People

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 nearly 60 peer-reviewed publications in such journals as Nature Reviews Psychology; 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 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 a mid-career award from the American Psychology-Law Society (APA Div 41) in 2025 and previously 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

Maya A. Irvin-Vitela, M.S.
Lab Manager

Maya is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in psychology at Iowa State University. She is part of the psychology-law concentration, and her interests exist at the intersection of basic research, clinical practice, and the translation and implementation of psychological research in legal contexts. Her prior research has spanned different areas of this intersection, including forensic neuropsychological evaluation of psychopathy and biopsychosocial outcomes associated with adverse childhood experiences. Her research seeks to build understanding of how forensic mental health experts navigate complex decision tasks, the underlying mechanisms involved in their expert decision making, and how bias may affect those processes. She is also interested in how psychological science can be used as a tool to improve the accuracy and reliability of expert judgment.

Christian Stephens

Christian is a first-year doctoral student concentrated in cognitive psychology at Iowa State University. His primary motivation is to mitigate cognitive biases in criminal justice processes and systems across the world. A big team scientist, he also pursues large-scale, cross-cultural replications of fundamental cognitive psychology research. His research interests and experiences extend to education, communication, and public health, and he currently works on incorporating large language models into forensic mental health evaluations. He also plays bongos.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Tavien Bragg

The reason I decided to join the research team is because as a young aspiring clinical psychologist I want to gain experience and knowledge in research so that when I do my own psychological research in the future I can then take my findings and help make my community a better place as proficiently as possible.

Emily Butera

I am pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies. I serve as president of Psi Chi and a grading assistant in philosophy, and am an LAS Dean's High Impact Awardee and AmeriCorps intern. I took research methods with Dr. Neal, where I learned research basics and completed a Collaborative Replication and Education Project! I joined her lab to expand my learning and research experience. My main research interest is family conflict, and I hope to explore legal battles families face. I plan to attend graduate school either in marriage and family therapy or counseling psychology.

Marlee Curtis

I am a Psychology and Criminal Justice double major. I plan to attend graduate school and obtain a master's degree in counseling psychology or social work. Later, I hope to work in a drug rehabilitation center. By working in the lab, I want to get real-world research experience, instruction under established researchers and psychologists, and participate in something I find greatly interesting.

Kaitlyn Huwel

I am a sophomore pursuing a B.S. in Psychology and a B.S. in Criminal Justice. I serve as a sophomore advisor for the President's Leadership Class and a member of the Student Advisory Board for the Dean of Students. I plan to attend law school and become a criminal defense attorney. I've always been interested in the intersection of psychological and legal fields, specifically pertaining to legal decision-making. I've joined this lab to expand my knowledge through the real-world applications a research laboratory offers.

Rhya Larson

I am a junior studying psychology on a pre-med track. I am a member of the George Washington Carver scholarship program, the STEM scholars' program, and serve on the student advisory board for the GWC program. I've become more interested in how psychology is applied in a legal context, and how legal decisions are made taking psychology into account. I hope to obtain a PhD in clinical psychology with a focus in forensics.

Molly Sickels

I am majoring in Psychology with minors in Criminal Justice and Statistics. I plan to pursue graduate school to obtain a degree in social work or clinical psychology and work with incarcerated youth. Within the lab I am hoping to better understand how people make legal decisions when psychological questions need to be addressed specifically regarding mental competency and subsequent sentencing.

Indya Kenney (Postgrad)

In Spring 2025 I graduated from the psychology program at Iowa State University and am planning to apply for graduate school this fall. I'm looking forward to learning more about the intersection between psychology and law and how the use of psychology in the legal system can be improved to better represent and help those involved. I plan on continuing to involve myself in research and to further my education by pursuing a graduate degree in psychology.

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 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.

Iowa State University psychology-law faculty members, Summer 2023. From left: Zlatan Krizan, Christian Meissner, Miko Wilford, Gary Wells, Jason Chan, Andrew Smith, Tess Neal.

Tenured & Promoted, May 12, 2021!

CLJ Lab Fall 2025. From left: Christian Stephens, Maya Irvin-Vitela, Indya Kenney, Marlee Curtis, and Tess Neal.

Christian Stephens, Maya Irvin-Vitela, and Tess Neal at the department's 2025 fall BBQ.