Principal Investigator
Hannah Hausman (she/her) is the principal investigator for the Hausman Memory and Metacognition Lab. Outside of the lab, she loves to mountain bike, trail run, and cross-country ski with her husband and dog. She loves to cook and is working her way through the cookbook Grist, learning how to cook with all sorts of heirloom beans, grains, and legumes.
Graduate Students
Melanie Prieto
Melanie (any pronouns) is a third-year in the UCSC Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. program. She is primarily interested in STEM learning, metacognition, and how we can use study strategies to increase performance and retention in STEM classrooms, particularly as it pertains to increasing the representation of underrepresented groups. Outside of research, Melanie likes to draw and paint.
Hunter Avila
Hunter (He/Him) is a first-year in the UCSC Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. program. His research interests include learning strategies and instructional formatting to better promote student learning. The primary topics explored in this domain are comparison learning, elaborative feedback, error correction, pre-testing effects, and metacognition. Hunter has lived his whole life in Santa Cruz and completed his undergrad at UC Santa Cruz.
Isabel Folger
Isabel Folger (she/her) is a post-bacc researcher who graduated from Carleton College in 2024 with a BA in Psychology and Cognitive Science. She is currently exploring the cognitive mechanisms underlying errorful learning. Isabel grew up two blocks from campus and is excited to be back in Santa Cruz.
Lab Managers
Clare Payne
Clare Payne (she/her) is a third-year Psychology, B.A. and Politics, B.A. double major! Clare’s research interests include discovery learning, productive failure, and the effect of AI/ online tools on education. She is a huge advocate for STEM equity, scientific literacy, and advocating for research-based educational methods in the classroom. Some of her hobbies include baking, sewing, and, more recently, rowing.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Christine Lee
Sohrab Komeili
Mika Adler
Prathusha Ravi
Samantha Garcia
Payten Taggart
Allison Zepeda
Jaxon Elsner
Aja Lelchuk
Kiara Machado
Chloe Mcguire