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James F. Boswell received the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration Dissertation Award as well as a Liberal Arts Dissertation Award to investigate emotional processing in the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. James is a sixth year clinical psychology student, and his primary research interests include studying the process of change in psychotherapy, psychotherapy integration, and the training of psychotherapists. He received a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Simpson College and an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Penn State University. |
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Mark Lukowitsky was awarded the 2009 Jerry S. Wiggins Student Award for Outstanding Interpersonal Research for work presented at this year's annual meeting of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research (SITAR). In addition, he received a Liberal Arts Dissertation Award to study interpersonal perception of pathological narcissism. Mark is in his 5th year of study in the adult track of the clinical psychology program. In addition to his research on pathological narcissism Mark is also interested in interpersonal theory and methods for studying personality within clinical psychology. Mark received his B.A. from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA and his M.A. from Hunter College in New York City. |
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Jessica L. Cundiff received a national Psi Chi Graduate Research Grant to investigate the role of stereotype endorsement in attributing outcomes to discrimination. A second year student in social psychology and women’s studies, Jessica’s research focuses on the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms involved in perpetuating and maintaining inequality. She received a B.A. in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. |
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Gray Vargas was a 1st place winner in Social and Behavioral Sciences for her poster presented at the Penn State University Graduate Research Exhibition, March 29, 2009. This award was based upon Gray's poster entitled, “Positivity of Everyday Experiences Interacts with Social Support to Predict Depression in Multiple Sclerosis. Gray is starting her second year in the clinical psychology doctoral program. She is a student in Dr. Arnett's neuropsychology lab and is currently studying attributional style as it relates to depression in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Haverford College. |
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Caroline K. Pemberton was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Kirschstein Fellowship (F31) Award and Liberal Arts Dissertation Award to investigate the influence of parental depressive symptoms on adopted toddlers' emotion regulation. Caroline is in her 5th year of study in the child track of the clinical psychology program. Caroline studies the development of language and emotion regulation in early childhood with Dr. Pamela Cole and the genetic and environmental interplay of these processes with Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser. Caroline received her A.B. from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA in 2006 and her M.S. in Psychology from Penn State in 2008. |
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Cari Anne Bogulski received a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship to investigate vocabulary acquisition in monolingual and bilingual speakers. Cari is a first-year cognitive psychology student working on bilingual language processing in adults, as well as how bilingual and monolingual individuals differ more generally. She received a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Arkansas. |
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Aidan G.C. Wright received a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Kirschstein Fellowship Award (F31) to investigate models of normal and abnormal personality functioning and the longitudinal relationship between the two. In addition, he has been recognized with both internal and external awards for outstanding student publications. Aidan was one of the inaugural recipients of the Department of Psychology's Outstanding Publication by a graduate student. His work was further recognized by the College of Liberal Arts with the Raymond Lombra Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research in the Social Sciences for the year 2009-2010. The Society for Personality Assessment has recognized his quantitative methodology skills with the Mary S. Cerney Award for Outstanding Student Research Paper. Aidan is a fifth year graduate student in clinical psychology, and his research interests are motivated by a desire to understand what differentiates normal and abnormal personality functioning. |
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Rebecca Brooker received an award of Dissertation Support from the Research and Graduate Studies Office of the College of the Liberal Arts. Becky is a doctoral candidate in developmental psychology, and her dissertation research is an examination of brain activity in children as a marker of risk for anxiety disorders. She received a B.A. in Psychology Central College and an M.S. in Developmental Psychology from Penn State University. |
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Charlene E. Chester received a Diversity Award for research with diverse populations to support her research investigating the implications for the adoption process on interpersonal relationships and individual adjustment. In addition she received a grant from the Africana Research Center, an internal organization here at Penn State, to support research exploring the factors which affect the development of racial identity in transracially adopted individuals. Charlene is a third year developmental psychology student and holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. Her research examines the association between family relationships and individual well-being broadly, and more specifically within the context of adoptions. |
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Lori Nicole Scott received a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Kirschstein Fellowship Award to investigate neuroendocrine and phenomenological stress reactivity in patients with borderline personality disorder. Lori is in her fourth year of study in the adult track of the clinical psychology program. The long-term goals of her program of research are to elucidate the specific mechanisms underlying borderline personality disorder and to apply these findings to the development and validation of treatments that directly target these mechanisms. Lori also won a Liberal Arts Dissertation Award. Lori was a modern dance performer before she began studying psychology, and she received a B.F.A. in dance from Marymount Manhattan College in 1998. She earned her M.S. in psychology from Penn State University in 2007. |
