More good news about Nathan Kuncel. He has been awarded the Cattell Early Career Research Award from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology. He will give the Cattell Award address at the Society's 2010 meeting in Atlanta next September.

More information about the award can be found at:

http://www.smep.org/awards/cattell-award

Congratulations to Nathan on this recognition of his accomplishments!

-Gordon

Tom Brothen has been a faculty colleague on campus for many years, and has worked closely with us in Psychology for the past three years. It's my pleasure and privilege to tell you that Tom is now a full faculty member in Psychology.

Please join me in welcoming Tom to our faculty!

-Gordon

Zoua Chang (Advisor Jo-Ida Hansen) who is the 2009 recipient of the American College Testing Program-Society for Vocational Psychology Graduate Student Research Award. Zoua received the award for her dissertation, "An investigation of contextual factors and dispositional characteristics in the career development of Hmong American and Caucasian American college students." The award will be presented to Zoua during the APA meeting in August.

Melanie Leuty (Advisor Jo-Ida Hansen) who received the National Career Development Association (NCDA) Graduate Student Research Award for her project, "Exploring the construct of work values." Melanie was presented her award at the NCDA Convention (July 2009) in St. Louis, MO and was invited to present on her research at the convention.

Alisia Tran (Advisor Richard Lee) who is a 2009-2010 Hmong Studies Fellow hosted by the program in Asian American Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study. Alisia's project is "Leaving out Hmong - What do we really leave out?" The fellowship is funded by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Congratulations to Zoua, Melanie, and Alisia.

-Gordon

Congratulations to Brian, and his advisor Deniz! We can certainly be proud of the continuing accomplishments of our Ph.D.'s.

-Gordon

We are happy to announce, John Campbell was elected by the faculty and has agreed to serve as Director of Graduate Studies for the 2009-2010 academic year. We are grateful John is willing to serve the Department again in this position.

-Gordon

Clelia Anna Mannino, a graduate student in our social psychology program, is one of 20 students nationally to receive a Fulbright Full Grant to Italy. Her dissertation will investigate how Italy’s changing cultural climate is shaping and redefining conceptions of community, and how this complex process links to identity and nationalism. Mannino received a bachelor's in psychology and Italian from Mount Holyoke College in 2004. We all congratulate Ms. Mannino for winning this prestigious fellowship.

-Gordon

It's a pleasure for me to tell you that Stephan Dilchert, one of our recent Ph.D's, has been awarded the Graduate School's Best Dissertation Award 2009 in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Here are a few details:
Advisor: Deniz Ones
Thesis title: Measurement and Prediction of Creativity at Work
Date of defense: July 31, 2008

Stephan is now an Assistant Professor of Management, Baruch College
(City University of New York)

Stephan recently received another award; a paper that he wrote in 2007 while a student at the Department of Psychology has just won
the "James C. Johnson Student Paper Award" of the International Personnel Assessment Council. The paper is titled “Assessment Center Dimensions:
Individual Differences Correlates and Meta-Analytic Incremental Validity.” This is a very competitive award in I/O Psychology.

We all take pride in Stephan's accomplishments, as we do with all our Ph.D.'s.

-Gordon

Kyle has distinguished himself early on in his academic career. Following participation in Monica Luciana's lab throughout his freshman year, Kyle secured a Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) grant last summer for his project, "Correlational Study of IQ and Cortical Thickness". He has continued data collection for this project since last spring and recently presented a poster at CSPR Research Day. Kyle is now working on a manuscript for a scholarly article as he completes his sophomore year. In Monica's letter of support for Kyle she states, "[Kyle] is superstar material, and we will be proud to claim him as one of our own!"

Holly M. Hatch-Surisook
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
Coordinator of Advising
Department of Psychology

Please join me in congratulating the winners of the CSPR area's Research Day Poster Fair. Posters were judged in two categories: Graduate and Undergraduate/Post-Baccalaureate.

The Best Undergraduate Student Poster Award winner is Justin Jobelius, who is mentored by Chris Patrick. The title of his poster was Reduced P300 amplitude in criminal psychopathy is related to factor 2 of the PCL-R: Evidence from a simulated gambling task.

The Best Graduate Student Poster Award winner is Daniel Goldman, who is mentored by Bruce Cuthbert. Daniel presented two posters: RSVP, Please: Randomized Valence in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation of Emotional Pictures and
Quick Pics: Blocked vs. Randomized Valence in Sustained Emotional Picture Presentation.

We wish Justin and Daniel the best of luck with their future endeavors. Thanks to those of you who participated in this and other aspects of Research Day. We hope to see you again next year!

Regards,
Monica Luciana
Director, T32 Training Program on
Neurobehavioral Aspects of Personality and Psychopathology

Our faculty continue to distinguish themselves nationally and internationally.

Congratulations to Niels Waller and Deniz Ones!

--Gordon

Niels Waller:

Niels will be the Keynote Speaker at the upcoming 2010 European Conference on Personality (20-24 July) organized by European Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP). The conference takes place in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic.

Deniz Ones:

Deniz writes:

“I was honored with two competitive awards at the annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the American Psychological Association).

