Afarin Rajaei, Ph.D.c., LMFT
Afarin holds a Ph.D. in medical family therapy program from East Carolina University. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and currently serves as an assistant professor in the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. Afarin’s research interests include exploring various aspects of relationships are ranging from biopsychosocial-spiritual (BPSS) stressors in conflicted intimate relationships, romantic relationship quality, and well-being of patients with cancer, caregivers, and immigrants. She loves experiencing nature, traveling, spending time with her husband, family, and friends.
RACHEL HUTCHINSON
Rachel is currently a 2nd year MA student studying Positive Organizational Psychology and Evaluation at Claremont Graduate University. Her research interests include focusing on how to become your best possible self, flourishing in life, the path(s) to personal goal attainment, program evaluations in an organizational context, and the factors that make up a "good life." She is also interested in teaching organizations about positive psychology in the hopes of improving employee well-being, management consulting, and employee engagement. Her other interests include going to the beach, horseback riding, and watching TED talks.
Lawrence chan
Lawrence earned his PhD student in the Organizational Behavior from CGU in 2021. His research interests are in People Analytics and Health Behavior research. He is interested in the intersection between healthcare management/strategy and employee wellness initiatives. Outside of academia, Lawrence enjoys exercise and spending time with his family! He also is an adjunct instructor in the Psychology Department at Chapman University.
Angelina Leigh
Angelina was a student M.S. Statistical Sciences program. She is interested in research integrating meditation and machine learning techniques. She enjoy cooking, exercising, and the sun!
Tyler Owen
Tyler has a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science and a Certificate of Personal Training from Indiana University Purdue University- Indianapolis. He earned his MA in Positive Health Psychology from CGU in 2021. His research interests are vast but mostly concern the psychophysiological connection between self-regulation, mindfulness, flow, and meditation through the lens of health and optimal performance. His hobbies include working out, hanging out with his wife, hanging out with friends, and reading. Tyler's non-psychological interests involve physics, human biology, vehicle mechanics, and small construction projects. Tyler is now currently a PhD Student in Social Psychology at Texas Tech University.
Kelsey Carpenter
Kelsey is a PhD student in the Applied Social Psychology program at CGU. Her research interests include positive health behaviors, behavior change, and motivation. She is currently working towards developing interventions to improve the wellbeing of people who are resistant to common positive psychology techniques.
Ezra Isabel Cabreros
Ezra is currently a graduate student at Teachers College, Columbia University where she is earning her Master’s degree in Psychology in Education with a concentration in Spirituality and Mind-Body Practice. Her main area of work is at the intersection of positive psychology, education, and spirituality. Since 2019, Ezra has been involved in positive developmental psychology research at Claremont Graduate University and has contributed to a number of projects with the Well-Being and Developmental Methods Lab. Some of her research interests include spiritual development, well-being, positive relationships, and resilience in youth and young adults. Ezra’s top character strengths are honesty, love, spirituality, creativity, and love of learning. Apart from academia, Ezra is a flow artist, certified Kundalini Reiki practitioner, yoga-enthusiast, plant-based foodie, and nature lover. She strives to bring her growing knowledge in positive psychology, mind-body medicine, social and emotional learning, and spirituality to communities near and far.
Alyssa Ream
Alyssa has a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development with a minor in Psychology. She is a first-year student in the Masters of Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation at CGU. She is passionate about research in positive cross-cultural psychology, positive child development, and well-being across the lifespan. She plans to earn a Ph.D. to pursue a career in academia to inspire and educate others while continuing her passion for research. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, riding her Harley Davidson, and spending time with her family and pets.
Haoxiong (David) Li
Haoxiong (David) Li is a graduate student majoring in positive organizational psychology at Claremont Graduate University. He is interested in positive psychology, motivation, positive states of employees such as employee engagement and mindfulness, positive practices in organizations such as transformational leadership and positive leadership, and survey development. Using his knowledge in organizational behavior and positive psychology, Li studies the relationship between leaders’ positive states and leadership styles.
