Our Research Team

Principal Investigator

Jenna L. Merenstein, Ph.D.

Google Scholar | Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Webpage

I obtained a B.S. in Psychology from Colorado State University and Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of California, Riverside. I completed three years of postdoctoral training at Duke University Medical Center, where I was funded by an F32 National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). As of July 2025, I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah.

Undergraduate Lab Members

Jake Christensen

Psychology Major / Physics Minor (exp. 2026)

Taeseung Kim

Psychology Major (exp. 2026)

Breanna Watterson

Psychology Major (exp. 2027)

Daren Riddle

Makenna Manning

Psychology / HDFS Major (exp. 2028)

Madison Kohler

Psychology / Sociology Major (exp. 2028)

Casey Westring

Collaborators & Funding Sources

Join Our Team!

Undergraduate students: I am currently recruiting 1-2 undergraduate psychology honors students to complete their theses in the lab. Most of our other research assistant positions are currently filled, but undergraduate applications are reviewed on a rolling basis (at least once per semester) and can be completed here.
Graduate students: If you are a prospective graduate student, please reach out to me via email to learn more about ongoing projects and opportunities in the lab. I recruit students through the Cognition and Neural Science (CNS) doctoral program and am unable to serve as a primary advisor for the Clinical Psychology speciality (although I am happy to discuss potential co-mentorship situations based on your research interests).
Postdoctoral scholars: At this time, no lab-based funding is available to support postdoctoral training, but I would be open to assisting with individual postdoctoral fellowship mechanisms. I have provided links to some potential funding mechanisms on the Resources tab. The University of Utah also has a T32 training program that might be of interest.