Dan Conroy-Beam
Associate professor
Email: dconroybeam@ucsb.edu
Dan uses an evolutionary and computational perspective to understand social decision making, particularly in the domain of human mate choice and mating relationships. His work combines agent-based modeling, dyadic and behavioral data, and cross-cultural samples to develop, compare, and explore candidate models of the complete mating process. Dan's interests range from how people evaluate potential partners, pursue and choose partners, and regulate their relationships.
Ashley Coventry
PhD Student
Email: ashleycoventry@ucsb.edu
Ashley joined the CMC lab as a PhD student in the Fall of 2022. She earned a BS in Psychological and Brain Sciences and a BA in Communication from UCSB in the Spring of 2022. Ashley studies partner preferences, and how people evaluate and choose relationship partners in dynamic social environments. Her research uses evolutionary theory and computational modeling to understand how people make complex decisions about both romantic partners and friends. In addition, she investigates how these processes operate in underrepresented populations, including LGBTQ+ and polyamorous individuals. Ashley is co-advised by Dr. Tamsin German in the Cognitive Development Lab.
Carlos Sosa Colindres
PhD Student
Email: csosacolindres@ucsb.edu
Carlos joined the CMC Lab in the Fall of 2022. He received his BS in Psychological and Brain Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2021. Carlos is interested in mapping the information-processing design of human mating psychology using evolutionary and computational perspectives. Specifically, he is using agent-based modeling to explore how people calibrate their mate preferences in response to experience and using those preferences to predict mating decisions over time.
Clara Meyerfreund Lavrador
PhD Student
Email: clavra@ucsb.edu
Clara joined the CMC Lab in the Fall of 2025. She received her BS in Psychology from the University of Miami in 2023. Clara is interested in mapping the cognitive processes that drive n-person social dynamics. Clara is co-advised by Dr. David Pietraszewski in the Cognitive Adaptation Lab.
Jeongwoo (John) Kim
PhD Student
Email: jeongwoo@ucsb.edu
John joined the CMC Lab in the Fall of 2025. He received his BS and MA in Psychology from Yonsei University in 2020 and 2023. John is interested in computational models of decision-making in mating contexts. He is particularly interested in modeling decisions about romantic relationship initiation and dissolution.
Lab Alumni
Katy Walter Preston, PhD
Senior Analyst, Global Consumer Insights at UGG
Elizabeth Agey, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Personal website: https://anthroliz.com/
Ben Gelbart, PhD
Postdoctoral Investigator at Yale University
Personal website: https://bengelbart.com/