Dan Graham, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology and Colorado School of Public Health
Dan Graham founded the Behavioral Medicine Lab at Colorado State University in 2012. He is the lab director and oversees research related to promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and the social ecological factors that help and hinder these behaviors. He received the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Early Career Investigator Award in 2017. Dan enjoys spending time with his family (especially outdoors – biking around town, enjoying Fort Collins’ 50 parks, or swimming in local lakes and pools), and writing children’s books.
Email: dan.graham@colostate.edu
Amanda Spitzer, M.S.
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Vista, California
Amanda joined the Graham Behavioral Medicine Lab in February 2021 and is currently a third-year PhD student. She completed her undergraduate degree in architecture at Rice University and is interested in designed environmental factors affecting health and social behaviors.
She is enthusiastic about mixed reality as a method of achieving high levels of control and external validity in built environmental research. With her career in research, she intends to utilize psychological science research methods to produce meaningful knowledge about the physical environment’s influence that can advise designers, modify built environments, and thereby, initiate meaningful shifts in society’s attitudes, norms, and actions toward social issues such as physical health, wellbeing, and social justice.
In her spare time, she runs and hikes. Since she grew up in Southern California, she enjoys almost any activity in the sunshine! She also loves to bake desserts and travel to visit her two sisters.
Yiqing “Skylar” Yu, B.A.
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Suzhou, China
Skylar joined the lab in May 2021 as a post-baccalaureate research assistant, and now she is a second-year graduate student in the Applied Social and Health Psychology doctoral program. Skylar earned her B.A. degree from Carleton College in psychology in 2021. After graduation, she has been working with Dr. Dan Graham here at Colorado State University on promoting daily physical activities among college students, and with Dr. David Creswell at Carnegie Mellon University on self-affirmation interventions for pain reduction among breast cancer patients. Skylar did her senior thesis on the etiology of and potential interventions for stress-eating. After exploring a variety of research topics, including PTSD, decision making, stress eating, and physical activities, Skylar hopes to integrate different areas of psychology into health-related topics.
Skylar intends to study stress management and healthy lifestyles in this doctoral program. More specifically, she hopes to study how stress and healthy habits influence each other, and how people can manage stress in a healthier way.
In her leisure time, she is a blogger sharing her recipes and her life overseas with 3000+ followers on social media.
Katie McMahon, B.S.
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Bartlett, Illinois
Katie joined the lab in August of 2022 and now is a second-year graduate student in the Applied Social and Health Psychology doctoral program. During her undergraduate experience at the University of Pittsburgh, Katie was involved in four different research labs with varying foci of social justice, eating disorders, and healthy aging and inflammation. Her research interests narrowed to health behaviors and outcomes after completing her honors thesis project on the relationship between diet, adiposity and inflammation and were strengthened through working with underserved populations facing health issues at a crisis accommodation center in Sydney, Australia.
After graduating, Katie worked as a neuroimaging research assistant on an exercise intervention research study in Pittsburgh, contributing to her passion for health behavior interventions work. Her current research interests are focused on intuitive eating practices in the workplace. More specifically, she is curious about how our work environment cue or prohibit intuitive eating. Katie is collecting qualitative data of workers to understand these eating behavior trends at work.
When she is not in research mode, Katie is often busy creating new recipes in the kitchen, painting outdoors, journaling and biking on trails with friends.
Smriti Maskey
RA Manager & Research Meeting Coordinator, Post-Baccalaureate Research Assistant
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado
Smriti joined the lab in Spring of 2022. She graduated CSU in the Spring of 2023 with a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration on clinical and counseling psychology on the pre-medicine track. She currently resides in Rhode Island post-graduation as a research assistant at Brown University, while working remotely for the Graham Behavioral Medicine Lab. Smriti hopes to pursue a medical or doctorate degree to practice therapy and/or medicine. In her free-time she is a volunteer advocate on the Women and Gender Advocacy Center’s hotline. She enjoys running, going to the beach, and spending time with her friends and family.
Taylor Johnson
Post-Baccalaureate Research Assistant
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: San Diego, California
Taylor joined the lab in the Fall of 2022. She graduated in the Spring of 2024 with a B.S. in psychology. She plans to go to grad school and get a Ph.D. in clinical or counseling psychology to work as a sports psychologist for a collegiate or professional team. Additionally, she would like to teach a college class on health and sports psychology. In her free time, Taylor enjoys swimming, running, watching Schitt’s Creek, and doing puzzles.
Payge Grieve
Project Manager
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Arvada, Colorado
Payge joined the lab in the Fall of 2023. She will pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in mind, brain, and behavior, and a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. Her future goals include obtaining a Ph.D. in clinical/counseling psychology. In her spare time, Payge likes spending time with her dog, painting, hiking, and watching movies.
