Gabriela Lay.

Gabriela A. Lay

Ph.D. Student, Psychology

Pronouns
She/her
College
Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Email
Gabriela_Lay@student.uml.edu

Expertise

Mixed-methods design and analysis

Research Interests

Cultural effects in family court, family dynamics, children’s decision-making and rationale, implementation science and preventative interventions, and qualitative analysis.

Education

  • Master of Science (M.S.), Psychology and Law, Arizona State University
  • Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Psychology, Florida International University

Biosketch

Gabriela is interested in the intersectionality of developmental psychology and psychology & law. While completing her B.A. at Florida International University (FIU) she worked as a project manager in the Social Understanding, Personal Experiences, and Relationships (S.U.P.E.R.) Lab conducting research on children's suggestibility and theory of mind. During her M.S. at Arizona State University (ASU) she worked in the Youth and Families in Court Systems (YFaCS) Lab and expanded her research to include children's emotional regulation in the face high interparental conflict divorce/separation and user-testing parent programs. Her thesis explored cultural effects of user-tester perspectives on a novel divorce/separation parental program. As a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) student at UMass-Lowell she is working under Dr. Stephanie Block conducting research related to child sexual abuse, disclosure, and non-offending caregiver needs.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • "Student Presentation Award - Outstanding Abbreviated Paper, American Psychology-Law Society, 2024
  • American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) / Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship, American Psychology Association of Graduate Students, 2024
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Grant, Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology, 2022
  • Access Path to Psychology and Law Experience (AP) Program, American Psychology-Law Society, 2022"

Selected Presentations

  1. "Parker, S.M., Lay, G.A., Sullivan, C., Yang, M.Y., and Quas, J. (moderator). (March 2025). Designing for Impact: Balancing Rigorous Research and Real-World Constraints in Family Law Interventions [Symposium]. 2025 Conference of the American Psychology-Law Society, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  2. Parker, S.M., Lay, G.A., Yang, M.Y., and Morris, T. (May 2025). We Hear You: Balancing Research with the Real World in Family Law Interventions [Workshop]. Association of Family and Conciliation Courts 62nd Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
  3. Lay, G., Parker, S., O’Hara, K., and Wolchik, S. (November 2024). The Decision Blueprint: Exploring the Decision-Making Criteria for Parenting Interventions in Family Court [Poster]. Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM) Annual Meeting 2024, New York, New York, United States. (pdf)
  4. Lay, G., Chae, H., and Goldfarb, D. (March 2024). The Impact of Theory of Mind Training on Preschoolers’ Suggestibility [Data Blitz]. American Psychology-Law Society Annual Conference, Los Angeles, California, United States.
  5. Lay, G., and Goldfarb, D. (November 2023). Mock Jurors’ Views on Non-Victim Child Testimony. [Poster]. Fall 2023 Graduate Student Poster Contest, ASU Institute for Social Science Research, Tempe, Arizona, United States."