Lab Director
Dr. Zheng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta in the Developmental Science area. He completed his Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University in 2014, with a concurrent degree of Master in Applied Statistics. He was a visiting graduate student at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany (Center for Applied Developmental Science) in 2009 and King’s College London, UK (Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre) in 2013–2014. He further received postdoctoral training in developmental psychopathology and quantitative genetics in Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (Institute for the Reduction of Youth Violence) and Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal (Groupe de recherche sur l’inadaptation psychosociale chez l’enfant [GRIP]) in 2014–2017. Dr. Zheng received his B.S. in Psychology from Yuan Pei Honors College, Peking University in 2008.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dan (Joyce) Gao, Ph.D.
Joyce earned her Ph.D. from Leiden University in the Netherlands and her Master’s degree from East China Normal University in China. Her research focuses on the dynamic processes underlying the social and emotional development of children and adolescents across diverse cultural contexts, particularly how families, peers, and broader cultural settings shape children’s and adolescents’ developmental trajectories. She adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating behavioral methods (e.g., questionnaires, interviews, observations) and neuroscientific techniques (e.g., EEG, fMRI, fNIRS) to examine development across multiple time scales (e.g., daily, longitudinal) and ecological contexts (e.g., family, school, culture). Her current research employs daily diary methods to explore the dynamic relations between parenting and adolescents’ social-emotional development in daily life. In her leisure time, she enjoys reading, going to the gym, playing board games, and learning new languages.
Mingzhang Chen, Ph.D.
Mingzhang earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in the U.S. and his Bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in China. His research seeks to leverage big data and advanced analytics to promote the scientific understanding of adolescent development from an ecological perspective, specifically how adolescents’ everyday experiences interact with different ecological contexts (e.g., family, school, and sociocultural values) to impact their development. His current research employs daily diary and longitudinal methods to investigate how adolescents’ daily experiences and processes impact their long-term development. He enjoys reading and playing basketball in his leisure time.
Yue Wang, Ph.D.
Yue obtained her Ph.D. from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong. She received a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree from Sun Yat-sen University in mainland China. Her research focuses on the dynamic processes between adolescents and their significant others, aiming to address research questions such as how adolescents interact with parents, peers, and environmental factors across various timescales. To accomplish this, she utilizes (intensive) longitudinal data that spans varying time intervals, ranging from days to years. She is currently working on linking daily dynamics between adolescent well-being and factors like parenting with adolescents’ long-term development. She enjoys playing badminton, dancing, and going to concerts in her leisure time.
Graduate Students
Hao Zheng, M.S.
Hao is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Developmental Science program. He obtained his B.A. in Special Education from Beijing Normal University and his M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prior to joining the Adolescent Development Lab, He served for one year as a school psychologist at a senior high school. His research employs a dimensional approach to understand the structure of psychopathology symptoms at micro timescales (e.g., day-to-day) among adolescents and young adults, and to examine how these structures evolve over macro timescales (e.g., years) throughout development. His current work focuses on the daily manifestations of impulsivity and their associations with proximal ecological factors. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, traveling, and photography.
Kehan Li, B.S.
Kehan received his Bachelor degree from Tsinghua University in China. His research interest lies on the emotional development of adolescents on multiple timescales. Specifically, he is interested in how families, peers, and other social contexts could shape adolescents’ development of emotion and emotion regulation process on both a short-term micro and a long-term macro timescale. With regard to methodology, he embraces advanced statistical techniques (e.g., GIMME, DSEM, Multilevel analysis) to explore the complex dynamics of intraindividual fluctuations in adolescents’ daily life. Besides, he is also an enjoyer of reading, listening to classical as well as fashion music, and playing video games.
Yiqun (Jerry) Wu, M.A.
Jerry is a second-year master student in psychology and incoming doctoral student in the lab. He got his Bachelor’s degree in Honors Psychology at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Zheng. He is broadly interested in examining how proximal contexts, such as families and peers, influence Canadian ethnic-racial minority adolescent development across multiple timescales, with the aid of intensive longitudinal data. His master thesis investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the daily dynamics between parenting behaviors and adolescent maladjustment. In his spare time, Jerry enjoys playing badminton, reading, and connecting with nature.
Rui (Theodore) Gong, M.A.
Rui is a Fall 2024 Ph.D. student in the Developmental Science program. He earned his Master’s degree with the Outstanding Graduate Award from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and his Bachelor’s degree from Sun Yat-sen University in mainland China. His research interests center on the antecedents and consequences of psychopathology symptoms across different timescales (e.g., daily and yearly), integrating advanced statistical modeling and machine learning approaches. He also has experience in conducting qualitative research with underrepresented populations. His current project focuses on how the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits affects daily emotional dynamics and long-term socio-emotional outcomes. Outside of academia, Rui enjoys playing the piano, composing music, connecting with nature, reading, and learning new languages.
Weiyu (Edith) Chen, M.S.
Edith is a Master’s student in the Developmental Science program (Fall 2024 cohort). She holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Sciences from University College London and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Edith’s research interests lie at the intersection of developmental psychopathology and computational methods, focusing on applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand internalizing symptoms and mood disorders across both daily and long-term timescales. She also has experience evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for individuals with severe mental illness, including those with a history of suicide attempts, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her current project examines the interactive effects of impulsivity and positive risk-taking on prosocial behavior in youth, using multilevel modelling to assess patterns at both daily and six-month intervals. Outside of research, Edith enjoys reading, hiking, and exploring new places.