About SRL

Scientific Resources for the Law (SRL) is a trial consulting support service, working solely with trial consultants and trial consulting businesses. SRL does not work directly with attorneys. This model allows SRL to form non-competitive relationships with trial consultant partners. Our unique approach enables SRL to provide support whenever our services may be needed, while providing SRL researchers with opportunities to attain applied experience in the field.     

The SRL team

The SRL team is comprised of a number of UNL graduate, law, and undergraduate students, faculty members, as well as affiliated researchers. Our team comes from a variety of backgrounds, disciplines, and experiences, including experimental and clinical psychology, legal, academia, and public policy. Most of our team members have acquired or are working toward law and psychology degrees (i.e., JD, PhD, or MLS, which is a Master in Legal Studies).

Faculty Supervisor for SRL:
Eve Brank, J.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and Courtesy Professor of Law. Dr. Brank received her J.D. (2000) and Ph.D. (2001) from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in the Law-Psychology Program. Dr. Brank oversees and supervises SRL operations and liaisons with the University on behalf of SRL. Dr. Brank was involved as a student worker with SRL during her time as a student at UNL. Learn more about Dr. Brank and her research experience here.

Business Manager:
Casey Tisdale, M.A., M.L.S., is a doctoral student in the Law-Social Psychology program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Her research interests focus on empathy and attributions and how they both affect the discretion of various decision-makers in the criminal justice system.  She is currently involved in the Culture, Conflict, & Law Lab.

Senior Researchers:

Olivia Allen, B.A., is a recent graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dawson Eccles, B.A., is a recent psychology graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Emily Galeza, M.A., is a doctoral graduate student at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale researching social psychology, moral outrage, persuasion, and jury decision making. She is also a Senior Associate at the research consulting firm Applied Research Consultants with a specialty in survey and research design.

Grace Hanzelin, M.A., M.S., is a doctoral student at University of Texas at El Paso. Grace graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Science in Criminology. As a researcher in the Legal Decision Lab (Dr. Krystia Reed), Grace's primary research focus is plea-bargain decision-making. 

Mackenzie Seward, B.S., a recent graduate of the University of Richmond, she is currently getting her Masters in Forensic Psychology at George Washington University.

Malvika Vijju, B.A., graduated from UNL in December 2023. She studied women’s and gender studies with a minor in sociology. She was on a pre-law track with hopes to go to law school after graduation. Her senior year capstone was an analysis of the language used in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Her interests align with using the concept of intersectionality in the field of law. She also recently completed the Summer Pre-Law Undergraduate Program at Boston University.

Briana Vincent, M.A., recently graduated from New York University where she specialized in forensic psychology. She has an interest in criminal behavior, criminal justice and the mental health system, and juror decision-making.

Morgan Wagner is a doctoral student studying Social Psychology and Law at the University of Texas at El Paso. Morgan graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She is primarily interested in group interactions and how they impact a person’s experience within the legal system.

Ava Zwolinski is a doctoral student at the John Jay College of Criminology in New York. Ava’s first doctoral project involved analyzing assessments of eyewitness reliability when testimonies vary in level of detail, time lapsed since the event in question, and context (podcast or courtroom). Ava’s other research interests include flashbulb memories for both personally experienced and collectively experienced events and the effects of substances on long-term memory. 

Team Members:

Claudia Cota is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Texas at El Paso and is a part of Thomas Adolescent Development & Delinquency Lab.

Christina Engelken, M.A. in Clinical Psychology, is a doctoral graduate student at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Her research interests center around jury decision-making in gender-based crimes such as sexual assault and domestic violence. Christina is also an associate with Applied Research Consultants. 

Shantel Gassman, Ph.D., is a graduate student in counseling psychology. Her research interests lie in positive and health psychology, primarily in understanding the interaction between mental and physical health and its application for treatment with clients who experience comorbid medical and psychological diagnoses.

Nora Leonard, who graduated from Marymount University with an M.A. in Forensic and Legal Psychology.

Kate Marquis, B.S., graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Nicola Misiewicz, M.A., is a board-certified Assistant Behavior Analyst who currently works as a Clinical Supervisor at Radical Minds in Omaha, NE.

Ellen Reinhard, M.A., is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program at Sam Houston State University. She graduated from Drew University with her B.A. in Neuroscience and she completed her M.A. in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. During her time at John Jay, she worked in Psychopathy laboratory where she conducted research on the role empathy plays in helping behavior, as well as the presentation of psychopathy in a normative sample. Her interests broadly include psychopathy, Antisocial Personality Disorder and personality disorders in a forensic population. She is also interested in examining personality measurement accuracy and utilization, for self-report and clinician-based measures.

Mia M. Ricardo, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at Sam Houston State University.  Her research interests include evaluator differences and quality of forensic evaluation reports, jury decision making, public policy, and explanations of addiction.  Clinically, her interests include court-ordered forensic evaluations, sex offender treatment and evaluation, and serious mental illness.   

Reagan Stallings is a graduate student at Marymount University in the dual degree Forensic and Legal Psychology program and Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.

Anna Vaynman is a doctoral student in Psychology & Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY Graduate Center. Her research interests surround plea-bargain decision-making, particularly attorneys' roles in the plea bargaining process. 

SRL operates as a part of the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Psychology within the Law-Psychology Program.