Professor Alex Rothman received an NIH Award of Merit

Professor Alex Rothman received an NIH Award of Merit for exceptional advances in integrating cognitive, affective, and social processes into cancer control research at an event in November 2014 for his role as Co-Chair of the National Cancer Institute's Cognitive, Affective, and Social Processes in Health Research Working Group.

Congratulation to Mike Swenson - 1st Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award for Fall 2014

Mike Swenson's paper "Redefining the Eyewitness: An Examination and Proposed Solution to The Cross-Race Effect in Eyewitness Identifications" has been chosen as the First Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award!    

Congratulation to Tori Simenec - 2nd Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award for Fall 2014

Tori Simenec's paper "Investigating the Relationship Between Adverse Experiences and Memory in Children" has been chosen as the Second Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award!

Congratulation to Klara Manning - 3rd Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award for Fall 2014

Klara Manning's paper " A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa: Examining the Gender Gap" has been chosen as the Third Place recipient of the Sharon Borine Award!

Associate Professor Wilma Koutstaal has been elected as a fellow within the society for the American Advancement for the Association of Science (AAAS)

Associate Professor Wilma Koutstaal has been elected as a fellow within the society for the American Advancement for the Association of Science (AAAS). The announcement went out on Friday, and details can be found here:
Fellows will be honored for their contributions to innovation, education, and scientific leadership at the AAAS annual meeting in February 2015. Congratulations to Wilma on this prestigious honor!

Former Post-Doctoral Associate Nancy Segal was featured in APA's Society for General Psychology newsletter The General Psychologist

Former Post-Doctoral Associate Nancy Segal - who served on Emeritus Professor Tom Bouchard's Twins Reared Apart project for many years - was featured in APA's Society for General Psychology newsletter The General Psychologist. An article starting on page 18 discusses Dr. Segal winning the 2013 William James Book Award for The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart: The Science Behind the Fascination (italicize). She has now published multiple books on her experience here within the department - including Born Together: Raised Apart (italicize) - which staff can browse in the Central Office. The book provides an excellent summary of the early years of twin research at Minnesota.

Graduate student Emily Allen has been awarded a fellowship from the EU-funded Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Network

Graduate student Emily Allen (Auditory Perception and Cognition Lab, Advisor Andrew Oxenham) has been awarded a fellowship from the EU-funded Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Network to spend 6 months in Maastricht to pursue research related to the perception and neural coding of pitch and timbre.

Professor Deniz Ones featured on the website of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Professor Deniz Ones commented on the increased scrutiny of workplace tests and their effectiveness in the article "Are Workplace Personality Tests Fair?" featured on the website of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Assistant Professor Shmuel Lissek explains how evolution has impacted our threat response in the Washington Post

Assistant Professor Shmuel Lissek explains how evolution has impacted our threat response in the Washington Post article "It's highly unlikely that you'll become infected with Ebola. So what are you so afraid of?"
Link "It's highly unlikely that you'll become infected with Ebola. So what are you so afraid of?" to http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/05/nothing-to-fear-but-ebola-itself/

Professor Rich Lee received a Presidential Citation from American Psychological Association President Nadine Kaslow

Professor Rich Lee received a Presidential Citation from American Psychological Association President Nadine Kaslow for innovative thinking in translating science into practice. Professor Lee was specifically recognized for changing the face of Asian American research in psychology through his research on the international adoption of Korean children.  

Professor Traci Mann's recent study on the effect of comfort foods on our mood was discussed in the NPR article

Professor Traci Mann's recent study on the effect of comfort foods on our mood was discussed in the NPR article "Eating Comfort Foods May Not Be So Comforting After All".
Link "Eating Comfort Foods May Not Be So Comforting After All" to 

Emeritus Professor Irv Gottesman was interviewed for an article on CLA's website titled "Causing ripples, making waves."

Emeritus Professor Irv Gottesman was interviewed for an article on CLA's website titled "Causing ripples, making waves." His career and accomplishments are discussed.
Link "Causing ripples, making waves" to http://cla.umn.edu/news/makingwaves.html

Emeritus Professor Gail Peterson was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award

Emeritus Professor Gail Peterson was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Behavior Analysis. He has taught groundbreaking classes in Applied Behavior Analysis to several thousand students, and his career has been responsible for initiating the careers of the largest number of behavior analysts in Minnesota.
Link "Lifetime Achievement Award" to http://psych.umn.edu/assets/pdf/news/PressRelease_Peterson.pdf

Research by Emeritus Professor Ellen Berscheid, Professor Mark Snyder, and former Psychology graduate student Allen Omoto featured on CVS hit show

Research by Emeritus Professor Ellen Berscheid, Professor Mark Snyder, and former Psychology graduate student Allen Omoto on close relationships was featured on the Sept 29 episode of the CBS hit show "The Big Bang Theory". For more on how their research fit into the plot of the show, see http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_First_Pitch_Insufficiency

Congratulations to our September 2014 Ph.D. graduates!

