Jillian Lee Wiggins, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist who received her Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 2013. At the University of Michigan, Dr. Wiggins’ research focused on identifying the brain and genetic mechanisms of socio-emotional functioning in youth with autism spectrum disorder as well as typically developing youth. To do this, she used neuroscience tools (functional MRI, functional connectivity, genotyping) to link brain activation patterns in response to emotional faces to genetic variation in children and adolescents with and without autism. After completing her PhD, Dr. Wiggins joined the Emotion and Development Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health/National Institutes of Health (NIMH/NIH) as a post-doctoral fellow. At the NIH, Dr. Wiggins’ work examined brain mechanisms of processing socio-emotional stimuli (i.e., faces) in youth with severe irritability and bipolar disorder. As our second faculty hire in the Area of Excellence in Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dr. Wiggins will continue brain and genetic research on autism and irritability as well as depression and anxiety in children and adolescents. Dr. Wiggins looks forward to joining the faculty at SDSU in the Spring of 2016 and is happy to talk to interested students and faculty members about any of these research topics.