What are some of the steps you took in life or influences that brought you to your current area of research?
I’ve wanted to be a scientist since I was a little kid. My parents had an exhibitor booth at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference and they would take me and my younger brother with them, for our family “vacation”. While there, I learned that scientists and professors weren’t these scary, intimidating individuals; they were silly, kind, interesting people who let me ask them a million questions and encouraged my curiosity. I knew I wanted to be one of them when I grew up. Although I knew what I wanted to be, I took a somewhat windy path to end up studying the particular research questions I investigate now.
We invite you to read the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Fall Newsletter! Featuring:
As a double-major in psychology and theater, Joshua Mauro ’12 identified with several communities within UMass that were a great source of motivation and guidance. Now an admissions coordinator for Signet Education, his team guides students through the college application process and prepares them for a successful academic career.
A team of UMass Amherst neuroscientists led by 
The William Lee Science Impact Program (Lee SIP) is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) within the College of Natural Sciences designed to expand and broaden participation in undergraduate research. The program provides students the opportunity to work on fun, novel, and interesting scientific questions by matching them with faculty members with similar research interests.
David Reinhard
What are some of the steps you took in life or influences that brought you to your current area of research?
What are some of the steps you took in life or influences that brought you to your current area of research?
Amanda Hamel is absolutely thrilled to be joining the PBS faculty next Fall to teach Behavioral Neuroscience and to coordinate the Junior Writing program. Amanda is a UMass alumna whose research focused on the effects of early experience on the development of different components of the stress response. She has previously taught Behavioral Neuroscience through Continuing and Professional Education and sections of Junior Writing at UMas
Danielle Samuels received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 2018. Her research focuses on the development of internalizing problems across the transition from childhood to adolescence. Specifically, she is interested in the roles of puberty and sociocultural factors in explaining the emergence and changes in anxiety and depression during this transition period.