Jennifer Filson Moses
Area: Social
Advisors: Mark Snyder and Marti Hope Gonzales
Dissertation Title: Social Identity in Close Relationships

Eva Susanne Gabrielsen
Area: Social
Advisor: Mark Snyder
Dissertation Title: Longitudinal Intergroup Contact Model Comparison at the Multicultural High School United World College Red Cross Nordic

Michal Reifen Tagar
Area: Social
Advisors: Eugene Borgida and Christopher Federico
Dissertation Title: Why Disagreement Obstructs Constructive Dialogue: The Role of Biased Attribution of Moral Motives

Sarah Ward
Area: CSPR
Advisor: William Iacono
Dissertation Title: Understanding Social Role Contributions to Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence and Adulthood: A Genetically Informed Approach

Former graduate student Sandra Davis, co-founder and immediate past CEO of MDA Leadership Consulting, was recognized by the George Family Foundation

Former graduate student Sandra Davis (Counseling, 1973), co-founder and immediate past CEO of MDA Leadership Consulting, was recognized by the George Family Foundation as one of 84 exceptional women leaders making remarkable contributions to building the Twin Cities in an event on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Davis and other honorees were recognized at the “Celebrating Twin Cities Women Leaders” event at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. The event celebrated women in the Twin Cities who have served as CEO, board chair or president of prominent companies and organizations in the community. Of the 84 honorees, Davis is the only one to head a leadership development firm.

Professor Gene Borgida was quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press

Professor Gene Borgida was quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on implicit racial bias in the treatment of a man accused of trespass in a public area of the St. Paul skyway system, subjected to Taser, and taken to jail - all while waiting to pick up his children. To read the article and watch the video of the incident, visit here.

Professor Traci Mann's research was discussed in Yahoo! News

Professor Traci Mann's research was discussed in Yahoo! News article "Obesity research confirms long-term weight loss almost impossible". Traci indicates that maintaining weight loss is highly unlikely for most individuals.

Professor Jeff Simpson's research on how couples deal with insecurities was featured in The Huffington Post

Professor Jeff Simpson's research on how couples deal with insecurities was featured in The Huffington Post article "The Buffer Zone: Romance and Insecurity". Among the findings: insecurity doesn't have to be a relationship death sentence.

Emeritus Professor Gloria Leon was appointed Chair of the NASA Standing Review Panel,

Emeritus Professor Gloria Leon was appointed Chair of the NASA Standing Review Panel, Behavioral Health and Performance Scientific Element, reviewing research progress on NASA-funded projects.

Professor Andrew Oxenham was elected to the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum (CORLAS).

Professor Andrew Oxenham was elected to the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum (CORLAS). CORLAS is dedicated to the pursuit of scientific advances in the broad field of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology. Membership in this international honor society is by invitation only, and is limited to 6 non-clinical members from the U.S.

We are pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Nate Helwig to the Quantitative/Psychometric Methods area of our Department!

We are pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Nate Helwig to the Quantitative/Psychometric Methods area of our Department! Nate comes to us from the University of Illinois's Department of Statistics. He will be splitting his time between the Department of Psychology and the School of Statistics (Psychology will serve as his tenure home). In Elliott Hall, he can be reached at N650 (office), N612 (lab), 612-624-8363, or helwig@umn.edu. Please help us welcome Nate to the Department!  

Assistant Professor Chun Wang received two significant award

Assistant Professor Chun Wang received two significant awards during the summer months. In May she was selected to be a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2014-2015 academic year. With the generous support of the Spencer Foundation, the Academy created this program to encourage outstanding researchers at the postdoctoral level to pursue critical education research projects. The program provides her with a full teaching release for the 2014-2015 academic year to pursue her research program on the development of IRT models and methods for longitudinal measurement. Dr. Wang’s second award resulted from an international competition sponsored by the International Association for Computerized Adaptive Testing (IACAT). As a result of that competition, she was selected to receive the Early Career Researcher Award, which will be presented to her at the IACAT conference in early October, where she will present a plenary address on her research on identifying statistically significant intraindividual multivariate change.

Emeritus Professor Tom Bouchard's award-winning twin research continues to make the news.

Emeritus Professor Tom Bouchard's award-winning twin research continues to make the news. His research was discussed in an article on livescience.com titled "Twins Separated at Birth Reveal Staggering Influence of Genetics", which was featured at Yahoo! News this month.

Emeritus Professor Tom Bouchard will be receiving the American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Award

Emeritus Professor Tom Bouchard will be receiving the American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology at the APA convention this year. The award will be presented to Tom on Friday, August 8, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. The award recognizes distinguished and enduring records of accomplishment in four areas of psychology: the application of psychology, the practice of psychology, psychology in the public interest, and the science of psychology. 

