Madison Miller (’26)

Madison Miller majored in Psychology and Criminology with a minor in Spanish at Penn State. She contributed as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Kristin Buss’s Emotion Development Lab, which broadly studies the complex systems involved in the development of emotion, emotion regulation, temperament, and adjustment from infancy to adolescence. In this role, Madison led electroencephalography (EEG) data collection with adolescent research participants for Dr. Sarah Myruski’s Behavior and Online Life in Teens study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Additionally, she led collection and processing of cardiac data across infant and adolescent samples and assisted with coding behavior from live social interactions between adolescents. These experiences provided a strong foundation of research skills and professional development that enabled her to further explore and develop her research interests.

During her undergraduate coursework, Madison loved learning about social psychology processes such as groupthink, motivation, and compliance with authority figures. As her interests were developing, she attended an industrial-organizational psychology webinar and realized that this field provides an avenue for real-world application of these interests. Knowing that adults spend the majority of their lives working, Madison would like to study ways to create healthier and more effective workplace environments. She was accepted to a master’s program in organizational psychology with the goal of building on her prior research and professional experiences to enhance organizational effectiveness and improve employee morale and life satisfaction. After graduation, she would like to apply these skills in a professional setting to help organizations create healthier work environments.

Outside of research and the classroom, Madison held multiple leadership positions in her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and contributed to fundraising and community engagement efforts for Penn State’s childhood cancer philanthropy THON.

The CSC wishes Madison all the best in her future academic pursuits!