Doctoral Students
Raghad Hassalbelnaby
Raghad is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology PsyD program at William Paterson University. Raghad graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in criminal justice from the University of Toledo in 2018. She has assisted with the Arabic group for the Paterson Project, along with the group leaders Marawa Ahmed and Ghada Saleh.
Raghad worked for a domestic violence agency supporting women and their children, while serving as a court advocate. Overall, Raghad’s research interests include the development of childhood fears from the transmission of negative information from parents. She is also interested in adolescent intimate partner violence, as well as how personality and cultural factors influence the processing of trauma.
Chana Becher
Chana Becher is a fourth- year student in the William Paterson University PsyD program who received her BA in Psychology/Education at Touro College. Chana studies intimate partner violence (IPV) in adolescent and young adult romantic relationships to prevent relationship violence. Additional research includes dating relationships within religious groups. She has also spent several years working with children and adolescents facing emotional, social, and educational challenges.
Her research interests include shifts in behaviors that lead to violence and aggression and the relationship between IPV and different religious groups or cultures. Additionally, aggression against children both at home and in school settings is an important interest. Chana’s dissertation study will investigate the identification of violent shifts in behaviors across middle, high school and college students and probe for possibilities of prevention and earlier identification of aggression and violence.
Bryan Alava and Fernanda Moura
Bryan Alava and Fernanda Moura have been working on the Paterson Project.
They are also working on a project Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Microaggressions and Clinical Symptomatology in Ethnic Minority College Students with Christopher Watkins and Keshani Perera.
Bryan Alava, M.A.
Bryan is a fourth-year student in the PsydD program and is currently an adjunct professor teaching Abnormal Psychology. He graduated with a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University and a master’s in clinical psychology from Montclair State University. After graduating with his masters, he worked as a Clinical Team Lead for a Mental Health Crisis Intervention Program. Bryan’s research interest includes protective factors associated with adverse childhood experiences. He currently is an extern at Rikers Island providing individual and group therapy to clients with serious mental illness.
As part of the Culture and Resilience Team, Bryan has participated on a project exploring the relationship between racial Microaggressions and Clinical Symptomatology in Ethnic Minority College Students with Christopher Watkins, Keshani Perera, and Fernanda Moura. He has provided group therapy to recently immigrated Latinx youths from Paterson, NJ.
Brittany Juncosa, M.A.
Brittany is a third-year student in the William Paterson University PsyD program. While previously attending John Jay College, she worked as a research assistant on the Investigative Psychology Research Unit (IPRU) Sex Offender Profiling (SOP) Project. After graduating with a MA in Forensic Psychology, she worked as a Crisis Response Worker for Care Plus NJ, conducting crisis risk assessment for youth and families throughout Bergen County. Brittany's research interests include risk factors associated with violence including trauma, cognitive functioning, and personality.
Christine Wang
Christine is a second-year doctoral student in the PsyD program and currently an adjunct instructor teaching Intro to Psychology at WPU. She has worked as a Telemental Health Care intern at Mantra Health offering comprehensive treatment service for young adults. She worked at Prof. Lawrence Yang's lab in Columbia University on effects of epigenetic malleability framing to the clinical high-risk youth. She's been a crisis counselor at WMC since 2018, providing hotline service and in-person accompaniment. Her interests in the field include multicultural counseling, anxiety, depression, telemental health care and CBT.
Christine enjoys nature, hiking with friends, walking along the Hudson River, and traveling to learn other cultures. She is also a certified yoga teacher who loves practicing yoga and daily meditation. She likes cooking at home, drawing, and reading while listening to music in her downtime.
Gladys Martinez, M.Ed, LAC, NCC
Gladys is a second-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Psy.D. program at William Paterson University. She received her B.A. in Psychology and M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology with a certification in School Counseling from Rutgers State University. She is a licensed associate counselor, and volunteers as a certified NJ Disaster Response Crisis Counselor.
Gladys worked as an Intensive In-community Counselor providing therapy to youths in crisis situations. She also worked as a School Counselor for the Union and Middlesex County public high schools. Her research interests include working with the Latinx population, immigration, children & adolescents, personality disorders, and trauma.
Nuu Grenier, B.A., M. Ed.
Nuu Grenier (They/Them) is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Psy.D program at William Paterson University. Nuu graduated with a BA in Television and Digital Media from Montclair State University in 2015 and in 2017 they completed their MA in School Counseling at Frostburg State University. They are a recent graduate (2022) of the Clinical and Counseling Psychology program at William Paterson University. Nuu currently works for the Women’s Center at William Paterson University and collaborates with the staff there to facilitate informational workshops on Intimidate Partner Violence Prevention and LGBTQIA+ inclusive programming.
As a part of their studies, Nuu is currently researching Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) within the LGBTQIA+ community. Additional research interests include LGBTQIA+ health, sexual and gender identity development, and suicide prevention strategies for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
