About the Lab - REEL Lab

Lab Director

Greg Depow, Ph.D.

Greg Depow is an Assistant Professor at Lakehead University and is the Principal Investigator of the Regulation of Empathy and Emotion Lab (REEL). The research of the REEL lab focuses on how individuals perceive and engage with the thoughts and emotions of other people, how they make decisions to invest effort for others, and how these and other experiences impact subjective well-being. We are particularly interested in how empathy can be regulated to improve outcomes for the empathizer and the target of empathy. Dr. Depow has explored these constructs in different contexts–in lab experiments, within organizations, on social media, and in everyday life. The lab is broadly interested in closing our aspirational gap of connecting with others and leading happy, meaningful lives.

Dr. Depow attended the University of the Fraser Valley where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a Psychology Honours extension and a minor in Applied Ethical Political Philosophy. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, working with Dr. Michael Inzlicht at the Work and Play Lab. He was a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow, as well as a Rechter Fellow in Positive Leadership at the University of Louisville, Center for Positive Leadership. He served as coordinator of the Social Personality Research Group and Vice President of the Psychology Graduate Student Association. In addition, Dr. Depow worked with Dr. Rachel Ruttan in the Morality Altruism Politics Emotions Lab (MAPEL) based out of the Rotman School of Management. He has also done applied research with industry partners such as Potential Project, and received the Ken Dion award from the Social Personality Research Group in 2024.

Dr. Depow completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California San Diego, Rady School of Management, working with Dr. Chris Oveis in the Empathy and Emotion Lab. He also worked with Dr. Amit Goldenberg in the Digital Emotions Lab at Harvard Business School. He received Fellowships from the Social Sciences Human Research Council of Canada, the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at UCSD, and the Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard Graduate School of Education to support his postdoctoral work.

Download CV: Click Here
Twitter: @GDepow
Open Science Framework: osf.io/g42yt/
Orcid ID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9995-4143
Researchgate: researchgate.net/profile/Greg-Depow
Google scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?user=1FZFK5oAAAAJ&hl=en

Graduate Students

Aaima Cheema, M.Sc

I am a first-year MSc student in the Psychological Science program at Lakehead University, supervised by Dr. Greg Depow. I recently completed my MSc in Medical Science and received my HBSc in Neuroscience and Mental Health from the University of Toronto. My previous MSc thesis, supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canada Graduate Scholarship–Master’s (CGSM), examined the neurobiological relationship between irritability and suicidality using social cognition paradigms and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

In line with these interests, I would now like to examine the relationship between specific domains of empathy and suicidal thoughts and behaviours. More broadly, I focus on mental health and suicidality within the North American Muslim community, currently leading the Suicide Response Team at the Stanford Muslim and Islamic Psychology Lab. I also serve as a graduate assistant for the Research Methods in Psychology undergraduate course. As I continue my postgraduate studies, I aim to become a Clinical Psychologist.

Aside from my research and academic work, I enjoy cafe hopping in my spare time and relaxing at home with my cat and husband.

Honours Students

Faezeh Ghasemi

I am a fourth year Specialized Honours Psychology student at Lakehead University completing my undergraduate thesis. My research interests include empathy, emotion regulation, well-being, and how social media and digital technology influence our emotions and social experiences. Following my undergraduate degree, I plan to pursue graduate training in Clinical Psychology and continue developing my interests in research, mental health, and human relationships.

Jessica Jessica

Hi, I’m Jessica! I’m a fourth-year Honours Psychology student at Lakehead, and I’m currently working on my thesis. My research interests are in generative AI, empathy, and how people use AI for personal and emotional support. After I graduate, I want to get more clinical experience and eventually apply to Clinical Psychology programs.

Research Assistants

Yiou Huang

I’m Yiou, a second-year undergraduate at UC San Diego double-majoring in Psychology and Cognitive Science (with a specialization in Design and Interaction). My research interests lie at the intersection of affective science and human-computer interaction (HCI), specifically empathy, emotion regulation, affective disorders, and romantic relationships. Looking ahead, I plan to pursue graduate studies in HCI and digital health, investigating how interactive technologies can support mental well-being.

Ethan Chieng

Hi! My name is Ethan and I am a first-year medical student at the Anne Marion School of Medicine at TCU. I graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley, where I conducted bench research at Nosis Bio and developed a machine vision model at UCSF.

Through my experiences as both a patient and a medical assistant, I’ve come to learn how much a medical journey is shaped by both science and emotion. I am interested in exploring how our understanding of empathy can benefit both the patients we serve and the providers who care for them.

Luis Perez

Luis is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree in Organizational Psychology at Rutgers University. He received a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree from the University of California, San Diego. He previously served as a research assistant in the Learning and Instruction in Multimedia Environments (LIME) Lab and the Empathy and Emotion Lab at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include employee health and wellbeing, workplace stressors, and compensation.

Krithika Suwarna

I’m a Research Assistant formerly at the Empathy and Emotion Lab at UC San Diego with Dr. Chris Oveis, and now at the Regulation of Empathy and Emotion Lab at Lakehead University with Dr. Greg Depow. In my work, I study empathy and digital technology use. I have an M.S. in Business Analytics (Data Science & AI) from UC San Diego and a B.E. in Computer Science from PES University. Before grad school, I worked as a Software Engineer at VMware, building large-scale data pipelines and anomaly detection systems. My work focuses on data engineering, applied machine learning, and AI systems.