Maya (she/her) is a doctoral candidate working with Dr. Wendy Heller and Dr. Gregory A Miller. Her work focuses on the psychophysiological profiles associated with anxiety and the construct development of anxious freezing within the domain of anxiety-related threat perception. 

Current research interests:

Cognition and physiological activation associated with anxiety-related freeze behavior

• Can we measure anxiety-related freezing behavior?
• Does this freeze response manifest similarly in performance-threat contexts compared to when imminent danger is near?
• What patterns of cognition and neural/cardiac/ocular activation are associated to “less-severe” threat processing?
• What individual differences emerge in these profiles and are they impacted by social identity?

How is cognition and performance affected by vulnerability to repetitive negative thinking (worry/rumination)? 

• How does repetitive, negative thought affect our decision-making, perception, and performance under stress? 
• Do the differences in the ways worry affect different identities? Does one’s susceptibility to stereotype threat influence this relationship?

Clinical interests include neuropsychological assessment, interventions for internalizing symptoms, and supporting clients to explore equanimity, self-acceptance, and balance as they engage in the therapeutic process. Maya works in multiple psychologically focused clinics and integrated medical centers serving inpatients/outpatients, student-athletes, university students, and community members.

Prior to UIUC, Maya took a circuitous route to psychology, Maya first played D1 Women's Soccer and pursued a B.A. in Architecture from Columbia University. She worked as an architect, a pastry chef specializing in sugar & chocolate showpiece design, and in business development before turning to psychological research and clinical intervention. Maya quickly gravitated towards the intersection of physiological function, biological imaging, and emotional processing.

Photo credit: Carly Conway, U of I College of Liberal Arts & Sciences