Class of 2020 Celebration

This year, two students received awards for their dissertation research from the American Psychological Association (APA):

Honoree: Kristin Perry

This award provides support for student research that shows promise to add significantly to the research literature in the area of clinical child and adolescent psychology. Kristin received this award to support her dissertation, titled “The Role of Autonomic System Coordination in Relations Between Peer Factors and Aggressive Behavior in Early Childhood”. Her advisor is Jamie Ostrov.

Honoree: Tiffany Jenzer

This award provides support for student dissertation research. Tiffany also received a Student Research Grant from APA Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology) and the Pierre Ritchie Psychological Science Research Grant from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) to support her dissertation research. Her dissertation is titled “Adaptive Responding to Daily Stress: Emotion Regulation Flexibility and Alcohol Use”. Her advisor is Jennifer Read.

Recognizes outstanding doctoral scholarship in psychology. The award is given based on excellence in scholarly productivity during doctoral studies, and significance and quality of the doctoral dissertation project.

Honoree: Trevor Williams

Trevor is receiving this award for his dissertation titled “Understanding borderline personality disorder through trait models and social cognitive processes”. Trevor is mentored by Len Simms. In addition to the honor, Trevor will receive a monetary award of $1500. 

Runners-Up: Tiffany Jenzer mentored by Jen Read, Juhyun Park mentored by Kristin Gainey, and Lauren Rodriguez mentored by Jen Read. Each of whom will receive a monetary award of $500

Honors early excellence in scientific research for an empirical paper completed by a graduate student. This award is given based on evaluation of scientific work completed by the student during the first three years of his/her graduate training.

Honoree: Payton Charlton

Payton received this award for her work on vasopressin deficiency and sex differences in auditory brainstem response. Her mentor is Micheal Dent. Payton’s 2019 paper titled “Sex differences in auditory brainstem response audiograms from vasopressin-deficient Brattleboro and wild-type Long-Evans rats” was published in PLoS One. In addition to the honor, Payton will receive a cash award in the amount of $1,200 and her name will be inscribed on our Robert W. Rice Memorial Award Plaque.

Bestowed by the Graduate School and the Graduate Student Association. The awards publicly recognize those graduate students who have demonstrated exceptional performance in the execution of their teaching responsibilities, teaching competence, effective mentorship of students, and the maintenance of high academic standards and expectations of student performance.

Honorees (from left): Gregory Egerton and Deborah Ward

Peer-bestowed awards that highlight impressive achievement in scientific research, given to graduate students each fall and spring semester. The Psychology Graduate Student Association (PGSA)-selected winners receive recognition from their fellow graduate students for exemplary achievement in research and a monetary award to fund conference travel.

Fall 2019 Honorees: (from top left) Craig Brinkman, Yahui Chang, and Ashley Dowd; (from bottom left) Esha Naidu, Zaviera Reyes, and Eve Rosenfeld

Spring 2020 Honorees: (from left) Jennifer Betts, Destiny Brakey, Sarah Tonkin, and Deborah Ward

This scholarship is awarded to sophomores and juniors who have outstanding potential and intend to pursue advanced degrees in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Honoree: Cassondra Lyman

A junior psychology major who hopes to research social and cognitive aspects of depression – including reducing prejudice of those struggling with the disorder – is UB’s latest Goldwater scholar, an honor UB administrators call the country’s premier scholarship for undergraduate students pursuing research careers.

Read more here: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2020/04/lyman-goldwater.html

Recognizes students who have best demonstrated, and have been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement, or career achievement. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a student by the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

Honoree: Arsh Issany

Arsh Issany of Great Neck, NY, graduates with a bachelor of science in biomedical sciences and a bachelor of arts in psychology. Issany has worked as a research assistant in the Department of Nuclear Medicine, as well as in the Maternal and Child Health Lab, where he contributed to publications and grants. He founded the Buffalo chapter of Volunteers Around the World; was vice president of Sub-Board Inc., a multimillion-dollar nonprofit; and has served as the director of student affairs for the undergraduate Student Association.

