Alexis Brieant
@abrieant.bsky.social
Assistant professor @UVMvermont | Developmental psychologist studying adversity, 🧠 development, & mental health | #FGLI | she/her | fernlab-uvm.com | views are my own
Pinned
Alexis Brieant
@abrieant.bsky.social
· Sep 15
Family, Environment, Resilience, and Neurodevelopment Lab | UVM
The Family, Environment, Resilience, and Neurodevelopment (FERN) Lab is a research team at the University of Vermont (UVM) committed to studying how and why stress and adversity affect brain developme...
www.fernlab-uvm.com
I'll be reviewing applications for developmental and biobehavioral psychology PhD students this cycle (not clinical). More info and FAQs here! www.fernlab-uvm.com
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
My lab at UW Madison is hiring a new lab manager! I’m looking for a motivated and detail-oriented person to help run the lab’s day-to-day, including our ongoing neuroimaging and behavioral studies. This is especially well suited for graduating undergrads thinking about grad school. Link below
February 12, 2026 at 6:21 PM
My lab at UW Madison is hiring a new lab manager! I’m looking for a motivated and detail-oriented person to help run the lab’s day-to-day, including our ongoing neuroimaging and behavioral studies. This is especially well suited for graduating undergrads thinking about grad school. Link below
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
They’re taking children from Minnesota and locking them up like criminals in detention camps in Texas.
For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.
www.startribune.com/walz-demands...
For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.
www.startribune.com/walz-demands...
Walz demands DHS stop detaining Minnesota children
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Walz demanded details about how many Minnesota kids are in detention facilities.
www.startribune.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:35 AM
They’re taking children from Minnesota and locking them up like criminals in detention camps in Texas.
For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.
www.startribune.com/walz-demands...
For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.
www.startribune.com/walz-demands...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
"Liam’s teacher, Ella Sullivan, teared up when thinking about Liam. 'He’s a bright young student,' she said, 'and he’s so kind and loving. His classmates miss him.'"
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
Preschooler and three other students detained by ICE, school district leader says
The detentions of Columbia Heights students come after weeks of heightened concern and enforcement presence near and on Twin Cities school property.
www.startribune.com
January 22, 2026 at 1:23 AM
"Liam’s teacher, Ella Sullivan, teared up when thinking about Liam. 'He’s a bright young student,' she said, 'and he’s so kind and loving. His classmates miss him.'"
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
www.startribune.com/preschooler-...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
Excited to share a new preprint that examines how adversity exposure across development is associated with subcortical-cortical structure-function coupling and youth mental health! 🧠
Thread below: 🧵⬇
Thread below: 🧵⬇
Corticolimbic structure-function coupling is sensitive to childhood adversity and buffers adversity-related symptoms during development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.696017v1
January 14, 2026 at 6:59 PM
Excited to share a new preprint that examines how adversity exposure across development is associated with subcortical-cortical structure-function coupling and youth mental health! 🧠
Thread below: 🧵⬇
Thread below: 🧵⬇
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
This is unconstitutional lawless terror & intentional child abuse. These thugs should be prosecuted as a gang of child abusers engaged in kidnap & all other related offenses. Unthinkably evil.
A teenage boy was walking home in Minneapolis yesterday when four masked men jumped out of a van & questioned him - with no parent or guardian present.
He was bundled into the van & taken away.
Bystanders heard the boy say: “Can I just go home?”
I don’t know how America comes back from all this.
He was bundled into the van & taken away.
Bystanders heard the boy say: “Can I just go home?”
I don’t know how America comes back from all this.
January 13, 2026 at 9:25 PM
This is unconstitutional lawless terror & intentional child abuse. These thugs should be prosecuted as a gang of child abusers engaged in kidnap & all other related offenses. Unthinkably evil.
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
We're hiring! The Computational Clinical Science Lab @ Yale is seeking a full-time lab manager/research coordinator to start in early summer 2026.
For more information about the position and to apply: forms.gle/LtQwVgPUfaGk...
Please share widely & consider applying!
For more information about the position and to apply: forms.gle/LtQwVgPUfaGk...
Please share widely & consider applying!
forms.gle
January 13, 2026 at 4:45 PM
We're hiring! The Computational Clinical Science Lab @ Yale is seeking a full-time lab manager/research coordinator to start in early summer 2026.
For more information about the position and to apply: forms.gle/LtQwVgPUfaGk...
Please share widely & consider applying!
For more information about the position and to apply: forms.gle/LtQwVgPUfaGk...
Please share widely & consider applying!