Jia qi (Eva) Li
Jia Qi (Eva) Li received her Masters of Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation at CGU. Her research interests include relationships across the lifespan, love, positive psychology. She plans to obtain a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology to pursue a career in academia.
jia-qi.li@cgu.edu
Kathryn Doiron
Kathryn is a PhD student in Positive Organizational Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. She is interested in positive relationships, both at work and in general, as well as personal values and other-oriented emotions and behaviors. Specifically, she is researching appreciation at work, the differences between appreciation and gratitude, positive habits and relationship maintenance, how employee-customer relationships impact prosocial and antisocial behaviors, and how personal values intersect with career decision making and career exploration. Outside of research, Kathryn enjoys reading for fun, listening to music, pub trivia, and petting her two very fluffy cats.
Sasha Zuker
Sasha Zuker is a 2nd year Master’s student in the Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation program at CGU. Her research interests include: well-being in adults, Adlerian psychology, positive sexuality, and how being in nature impacts people's health. Sasha’s previous education includes a B.A. in psychology as well as a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies. Her previous experiences includes research assistantship position in a clinical psychology lab, data analyst for evaluation projects, and positions as a psychology and statistics tutor. Additionally, Sash has spent a few years as an ESL teacher and carpenter. She also enjoys volunteering at the San Diego Center for Neurofeedback.
In Sasha’s free time, she likes to camp out, hike, swim, cycle, read, draw, have meaningful conversations, and play with her Aussie Sheperd Artemis.
sasha.zuker@cgu.edu
Jack Serna is a 2nd year PhD student in the Positive Developmental Psychology program at CGU. His research interests include well-being, resilience, and research methods. His previous experiences range from volunteering in education programming throughout the K-12 grade span, working with college students in coaching programs, working in regional and national non-profit education research, and being an IT system administrator. Jack’s earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology at UC Berkeley. He is still figuring out his career goals, but he has his sights on publishing, discovering, and leading. Jack dreams of one day building an R shiny dashboard for people to interact with the concepts and results of his research. Jack also hopes to build a community research project that serves people.
Other fun facts: “I love R! I read R blogs for fun to see how I might use a process to do something cooler. I'm an anime fan, it's my guiding inner spirit. I follow political discourse pretty closely as I believe it will make my job as a psychologist much easier. I enjoy cooking, especially for other people, and as much as I am an introvert I do enjoy being a host and serving people.”
jack.serna@cgu.edu
Kristen clure
Kristen graduated from CGU with a MA in the Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation. She has research interests in mindfulness implementation effects in survivors of trauma and chronic pain. Before coming to CGU, Kristen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at UC Berkeley in 2020. Kristen also worked in a Social Psychology research lab with facial coding using FACS. She also interned at a Brain Injury treatment center (Cognitive FX) in Utah in the first half of 2021 while working at a ski park. Additionally, she has worked as a curriculum editor for Behavior Analyst Supervisor. Kristen has various career trajectories in mind: becoming a professor at a research-based university, working as a researcher in a brain injury treatment center, and/or researching CTE within professional sports. Kristen also has experience as a yoga teacher. Currently, Kristen is involved in several projects in the lab, such as the Transition to College & Mindfulness Project.
Hobbies: Skiing, Yoga, Ice skating, Hiking, Biking, Swimming, Running, Paddle-boarding, Hammocking, camping, (anything outside), Drinking coffee, Playing the piano, going to concerts, collecting vinyl records, reading
Fun Facts: Kristen learned to ski before learning how to ride a bike or speak!
kristen.clure@cgu.edu
Kewei Su
Kewei Su graduated from Claremont Graduate University with a MA in Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation.
Christina Putrov
Christina Putrov received her MA in Positive Organizational Psychology and is continuing on as a PhD student. Her research interests include authenticity at work, positive work relationships, psychological safety, and appreciation in the workplace. Currently, Christina is a professor of psychology at Cal Poly Pomona and hopes to dabble as an adjunct faculty member while consulting full-time.
In her free time, Christina likes to cook, learn new languages, and meet new people.
Tina Badakhshan
Tina graduated from Claremont Graduate University with a MA in Positive Developmental Psychology. Her main passion is in exploring how to incorporate well-being principles (especially mindfulness) into day-to-day life, systematically, and for all. Also a program manager at Salesforce, her interests lie heavily in applied research and closing some of the gaps between academia and the world outside of it. With a background in international development, Tina is particularly interested in bringing a culturally diverse perspective to her research, expanding beyond the WEIRD countries. Through traveling to and working in 18+ countries, she became very familiar with the interconnectedness of our global community and aims to bring more intentionality to how we function as human beings.
tina.badakhshan@cgu.edu
