Graduate Accomplishments

Autumn quarter 2013

Congratulations to Melana Yanos, (Behavioral Neuroscience with Matt Kaeberlein(Pathology) and Sheri Mizumori) for publishing part of her dissertation research in Science. Melana was part of a team of UW scientists who discovered that manipulating the brain's energy production reversed the degenerative pathology that one typically sees in diseases such as Leigh's syndrome. This work was featured in UW News.

Geoff Boynton (Associate Professor) and Jessica Thomas (Cognition & Perception with Ione Fine) demonstrated that it is possible to identify songs that one is listening to (or thinking about!) by looking at brain activity patterns. These new findings were presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, and described in NewScientist Life.

Congratulations to Colleen Harker (Child Clinical with Wendy Stone), who received a $10,000 grant from The Arc of Washington Trust Fund. She will work with Parent 2 Parent, a community support and information resource, to evaluate the effectiveness of their services across different ethnic groups.

At the end of the quarter, several students completed their general exam and advanced to candidacy: Ashwin Bhandiwad (Animal Behavior with Joseph Sisneros), Libby Huber(Cognition & Perception with Ione Fine), Joy Kawamura (Child Clinical with Lynn Fainsilber Katz), Teri Kirby (Social Psychology & Personality with Cheryl Kaiser),  Solace Shen (Developmental with Peter Kahn), and Valerie Tryon (Behavioral Neuroscience with Sheri Mizumori).

The department also awarded the Master of Science (MS) degree to Danielle Eakins (Adult Clinical with William George), Charlotte Heleniak (Child Clinical with Lynn Fainsilber Katz), and Erika Ruberry (Child Clinical with Liliana Lengua).

Three students completed the Quantitative Minor in Psychology: Jeremy Luk (Child Clinical with Kevin King), Karen Pang (Child Clinical with Elizabeth McCauley (Seattle Children's Hospital) and Lynn Fainsilber Katz), and Sam Yard (Adult Clinical with Jane Simoni). Twelve psychology graduate students have completed this optional track since its creation in 2008.

Erik Runeson (Cognition & Perception with Scott Murray) successfully defended his dissertation, "Effects of Attention on Physiological Responses in Visual Cortex” on December 6, 2013. Erik is currently a Research Associate with the Psychology Department. Congratulations!

Winter quarter 2014

Anita Lungu (Adult Clinical with Marsha Linehan) received the prestigious Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Dissertation Grant Award for her study, “Computerized Trans-Diagnostic DBT Skills Training for Emotion Dysregulation.”  The award rec­og­nizes and sup­ports stu­dents who are work­ing on their dis­ser­ta­tion in the field of clin­i­cal psychology.  Anita is also a recipient of a national research award. Please click here for the article.

Karen Pang (Child Clinical with Elizabeth McCauley (Seattle Children's Hospital) and Lynn Fainsilber Katz) was selected to attend the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA) and Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) Summer School which takes place in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Summer School brings together researchers and doctoral students for 5 days of intensive research training and workshops.

Two students completed their general exams, Robert Askew (Quantitative with Dagmar Amtmann (Rehabilition Medicine) and Jane Simoni) and Joyce Yang (Adult Clinical with Jane Simoni). One student completed a master's degree, Haley Caroll (Adult Clinical with Mary Larimer), while another student completed the Diversity Science Specialization, Teri Kirby (Social Psychology & Personality with Cheryl Kaiser). Twelve students have completed the Diversity Science Specialization since its inception in 2010.

Spring quarter 2014

Sianna Ziegler (Social Psychology & Personality with Sapna Cheryan) received an Honorable Mention for her National Science Fellowship Graduate Research Proposal, entitled "Do Gender-Integrated Subfields Decrease Women’s Implicit Identification With Male-Dominated Ones?"

Alissa Jerud (Adult Clinical with Lori Zoellner) has been selected to receive a 2014 American Psychological Foundation Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Graduate Student Fellowship.  The $25,000 fellowship was created to support promising graduate students in child psychology.

Lindsey Nietmann (Animal Behavior with Renee Ha) received an American Ornithologists’ Union Research Award for her work on predator recognition in birds.

Spring is also when the department selects its newest Alcor and Hunt fellows. We had 4 Alcor fellows, Jessica Chen (Adult Clinical with Ronald Smith), Janie Jun (Adult Clinical with Lori Zoellner), Exu Anton Mates (Animal Behavior with Jim Ha), and Joris Vincent (Cognition & Perception with Steve Buck). Our two Hunt Fellows are Amanda Gilmore (Adult Clinical with William George) and Yong Sang Jo (Behavioral Neuroscience with Sheri Mizumori). The Alcor endowment was created by the Peterson family and supports students in music and psychology, while the Hunt fellowship was created by emeritus faculty Earl Buz Hunt and his wife, Mary Lou. Learn more abour our newest fellows here.

Congratulations to all our students for their accomplishments this past year. We look forward to seeing what happens next!