At an increasingly vital moment for mental healthcare access, TC's psychology graduates are poised to tackle today’s most critical challenges for patients seeking support. Many will pursue further scholarship in doctoral programs and research institutions, while others will embark on new professional roles, addressing the needs of patients through hands-on work.
Ahead of the College’s Convocation ceremonies on May 20 and 21, we sat down with a few of the Class of 2025’s psychology graduates to learn more about what drives them and explore their aspirations for the future.
Meet Emma Hart (Ph.D. ’25, Developmental Psychology)
Hometown: Seattle, Wash.
How She Makes an Impact: Through her research, Hart strives to identify when and how educational experiences and opportunities generate enduring life-course benefits. By examining the short- and long-run effects of interventions, she hopes to better understand the role that early experiences and skills play in shaping life course development. “I hope that this work will ultimately help us identify the most promising programs that reliably benefit children and families.”
What Matters: Identifying ways to contribute to the child development space. Hart believes that careful and rigorous scientific methods can help to reveal what is real and true in the world. “If our goal is to make investments in childhood that will yield long-run effects, original experimental research – and syntheses of existing experimental data – can help us identify what kinds of programs do, and do not, work.” She shares, “By examining the long-run effects of changes to children’s skills, we may also learn new things about basic developmental processes that inform the creation of new intervention approaches.”
What’s Next: Hart is eager to start her newest educational journey as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development.
Meet Niklas Kei Nyblom (M.A. ’25, Psychology in Education)
Hometown(s): Stockholm, Sweden, and Tokyo, Japan
How He Makes an Impact: Advancing community-based approaches to mental health for people from all walks of life. Nyblom advances culturally grounded, community-based mental health approaches, emphasizing the importance of trust and diversity in implementing effective programs. With experience in multiple research labs, including sustainability, ecopsychology, and military psychology, attending events at the United Nations, and working with a local NGO, he aims to create interventions that help communities thrive.
What Matters: Community health and supporting individual well-being. “Understanding culture and communication is key to fostering belonging,” explains Nyblom, whose background shapes his “global perspective for implementing mental health initiatives in under-resourced communities.”
What’s Next: Nyblom plans to continue his education at Teachers College as a first-year doctoral candidate in TC’s Clinical Psychology program under the mentorship of TC’s Lena Verdeli in the Global Mental Health Lab.
Meet Corina Picon (Ed.M. ’25, School Psychology)
Hometown(s): Irvington, N.Y. and Caracas, Venezuela
How She Makes an Impact: Leveraging her leadership skills to make a difference. At Teachers College, Picon served as her cohort’s representative and co-chair of the School Psychology Advocacy Collective for Equity. “These experiences have allowed me to develop good communication skills and have taught me how to handle conflict as a leader,” she shares.
What Matters: Helping families navigate the special education eligibility process, especially those facing socioeconomic pressures. She hopes to support families throughout the process by understanding the importance of early identification and intervention of socioemotional, academic, and behavioral problems. “School psychologists are vital in upholding social justice and providing a safe space for students to express their feelings and learn about managing their needs.”
What’s Next: Picon plans to attend a doctoral program in the future to maximize her impact in the psychology field. “I am eager to provide services in various settings such as K-12 schools, hospitals, clinics, and universities.”
Meet Olivia Snow (Ph.D. ’25, Counseling Psychology)
Hometown: Everett, Washington.
How She Makes an Impact: Advancing reproductive and maternal mental health for all, particularly for Black women. Snow hopes to build on the research of her dissertation, “Black Obstetric Providers' Perspectives on the Maternal Mortality Crisis,” to offer concrete clinical and policy implications that address disparities in maternal outcomes.
As owner and clinician for her private practice, Snow supports her clients through various life challenges. Her goal is to empower her clients, enhance their skills in addressing life challenges and nurture their identities. She takes a multicultural, feminist and relational approach to hold the identities in the room and challenge the interlocking oppressions we face on a daily basis.
What Matters: Affirming people with marginalized identities and building spaces of possibility. “I believe healing occurs through connection, whether supporting clients through trauma or amplifying Black women's voices in healthcare,” she shares. “My pursuit of a Ph.D. as a first-generation student was made possible by the support of my family, friends, and colleagues. It’s not just a career — a way of being in the world that aligns with my values and roots and continues to challenge me in ways I’m grateful for daily.”
What’s Next: Snow will serve as a psychologist at Kings County Hospital in the Primary Care and Lifestyle Medicine Departments. In this role, she hopes to bridge the gap between medical care and psychological well-being.
Meet Caroline Zee (M.A. ’25, Social-Organizational Psychology)
Hometown: Westfield, N.J.
How She Makes an Impact: As a Global Senior HR Business Partner at a tech company, Zee aspires to optimize culture and output in the tech industry through social-org psych best practices. Zee is drawn to work cultures that spark creativity, optimize leadership effectiveness, and shape employee experiences by driving engagement and retention. “By leveraging data-driven decision-making, behavioral science and change management, I hope to use what I have learned from TC to help tech companies scale effectively, strengthen team dynamics, and build resilient organizations that thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.”
What Matters: Guiding organizations, leaders and employees toward greater success by leveraging a proactive, data-driven approach to HR partnership. “My passion for this field was sparked by a critical gap I observed in both manager enablement and accessible opportunity in the workplace.” As a TC alumna, Zee plans to amplify HR’s impact across all levels of organizational analysis — empowering individuals, strengthening teams and driving meaningful change at the company level.
What’s Next: Zee plans to keep expanding her impact at her current company across a new facet of teams, driving strategic initiatives at scale. “I am committed to further aligning HR strategy with business outcomes, ensuring people and organizations thrive in the ever-evolving technology landscape.”