Advised by Margaret Kovera
Natalie Tesfamicael is a second-year doctoral student dual-specializing in Psychology and law and Basic and applied Social Psychology (BASP). She is advised by Dr. Margaret Bull Kovera and Dr. Deryn Strange. Natalie attended Santa Monica College (2019) before transferring to UCLA as an undergraduate, where she worked on projects, and her honors thesis with Dr. Jaana Juvonen and Dr. Alan Castel. She earned her BA from UCLA (2022) in psychology with departmental and college honors.
At John Jay, Natalie’s first doctoral project together with Dr. Kovera focuses on assessing the reliability of eyewitness identification judgments when the suspect is a familiar other. Furthermore, she is also currently working on a project with Dr. Steven Penrod exploring the issue of joinder cases on jury comprehension and decision-making. Lastly, Natalie is working on an NSF-funded collaboration with Arizona State University to explore social influence in double-blind lineup administrations.
Natalie’s research interests broadly include eyewitness identifications, jury decision-making, and applications to the legal system. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and exploring New York.
