AMP LAB - Key Persons

Amber graduated with MA in Psychology from Boston University and aims to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She strives to understand the contributions of specific regions of the brain, (dys)regulation of neurotransmitters, and their effects on an individual's psychological, social, developmental, and physical well-being. She seeks to dive deep into psychotherapy methods in conjunction with fMRI, DTI, and EEG techniques to see changes in the brain from a patient's baseline and throughout treatment, as she hopes to use what she discovers through her research in direct application with patients.

Arti is a second year PhD student in the Rehabilitation Sciences program, and a recent graduate of the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at BU. She is interested in leveraging smartphone technology to enhance recovery related outcomes among people with psychosis. Specifically, she examines mechanisms of loneliness and social isolation, and the use of smartphones to assess and treat these challenges in real-time. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, exercising/fitness, and finding as many green spaces throughout Boston as she can.​

Job Titles:

• Director
• Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences

Dr. Fulford is Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences, Occupational Therapy, and Psychological & Brain Sciences, and is affiliated with Mental Health Counseling/Behavioral Medicine, Behavioral Neuroscience, and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at BU. He holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami and a BA in psychology from UCLA. Dr. Fulford joined BU following a career development award through the UCSF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute where, among other things, he focused on mental health informatics research. He and his team conduct lab-based and ambulatory studies to better understand dysregulated motivation and emotion in psychopathology, using smartphones as tools for experience sampling and behavioral sensing (i.e., continuous, unobtrusive measurement from smartphone sensors). A particular focus of this work is on the prediction of momentary states, including of social isolation and loneliness. Dr. Fulford is PI on grant-funded projects focused on human motivation and social dynamics using mobile assessment and intervention. He serves as grant reviewer at the NIH and NSF, is a consulting editor for the Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science (formerly Journal of Abnormal Psychology), the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) - Mental Health, and Psychological Bulletin, and is Associate Editor for Journal of Mental Health and Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. Finally, although he managed to successfully resist for a long time, Dr. Fulford recently started blogging. When not at work, he enjoys 'dadding' and other highly challenging activities.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a BA in Psychology and a BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Earning an Honors Degree in the Psychology program, she conducted an honors thesis that examined how marital relationship satisfaction is linked to the trajectories of maternal and paternal engagement levels during a triadic family interaction, and the moderating role of adolescent emotional insecurity in these associations. She is interested in pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology and hopes to use her current role to gain more skills necessary in that transition. In her free time she loves to explore green spaces with her dog, practice yoga, read and draw.

Dr. Weizenbaum was a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology who worked in the AMP Lab and with Dr. Alice Cronin-Golomb in the Vision and Cognition Lab at BU. Her research interests center on ways to optimize assessment and treatment of transdiagnostic deficits such as weaknesses in working memory, motivation, and initiation. She worked with Dr. Fulford on developing innovative ways of measuring cognition and the factors that shape how we use it through ecological momentary assessment and smartphone technology. See Emma's full bio on the Vision & Cognition Lab website. Dr. Weizenbaum is currently a postdoctoral fellow at MGH.

Job Titles:

• Professor in Occupational Therapy at Boston University

Dr. Mote is a Research Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy at Boston University. She received her BA in Psychology from Oberlin College and her MA in Psychology and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Formerly an AMP Lab postdoctoral associate, she returned to the lab after being an Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy and Psychology at Tufts University. She is interested in understanding the mechanisms of loneliness and the relationship between our emotions and social experiences, with a focus on understanding these processes in people with serious mental illness. She uses behavioral, qualitative, psychophysiological, and mobile methods to ask questions such as, "How is heart health related to loneliness in people with serious mental illness?", "Are specific emotions related to better (or worse) social interactions?", and "How can we address racial disparities in the assessment and treatment of people with mental health concerns?" She is an active member of the Society for Affective Science (SAS) and Society for Research in Psychopathology (SRP). She is a consulting editor for the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science and Emotion. She is also a practicing psychologist in MA. In her free time you might find her binge-watching movies and TV shows, baking, writing about mental health in pregnancy and parenthood, or chasing after her cat, dog, or toddler (possibly in that order). Dr. Mote was a post-doctoral research associate in the AMP Lab. She is interested in understanding and improving the social and emotional lives of people with serious mental illness. Her work attempts to answer questions such as: What motivates us to be social? What do the social lives of people with serious mental illness look like, and how can they be improved? How do people with serious mental illness experience pleasure, and what strategies can help them experience more? How can being more specific about how we feel help us achieve our goals? She is interested in the development and evaluation of novel psychosocial treatments that address loneliness, social and community functioning, and physical health outcomes for people with serious mental illness. She is also interested in the ways that mobile technologies can be utilized to help better understand and address these concerns in people with and without mental illness. She received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in psychology from Oberlin College.

Jessica is a fourth year PhD student in Clinical Psychology. She is interested in the cognitive and biological bases of social cognition. Her work in the AMP lab has centered on understanding the processes underlying impairments in social motivation in schizophrenia, as well as abnormalities in processing social reward and punishment in this population. The goal of her research is to identify targets for treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. She has a background in psycholinguistics from her undergraduate research at Tufts University and has experience in neuroimaging from her research at MGH. She enjoys outdoor activities such as climbing and skiing, and indoor activities of creative writing and playing piano.

Katie is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College where she was involved in several research labs. The main research she conducted focused on social motivation in mouse models of autism. After graduation, she worked for two years in pediatric magnetoencephalography Lab at Boston Children's Hospital. As a research coordinator in the AMP Lab, Katie was interested in ecological momentary assessment of social cognition and social motivation.

Job Titles:

• Certified Peer Specialist

Renata is a second year clinical psychology PhD student in the lab. She is passionate about understanding what predicts meaningful social interactions and loneliness in people with schizophrenia using experience sampling methods. Renata is also interested in how experiences of social adversity may be associated with difficulties in social effort and social connection. Her previous work at the UC Davis Early Psychosis Program focused on the intersection of psychosis and trauma experiences. During her B.A. at UC Berkeley, she acquired research experience on emotion dysregulation and emotional expressivity in people with schizophrenia. She enjoys swimming, candle making, cooking for friends and salsa dancing.

Dr. Abplanalp worked in the AMP Lab and graduated with a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at Sargent College. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Purdue University at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, IN. He is mainly interested in the application of quantitative methods (e.g., structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, bifactor modeling) to better understand psychological constructs and phenomena, particularly relating to psychopathology and serious mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia). A secondary interest of Dr. Abplanalp focuses on the interface between pain and motivation, and how we can use pain to better understand motivational processes. Dr. Abplanalp is currently a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA/West LA VA with the Green Lab.​

Job Titles:

• Student in Counseling, Boston College )