Department awards

   Jasmine Norman receives the Kevin Hawley Memorial Award

Each year the psychology graduate student body votes on one graduate student who embodies the values that Kevin Hawley brought to his graduate school experience, such as generous service to others, congenial temperament, inspirational fortitude in the face of adversity and a general zest for life. 

   Crosby Modrowski receives the B. Jack White Award

The B. Jack White Award is give annually "to an advanced psychology graduate student who has shown overall excellence in performance, taking into account coursework, research productivity, teaching, and departmental service".  Crosby has received this award because of her outstanding research, teaching and service record.  Her research has focused on maladaptation and adaptation following childhood trauma exposure.  She has contributed 13 peer reviewed articles to the literature including 3 first author papers.  She has received top-notch evaluations for her performance as a TA for introductory psychology and research methods.  Finally, her service has been extensive.  She has been a student representative on the Clinical Training, Graduate, and Diversity Committees.  In addition, she has chaired the APA Division 53 Student Membership Committee and served as a contributing editor to thenewsletter of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

   Madison Niermeyer receives the B. Jack White Award

The B. Jack White Award is give annually "to an advanced psychology graduate student who has shown overall excellence in performance, taking into account coursework, research productivity, teaching, and departmental service".  Madison has received this award because of her outstanding research, teaching and service record.  She has been investigating the factors contributing to executive dysfunction in older adults.  She has published 9 peer reviewed articles including 4 first author papers.  She has been lauded by faculty, students, and peers for her teaching.  Because of her teaching excellence and expertise, she has been asked to serve as a TA fro graduate level courses in clinical assessment and statistics.  Finally, Maddi has been a student representative on the Clinical Training Committee and the Graduate Committee.  At the national level, she has served as a program committee member for two recent neuropsychology conferences.

  Lace Padilla receives the Frederick T. Rhodewalt Award for Innovative Scholarship

Frederick Rhodewalt was a creative thinker, a persuasive writer, and a nationally recognized scholar in the area of personality; he modeled and encourage critical thinking,creativity, and openness to new ideas.  In this spirit, the Frederick T. Rhodewalt Award is given to a graduate student to recognize and encourage creative, innovative or transformative research.  Lace’s work will explore how to use visualizations to improve trust in science with uncertainty.  This is important and novel because visualization scientist rarely consider trust when developing and communicating visualization techniques (e.g., hurricane forecasts).  This work will thus blend interdisciplinary expertise in cognitive psychology, computer science, and media communication to foster communicating trust when there is some level of uncertainty in scientific work.    

 This work was also awarded a Visionary Research Grant by the Gordan Research Conference for its innovative interdisciplinary approach to solving real-world scientific problems.

   Caitlin Kelly receives the Nancy Patterson Klekas Outstanding Service Award

The Nancy Patterson Klekas Outstanding Service Award recognizes a graduate student who has demonstrated the values central to nancy's life: integrity, a strong sense of community, and a commitment to service.  Just as Nancy went above and beyone her official role as accounting supervisor, this award is intended to acknowledge a student who has gone beyond his or her usual role, by assisting others and enhancing the c ommunity.  Service to the community may be reflected in committee activities, volunteered services, mentoring, or efforts to build partnerships or to strengthen the community. 

Caitlin fosters a sense of community in her expert mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.

• Meets with a dozen or so undergraduate research assistants to offer help in advancing professional careers in graduate school medical school, or other health professions
• Manages a fairly large team of undergraduates and collaborating with postdoctoral fellows, endocrinologists, and managing the challenges of a large team at two different sites.
• Manages interpersonal difficulties with professionalism and wisdom.

 What do those undergraduates have to say?   Caitlin is a genuine and hardworking individual, and I cannot speak highly enough of her.  She has been inspirational in my own decision pursue psychology as a graduate student.  . . . she strongly exhibits integrity, a strong sense of community, and a commitment to service.

 Graduates?  In short, Caitlin loves people, works hard, and always tries to lift the spirits of those around her.  She is a positive role model to both undergraduates and graduate students in the department and across campus.

 Caitlin brings strong moral character and focus on fostering collaboration and community to each service activity.  First, Caitlin demonstrates conviction to her ethics and values.  She has strength of character and does not diverge from her beliefs due to outside pressure ...

 Faculty support letters: genuine caring, creative problem-solving – sounds just like Nancy!

 She is an ethical researcher who gives as much to others as she demands of herself. 

   Craig Bryan receives the Irwin Altman Outstanding Psychology Faculty Award

As a junior to midcareer scientist, his phenomenal record of scholarly accomplishments, generosity of time and service both locally and nationally, and his exceptional record of mentorship make him an ideal candidate for this award.   Craig’s vast and extremely productive line of research focuses broadly on military mental health with a particular emphasis on the development of assessment and screening tools for detecting risk for suicide and the creation of brief cognitive behavioral interventions for preventing suicide.   His work is noteworthy and unique not only because of its originality and theoretical innovativeness but also because of the exceptionally high level of methodological rigor that is consistently evident throughout his publication record.   Pair this with a commitment to training and dissemination to make these life-saving treatments more available to veterans and "scalable".

  Hannah Samowitz receives the Outstanding Honors Thesis in Psychology

The Effects of Air Pollution Salience and Natural Place Attachment on Supporting an Environmental Organization

Advisor: Monisha Pasupathi

  Mindy Brown receives a Clayton Award for Excellence in Research on Underrepresented Populations

Mindy is receiving a Clayton Award for Excellence in Research on Underrepresented Populations to conduct “An experimental test of the effects of acute stress and parental bonding history on maternal sensitivity”. She will explore the relations between ethnicity, and the stress and parental bonds that affect the responsiveness of mothers to their infants.

  Madison Niermeyer receives a Clayton Award for Excellence in Research on Underrepresented Populations

Maddi is receiving a Clayton Award for Excellence in Research on Underrepresented Populations for her research on “The effect of contextual factors on older adults’ executive functioning and gait”. Her study examines the impact of stereotype threat on executive functioning, and the walking and mobility of minority older adults. Her research also explores whether socioeconomic and racial disparities in chronic pain, sleep quality, and emotion regulation heighten the risk of falling.

  Lauren Williams receives the Clayton Award for Excellence in Graduate Research

Lauren is receiving a Clayton Award for Excellence in Graduate Research to investigate ”The categorical search template: How do we search without knowing exactly what we're looking for?" She will be conducting a series of experiments to examine how people search for objects when they have incomplete information about their visual appearance.