Practicum Students

Summer 2023

Tanisha Bali

Tanisha Bali is an undergraduate student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, majoring in psychology and minoring in counselling. Her research interests include psychopathology, neurology, and mental health. Her non academic interests include raves/music festivals, finding new food places, and travelling. She is aiming to become a registered clinical psychologist and wants to work with young adults.


Yasmin Hussein


Summer 2022

Nachwa Elaini

Nachwa is a Bachelor of Arts student currently studying Psychology with a minor in Counselling at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and will be graduating in the Spring of 2023. Nachwa aspires to work in the mental health field with children and youth as a registered clinical psychologist.

Her topics of interest in research include psychometrics, group dynamics, learning environment. This led her to join the GDP Lab and explore aspects of individuals working, studying, and socializing in groups. For her Practicum, with Dr. Shayna Minosky’s supervision and guidance, she explored the impact of various communication mediums on student perceptions of social presence, rapport, and engagement in the online learning environment.

Nachwa enjoys spending time with family or making plans with friends during her free time in order to catch up with them. She also enjoys reading fictional murder mystery, romance and fantasy books to then post reviews about her favorit reads on her blog.


Summer 2021

Michael Wiechers

Michael is a B.A.A. (Applied Arts) student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He is completed his degree in psychology and graduated in the Spring of 2022. 

He worked under the supervision of Dr. Shayna Rusticus as a research assistant in her Group Dynamics and Psychometrics lab to complete his practicum. He has been working on researching various aspects of student-student and student-faculty interactions in both online and face-to-face learning environments. 

During his free time, he loves watching hockey and is a die-hard Canucks fan. In addition, he loves going to the gym, socializing with friends and family, and playing video games. ….


Leonardo Landaverde-Umana

Leonardo is a Bachelor of Science (Applied Psychology) student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He completed his degree in psychology and graduated in the Spring of 2022. 

He worked under the supervision of Dr. Shayna Rusticus as a research assistant in her Group Dynamics and Psychometrics lab to complete his practicum. He did a literature review on scales and measurements measuring attitudes towards teamwork in a variety of classroom settings.

When he is not working on this project, Leonardo enjoys going to the gym, spending time with friends, as well as playing sports and video games.


Tabasom Fayaz