Cazmyn Ray (’26)

Cazmyn Ray (she/her) is a Penn State senior majoring in Psychology. She serves as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Dawn Witherspoon’s Context and Development Lab, which focuses on how place and context shape adolescents’ behavior and mental health, particularly among minoritized populations such as Black and Latino youth. Cazmyn was drawn to this area of research because she wanted to understand how an individual’s experiences as an adolescent impacts their behavior in adulthood. Further, she noticed that minoritized populations have historically not been well-represented in research, and she wanted to learn more about those barriers and how research may benefit minoritized communities.

As an undergraduate research assistant, Cazmyn has been heavily involved in conducting literature reviews, which has expanded her knowledge of research on racial and ethnic minoritized youths’ social and emotional development. Her work has culminated in a co-authored book chapter with Dr. Dawn Witherspoon and doctoral candidate Briah Glover, which proposes a new model for examining emotion regulation processes among minoritized youth. In addition to this work, Cazmyn has assisted with community-engaged dissemination efforts, including translating research findings into digestible content for lay audiences through the curation of social media posts. She now leads other undergraduate research assistants in the lab as they develop their own independent research projects. Cazmyn has received several academic honors, including the Liberal Arts Dean’s list and the Psi Chi International Honor Society Distinguished Membership.

Following graduation, Cazmyn hopes to apply her training to understand how an individual’s background may influence later criminal behavior. She would like to have an impact on advancing equity in the criminal justice system. Toward this goal, she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in forensic psychology. Outside of research, Cazmyn has also had one of her essays, “Uniforms Do Not Belong In Schools,” published in Penn State’s writing and rhetoric publication Penn Statements.

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