Graduate Students

Julie Petersen

Julie Petersen is a sixth-year doctoral student in the combined clinical/counseling program at Utah State University. She is currently a psychology intern in the child/adolescent specialization at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. She received her B.S. in psychology from Haverford College in 2016. Before coming to USU, she worked as a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Her research interests are centralized around the treatment of obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders, particularly for kids and teens.

Carter Davis

Carter Davis is a sixth-year doctoral student in the Clinical/Counseling Psychology program at Utah State University. He is currently on internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He received a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015 and a MS in Psychology from USU in 2021. Carter has developed and studied ACT-based programs for depression, anxiety, psychotic-spectrum disorders, and neurodegenerative disease. His work focuses on how to create and implement accessible self-help interventions.

Guadalupe Gabriel San Miguel

Guadalupe Gabriel San Miguel is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Program. In 2017, he received his bachelor's in psychology from the University of Houston. Prior to attending USU, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, specifically in the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction. His primary interest are in insomnia, ACT, and anxiety disorders. In addition, he works in an audiology lab exploring internal barriers to hearing aid uptake and adherence.

Korena Klimczak

Korena Klimczak is a fifth-year graduate student in the Combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology PhD program at Utah State University, and a member of the Utah ACT Research Group with Dr. Michael Levin as her mentor. She received her BA in Psychology from Old Dominion University in 2019 and an MS in Psychology from USU in 2022. Her research interests include clinical applications of technology, with a specific focus on technology-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), engagement with web-based self-help, and implementations of online programs. She enjoys digital-intervention development and optimization, having co-developed the ACT Guide Lite single-session intervention and taking a lead role in developing the ACT Guide Peer-support Coaching program. 

Leila Capel

Leila Capel is a fourth-year doctoral student in the combined clinical/counseling program at Utah State University. She received her B.A. in psychology and government from Smith College in 2016. Before coming to USU, she worked as a research assistant at the Massachusetts General Hospital Neuropsychology clinic and as a Clinical Residence Counselor at the McLean Hospital Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Institute. Her research focuses broadly on acceptance-based treatment of obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders.

Marissa Donahue

Marissa Donahue is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Program at Utah State University. She received her M.A. in Forensic Psychology from Roger Williams University in 2017. Her primary research interests include the examination of web-based acceptance and commitment therapy programs as a transdiagnostic approach in the promotion of wellbeing and adherence among adults living with chronic health conditions. She currently provides clinical services at USU Student Health services and at the cardiac rehabilitation unit of Brigham City Community Hospital.

Miriam Mukasa

Miriam N. Mukasa is a third-year doctoral student in the combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology program at Utah State University. She received her B.A in psychology from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2013 and an M.S in ABA Psychology from the University of Southern California in 2021. She has worked as a behavioral therapist at First Steps for Kids Inc. where she provided ABA therapy to children with developmental disabilities. Prior to that, she worked as an in-country Head of Operations at Washington University in St. Louis’s ICHAD where she conducted several NIH funded research projects working with vulnerable populations in Uganda. Her research interests are in using technology to increase access to mental health services in limited resource communities, implementing acceptance and commitment therapy interventions for depression, and promotion of coping among those living with and providing care to individuals with chronic illnesses.

Emily Bowers

Emily Bowers is a second-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Program at Utah State University. She received her B.S. in biopsychology from Tufts University in 2019. Prior to attending USU, Emily worked as a counselor and clinical research coordinator for the Behavioral Health Partial Program at McLean Hospital where she gained experience co-leading groups and researching treatment outcomes in a transdiagnostic population. Her clinical and research interests focus broadly on acceptance-based treatment interventions for social anxiety and anxiety-related disorders. 

Mercedes Woolley

Mercedes Woolley is a second-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Program at Utah State University. She received her BA in Psychology from Smith College in 2020. Prior to USU, Mercedes worked as a research assistant in the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston. She is interested in acceptance and commitment therapy and process-based approaches to treatment for a range of clinical presentations. She is particularly excited about treatment process and outcome research and mindfulness-based interventions targeting transdiagnostic processes. 

Francesca Knudsen

Francesca is a first-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology Program at Utah State University. She received her BA in Psychology & Health, Medicine, and Society from Lehigh University in 2021. She previously worked as a research coordinator at the WELL Center at Drexel University, where she gained research and clinical experience on eating disorder prevention and behavioral weight loss studies. She is broadly interested in utilizing acceptance- and mindfulness-based strategies to improve stress, healthy eating, physical activity behaviors and subsequent health outcomes in at-risk populations.