Undergraduate Accomplishments
The Psychology Department is proud of the accomplishments of our undergraduate students. Check out some of the highlights from this year:
On May 20, most of our Psychology Honors students as well as a large number of their colleagues -- 68 psychology majors in all -- participated in the campus wide Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Congratulations to the 16 Psychology majors who were named Mary Gates Research Scholars. They are: Roya Baharloo, Megan Benzing, Riley Dever, Martina Fruhbauerova, Chanxu (Stella) Hao, Johnathan Hill, Michelle Hong, Chonghui (Gabriella) Ji, Natalie Koh, Qimin Liu, Rachel Macor, Haley Mendoza, Angie Tamayo Montero, Marissa Pighin, Nicole Riley, and Jennifer (Jen) Wahleithner.
This past fall, we awarded two Psychology Honors Research Development Awards. Our awardees, (listed with their faculty sponsors), are Zane Doyle (Jaime Olavarria), and Martina Fruhbauerova (Lori Zoellner and doctoral student Libby Marks). More information about Zane and Martina's work was included in our Winter newsletter.
Members of the 2016 Psychology Honors cohort showcased the results of their research at the Psychology Honors Poster Session on May 31. The poster session, along with the completion of a senior thesis, marks the culmination of a two-year intensive research program. Congratulations to our honors students on this impressive accomplishment: Megan Benzing, Anna Diss, Zane Doyle, Martina Fruhbauerova, Chenxu (Stella) Hao, Logan Kaplan, James Kelley, Reina Kluender, Natalie Koh, Dmitry Levin, Xuanlin Li, Qimin Liu, Yao Lu, Rachel Macor, Marissa Pighin, Yingxue Rao, Taylor Renno, Alicia Sawers, Joseph Wiesner, and Adinah Wyle. Job well done! To learn more about these students and their areas of research take a look at the poster session program.
The 2016 Guthrie Prize was awarded to Anna Diss, Hohjin Im, and Natalie Koh. Named for the late psychology professor Edwin R. Guthrie, the prize was established to encourage excellent writing about psychology that is both broad in scope and accessible to the non-specialist. Natalie Koh won in the Best Empirical Paper category. Her paper, "Multimodal MRI Measures as Predictors of Cognitive Impairment," was sponsored by Thomas Grabowski, Ph.D. (Radiology and Neurology). Anna Diss and Hohjin Im tied in the Best Conceptual/Literature Review/Research Proposal category. Anna's paper, "Exploration of the Broader Autism Phenotype in Families with Autism-Related Genetic Events," was sponsored by Jennifer Gerdts, Ph.D. (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences), and Hohjin's paper, "Brightness and Brown Induction with a Checkerboard White's Illusion," was sponsored by Psychology Professor Steve Buck, Ph.D.
 |
| Yingxue Rao |
Each spring, the College of Arts and Sciences awards the Dean's Medal to a top student in each academic division. Yingxue Rao was the Psychology Department's nominee for the Dean's Medal in the Natural Sciences Division. Yingxue will graduate Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood and Family Studies. Yingxue completed her psychology honors work under the direction of Professor Jeansok Kim. This coming fall, Yingxue will begin the doctoral program in Psychology here at UW, working with Professor and Department Chair Sheri Mizumori.
 |
| Reina Kluender |
Reina Kluender was nominated by the Psychology Department and selected by the College of Arts and Sciences to represent the College at Commencement as a gonfalonier. The gonfaloniere (as they are called collectively), are outstanding graduating seniors who represent their colleges by carrying large banners -- gonfalons -- into the Commencement Ceremony. Reina is a Psychology Honors and McNair Scholar, completing a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Diversity Studies. She completed her honors work under the direction of Professor Jaime Diaz and plans to pursue graduate studies in the area of cognitive neuroscience.
Congratulations to the four Psychology majors and one Psychology alumnus who were selected to be part of the first Husky 100 cohort. The undergraduate students are Brandon Hadi, Anna Maher, Melanie Wade, and Natalie Yocum. Our Psychology alumnus, now a Ph.D. student in School Psychology, is Polo DeCano.
The following students were invited to join Phi Beta Kappa this year: Homer Aalfs, Grace Cha, Tiffany Chiang, Kaitlin Galvagno, Mallory Halbert, Maya Head-Corliss, Michelle Hong, Alexander Hopkins, Chi Huang, Raymond Lee, Jenna Levy, Roslyn Stapleton, John Stimson, Amy Tang, Claudia Valenzuela-Flores, Annika Veis, Alexander Vrhel, Yiyang Xu, and Qingqing Yin.