Amanda Denes was a CNS Graduate Fellow from 2010 to September 2011. A Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Communication at UCSB with a Feminist Studies Doctoral Emphasis, her research primarily focuses on disclosure decision processes, sexuality/gender and communication, and physiological influences on communication. Amanda's dissertation explores how hormones influence individuals' perceptions of the risks and benefits of disclosing information about themselves, subsequent disclosure decisions, and the effects of such disclosures on relational health between partners. Her research has also explored children's coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) to their parents, disclosure decisions between romantic partners after sexual activity,  and the role of communication in LGBTQ identity-formation processes.

At CNS, Amanda worked with Dr. Barbara Herr Harthorn in IRG-3 (Risk Perception and Social Response), exploring the influence of gender on perceptions of the risks and benefits of nanotechnology in the context of group deliberations.