This study is open for recruitment!
Imagination Central Study
We are studying ways to understand, measure and promote creativity in adolescents. This research study consists of a free weekly arts and science course at the University of Minnesota. Alongside college students, teens will discover and fully express their own imagination through creative arts activities while helping scientists and artists create new ways to measure creativity in the brain.
Angie Mejia
Angie Mejia is an assistant professor and civic engagement scholar at the University of Minnesota Rochester. I will help with the qualitative aspects of this study.
Speak truth to power, always.
Bonnie Klimes-Dougan
Dr. Klimes-Dougan is an investigator for the Creativity Camp Study and an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Klimes-Dougan's research focuses on the stress system, considering risk and protective factors for distress, depression and despair in adolescents.
Bryon Mueller
Bryon Mueller is a medical physicist with research interest in applying novel magnetic resonance imaging methods to help understand the structural and functional differences of the brains of clinical populations.
Within the University of Minnesota, he is a member of the 3T operations committee, which sets policy for use of the 3T systems at CMRR, and responsible for quality assurance monitoring of the 3T systems at CMRR.
Eyerusalem Abebaw
Eyerusalem Abebaw (she/her) is a Minnesota Inclusive Neuroscience Development Scholar in the RAD Lab and the Study Coordinator for the Imagination Central project. Her research interests include using neuroimaging to study psychiatric disorders and the effects of creativity-based interventions on mental health.
Kathryn Cullen
Dr. Cullen (she/her) is an investigator for the Creativity Camp Study and an Associate Professor and Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Dr. Cullen's research focuses on adolescent depression and related problems such as self-injury.
Laura Padilla
Laura (she/her/hers) is currently in her graduate phase in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) and is part of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Her research interest
lies in using neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI, DTI) to investigate the role that puberty plays in
neurodevelopment and risk for psychopathology.
Michaelle DiMaggio-Potter
Michaelle DiMaggio-Potter (she/her) is a Minnesota Inclusive Nueroscience Development (MIND) Scholar in the RAD Lab and the Study Coordinator for the Imagination Central Study Project.
She is interested in maladaptive cognition and behavior, specifically emotional dysregulation and self-harm, and desires to improve treatment methods for adolescents who suffer from mood and personality disorders.
Wilma Koutstaal
Wilma is a psychology professor who studies, teaches, and writes about mental flexibility, memory, and creativity. She is developing the different measures of creative thinking and the "mental agility warm-ups."
"How does the human mind innovate and create using past and present knowledge?"
Zay Hayee
Zay is a post-bacc working full time in the RAD lab. Zay graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Psychology in Spring 2024. As an undergrad, she helped out with many "creativity studies" including the Creativity Camp, Imagination Studio, and the first installment of Imagination Central. Zay is currently taking a gap year to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs and hopes to go on to investigate novel treatments for adolescent depression and other mental health struggles, especially for those who face barriers to treatment.
