Our Team

Dr. Bradshaw is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on early identification and intervention of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the first years of life. Specifically, she is interested in: 1) evaluating social behavior, visual attention, and motor skills in newborns, infants, and toddlers, 2) identifying atypical pathways in brain development that lead to the emergence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and 3) translating these basic findings to early detection and intervention strategies for ASD.

Contact: jbradshaw@sc.edu

Dr. Emily Neger is a clinical psychologist and instructor working with the lab. Dr. Neger helps with clinical training of graduate students and research coordinators, provides feedback to parents, and conducts some assessments. Dr. Neger helps connect families with resources in the community and supports general clinical training and needs across different studies.

Dr. Yurkovic-Harding is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Early Social Development Lab at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that allow infants to engage in reciprocal social interactions. She uses a combination of wearable eye trackers and heart rate monitors to quantify how moment-by-moment visual attention, action, and physiology underly social behaviors in real time. She is also interested in how these skills may predict later social behavior. Before joining the Early Social Development Lab, she obtained a dual Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Indiana.

Elizabeth is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who assists with clinical assessments, provides feedback and support to families, and oversees recruitment and outreach efforts with the lab. She helps build relationships with local providers, organizes events for the autism community, and facilitates mindfulness groups for parents of children with autism. Her favorite part of the job is connecting with families and finding ways to serve the community through the research.

Amy discovered her passion for developmental research while working towards a bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders from Truman State University. She followed that passion to James Madison University, where she earned a master's in Communication Sciences & Disorders Research. She joined the ESD Lab in January 2020 with the goal of gaining experience and figuring out her next steps. As a research coordinator, Amy helps oversee the day-to-day operations of the lab. She heads up the ECG editing team as well as supervising data entry and some attention coding. Her favorite part of the job is seeing how the lab members with different backgrounds uniquely contribute to the research.

Contact: avinyard@mailbox.sc.edu

Anastasia graduated from the University of South Carolina in December 2023 with a Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. She has been a part of the Early Social Development Lab since 2020, when she joined as an undergraduate research assistant. Anastasia has continued in the lab as a research coordinator for the ACTION project, going on visits to collect the data and playing a part of all stages of the data analysis including calibration and attention coding.

Her favorite parts of working in the lab are the close relationships and kindness among all the staff, being able to meet different families and infants, and knowing that she id working on research that really can really make a difference.

Cecilia graduated from the University of South Carolina in May of 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Counselor’s Education. As an undergraduate student, Cecilia worked in a neurodevelopmental lab as a research assistant where she performed EEG’s and looked at sleep issues in groups of children with monogenetic mutations that are linked to autism. Following her interest in development and autism, she joined our lab in June of 2023 as a research coordinator. In our lab, Cecilia does our scheduling of participants and data collection for our different studies. Her favorite part of this job is getting to engage with young children and getting to see how they interact with their surroundings.

Contact: cet10@email.sc.edu

Eilis graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2022 with a BS in Biological Sciences and a minor in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she worked as a Research Assistant in the ESD Lab and focused on recruitment and outreach, as well as ECG editing. Now, as a research coordinator, she helps manage recruitment of participants and data collection for the ACTION project. Eilis’ favorite part about working in the ESD lab is getting to know all of the families that participate in our studies.

Contact: eilism@email.sc.edu

Kaaliyah graduated from the University of South Carolina in May 2023 with a BS in Neuroscience and BA in Public Health. As an undergraduate student, Kaaliyah worked in an infectious disease epidemiology lab as a research assistant where she studied vector-borne diseases and analyzed rural-urban and gender disparities in health outcomes among South Carolinians. As a research coordinator, Kaaliyah works on community engagement efforts and participant recruitment. Her favorite part of working in the lab is the opportunity to connect with such a diverse group of families and provide them with resources to help foster their child’s development.

Contact: kaaliyah@mailbox.sc.edu

Alexis graduated from Florida State University with her bachelors degree in Psychology in May of 2019. After graduating, she moved to South Carolina where she worked as a research assistant in The Early Social Development Lab. This year, she will be continuing her work in Dr. Bradshaw's lab as a graduate assistant while pursuing her Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology. Alexis' research interests include infant developmental trajectories and outcomes, social/language development and motor development.

Axie graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2019 with a B.S. in Human Development and a minor in Global Disease Biology. After graduation, she worked at the UC Davis MIND Institute as on projects focused on brain development and gender differences in autistic and non-autistic pre-schoolers. As a School Psychology PhD student, she is interested in using a neurodiverse-lense to improve early detection and school supports for autistic children and their families

Emma graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelors degree in Psychology and certificate in Clinical and Psychological Science. As an undergraduate, Emma worked as a Behavior Technician and discovered her passion to help children with autism and developmental disabilities. Emma originally joined the lab as a research coordinator, and will is continuing her involvement as a PhD student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program at USC.

Contact: ep25@mailbox.sc.edu

​Miranda graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelors degree in Psychology in May 2018. Before starting at USC, Miranda worked at the Duke University Center for Autism and Brain Development where she investigated novel screening ASD tools in pediatric primary care. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the Clinical-Community Psychology program at USC and is interested in investigating biomarkers in children at risk for ASD and developing new intervention strategies. Her favorite part about being in The ESD Lab is the chance to learn something new everyday (and playing peek-a-boo with participants).

Tessa graduated from Macalester College in 2018 with a B.A. in Neuroscience Studies. After graduation, she worked in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota on projects focusing on early autism detection using MRI brain imaging. As a Clinical-Community PhD student, she is interested in improving early autism detection and intervention strategies to be more equitable and accessible for families. Tessa’s favorite aspect of her work is interacting with our participants. So many cute baby smiles!