SMART People

SMART People

Please feel free to read our bios to get a sense of what each member brings to the team.

Paolo Ammirante

Paolo Ammirante was a post-doctoral fellow at the SMART lab. He completed his Master's degree…
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Alex Andrews

Alex (B.Eng, M.Sc., Queen's) was the SMART Lab's research engineer between 2009 and 2012. His most…
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Alberto Behar

Alberto is a Professional Engineer, Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Member of the Institute of…
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Emma Bortolon-Vettor

Emma Bortolon-Vettor completed a B.A. in Psychology at Ryerson University (2014). While completing her BA she made…
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Bryan Butler

Bryan graduated with a BA in Music Therapy from Capitano University in 2017. Prior to moving to…
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Vishu Chakravarti

Vishu is a fourth year student at University of Toronto, double majoring in neuroscience and psychology. With…
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Lisa Chan

Lisa joined the lab in 2008 as a research assistant and later completed an MA in the…
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Fran Copelli

Fran completed a Bachelor’s in Psychology at X (Ryerson) University, and an honour’s thesis in the SMART…
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Vanessa Corpuz

Vanessa completed her B.A. in Psychology at Ryerson (2011). Her undergraduate thesis focused on the  "Honest…
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Claire Delvit

Claire did 3-month internship in the SMART lab in 2012, while completing a Master's of Engineering degree…
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Amanda Donato

Amanda Donato is an undergraduate student pursuing a B.A in Psychology at Ryerson University. Her…
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Nicola Dove

Nicola joined the lab after completing a BA in Psychology and Linguistics at Carleton and…
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Sami El-Sibaey

Sami completed his Ph.D. (Ryerson, 2014) in the Psychology and Law lab. He was a frequent participant in SMART…
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Sina Fallah

Music Education Program Coordinator      Sina Fallah graduated from the University of Toronto in…
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Domenica Fanelli

Domenica Fanelli is an undergraduate student at Ryerson University pursuing a B.A in Psychology. Domenica…
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Sarah Gates

Sarah Gates is currently completing a PhD in Music Theory and Cognition at Northwestern University…
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Niusha Ghazban

Niusha's PhD (2013, Ryerson) investigated the relative influence of infant-directed speech vs. infant-directed song on…
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Adam Golding

Adam was a software developer in the lab in 2011-12. Adam completed degrees in Music and Cognitive Science…
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Arla Good

Arla Good is a postdoctoral research associate in the SMART Lab. She is cofounder of…
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Molly Henry

Dr. Henry received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from Bowling Green State University. She then…
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Gunter Kreutz

Professor Dr. Gunter Kreutz studied in Marburg, Berlin and San Francisco, did his doctorate at…
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Karla Kovacek

Karla Kovacek graduated from BA Psychology at Ryerson University in 2021. She has been a…
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Huiwen Goy

Huiwen is a postdoctoral fellow at the SMART Lab. She obtained her doctoral degree in…
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Rachel Hottle

Rachel Hottle is a fourth year undergraduate at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA, where she…
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Miruna Ioan

Miruna joined the lab in 2015, as a volunteer. She graduated from Harvard College with…
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Yuli Jadov

Yuli Jadov graduated from Ryerson’s B.A. in Psychology program with a university wide Dennis Mock…
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Ahlexxi Jelen

Ahlexxi worked as an RA in the lab between 2006-08. She received an NSERC USRA in 2007…
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Amy Kleynhans

Amy was an NSERC Undergraduate Research Assistant in the lab. She worked on projects concerning musical…
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Chris Lachine

Chris Lachine transferred to Ryerson University from Dallas, Texas and is excited to be pursuing…
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Andrew Lauzon

Andrew was a volunteer in the lab from 2014-2016 and completed his honours thesis with…
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Helen Lee

Helen worked with Dr. Russo as an R.A. from 2005-2007, while enrolled as an undergraduate…
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Olivia Lin

Olivia completed her B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and will be pursuing her M.A.…
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Lisa Liskovoi

Lisa completed an MA in the lab on musical mood induction (2011-13). She continues to…
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Rachel MacPhail

Rachel graduated in 2015 from Ryerson University where she has attained her B.A in Psychology.…
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Jessica Mitchell

Jessica Mitchell completed her B.A. in Psychology at Ryerson University. She completed an independent study in…
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Adiel Mallik

Adiel is a postdoctoral fellow at the SMART lab. He obtained his doctoral degree in…
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Rebecca Nurgitz

Rebecca Nurgitz is an undergraduate student pursuing her Psychology BA at Ryerson University. Rebecca started…
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Katlyn Peck

Katlyn completed an MA in the SMART lab in 2013 on the the influence of facial…
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Phuong-Nghi Pham

Phuong-Nghi Pham attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, USA, and graduated with honors in Psychology, Music, and…
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Andrew Power

Andrew joined the SMART Lab in October of 2009 as an undergraduate student in the…
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Lena Quinto

Lena Quinto was a visiting researcher in the lab in 2007 and 2010 while completing…
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Joseph Rovetti

Joseph Rovetti is an undergraduate thesis student working toward a B.A. in psychology. He has…
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Brandon Paul

Dr. Brandon Paul is an assistant professor of Psychology at Ryerson University. He directs the…
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Frank Russo

Frank A. Russo, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and the NSERC-Sonova Senior Industrial Research Chair in…
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Mia Saadon

Mia Saadon graduated from Ryerson University with a B.A. in Psychology. Since joining the SMART…
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Gillian Sandstrom

Gillian completed her MA in the SMART lab (2007-09) after a BSc in Math and Computer Science (Waterloo)  and working…
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Emma Scholey

Emma is an undergraduate student in Psychology from the University of Surrey, England, joining the SMART lab in…
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Michael Schutz

Visiting Professor in the department from July 2015-July 2016       Michael Shutz is known for…
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Salma Shaikh

Salma is a graduate student from the University of Western Ontario with an Honors B.Sc.…
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Heather Speakman

Heather graduated from Conestoga College with a Hearing Instrument Specialist Diploma and is a member…
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Laura Stinson

Laura studied classical piano and music education in her undergraduate at Western University.  During 2013-2014…
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Monique Tardif

Monique graduated from McMaster University with an honours BSc. in Psychology, Neuroscience, and behaviour specializing…
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Dmitri Tcherbadji

Dmitri worked in the lab as a research assistant between 2006-07. He is a graduate from the University of…
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Esztella Vezer

Esztella joined the lab in 2012 during her undergraduate career, during which time she completed…
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Irene Valentiner

Irene Valentiner graduated from the University of Toronto with an honours BSc. in Psychology with…
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Dominique Vuvan

DOMINIQUE VUVAN received her Ph.D. in Psychology with a certificate from the Program in Neuroscience…
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Ye Wang

Ye Wang is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the National University…
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Emily Wood

Emily Wood is a undergraduate thesis student in the SMART lab. Her interest in music…
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Michael Zara

Hello! My name is Michael, and I am a Research Scientist/Engineer here in the SMART…
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