Honoree: Kathleen Ohman

Kathleen Ohman of Spencerport, NY, graduates with a bachelor of science in biological sciences and a bachelor of arts in psychology, along with a minor in public health. Ohman, a University Honors College Scholar, has received a Presidential Scholarship and Grace W. Capen Award. She has worked as a research assistant in exercise science, psychology, and bioacoustics labs, and received the Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Research in Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America. Ohman has also served as music director of the Enchords, a UB a cappella group.

Read more here: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2020/04/student-chancellors-awards.html

Honors the most outstanding graduating senior from each department in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences. The award recognizes the undergraduate who has best demonstrated the highest level of academic achievement and involvement in the Department of Psychology and the field of psychological science.

Honoree: Alexa Jimenez

Alexa Jimenez of Newburgh, NY, graduates summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts in psychology and minors in sociology and counseling. Jimenez is a Daniel Acker Scholar, a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and a member of the Psychology Honors Program. She worked as an undergraduate researcher in both Dr. Kristin Naragon-Gainey's and Dr. Leonard Simms's labs and completed a fully funded Summer Research Opportunities Program at the University of Notre Dame. In the fall, Jimenez will begin a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Southern Methodist University, where she has been awarded the Mustang Fellowship. She plans to pursue a career in academic research on psychological assessment, psychometrics, and the classification of psychopathology.

Students in the Psychology Honors Program complete an individual research project (Honors Thesis) under the supervision of a faculty advisor. This is a year-long commitment that involves all steps in the research process.

2019-2020 Psychology Honors Students:

Honoree: Alexa Jimenez

The Feldman-Cohen Award recognizes the most exceptional undergraduate Psychology Honors Thesis. Named in honor of two of the Department’s most distinguished former faculty, the award goes to the undergraduate whose Honors Thesis receives the highest ranking by the student’s examination committee, faculty advisor, and the Director of the Honors Program.

• Mackenzie Rittenhouse
• Keliang (Colin) Li
  

The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon faculty having achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within the individual’s chosen field through significant contributions to the research and scholarship, or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine and performing arts.

Dr. Stephen Tiffany

The Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Psychology, Tiffany is world-renowned expert on the study of addictions, developing theoretical models that have shaped the way experts in the field conceptualize the relationship between craving and addictive behavior. Actively involved in numerous clinical studies – many of which focus on nicotine – Tiffany conducts empirical research with people and animal models using a combination of controlled experimentation and more translational work. He provided a dominant theoretical perspective on craving and its relationship to drug use with his 1990 Psychological Review paper that outlined a cognitive model of craving now referred to as the “Tiffany model.” An extraordinarily productive and prolific researcher, Tiffany has more than 100 publications in highly prestigious journals and has received multiple grants from the National Science Foundation and the NIH. He has served as a standing member of three different NIH review panels and on the editorial boards of multiple journals. A UB faculty member since 2007, Tiffany served as chair of the Department of Psychology from 2011-18.

This prestigious award supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The award is meant to support activities to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Dr. Ann-Marie Torregrossa

Dr. Torregrossa is a leading expert in rodent models that inform questions about diet choice and food preference. These are very important questions as diet selection is a critical part of maintaining health, yet it is poorly understood.  Using innovative methods, her research unpacks environmental and physiological influences that influence food choice preference. Dr. Torregrossa has been a UB faculty member since 2015 and is the Associate Director of the Center for Ingestive Behavior Research. She received this award for her groundbreaking work on the role of salivary proteins in diet acceptance.

Dr. Matthew Paul

Dr. Paul was recently promoted to Associate Professor (tenured). He is a member of our Behavioral Neuroscience area, and studies how behavior is shaped by the interplay of the brain, hormones, and the environment.

The Excellence in Teaching Awards celebrate outstanding instruction in psychological science. We recognize those instructors whose teaching evaluations reflect the most exceptional in the Department of Psychology.

Honorees (from left): Dr. Wendy Quinton (Faculty), Dr. Cheryl Kondrak (Adjunct Faculty), and Craig Brinkman (Graduate Student Instructor)