Lab Director

Holly Levin-Aspenson













Holly Levin-Aspenson, Ph.D.
Dr. Levin-Aspenson earned her Ph.D in clinical psychology with a minor in quantitative psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She spent her internship and postdoctoral years doing research and clinical assessment as part of the Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services project at Brown University before joining the psychology faculty at the University of North Texas. She is also an active member of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium. The overarching aim of Dr. Levin-Aspenson's research is to bring clinical psychological science into closer alignment with how individuals develop and experience mental health problems. She does this through work on psychological assessment and quantitative dimensional models of psychopathology, which results in the identification of empirically supported research and treatment targets and the development of psychometrically sound and clinically useful measures.

Graduate Students

Bella Manuel













Bella Manuel, M.S.

Bella Manuel is a second-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Texas. She received her bachelor's in psychology at Penn State in 2021 and master's in clinical research methods from Fordham University in 2023. Her research interests focus on the assessment and conceptualization of personality pathology, particularly with traits commonly associated with borderline and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. She is especially interested in the application of transdiagnostic models and frameworks like HiTOP to better understand the dimensional structure of these traits. Her work explores how these frameworks can improve diagnostic accuracy and enhance clinical interventions. 
Nick Brewster













Nick Brewster, M.A.

Nick is a second-year student in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program being co-advised by Dr. Levin-Aspenson and Dr. Camilo Ruggero at the University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in psychological research from California State University, Long Beach. He primarily investigates stigma around mental illness and mental healthcare use as well as measurement of these constructs. Currently, he is pursuing work on perceived stigma around psychotropic medication use and how stigma held by one’s family members may be more salient dependent on cultural values. In his free time, Nick is a passionate enjoyer of Irish/Scottish folk music and video games.