OUR TEAM
CARA PALMER, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Cara Palmer is the director of the Sleep and Development Lab and the co-director of the MSU Sleep Research Lab. Dr. Palmer joined the MSU faculty in Psychology in 2018. Prior to coming to MSU, Dr. Palmer completed her doctoral training in Life-Span Developmental Psychology at West Virginia University, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Houston, where she was promoted to research faculty within the Department of Psychology and the Texas Institute of Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics. Dr. Palmer has received numerous awards and grants for her research from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Sleep Research Society, and the World Sleep Society.
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When not in the lab or the classroom, Dr. Palmer loves to spend time with her family and friends, travel, cook (and eat!) new foods, paint, listen to science podcasts, and stay active by hiking in the beautiful mountains of Montana.
GIOVANNI ALVARADO, B.S.
Graduate Student
Giovanni Alvarado is a first-year graduate student from Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the University of California, Merced in 2020 where he received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology. Giovanni's current research interests revolve around the relationships between sleep, stress, anxiety, and its effects on other health outcomes. During his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends or playing and watching soccer, football and basketball. If any of those three sports are not in season, he'll watch any other sport that isn't baseball.
EMMA HOWARD
PHOEBE HICKIN
Research Assistant
Undergraduate Scholar
I’m a Senior studying Psychology with a minor in Human Development and Family Science.
After graduating, I’d like to continue my education and earn a master's degree in Clinical Mental
Health Counseling. I hope to one day earn a PhD in Psychology. I’m from Brookfield, Vermont
and in my free time I love snowboarding, fiber arts, and hiking!
PATRICK ALEXANDER
Research Assistant
I'm a Psychology senior hoping to continue my education for a research-oriented career. I'm interested in many areas of psychology but like to look at them through a developmental lens. I'm originally from Eagle, Idaho and enjoy all it offers. In the warm months, I golf, fish, hike, ski in the winter, and play and listen to music all the time.