Meet Our Research Team!

Mikaela Pulse, Ph.D. is the School Psychologist at The Craig School. She is also a postdoctoral scholar at UC Riverside and is responsible for coordinating the collaboration between TCS and the California Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) award at UC Riverside to provide school-based behavioral health services to our students and the community. Dr. Mikaela completed the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (elementary education track) from at California State University, San Marcos in 2018. She then completed a two-year commitment with Teach for America, during which she received the Education Specialist teaching credential and the Master of Arts in Special Education from National University. She then decided to pursue the field of School Psychology at UC Riverside.  During graduate school, she completed her yearlong doctoral internship at The Craig School, earning the Doctoral degree in Education at the University of California, Riverside and the Pupil & Personnel Services credential in 2025.

Carol Yap is a former Fulbright Visiting Scholar (under the Fulbright Malaysian Professional Exchange Program). She serves as a School Improvement Specialist Coach in the District of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Carol received her B. Sc in Education from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and her Master of Education from Asia e University. Her vast experiences as a school teacher, panel head and chief instructor for new curriculums, have propelled her to be appointed as an Instructional coach upon the roll-out of Malaysia’s National Education Blueprint (2013-2025) in which one of the goals is to eliminate the number of underperforming schools and improving in-service teachers’ professional development. Carol focuses on improving novice teachers and in-service teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and maximizing their Teaching and Learning quality for optimal students’ learning outcome. Her present interests are on classroom management and problem solving in interventions which help to maintain teachers’ enthusiasm in delivery and cater for students’ emotional learning as the practice has been marginalized over the emphasis on instilling Higher Order Thinking Skills in the teaching and learning sessions in Malaysian primary and secondary schools. 

Melissa is a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Riverside’s School of Education. Her research interests include effective interventions and support systems to improve learning outcomes for students with exceptional education needs, especially students with ADHD.

Danielle Zahn is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Riverside’s School of Education. Her research interests include physical activity-based interventions, particularly those targeting social-emotional competency.

Randolph Munoz is a fifth year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Riverside’s School of Education. His research interests include evaluating and confronting microaggressions in school settings.

Sarah Panameño is a fourth year doctoral student in the school psychology program at the University of California, Riverside. She joined the lab Winter quarter 2019 as an undergraduate student and has an interest in school-based problem-solving team research.

Mikaela Pulse is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Riverside’s Graduate School of Education. Her research interests include classroom management and services and supports for students receiving special education services in a low incidence disability category (e.g., Intellectual Disability).

Christina Jeffredo is a second-year doctoral student student in the school psychology program in the School of Education and College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. She was a double major studying Education, Society, and Human Development and Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. 

Jordan Gallegos is a second year doctoral student in the school psychology program in the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She received her BA in Psychology from UCR in 2024.

Abigail Pellitteri is a first year doctoral student in the school psychology program in the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She received her BA in Psychology from UCR in 2025.