MEET THE TEAM
Destiny Hemesy
Destiny is from Ewing, NJ, where she received her bachelor's degree in psychology and minor in HR management from The College of New Jersey in May 2022.
Destiny is now a fourth-year Industrial/Organizational psychology Ph.D. candidate here at Penn State! Her research interests broadly include employee personality, personnel selection, and assessment. Her thesis explored at the role of explicit and implicit personality in understanding political ideology and potential outcomes in the workplace.
In her free time, Destiny enjoys watching baseball games, going to Broadway shows, and cooking fun, new recipes.
3rd-Year Doctoral I-O Psychology Student
Emma Desrosiers
1st-Year Doctoral I-O Psychology Student
Emma Desrosiers is a doctoral student in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology program at Penn State, advised by Dr. Brooks. Her research interests focus on financial insecurity and its impact within organizational contexts.
As an undergraduate, Emma worked as a research assistant in Dr. Alicia Grandey’s WELD lab and participated in a Penn State Practicum project with the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), where she helped identify stress interventions and burnout measures. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Finance and B.A. in Psychology from Penn State and was honored with the 2025 Harold L. Hinman Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes outstanding undergraduate students in Psychology with career interests in industry.
Emma is originally from Bucks County, PA. Outside of her academic work, she enjoys Pilates, various forms of exercise, reading, cooking, and has a particular fascination with sharks.
Research Assistants
(Left to Right) Olivia Hyman, Emma DeMichelle, Arlyn Cespedes, Aaron Balderas-Toledo, Michelle Pham, Joseph Cirilano, and Jacqueline Basso.
(Not Pictured) Gavin Mook, Mackenzie Watters, and Regan Stout.
Graduates:
Joseph Cirilano
Michelle Pham