Graduate Students

Jeremy Fruge

Jeremy Fruge is a sixth-year graduate student in the Combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology PhD program at Utah State University. Jeremy is currently on internship with the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prior to completing his undergraduate degree, he service in the U.S. Navy which led to an interest in helping veteran and service members. He completed his B.A. in psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 where he developed an interest in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He is primarily interested in clinical work, and is planning to pursue a career as a clinician within the V.A. His broad clinical and research interests are in treating military members and veterans, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, trauma, anxiety disorders, and improving treatment outcomes.

Jen Barney

Jen Barney is a sixth-year graduate student in the combined clinical and counseling psychology PhD program at Utah State University. She received her BA in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2013 and her MS in Psychology from Drexel University in 2017. Her primary clinical and research interests are in improving eating disorder treatment efficacy, implementing acceptance and values based interventions for eating disorders and other difficult to treat populations, and assessing therapeutic mechanisms of change.

Julie Petersen

Julie Petersen is a fifth-year doctoral student in the combined clinical/counseling program at Utah State University. 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 fifth-year doctoral student in the Clinical/Counseling Psychology program at Utah State University. 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 previously worked as a research assistant at Butler Hospital and Brown University. He has studied and helped develop mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions for mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. Carter's work currently focuses on novel ACT approaches for depression, including self-help and storytelling modalities.

Guadalupe Gabriel San Miguel

Guadalupe Gabriel San Miguel is a fourth-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 fourth-year graduate student in the Combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology PhD program at Utah State University. She received her BA in Psychology from Old Dominion University in 2019. Her research interests include clinical applications of technology, such as utilizing machine learning to make predictions about clients, mobile modes of therapy, and virtual reality as a form of exposure.

Leila Capel

Leila Capel is a third-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 third-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 research interests include the examination of acceptance-based interventions on the promotion of coping, wellbeing and adherence among those living with chronic illnesses. She is currently providing clinical services at the USU Behavioral Health Clinic specializing in anxiety-related disorders.

Miriam Mukasa

Miriam N. Mukasa is a second-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 first-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 first-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.