Yifan Hu
Yifan (she/her) is a doctoral student in Human Development and Family Studies. Her research centers around understanding keys to fulfilling romantic relationships. Specifically, Yifan investigates two key areas: first, what individuals can do to enhance relationship satisfaction and commitment (such as relationship maintenance strategies), and second, how partners can function together as an integrated system (including physiological synchrony and joint relationship maintenance processes). Additionally, Yifan’s work extends to mental health within couples and farming populations. Yifan is from Chongqing, an amazing and exciting city that’s crazily hot in summer.
Recent citations:
Hu, Y., Ogolsky, B. G., & Stafford, L. (2023). The role of individual- and interactive-level relationship maintenance on married couples’ commitment. Personal Relationships, 30(4), 1426-1448. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12517
Ma, S. S., Zhang, J. T., Song, K. R., Zhao, R., Fang, R. H., Wang, L. B., Yao, S. T., Hu, Y. F., Jiang, X. Y., Potenza, M. N., & Fang, X. Y. (2022). Connectome-based prediction of marital quality in husbands’ processing of spousal interactions. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 17(12), 1055-1067. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsac034
Ogolsky, B. G., Mejia, S. T., Chronopoulou, A., Dobson, K., Maniotes, C. R., Rice, T. M., Hu, Y., Theisen, J. C., & Carvalho Manhaes Leite, C. (2022). Spatial proximity as a behavioral marker of relationship dynamics in older adult couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(10), 3116-3132. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211050073
Ghada El Kawas
Ghada (she/her) is a doctoral student in Human Development and Family Studies. She completed her MS in HDFS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her BA in Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing at The American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Ghada’s current research interests include how media and technology impact romantic relationships, human-AI relationships, and parasocial romantic relationships. In her free time, Ghada enjoys reading, cozy gaming, and looking at pictures of her cats.
Recent citations:
Kawas, G. & Ogolsky, B. (2023). The sociocultural context of romantic relationships. In Ogolsky, B. (Ed.), The sociocultural context of romantic relationships (pp. 1-10). Cambridge University Press.
Eva Li
Eva (she/they) is a doctoral student in HDFS. She graduated in December 2020 from the College of William & Mary with a B.S. in Psychology. Her research interests include couples synchrony, trust and deception in romantic relationships, attachment styles, and partners’ perceptions of contribution. Outside of the lab, Eva enjoys reading, thrifting, collecting vinyls, and walking her pet cat, Winky.
Charlotte Sudduth
Charlotte (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Studies program. Prior to joining the HEART Lab, she earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Edinburgh. Charlotte’s research focuses on (1) couples’ experiences of chronic stress and (2) strengthening relationship science’s theories and measurement practices. Outside the lab, Charlotte hikes, kayaks, and talks far too much about her asthmatic cat, Tugboat.