Lab Director
Larry Hawk, Ph.D. (he/they)
Dr. Larry Hawk feels fortunate to work with a great multidisciplinary Behavioral Health team, including collaborators across North America. He received his doctoral degree in in Clinical (Health) Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1996 and completed his clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Hawk began his career as a clinical psychophysiologist and continues to take a non-reductionistic approach to integrating psychology and biology. Most of Dr. Hawk’s recent and current research focuses on the role of basic cognitive and affective/motivational processes and treatment mechanisms in tobacco/nicotine use. He employs a range of research methodologies, including basic behavioral pharmacology lab studies, intensive real-world assessment, and randomized clinical trials. A parallel line of work focuses on ADHD. Dr. Hawk also enjoys traveling with his wife, cycling, and a range of family-oriented outdoor activities.
Project Coordinator
CeCe Duerr, M.S.
CeCe received her B.A. and M.S. degrees from Mississippi State University, where she played on the Lady Bulldogs golf team for 4 years. She has been a clinical research coordinator for over 25 years and has worked on many different types of projects, including: childhood weight control, coping skills training for partners of pathological gamblers, a longitudinal study assessing stability and changes in mental health and drinking behaviors, and multiple smoking cessation clinical trials. She is excited to be coordinating studies in the Behavioral Health Lab at UB. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three cats, as well as going to concerts, traveling, photography reading and hanging out with family and friends.
LeahAnne Humphrey, B.S.
LeahAnne graduated in 2022 with her BS in Exercise Science from the University at Buffalo. After graduating, LeahAnne helped patients reduce their risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases through the development and implementation of individualized exercise and lifestyle management programs. Throughout 2022, LeahAnne assisted in writing and publishing a paper about lifestyle interventions that target hyperinsulinemia to normalize hyperglycemia and surrogate markers of insulin resistance. LeahAnne sought out the Hawk lab in May of 2023 to further her research experience and explore her research interests.
Ashley Schenkel, B.A.
Ashley recently graduated with her BA in psychology from D’Youville University and is now a senior staff member in Dr. Hawk’s lab, assisting on the Vaping and Smoking Project (VASP) and the FRIENDS project. Her primary research focus is concentrated in vaping behaviors, specifically concerning risk perception and consequences of vaping, smoking cessation, and comparing smoking to vaping to discover similarities and differences between the two. Her hobbies include reading, watching/playing sports, and mixology!
Graduate Students
Samantha Johnstone, B.A
Samantha Johnstone is a doctoral student in the Hawk Lab. She received her BA in psychology and completed an honours thesis at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), with a minor in criminology. Her research interests involve understanding and treating cooccurring substance use disorders and serious mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia), as well as elucidating specific treatment mechanisms (e.g., emotion/cognition). Apart from academia, she enjoys house music, dancing, and horror movies/books.
Robert Cooper, M.A.
Bobby is a doctoral student in the Hawk Lab. He studied psychology as an undergraduate at SUNY Fredonia with minors in statistics and coaching. He then received his Master’s degree in general psychology at the University at Buffalo before entering the clinical psychology Ph.D. program in the fall of 2020. Bobby’s research interests center around how substance use, particularly nicotine and caffeine, impact cognition, physiology, and behavior. Outside of the lab, Bobby enjoys sports (including running, soccer, and hockey), as well as hiking.
Staff
Mathew Preisigke, B.A.
Matt graduated with a B.A. from the University of Buffalo in 2024, majoring in psychology and minoring in philosophy. His greatest interests concern the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted treatments, their phenomenology, and underlying mechanisms of action. This focus, and other intrigues, have allowed him the privilege of sharing meaningful experiences with cherished peers and mentors in clinical, social, and behavioral neuroscience laboratories at UB. In the future, he hopes to train as a psychotherapist while studying the etiology of mood and/or substance use disorders and their amelioration with novel therapies. Matt enjoys playing guitar, writing poetry, and talking long walks in his free time.
Melody Gebremedhin, B.S.
Melody Gebremedhin graduated in 2024 from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. The following summer, she completed a research traineeship at the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University at Buffalo. In the Hawk Behavioral Health Lab, Melody works as a Research Support Specialist for the Remote vs In-Person Study Evaluation (RISE) clinical research study. In her free time, Melody enjoys playing piano and singing, especially a volunteer with Hear Your Song, a non-profit dedicated to empowering children with serious illnesses through collaborative songwriting.
Reilly Diemond, B.S.