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Amanda Rabinowitz was awarded 3rd place in Social and Behavioral Sciences for her poster in the 2010 Penn State University Graduate Student Exhibition. Amanda’s presentation was based on her dissertation research on assessing motivation during neuropsychological testing in athletes participating in a sports-related concussion assessment program. Amanda has also received the psychology departments award for Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student, as well as the International Neuropsychological Societys Meritorious Poster award for her work on coping, depression, and quality of life in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Amanda is in her 5th year of study in the adult track of the clinical psychology program. She is specializing in clinical neuropsychology, with a particular interest in contextual factors that influence neuropsychological test performance and thinking skills. Amanda received her B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Penn State University. |
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Matthew Zawadzki received a national Psi Chi Graduate Research Grant to investigate the effects that increasing levels of arousal after being touched influences the way that a touch is perceived. Matthew is a second-year social psychology student working on understanding how touch functions, particularly how perceptions of the toucher by the person touched interact with the state variables of the person touched (e.g., the need to affiliate and the need for personal space). Matthew works with Dr. Stephanie Shields (advisor) examining the effects of labeling a person's emotions, particularly when emotion labeling will be perceived as positive or negative, when emotion labeling is likely to occur, and how to thwart the negative effects of emotion labeling. Matthew received a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy at Iona College, and an M.A. in Quantitative Methods at Columbia University. |
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Lacey Hilliard received the Outstanding Publication by a Psychology Graduate Student Award for her publication in Child Development, entitled "Differing Levels of Gender Salience in Preschool Classrooms: Effects on Children's Gender Attitudes and Intergroup Bias." The publication is based on her master's thesis work. Lacey is currently a 5th year doctoral candidate in the developmental area working with Dr. Lynn Liben. She is interested in children's cognitive and social development, with a specific focus on children's understanding of social groups and discrimination. Lacey received a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. |
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Laura Marie Armstrong received a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development F31 (NRSA) to investigate the pathways by which parental language about internal experience fosters children’s effective anger regulation. Laura is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology, working with her advisor, Pamela Cole, to understand the developmental integration of language and emotion regulation during early childhood. Her goals are to examine whether parent-child discourse about internal states predicts children's understanding that emotions can be regulated and how this understanding influences children's ability to regulate anger. Parent and child contributions to children's development of internal state language are also being examined, as these are potential targets for intervention. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Brown University. |
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Sarah Karalunas received a National Institute of Mental Health F31 (NRSA) Award to investigate how motivational incentives affect patterns of cognitive processing in children with ADHD. In addition, the grant provided an opportunity for advanced training in psychophysiological methods used to assess cognitive and motivational processes. Sarah received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Hamilton College. She is now a sixth-year child clinical psychology Ph.D. student completing her clinical internship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In her time at Penn State, Sarah has worked with her primary advisor, Dr. Cynthia Huang-Pollock, studying cognitive deficits in children with ADHD, and the impact these deficits have on acquisition of academic and social skills. Additional work with Dr. Lisa Gatzke-Kopp and Dr. Rick Gilmore has emphasized how psychophysiological methods can be used to compliment traditional behavioral methodology, and Sarah’s career goals include using converging evidence from behavioral and psychophysiological methods to better understand cognitive development in children with ADHD and other externalizing disorders. |
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Sarah Teague received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from Penn State's Psi Chi chapter for Spring 2010. Sarah is a second-year Industrial/Organizational Psychology student, and her primary research interests include customer service interactions (especially negative), emotions in the workplace, and impression management. She received a B.A. in Psychology at Auburn University. |
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Joseph E. Beeney received an NIMH R36 dissertation award, the Pennsylvania Psychological Foundation Education Award and the Wisniewski Family Enhancement Fund Award, all to fund research in neuroscience with individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. Joseph is a sixth year clinical psychology student. With emphasis on utilizing neuroscience methods, his primary research interests include studying numerous aspects of disturbed interpersonal relationships, including therapeutic relationships, among individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. He received a B.A. in Creative Writing from University of California, Santa Cruz, BA in Psychology from Humboldt State University and an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Penn State University. |
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Department ofPsychology
