Grant S. Shields, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of human neuroscience in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Shields received his Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis in cognition and cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Shields’ research primarily focuses on understanding how executive functions, episodic memory, and decision-making differ as a function of context–including both external (e.g., facing a stressor) and internal (e.g., altered glucocorticoid levels, anxiety) contexts–as well as the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning those effects. This work can both improve our understandings of those cognitive processes themselves and facilitate the development of interventions that buffer against detrimental contextual effects on cognition. A secondary interest of Dr. Shields’ is in understanding the mechanisms linking stress and related factors to health and disease. Although he often to take an experimental approach (e.g., between-subjects acute stress manipulations, within-subjects cognitive task manipulations), he utilizes methods ranging from computational cognitive modeling to hormone assays and fMRI to answer questions of interest. Dr. Shields was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science in 2023.
Graduate Students
Zach Gray, B.A.
Zach Gray is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the experimental psychology program. He is from Austin, TX, earned his B.A. in Psychology at Hendrix College, and is a proud Colombian. Among other things, Zach’s research interests include understanding how factors such as stress influence people’s social and political decision-making.
Elleona Trudell, B.A.
Elle is a third-year Ph.D. student in the experimental psychology program. Elle is from Farmington, AR, and has grown up in the greater Fayetteville area. She earned her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Arkansas, with a minor in Criminal Justice. Her research areas of interest include (1) understanding how chronic minority stress influences acute stress responses and (2) understanding how stress impacts various health outcomes.
Emily Patterson
Emily Patterson is a second-year Ph.D. student in the experimental psychology program. Her research interests include variations in memory formation and creative problem solving under stressful conditions.
Ben Swanson
Ben is an second-year Ph.D. student in the clinical psychology program who works with both Dr. Matt Judah in the CODA lab and Dr. Shields. Ben is from Fargo, ND, and earned his B.A. in Neuroscience and Psychology from Concordia College. Broadly, Ben is interested in understanding neural processes that help explain the associations between stress, executive function, and psychopathology.
Brody Terry
Brody Terry is a first-year Ph.D. student working with both Dr. Michelle Ramey in the MEM lab and Dr. Shields. Brody earned his B.S. from North Dakota State University in Psychology with minors in Neuroscience and Spanish. His interests primarily include investigating the mediating factors responsible for changes in memory and inhibitory control. Additionally, Brody aims to understand how visual attention plays into conscious and unconscious memory. Outside of academia, he enjoys playing instruments, mountain biking, and learning foreign languages.
Lab Manager
Breanna McCall
Breanna McCall is majoring in psychology at the University of Arkansas. She is interested in understanding early life stressors and stressful experiences in relation to brain volume abnormalities, as well as how those experiences and abnormalities may increase susceptibility to developing forms of psychopathology later in life. After graduating, she plans to apply for a radiology program with specialization in MRI.
Project Coordinators
Samantha Stark
Honors Students
Anna Snow Breanna McCall Kit Roberts MaryMead Buchanan Samantha Stark
Research Assistants
Anna Morgan Bella Core Brennan Smith Drake Mayes Emma Price Hannah Maston Jillian Terrell Karis Huywan Keven Carranza Madisyn Rosenberg Olivia Arcila Shree Rajesh Syncie Dorman Trey Whorton Veronica Simon
Send us an email at ascanlab@uark.edu if you’re interested in helping out!
Lab Alumni
PhD Students
Colton L. Hunter, PhD, now an assistant professor of psychology at UA Little Rock
Honors Students
Class of 2025
Caitlin Guice, now taking a gap year before medical school Kaitlyn Doshier, now at UAMS for medical school Kaitlyn Pearson, now taking a gap year before medical school Kate Marshall, now in the clinical psychology PhD program at UMKC Nolen Bruffett, now at UAMS for medical school Sydney Clontz, now at UAMS for medical school
Class of 2024
Sarah Khot, now at UAMS for medical school
Class of 2023
Phoebe Zalenski, worked as lab manager post-graduation, now at Simmons University for a master’s in social work Sara Villani, now at UAMS for medical school Bennett Perkins, now at UAMS for medical school Amber Alzufari, now at UAMS for medical school
Class of 2022
Katelynn Kallodaychsk, now a psychiatric nurse Whitney Skaggs, now at UAMS for medical school
Send us an email at ascanlab@uark.edu if you’re an alumni and would like to update your information!