Reilly graduated from UB in May 2024 with a BS in psychology and a minor in counseling. He has been an official member of Dr. Hawk’s lab since May 2024, splitting his time equally on projects across both Dr. Hawk’s and Dr. Simms’s laboratories. Reilly will be working with us for the next year as he prepares to apply for doctoral programs in clinical psychology. His research interest include psychophysiology (i.e., EEG & EMG) and psychometrics for topics spanning from personality pathology and substance use. In his free time, Reilly enjoys watching movies/shows, reading, and spending time with his friends.
Dakshesh Gusain, B.Tech
Dakshesh (Ducky) is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Engineering Sciences with focus in Artificial Intelligence at University at Buffalo. Since August 2023, he has been an Administrative Project Assistant at UBHEART, where he designed and developed the Mechanized Inhaling Smoking Tool (MIST), a vape simulation machine for biomedical research. He also maintains the lab’s human behavioral software suites. His research interests lie at the intersection of cognitive science and human-computer interaction, including but not limited to deep learning analysis of human attention span using functional brain networks and human pose estimation in occupational hazard therapy using computer vision. In his free time, he enjoys cooking.
Eugene Maguin, Ph.D.
Gene is a data manager/analyst for multiple projects in the Hawk Behavioral Health Lab. Gene completed his undergraduate B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Kansas State University, earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology at Michigan State University in 1991, and trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. He worked as a program manager at the Research Institute on Addictions and as a Research Scientist in the UB School of Social Work before coming to Psychology in 2018. Gene is an avid dancer.
Undergraduate Students and Volunteers
Samantha Canazzi
Samantha is an undergraduate student at UB currently pursuing a degree in biomedical sciences, with minors in both psychology and pharmacology/toxicology. Following her anticipated graduation in May 2026, Samantha plans on attending graduate school for the Physician’s Assistant Program, with a focus in pediatrics and/or neurology. She joined Dr. Hawk’s Lab as a Research Assistant in May 2024 to further study the neurological and physiological effects of nicotine/tobacco use. In her free time, Samantha enjoys traveling, baking, and spending time outdoors.
Andreas Ouloupis
Andreas is set to graduate with a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University at Buffalo in May 2025, aspiring to attend medical school afterward. He has been a Research Assistant in the Hawk lab since January 2024 and works as a medical assistant at WNY Immediate Care. His research interests focus on behavioral neuroscience. In his free time, Andreas enjoys archery, hiking, exploring diverse cuisines, playing chess and backgammon, and spending time with his family.
Khushi Parashar, B.S.
Khushi graduated from her Psychology B.S. Program in May 2024. She has been a member of Dr. Hawk’s lab as an RA since June 2024. She plans on getting her MA in Communication and then her Ph.D. In Clinical Psychology. Her current interests are assessment and diagnosing of mental disorders and addiction studies. Some of her favorite hobbies are dancing, singing, reading or binging TV.
Makzim Semkiv
Tristan Spotts
Tristan will be joining Dr. Hawks’s Lab in the Fall of 2024. He is going into his senior year at the University at Buffalo where he plans to earn a joint B.A. degree in Psychology and Spanish. His long-term plans are to attend graduate school focusing on mental health counseling. Some of his research interests include the diagnosing of mental disorders and the long-term effects of nicotine usage. In his free time, he likes hanging out with friends, attending concerts, and working out.
Kathryn Trumble
Kathryn (Katie) will be graduating with a B.S. in Psychology with minors in Neuroscience and Addiction Studies in May of 2025 from the University at Buffalo. She has been a Research Assistant with the Hawk lab since August of 2023. Katie’s research interests include polysubstance use and how that can impact cessation attempts and psychometrics for substance use. In her downtime, Katie enjoys listening to music, crafting, dancing, and spending time outdoors.
Alumni - Where are they now?
Sarah Tonkin, 2022 PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Health Promotion Research Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center – Stephenson Cancer Center
Whitney Fosco, 2018 PhD
Survey Research Analyst at Fors Marsh
Michelle Bubnik-Harrison, 2016 PhD
Psychologist, Director of Internship, and Coordinator of the Behavioral Health Program for Military Familes, Child and Family Therapy Clinic, Kennedy Kreiger Institute.
Nicolas Schlienz, 2015 PhD
HRI Scientist, Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jessica Rhodes, 2014 PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Westminster College
Rebecca Ashare, 2011 PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo
Keri Shiels Rosch, 2011 PhD
Assistant Professor, Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Joseph Baschnagel, 2007 PhD
Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology
Juliana Read, 2004 PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center