Laura Eberle
Laura Joined the lab in Spring 2024. She is currently a third year and hopes to graduate in Spring 2025 with a B.S. in Psychology and a Clinical/Counseling concentration. She hopes to go to graduate school and pursue a career in clinical psychology or sports clinical psychology. Her hobbies are watching hockey, spending time outdoors, listening to music and volunteering.
Triston Mendoza-Werner
Triston graduated with his Master of Public Health student, concentrating in Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyles, in Spring 2024. He got his B.S. at CSU in Health and Exercise Science, with a concentration in Health Promotion. He joined the lab in Spring 2024 when he was a MPH student. Triston is super passionate about physical activity as a whole, and in the future he hopes to work with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and (maybe) eventually get a PhD in prevention medicine. Outside of school and work, he really likes to collect hobbies, and his current favorites are going to the gym, skateboarding, cooking, reading, and watching Denver Nuggets basketball.
Jayden Mather
He/Him/His
Hometown: Eagle, Colorado
Jayden joined the lab in Spring 2024. He is a third-year psychology major in the clinical counseling concentration, hoping to graduate in Spring 2025. His research interests include how outdoor green spaces impact mental health outcomes, and how outdoor spaces and mindfulness can be used for adolescent mental health interventions. He plans to attend graduate school for either clinical/counseling psychology or school psychology. His hobbies include spending time outdoors, writing, and photography.
Jennifer Nie
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Yunnan, China
Jennifer joined the lab in the summer of 2024. She graduated from Canada with a B.S. in Human Behavior and an M.A. in Management. Jennifer plans to pursue a Ph.D. in counseling / industrial-organizational psychology. In her leisure time, she enjoys traveling and meeting people from all over the world.
McKenzie Parker
Hometown: North Carolina
McKenzie Parker is from North Carolina and joined the lab in the summer of 2024 as a REU Research Trainee. Parker has an interest in forensic psychology and law. When not studying, Parker can be found in the garden or volunteering at the Denver District Attorney’s office.
Peter Qian
He/Him/His
Hometown: Suzhou, China
Peter joined the lab in Summer 2024 as a research assistant intern. He is a rising junior majoring in psychology at Carleton College. His research interest mainly covers interpersonal behaviors and how attention can impact people’s perception. He plans to take statistics as his second major in the upcoming term, believing that psychology and statistics would be a great combination for future research. Outside of school, he is a crazy video gamer. He usually spends his time on video gaming and cycling when he has free time. As a result, his current dream job is to be a game operator, so that he can use what he learnt from psychology to enhance customer loyalty and make a game survive longer in the market.
Logan Buffington
He/Him/His
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Logan is a fourth year Clinical/Counseling Psychology Student here at Colorado State University, and a third year Resident Assistant in the dorms here on campus. He intends to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology in order to study Psychedelic Therapy.
Alex Kowal
He/Him/His
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado
Alex joined the lab in Spring of 2024. He is a Junior at CSU currently working towards his B. S. in Neuroscience and hopes to take that to a PhD later. When not doing lab or schoolwork, he is playing guitar, hiking, or traveling.
Natalie Hagood
She/Her/Hers
Natalie joined the lab in the summer of 2024. She is pursuing a B.S. in psychology with a minor in Spanish. She hopes to obtain a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling psychology. Her free time includes skiing, hiking, and cooking.
Michal Segle
She/Her/Hers
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina
Michal joined the lab in the summer of 2024. She is currently a fourth-year Psychology student with a minor in Philosophy through the honors college at CSU. She hopes to obtain a PhD in Clinical Psychology and pursue a career in theoretical psychology. She is involved in the holistic health community in Northern Colorado and is an advocate for alternative health solutions and harm reduction. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing creative non-fiction, and working out.
Undergraduate Research Assistants Alumni (Since 2021)
Lindsey Fremling – CSU ’21
Anajely Aguilar – CSU ’22
Lauren Wolff – CSU ’24
Kayla Carroll – CSU ’22
Naeemah Weathers – CSU ’24
Tazia Meeks – CSU ’23
Jessica Balich – CSU ’23
Gabrielle Bowman – CSU ’24
Nick Steele – CSU ’24
Zane Wootton – CSU ’25
Johanna Rinehard – CSU ’23
Kiley Smith – CSU ’23
Jason Sadowski – CSU ’23
Kensey Sapper – CSU ’24
Mary Lynne Larson – CSU ’23
Matea Ramey – CSU’22
Giselle Walker – CSU’24
Sophia Ellis – CSU’24
Elisa Randazzo – CSU’24
Carson Hill – CSU’ 26
Brianna Kahler – CSU’ 26
Connor Hayna – CSU’ 25
Riley Bally – CSU’ 25
Tate Grover – CSU’ 24
