Lab Director
Tess M.S. Neal, Ph.D. is a Dean's Associate Professor of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Iowa State University. She is a scientist, a licensed psychologist (State of Iowa # 121491, State of Arizona #4630, State of Nebraska #844 [voluntary inactive status in NE]), and a parent of two young children.
Her research has been funded by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation, and she has published one edited book and more than three dozen peer-reviewed publications in such journals as Psychological Science in the Public Interest, American Psychologist; PLOS ONE; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; Law and Human Behavior; and Criminal Justice and Behavior. She serves as Editor-in-Chief for Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. She served from 2021-2023 as one of the three inaugural Open Science Advisors for Clinical Psychological Science and was been an associate editor at two different journals for several years. She was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to work with Kristy Martire and others at UNSW Sydney in 2022, and is a Fellow of both the Association for Psychological Science (2022) and American Psychological Association (2021). She was awarded ASU's Outstanding Mentor Award in 2020 and the 2021 Outstanding Teaching & Mentoring Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Div. 9 of APA). She received early career awards for excellence in research from the American Psychology-Law Society (Div. 41 of APA) / American Academy of Forensic Psychology, as well as from the Society for Personality Assessment. Prior to moving to ISU in fall 2023, she was a tenured associate professor at Arizona State University, where she was the founding director of ASU's Future of Forensic Science Initiative and a co-founder of ASU's Law and Behavioral Science Initiative, which won the 2020 President's Award for Innovation. Her CV is here. |
PhD Students
Ciera Arnett, M.S.Ciera is a 5th year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Arizona State University. Her interests primarily lie in investigating the mechanisms of psychosis, from sub-clinical psychotic experiences to diagnosable psychotic disorders. She is excited to work with Dr. Neal in the CLJ Lab (as well as co-mentor Will Corbin in the BARCA Lab) to better understand the course of substance-induced vs. primary psychosis and its implications for legal contexts. Her goal after grad school is to work as a licensed psychologist in the community.
Maya is a third-year psychology doctoral student at Iowa State University. Her previous research focused on how sociocultural environments shape individuals, including the neuropsychology of forensic psychopathy and the link between adverse childhood experiences and physiological and behavioral outcomes in adulthood. Maya’s current interests exist at the intersection of basic research, clinical practice, and the translation and implementation of research findings in a legal context. Her ultimate goal is to ensure the equitable application of psychological science to historically marginalized populations.
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Undergraduate Research Assistants
There are not currently any undergraduate students working in the CLJ Lab, as we're in a period of transition after moving institutions. Will begin mentoring undergraduate students again soon.
Collaborators Who Are Part of the Lab
Kristy Martire, PhD
Dr. Martire is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. Her research aims to better understand the development of expertise, processes of evidence evaluation in criminal trials, and to improve the communication between experts and lay decision-makers in forensic settings. She works closely with Dr. Neal and the CLJ Lab through the PLuS Alliance and also hosted Dr. Neal at UNSW during her Fulbright scholarship in Spring 2022. Drs. Neal and Martire were retained by the Mass Casualty Commission to summarize best practices in forensic psychological assessment and apply that framework to a particular psychological autopsy in a major Canadian case.
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