MEET THE TEAM
LAB MEMBERS:
THEODORE E.A. WATERS, PH.D.
Lab Director
Email: theo.waters@nyu.edu
Curriculum Vitae: theo-waters-cv-2021
Dr. Waters is an Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi and a Global Network Associate Professor of Psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. He received his PhD from Emory University in 2013. His research focuses on the development, organization, and impact of attachment representations and representations of self/identity across the lifespan.
RUI YANG, PH.D.
Post-doctoral Associate
Email: rui.yang@nyu.edu
Rui obtained her Ph.D. from the Developmental Psychology program of New York University. Her research focuses on understanding parenting and child's gender development in Chinese context. She has been the coordinator of a multi-cohort 10-year longitudinal study with over 1100 families in Nanjing, China. With Dr. Waters, Rui will explore how early maternal care quality affect Chinese children’s attachment secure script, and their gender development (e.g., masculinity).
YUFEI GU, M.S.Ed.
Ph.D. Student
Email: yg1262@nyu.edu
Yufei Gu is a PhD student in Developmental Psychology at New York University - Abu Dhabi Global PhD Program, co-mentored by Dr. Theodore Waters and Dr. Niobe Way. She pursued her Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Interactive Media at NYUAD and her Master's Degree in Learning, Science & Technology at University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education. She has been working on the coding of mother-child interction videos during infancy. She conducted her bachelor's capstone project on the relationship between infants' attachment security level and their later development of interpersonal relationships. Yufei is interested in the relationship between children's early childhood experience with caregivers and their mental health, academic performance and peer relationships later in life.
VICTORIA ZHU
Graduate Research Assistant & Lab Coordinator
Email: vlz211@nyu.edu
Victoria is a graduate of New York University Abu Dhabi. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and minors in Social Research & Public Policy, Art History, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. Her Capstone Project focused on assessing maternal sensitivity and parenting variables as predictors of child secure attachment scripts in a Chinese context. Victoria hopes to explore developmental psychology in a clinical setting and work in providing culturally sensitive psychotherapy for children and adolescents.
SOFIA FORTUÑO
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Email: smf627@nyu.edu
Sofia is an undergraduate student at New York University Abu Dhabi studying Psychology with minors in Political Science and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. Her Capstone Project examines how adult attachment patterns inform attitudes toward abortion policy, as mediated by empathy. She ultimately aspires towards a position as a child and adolescent clinical psychologist at a university hospital, wherein she can serve clinically and conduct research on attachment-based interventions and youth psychopathology.