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
New year🎊, new preprint📰
Using multimodal brain-age prediction models trained and tested on 4-wave MRI data from #ABCD, we examined how deviations in brain age align with changes in internalising and externalising symptoms across 10 waves.
1/4🧵
Using multimodal brain-age prediction models trained and tested on 4-wave MRI data from #ABCD, we examined how deviations in brain age align with changes in internalising and externalising symptoms across 10 waves.
1/4🧵
Synchrony between brain age maturation and internalising and externalising symptoms across adolescence
Abstract Background: Adolescence is a period of rapid neurobiological and behavioural change, yet it remains unclear how deviations from normative brain maturation relate to the development of interna...
www.medrxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 9:00 AM
New year🎊, new preprint📰
Using multimodal brain-age prediction models trained and tested on 4-wave MRI data from #ABCD, we examined how deviations in brain age align with changes in internalising and externalising symptoms across 10 waves.
1/4🧵
Using multimodal brain-age prediction models trained and tested on 4-wave MRI data from #ABCD, we examined how deviations in brain age align with changes in internalising and externalising symptoms across 10 waves.
1/4🧵
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
ICE sprayed a one-year-old in the face with pepper spray.
The child and parents are US citizens, but that doesn't even matter.
These monsters pepper-sprayed a baby.
We cannot allow ICE to continue this behavior, and they aren't going to reform themselves.
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
The child and parents are US citizens, but that doesn't even matter.
These monsters pepper-sprayed a baby.
We cannot allow ICE to continue this behavior, and they aren't going to reform themselves.
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
December 15, 2025 at 3:24 AM
ICE sprayed a one-year-old in the face with pepper spray.
The child and parents are US citizens, but that doesn't even matter.
These monsters pepper-sprayed a baby.
We cannot allow ICE to continue this behavior, and they aren't going to reform themselves.
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
The child and parents are US citizens, but that doesn't even matter.
These monsters pepper-sprayed a baby.
We cannot allow ICE to continue this behavior, and they aren't going to reform themselves.
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
This year saw almost a 50 percent decrease in funded grants on mental health. This is not okay. There is a literal mental health crisis in our country & instead of funding more work on cures we are cutting the amount of work in half.
Our children will suffer from this.
archive.is/2025.12.02-2...
Our children will suffer from this.
archive.is/2025.12.02-2...
December 3, 2025 at 12:51 AM
This year saw almost a 50 percent decrease in funded grants on mental health. This is not okay. There is a literal mental health crisis in our country & instead of funding more work on cures we are cutting the amount of work in half.
Our children will suffer from this.
archive.is/2025.12.02-2...
Our children will suffer from this.
archive.is/2025.12.02-2...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
Excited to share our new review “Mapping interactions between adversity and neuroplasticity across development” in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social. We discuss how experience - particularly adversity - interacts with neuroplasticity during human development authors.elsevier.com/c/1mB5U4sIRv...
December 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Excited to share our new review “Mapping interactions between adversity and neuroplasticity across development” in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social. We discuss how experience - particularly adversity - interacts with neuroplasticity during human development authors.elsevier.com/c/1mB5U4sIRv...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
The CDC website under RFK Jr. now argues that we “can’t say vaccines don’t cause autism” because studies haven’t ruled out every possible scenario.
It’s wild to see this misunderstanding of science on a federal health website, but it’s also an opportunity to explain how the scientific process works
It’s wild to see this misunderstanding of science on a federal health website, but it’s also an opportunity to explain how the scientific process works
November 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The CDC website under RFK Jr. now argues that we “can’t say vaccines don’t cause autism” because studies haven’t ruled out every possible scenario.
It’s wild to see this misunderstanding of science on a federal health website, but it’s also an opportunity to explain how the scientific process works
It’s wild to see this misunderstanding of science on a federal health website, but it’s also an opportunity to explain how the scientific process works
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
🚨Cyber Monday Discounts for smart-workshops.com Monday, Dec 1 Only!
Give yourself the gift of methods expertise this year!
25% off for professionals, 50% for trainees (usual 33% plus 25%) with codes: cyber25pro or cyber25train
Please RT and share with colleagues!🙏
1/2
Give yourself the gift of methods expertise this year!
25% off for professionals, 50% for trainees (usual 33% plus 25%) with codes: cyber25pro or cyber25train
Please RT and share with colleagues!🙏
1/2
a man with his hands folded and the words oh my god yes behind him
ALT: a man with his hands folded and the words oh my god yes behind him
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:37 PM
🚨Cyber Monday Discounts for smart-workshops.com Monday, Dec 1 Only!
