. Daniel Pine in the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience.
As of July 2026, I am currently on my APA-accredited internship at the Puget Sound VA, Seattle.
Research Interests
My research interests are at the intersection of cognitive, clinical, and computational neuroscience. I utilize machine learning methods with neuroimaging data to examine mechanisms that support cognition and psychopathology, generally from a transdiagnostic perspective. Additionally, I have interests in neural network modeling as a method for investigating clinical mechanisms, models of cognition, neural function, and artificial intelligence.
Research Description
Current projects include:
- Using machine learning methods to examine common and distinct neural features in psychopathology and cognitive tasks
- Feature selection techniques for effective neuroimaging decoding
- Using deep learning (convolutional neural network) methods for brain-age classification
Education
2021 - University of Illinois - Masters of Science in Psychology
2016 - Northern Illinois University - Double Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History (with Teaching Certification)
Grants
National Institutes of Health - Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research
Supervisors: Dr. Daniel Pine, Dr. Andre Zugman, Dr. Anderson Winkler, Dr. Chelsea Sawyers Rooney
- May 2020-Aug. 2020*
- May 2021-Aug. 2021
- May 2022-Aug. 2022
- May 2023-Aug. 2023
- May 2024-Aug. 2024
*Note—the 2020 program was cancelled due to COVID-19
Awards and Honors
2019-2026 - Instructor Rated as Outstanding – UIUC Graduate Teaching Assistant (Awarded seven semesters)
2026 - University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student ($2,000)
Courses Taught
PSYC 100 - Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 238 - Psychopathology and Problems in Living
PSYC 363 - Developmental Psychology Research Lab
PSYC 379 - Clinical Psychology Research Lab
MCB 460 - Neuroanatomy Laboratory
Additional Campus Affiliations
National Institutes of Health - National Institute of Mental Health - Graduate Student (2020-present)
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine - Research Assistant (2017-2019)
Highlighted Publications
Richier, C.J., Zugman, A., Harrewijn, A., Cardinale, E.M., Khosravi, P., Aghajani, M., Bruin, W.B., Hilbert, K., Cardoner, N., Porta-Casteràs, D., Cano, M., Gosnell, S., Salas, R., Jackowski, A.P., Pan, P.M., Salum, G.A., Blair, K.S., Blair, J.R., Milad, M.R., Burkhouse, K.L., … Sawyers, C.K. (2026). Brain age prediction in generalized anxiety disorder using a convolutional neural network. Translational Psychiatry.
Richier. C.J., Baacke, K., Oshan, S.M., & Heller, W. (2026). Comparison of dimensionality reduction and feature selection for cognitive task decoding in functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience Methods.
Marder, M.A., Richier, C.J., Miller, G.A., & Heller, W. (in press). My mind went blank: Understanding and measuring anxious freezing across contexts. Assessment.
Olshan, S.M., Richier, C.J., Baacke, K.A., Miller, G.A., & Heller, W. (2025). Making the most of errors: utilizing erroneous classifications generated by machine-learning models of neuroimaging data to capture disorder heterogeneity. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.
Marder, M.A., Richier, C.J., Miller, G.A., & Heller, W. (2022). Pandemic onset, individual differences, and dimensional symptoms of depression and anxiety among emerging adults. Emerging Adulthood.