Childhood Neurodevelopmental
Disorders Lab
The University of Southern Mississippi
Director & Supervisor
Dr. Stephanie Smith (she/her)
Associate Professor of Psychology,
University of Southern Mississippi
Adjunct Faculty, Yale Child Study Center
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Dr. Smith graduated from Brandeis University in 2003 with a B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology. She then received her M.S. in 2007 and her Ph.D. in 2012 from the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at the Florida State University. Prior to graduation, she completed a pre-doctoral internship in Clinical Psychology at the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in 2012. Upon graduating, Dr. Smith completed a NIMH T32 Post-Doctoral Training Program in Childhood Neuropsychiatric Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center.
Current Graduate Students
Mairin Cotter (she/her)
Fifth Year Graduate Student
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Mairin joined Dr. Smith’s lab in 2021. She received her B.A. in psychology from Bellarmine University and her M.S. in Clinical Research Methods at Fordham University. She is interested in the development and treatment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder. Additionally, she is interested in examining the neural correlates related to internalizing and externalizing behaviors in children through neuroimaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG). She is currently on clinical internship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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Email: mairinclaire.cotter@usm.edu
Rachel Kaplan (she/her)
Fourth Year Graduate Student
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Rachel joined Dr. Smith’s lab in 2022. She graduated from Salem State University with a B.S and B.A. in psychology and philosophy, respectively. In 2021, She earned her M.S. in applied developmental psychology from the University of New Orleans. Her research interests broadly lie in the multimodal examination of the emotion regulation and affective components of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and comorbid internalizing disorders. ​
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Email: rachel.kaplan@usm.edu
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Cameron Pothoven (he/him)
Third Year Graduate Student
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Cameron Joined Dr. Smiths Lab in 2023. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.S in psychology. His research interests primarily involve examining cognitive deficits in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with an emphasis on working memory and attention.
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Email: cameron.pothoven@usm.edu
Cameron Robins (he/him)
Third Year Graduate Student
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Cameron joined Dr. Smith's lab in 2024. Originally from Massachusetts, he attended the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, where he earned his B.S. in Psychology and Spanish. He then worked as a research assistant in the Brain Stimulation Lab at the Medical University of South Carolina, a research team conducting studies examining various methods of neurological observation and modulation, including EEG and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Cameron's research interests include child and adolescent development and well-being, with specific interests in the impact of parenting, environmental risk factors which can affect development, and externalizing behaviors among adolescent males.
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Email: cameron.robins@usm.edu
Sonal Johal (she/her)
Third Year Graduate Student
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Sonal joined Dr. Smith’s lab in 2025. Originally from the Bronx, New York, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Economics. Sonal then graduated from Mississippi College in 2022 after completing her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling. She worked for three years in a Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Psychology lab at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson, MS. She later joined a lab focused on trauma, pain, and cardiovascular diseases at UMMC. Sonal is also currently a resarcher in Dr. Megan Renna's Psychophysiology, Emotionality, and Treatment (PET) Lab based at the Ohio State University. She is interested in pursuing projects that focus on emotional distress, trauma, and internalizing symptoms and its neural mechanisms that link emotional dysregulation to health conditions such as cancer.
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Email: sonal.johal@usm.edu
Brian Farstead (he/him)
Second Year Graduate Student
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Brian joined Dr. Smith’s lab in 2024. He received his B.S. in psychology with a Minor in Spanish from Brigham Young University. He is broadly interested in the intersection of emotion and behavior dysregulation in youth with deficits in executive function. He is also interested in improving screening and treatment for Neurodevelopmental Disorders such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Email: brian.farstead@usm.edu
Julia Record (she/her)
First Year Graduate Student
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Julia joined Dr. Smith’s lab in 2025. She received her B.A. in neuroscience with a minor in Spanish from Macalester College in 2021. She received her M.A. in experimental psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2023. Broadly, she is interested in investigating neural, behavioral, and cognitive contributors to varying treatment outcomes and developmental trajectories in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders. Disorders of interest include but are not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
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Email: julia.record@usm.edu
Lab Alumni
Dr. Kathleen Ramsey
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Center for Autism Research and the Division of Neurology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
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Dr. Tiffany Harris
Staff Psychologist,
Neurodevelopment and Behavioral Psychology Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
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Dr. Brandi Ellis
​Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
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Dr. Zachary Wilde
Child/Pediatric Psychology Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Mayo Clinic
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Dr. Kimberly (Barajas) Sood
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Massie Family Clinic, UC Davis MIND Institute
Dr. Fayth Walbridge
Pediatric Psychologist,
Pediatric Cardiology at Children's Mercy Hospital
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