Team Members

unnamed Naomi Aguiar, Ph.D.
Dr. Aguiar received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Oregon.  Her research focuses on children’s concepts of virtual characters and social robots, and how these concepts change over the course of development and through experience with these technologies.  She is also interested in children’s experiences of fully immersive virtual environments, and their concepts of the characters that inhabit these spaces. 
headshot-2 Marisa Putnam, M.P.P.
Marisa is a National Science Foundation Research Fellow and third year doctoral student in the Children’s Digital Media Center and holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University. Her current research examines how children’s parasocial relationships with digital media characters influence children’s health and STEM learning outcomes. Her dissertation work focuses on how children’s parasocial relationships are associated with gender and stereotypes in the context of learning early STEM concepts.

Undergraduates

unnamed Marie Frolich
Undergraduate Research AssistantMarie is a senior at Georgetown University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Biology. Outside the CDMC, Marie is the president of Georgetown’s club softball team and a sport-loving member of Hoya Blue, the official student section for Georgetown sports. In the future, Marie hopes to pursue a career in physical therapy.

 

Angella Liu
Undergraduate Research AssistantAngella is a senior at Georgetown University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Cognitive Science and Art. On campus, Angella is actively involved as vice president of Habitat for Humanity and as fundraising chair for Heroes4Hearts. She is also a part of Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology.
 
Molly Bidermann
Undergraduate Research AssistantMolly is a sophomore at Georgetown University with an intended major in Psychology. Outside of the CDMC, Molly works at Georgetown’s on campus daycare, Hoya Kids, as well as Georgetown’s Office of Residential Living. Molly hopes to pursue a career that can incorporate her interests in psychology with her passion for working with children.

 
Annabelle Heisley
Undergraduate Research AssistantAnnabelle is a junior at Georgetown University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology. Annabelle is actively involved in her sorority as the scholarship director and spends her free time working as a nanny. She has always had a passion for working with children and hopes to pursue a career in occupational therapy.