Daniel Distefano Email & Phone Number

I am an honors psychology and sociology student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Investigating how the two subjects intersect is of great interest to me. I am currently a research assistant for the UMass Learning Lab studying developmental psychology. I have been involved in conducting research investigating stereotype threat among undergraduate college students to push for interventions that may mitigate its harmful effects. Additionally, I have experience coding behavioral data to gain insight into children's cognitive flexibility, especially in relation to their perception of gender.Furthermore, I have experience as a teaching assistant. I TA'ed PSYCH 241: Methods of Inquiry in my sophomore year. As a teaching assistant, I aided students in coding using R, graded their weekly lab activities, and held office hours upon request. Now in my junior year, I work as a teaching assistant for PSYCH 337: Junior Year Writing. In this position, I analyze the students' papers and suggest ways they may improve in areas of clarity, conciseness, grammar, and content. I also hold weekly online office hours to help ensure student academic growth.Outside of my academics, I am involved in WMUA Amherst Radio. I enjoy broadcasting for WMUA News where we summarize important current events. Additionally, I created a WMUA News feature regarding the societal influences on loneliness as a way to reduce the stigma surrounding the topic. The feature includes interviews I had with senior public health majors and the Title IX Training Specialist. My feature is now periodically played during the WMUA News broadcasting.In the future, I hope to pursue research in psychology while incorporating sociological viewpoints to expand the literature that tends to ignore societal influences by only focusing on dispositional factors. Ultimately, I hope to teach at a college level to continue raising awareness of social issues and inspire reformative action among future generations.