First, one of my poster presentations (co-authored with a 2008 Minnesota graduate) was singled out, based on high ratings from referees, for the ‘Featured Top Posters’ special presentation at the conference. Our submission was one of 28 (out of a total of 879) recognized in this way. Also, current IO graduate students Winny Shen and Adam Beatty (co-author: Professor Sackett) received the same award for a paper that was completed for the meta-analysis doctoral seminar I taught last year.

Second, our research project “Developing a Taxonomy of Green Behaviors at Work,” conducted in collaboration between Professor Deniz Ones (U of MN), Professor Stephan Dilchert ( Baruch College , City University of New York) and Dr. Andy Biga (Procter and Gamble), was honored with a highly sought, competitive SIOP grant award for scientist-practitioner collaborations. As part of this research, we are establishing indicators of environmentally conscious behaviors among employees, managers, and senior leaders, with special emphasis on those behaviors that support green performance in the workforces of innovative organizations. The overarching goal of this project is the development of a comprehensive taxonomy of environmentally friendly (and destructive) behaviors and their prediction from an individual worker’s perspective. “

The following is copied from:
http://www.barbarachesteraward.org/index.php/about-drchester?806c7e81551c6b49e78b2264bc954daf=05c564522b52bce0c9d8b87207a1dc6d

Mercy Has a Human Heart — the title of a book she was working on at the time of her death in 1997 — concisely describes the life and work of Dr. Barbara Chester. Barbara lived her 47 years on the frontiers of human courage and compassion. After completing her doctorate in psychology and behavioral genetics from the University of Minnesota, she developed and directed the state's first program for victims of sexual assault. In 1986, as Executive and Clinical Director, Barbara was instrumental in developing The Center For Victims of Torture in Minneapolis, the first such program in the United States. There, until 1991, she treated survivors of torture from over 40 countries, including Cambodia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan, South Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador and Vietnam.

As Clinical Director for the Hopi Foundation, from 1992 until her death, Barbara founded and directed the Center for the Prevention and Resolution of Violence in Tucson, Arizona. There she treated refugees crossing the Mexican-American border — including indigenes from Central and South America, and Chiapas, Mexico — as well as torture survivors from Bosnia, Vietnam and Moldavia, among others.

Besides these milestone accomplishments, Barbara found time for teaching, community corrections projects, extensive work with Native American peoples, travel to experience and appreciate the diversity of human cultures around the world, flamenco dancing, and innumerable kindnesses. Dr. Inge Genefke, then Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims in Copenhagen, said in a tribute, "I don't think I ever met a person with such a fine understanding of the sufferings of others as Barbara. Her intuition and brilliant intellect were combined so harmoniously that we could all benefit."

Bill Iacono was recently awarded a prestigious NIH MERIT award. This
award is testimony to the very high esteem in which Bill's research is
held by the research community. We all congratulate Bill on this
splendid recognition.

NIH describes the MERIT award as follows:

"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes researchers who have
demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity in
research endeavors by the highly selective award, the MERIT (Method to
Extend Research in Time) Award. MERIT Awards provide long-term support
to investigators with impressive records of scientific achievement in
research areas of special importance or promise. Less than 5 percent of
NIH-funded investigators are selected to receive MERIT Awards.

Initiated in 1987, the MERIT Award program extends funding to
experienced researchers who have superior grants and who have
demonstrated a long-term commitment to and success in research. The
principal feature of the program is the opportunity for such
investigators to gain up to ten years of grant support. The MERIT Awards
are intended to provide such investigators with long-term, stable
support to foster their continued creativity and spare them some of the
administrative burdens associated with frequent preparation and
submission of research grant applications."

-Gordon

Congratulations to Bruce Overmier for receiving another important honor.
Please see the details below.

--Gordon

Arthur W. Staats Lecture for Unifying Psychology
(American Psychological Foundation Award coordinated by Division 1)
The 2009 Arthur W. Staats Lecture will honor Bruce Overmier, University
of Minnesota, for his integrative approach to research. This work spans
specialties of learning, memory, stress, and psychosomatic disorders
(and their biological substrates) and with both animal (fish, birds,
mammals) and human client volunteers (with Down's Syndrome, Korsakoff's
Syndrome, or Alzheimer's Disease). Dr. Overmier will present the Staats
Lecture at the American Psychological Association Convention in Toronto.

The General Psychologist, Volume 43, No.2-Fall, 2008, page 11

It's a pleasure for me to announce that Nathan Kuncel has been appointed Dunnette Chair in Psychology, effective Fall 2009. This appointment honors the memory of our distinguished faculty colleague Marvin Dunnette. The Chair includes funds to support Nathan's ongoing research.

Join me in congratulating Nathan for this splendid recognition!

--Gordon

I'm delighted to tell you that Andrew Oxenham has won the 2009 National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award. Andrew was cited "For profound and rigorous contributions to our understanding of the relationship between auditory perception and its underlying physiological mechanisms."

This is among the most prestigious awards for researchers in the general area of experimental psychology. You can read more at:

http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_troland

We all congratulate Andrew on this wonderful recognition!

--Gordon