Give yourself the gift of methods expertise this year!
25% off for professionals, 50% for trainees (usual 33% plus 25%) with codes: cyber25pro or cyber25train
Please RT and share with colleagues!🙏
1/2
Give yourself the gift of methods expertise this year!
25% off for professionals, 50% for trainees (usual 33% plus 25%) with codes: cyber25pro or cyber25train
Please RT and share with colleagues!🙏
1/2
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
I wrote a piece for The Conversation on the importance of SNAP for reducing food insecurity and improving child health. I’d love it if you would read and share!
Recent SNAP cuts and the government shutdown are disrupting food access for millions of children. A developmental psychologist explains why this matters: food insecurity in childhood predicts higher cardiovascular risks in adulthood, worse mental health and academic problems. buff.ly/GEHkiZr
SNAP benefits have been cut and disrupted – causing more kids to go without enough healthy food and harming child development
Having stable access to nutritious food sets children up for better mental and physical health into adulthood.
theconversation.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:26 AM
I wrote a piece for The Conversation on the importance of SNAP for reducing food insecurity and improving child health. I’d love it if you would read and share!
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
🚨I am in the most delightful position of having a postdoc land a faculty job! Which means I will be looking to hire at least one new postdoc this cycle! More to come soon but if you're interested feel free to email me or come say hi at @isdp.org in a week or two!
November 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
🚨I am in the most delightful position of having a postdoc land a faculty job! Which means I will be looking to hire at least one new postdoc this cycle! More to come soon but if you're interested feel free to email me or come say hi at @isdp.org in a week or two!
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
If you think your kids aren't old enough to hear about what's happening in this country, remember that there are millions of kids their same age who don't have that choice.
"[Chicago mom] Andrea Soria... overheard her 6-year-old whisper to her dolls: 'We have to be good or ICE will get us.'"
apnews.com/article/chic...
apnews.com/article/chic...
Chicago's children are getting caught in the chaos of immigration crackdowns
In Chicago, children and families have been traumatized by an immigration enforcement action involving tear gas.
apnews.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:45 PM
If you think your kids aren't old enough to hear about what's happening in this country, remember that there are millions of kids their same age who don't have that choice.
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
Just published! ✨ Across 15+ timepoints, we found that unpredictability in economic hardship – not only severity – shapes young children’s self-regulation. Understanding these dynamics can help us design supports that promote stability and adaptive development. 👉 bit.ly/4oIZO75
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood
bit.ly
October 30, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Just published! ✨ Across 15+ timepoints, we found that unpredictability in economic hardship – not only severity – shapes young children’s self-regulation. Understanding these dynamics can help us design supports that promote stability and adaptive development. 👉 bit.ly/4oIZO75
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
SNAP benefits are about to lapse for 42 million people, because nothing says “save the children” like starving them.
October 23, 2025 at 11:03 AM
SNAP benefits are about to lapse for 42 million people, because nothing says “save the children” like starving them.
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
📣 I am excited to be recruiting PhD students to my lab in Psychology and Neuroscience at UGA! If you are applying for Fall 2026 and passionate about environmental effects on brain function, plasticity, and behavior development, consider joining me in Athens!
psychology.uga.edu/how-apply-ou...
psychology.uga.edu/how-apply-ou...
How to Apply to Our Graduate Programs
The department offers two graduate degrees: the Ph.D.
psychology.uga.edu
October 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
📣 I am excited to be recruiting PhD students to my lab in Psychology and Neuroscience at UGA! If you are applying for Fall 2026 and passionate about environmental effects on brain function, plasticity, and behavior development, consider joining me in Athens!
psychology.uga.edu/how-apply-ou...
psychology.uga.edu/how-apply-ou...
New lab paper in DCN! 🧠 We conducted interviews with adolescents to better understand their perceptions of neuroscience research and barriers to participation, w/qualitative data that is shaping how we design lab studies & efforts to increase representation.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Understanding barriers to adolescent participation in developmental neuroscience research
Increasing representation of youth in developmental neuroscience research is essential to elucidating neurobiological mechanisms of cognition, behavio…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM
New lab paper in DCN! 🧠 We conducted interviews with adolescents to better understand their perceptions of neuroscience research and barriers to participation, w/qualitative data that is shaping how we design lab studies & efforts to increase representation.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
📣 Calling 2nd-year grad students and their mentors:
You just abruptly lost the ability to apply for the NSF grad research fellowship.