Adjunct Professor Scott Sponheim (Minneapolis VA Medical Center) was awarded a 4-year grant

Adjunct Professor Scott Sponheim (Minneapolis VA Medical Center) was awarded a 4-year grant entitled "Quantitative Modeling of Visual Perception Endophenotypes in Schizophrenia". Associate Professor Cheryl Olman is a primary co-investigator, and the research will involve using paradigms she has developed in her laboratory in order to better understand the basis of visual perceptual abnormalities in psychosis. Emeritus Professor Irv Gottesman and Professor Dan Kersten are consultants on the project.

Former Graduate Student Stephanie Pituc (Counseling Ph.D., 2013) is the recipient of the 2014 APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs

Former Graduate Student Stephanie Pituc (Counseling Ph.D., 2013) is the recipient of the 2014 APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs' (CEMA) Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology. The CEMA Selection Sub-committee determined her dissertation research titled, Foreigner Objectification, Bicultural Identity, and Psychological Adjustment in Asian American College Students (University of Minnesota, 2013), to be the most outstanding. The APA CEMA will be hosting a reception and a brief awards ceremony at the APA 122nd Annual Convention in Washington, DC to present Dr. Pituc with an award to honor her efforts. 

Congratulations to our June 2014 Ph.D. graduate!

Katrina Archambault
Area: CAB
Advisor: Chad Marsolek
Dissertation Title: How Stimulus Similarity Impacts Spacing and Interleaving Effects in Long-term Memory

Emeritus Professor Bruce Overmier has been selected by APA's Board of Education Affairs (BEA) as one of two winners of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching of Psychology as a Core STEM Discipline Award for 2014.

Emeritus Professor Bruce Overmier has been selected by APA's Board of Education Affairs (BEA) as one of two winners of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching of Psychology as a Core STEM Discipline Award for 2014. This is the inaugural year for this new award. According to the APA, the award "recognizes the contributions of a graduate-level professor whose teaching contributions exemplify psychology as a core science among the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Teaching contributions include excellence in mentoring of graduate students, outstanding teaching both within the university and beyond in the broader community of psychological scientists, and effective leadership roles that foster the educational mission of advancing psychology as a core STEM discipline at the doctoral level. Also considered were the candidate’s own scientific contributions to psychology, and how they have affected the production of psychological scientists who have pursued scholarship in basic psychological science."  

Professor Richard Lee was interviewed for Gazillion Voices

Professor Richard Lee was interviewed for Gazillion Voices, an online magazine for their podcast which will also be broadcast on KFAI in the near future.

Emeritus Professor Irving Gottesman was named one of the 30 most influential psychologists

Emeritus Professor Irving Gottesman was named one of the 30 most influential psychologists working today by website Best Masters in Psychology.

Professor Alex Rothman was elected President-Elect of American Psychological Association's Division 38

Professor Alex Rothman was elected President-Elect of American Psychological Association's Division 38 (Division of Health Psychology). He will serve as President of the Division during 2015-2016.

Staff member Micah Hammer will be honored for his 20 years of service

Micah Hammer will be honored for his 20 years of service in the Department at a recognition event in June at Eastcliff for Civil Service and Labor Represented employees who are celebrating milestone work anniversaries between 20 and 50 years.

Staff member Irene Elkins will be honored for her 20 years of service

Irene Elkins will be honored for her 20 years of service in the Department at a recognition event in June at Eastcliff for Civil Service and Labor Represented employees who are celebrating milestone work anniversaries between 20 and 50 years.

Staff member Amy Kranz will be honored for her 20 years of service

Amy Kranz will be honored for her 20 years of service in the Department at a recognition event in June at Eastcliff for Civil Service and Labor Represented employees who are celebrating milestone work anniversaries between 20 and 50 years.

Staff member Jennifer Donnelly will be honored for her 25 years of service

Jennifer Donnelly will be honored for her 25 years of service in the Department at a recognition event in June at Eastcliff for Civil Service and Labor Represented employees who are celebrating milestone work anniversaries between 20 and 50 years.

Staff members Carla Bates will be honored for her 20 years of service

Staff members Carla Bates will be honored for her 20 years of service in the Department at a recognition event in June at Eastcliff for Civil Service and Labor Represented employees who are celebrating milestone work anniversaries between 20 and 50 years.

Welcome Missy Jones!

We are pleased to welcome a new staff member to our Central Office - Missy Jones. Missy is replacing Kate Klosterman, who's now with the School of Statistics. Missy will be occupying Kate's former desk (625-1537, jonesmk@umn.edu). Stop by when you can, and help us welcome Missy to the Department!