The Team
Current Lab Members
Cristian Urbano
Cristian Urbano is currently a master’s student in the Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BAT) program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in psychology with a concentration in Research from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He also was trained in Essentials for Living. His applied and clinical interests focus on challenging behaviors, autism intervention, educational applications of ABA, caregiver and professional training, verbal behavior and compassionate approach. Cristian has experience providing behavioral services to autistic individuals and developing training programs for parents and professionals. He has worked as a professor of behavior analysis and evolutionary psychology in Fundacion Universitaria Konrad Lorenz; and has worked in the dissemination of behavior analysis in Colombia. He has been participating in diverse research from basic to applied topics. He has publications on autism prevalence and parent training. He received a SEAB Educational Grant to develop educational video games and is currently developing an assessment protocol for Latin American professionals working with people with disabilities.
For a list of Cristian’s publications, please visit his ResearchGate page.
Lauren Holley
Lauren Holley is a graduate student in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program at Southern
Illinois University Carbondale. She graduated with a B.A in Psychology, minor in neuroscience,
and a B.S in Biochemistry in May of 2026 from the same university. Lauren Holley’s research interests focus primarily on pharmacological interventions and the resulting behavioral analysis, particularly using rodent models. Her research aims to bridge psychology and biochemistry to investigate how targeted drug treatments alter behavioral outcomes. Her current research examines the effects of a pharmacological intervention on impulsive choice and decision-making, as modeled through the delay-discounting task.
J Schroeder
J Schroeder is a graduate student in the Behavior Analysis and Therapy program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. They graduated with their B.S in Psychology and a double minor in American Sign Language and Philosophy at Western Michigan University in 2025. J became a Registered Behavior Technician in 2025 and since then have been working with children with ASD at the Centerstone Autism clinic in Marion. J's current research interests are in treatment integrity related to skill acquisition interventions.
Nhi Nguyen is a graduate student in the Behavior Analysis and Therapy program at Southern Illinois University- Carbondale. She graduated with a Bachelor's in Special Education at the same university. Nhi’s research interests focus on intervention for young children on the autism spectrum disorder who use speech-generating devices. Her current research examines the effects of Differential Outcomes Procedures versus Nondifferential Outcomes, with particular emphasis on teaching tacts using speech-generating devices (SGDs).
Emily is a research assistant in the O'Neill Lab and a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at SIUC. Her research interests focus on treatment effectiveness and individualized approaches to treatment. More specifically, she is interested in exploring these questions regarding individuals struggling with anxiety and perfectionism.
Shayla Murray is an undergraduate student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale majoring in Psychology with a minor in Child and Family Services. She is interested in clinical and counseling psychology, with a particular focus on working with children, adolescents, and their families. After graduating, she plans to pursue graduate training and continue developing her research and clinical interests.
Graduated Lab Members
Aimee Hild is a graduate of the M.S. Behavior Analysis and Therapy program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She also graduated with a B.A. in Psychology at Lakeland University in 2024. Prior to coming to SIU, she gathered two years of experience in ABA at a clinical setting and became certified as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) in the summer of 2024. Aimee's interests focus on translational experiments that evaluate the degree to which errors impact the effectiveness of behavioral interventions. Before graduating, Aimee successfully defended her master’s thesis studying the effects of treatment integrity errors and their impact on the effectiveness of DRO procedures. She now lives in Wisconsin and is preparing for the BCBA exam.