Join ~900 others (and growing!) in signing @omfishient.bsky.social's petition to reverse that.
[Or reshare this petition if you're not directly impacted]
You just abruptly lost the ability to apply for the NSF grad research fellowship.
Join ~900 others (and growing!) in signing @omfishient.bsky.social's petition to reverse that.
[Or reshare this petition if you're not directly impacted]
Petition to NSF to Restore Eligibility for the 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship Program Competition
laurenkuehne.github.io
October 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
📣 Calling 2nd-year grad students and their mentors:
You just abruptly lost the ability to apply for the NSF grad research fellowship.
Join ~900 others (and growing!) in signing @omfishient.bsky.social's petition to reverse that.
[Or reshare this petition if you're not directly impacted]
You just abruptly lost the ability to apply for the NSF grad research fellowship.
Join ~900 others (and growing!) in signing @omfishient.bsky.social's petition to reverse that.
[Or reshare this petition if you're not directly impacted]
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
You cannot keep your head down and expect to sneak through the next three years unaffected.
We MUST come together and say “NO!”
Suppression of freedoms *always* starts at universities and in the press.
You’ve got like 5 seconds to wake up.
We MUST come together and say “NO!”
Suppression of freedoms *always* starts at universities and in the press.
You’ve got like 5 seconds to wake up.
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders
www.nytimes.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:43 PM
You cannot keep your head down and expect to sneak through the next three years unaffected.
We MUST come together and say “NO!”
Suppression of freedoms *always* starts at universities and in the press.
You’ve got like 5 seconds to wake up.
We MUST come together and say “NO!”
Suppression of freedoms *always* starts at universities and in the press.
You’ve got like 5 seconds to wake up.
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
bb's first podcast.
Here's my conversation w/ Heather McSherry abt @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, science, power, organizing, & the existential threats to public health in this precipice moment.
www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
@pathogenscribe.bsky.social @infectdosepodcast.bsky.social
Here's my conversation w/ Heather McSherry abt @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, science, power, organizing, & the existential threats to public health in this precipice moment.
www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
@pathogenscribe.bsky.social @infectdosepodcast.bsky.social
From Evidence to Power: Organizing for Public Health with Jon Shaffer, PhD
Sociologist–organizer Jon Shaffer, PhD, joins Infectious Dose to explain why organizing—not just evidence—wins public-health protections, how DPH is building state teams, and what you can do next.
www.infectiousdose.com
September 17, 2025 at 10:53 AM
bb's first podcast.
Here's my conversation w/ Heather McSherry abt @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, science, power, organizing, & the existential threats to public health in this precipice moment.
www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
@pathogenscribe.bsky.social @infectdosepodcast.bsky.social
Here's my conversation w/ Heather McSherry abt @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, science, power, organizing, & the existential threats to public health in this precipice moment.
www.infectiousdose.com/post/from-ev...
@pathogenscribe.bsky.social @infectdosepodcast.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexis Brieant
I’m hiring!! 🎉 Looking for a full-time Lab Manager to help launch the Minds, Experiences, and Language Lab at Stanford. We’ll use all-day language recording, eye tracking, & neuroimaging to study how kids & families navigate unequal structural constraints. Please share:
phxc1b.rfer.us/STANFORDWcqUYo
phxc1b.rfer.us/STANFORDWcqUYo
Research Coordinator, Minds, Experiences, and Language Lab in Graduate School of Education, Stanford, California, United States
The Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) seeks a full-time Research Coordinator (acting lab manager) to help launch and coordinate the Minds,.....
phxc1b.rfer.us
September 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I’m hiring!! 🎉 Looking for a full-time Lab Manager to help launch the Minds, Experiences, and Language Lab at Stanford. We’ll use all-day language recording, eye tracking, & neuroimaging to study how kids & families navigate unequal structural constraints. Please share:
phxc1b.rfer.us/STANFORDWcqUYo
phxc1b.rfer.us/STANFORDWcqUYo
I'll be reviewing applications for developmental and biobehavioral psychology PhD students this cycle (not clinical). More info and FAQs here! www.fernlab-uvm.com
Family, Environment, Resilience, and Neurodevelopment Lab | UVM
The Family, Environment, Resilience, and Neurodevelopment (FERN) Lab is a research team at the University of Vermont (UVM) committed to studying how and why stress and adversity affect brain developme...
www.fernlab-uvm.com
September 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I'll be reviewing applications for developmental and biobehavioral psychology PhD students this cycle (not clinical). More info and FAQs here! www.fernlab-uvm.com