Measurement & Multilevel Modeling Lab: Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Hok Chio (Mark) Lai

I am an Associate Professor of Psychology (Quantitative Methods and Computational Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California. I am from Macau and speaks Cantonese as my native language. Mathematics has always been a favorite subject to me, but my growing interest in understanding the human mind lead me to pursue a bachelor degree in Psychology at the University of Macau, where I discovered that a career of developing and applying quantitative methods in the social sciences would be a very good fit to me.

I am interested in all kinds of statistical methods, but currently my research areas include multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, effect size statistics, and measurement invariance. I also have collaborations on projects studying the prevalence, antecedents and consequences of gambling disorder, and in other areas such as evolutionary psychology, social psychology, developmental sciences, health sciences, etc.

Graduate Students

Jimmy Zhang

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Quantitative Methods and Computational Psychology (QMCP) area at USC. My advisor is Dr. Hok Chio (Mark) Lai. I’m generally interested in how researchers can meta-analytic techniques to synthesize research information from their areas of interests and figure out broad and overarching effects. Specifically, researchers look into questions cross-sectionally and longitudinally with complex hypotheses formalized through various statistical models. For example, I’m interested in how structural equation modeling (SEM), longitudinal models, and moderation models can be applied in meta-analysis to synthesize the effects from different angles. My main project focuses on a meta-analysis of measurement invariance of the CES-D scale across gender groups.

Email: gengruiz@usc.edu

Meltem Ozcan

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in quantitative psychology at USC advised by Dr. Hok Chio (Mark) Lai. Broadly, I am interested in developing and applying advanced quantitative methods to assess and model dynamic and complex psychological phenomena, and harnessing advances in machine learning and Bayesian statistics to improve upon traditional methods in psychology. My research interests include measurement invariance, fairness and accuracy in psychometric tests, Bayesian statistical methods, effect size statistics, and multilevel modeling. At UC Santa Cruz, where I completed my M.S. in statistics, I investigated the performance of changepoint detection techniques for time series under various correlation structures. Previously, I conducted research on an eclectic set of topics I find fascinating, including self-disclosure, intimacy, (skipping the) small talk, influence attempts in friendships on topics like politics, and linguistic patterns in trauma narratives. I enjoy learning languages (Korean or Python), writing (stories or code), and skipping the small talk.

Email: ozcan@usc.edu
Personal website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meltemozcan/
Github: https://github.com/meltemozcan

Undergraduate Students

Alex Miles

Nellie (Yinuo) Chen

I’m currently a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and Economics & Data Science. As the website maintainer of the MMM lab, I was offered great opportunities to be familiar with R Studio and Github. During my spare time, I enjoy dancing, reading, and singing Chinese traditional dramas.