Graduate Student News

Our graduate programs are internationally recognized for excellence and continue to be a vibrant part of the academic community at UB. About 100 students are currently enrolled in our graduate training programs. We offer general MA degrees and PhD degrees in four areas of psychology: behavioral neuroscience, clinical, cognitive, and social psychology. Our goal in graduate training is to give our students the skills to assume positions in academic institutions or professional practice and to make new contributions to bodies of knowledge through independent research.

Professor Craig Colder is the director of graduate studies. He is a member of the Clinical Training Program and studies adolescent substance use.

Mary Schnepf is the assistant for academics and alumni development.

Please contact Mary Schnepf at mschnepf@buffalo.ed, for more information about the M.A. and Ph.D. programs.

Ruixiang (Roy) Wang, 2017-18 Psychology Recipient, graduated from our Neuroscience Graduate Program last year. He worked under the mentorship of Roh-Yu Shen. The title of his dissertation, "Altered neural activity in medial prefrontal cortex could mediate attention deficits caused by prenatal alcohol exposure in rats." Roy is now a post-doctoral associate at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Kali Burke, 2018-19 Psychology Recipient, is a student in our Cognitive Psychology Doctoral program. Her mentor is Professor Micheal Dent. Kali’s dissertation title is “Auditory function in CBA/CaJ mice following blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).”

Jessica Blaney, 2017-18 Recipient, is a student in our Clinical Doctoral Program mentored by Professor Jennifer Read. Her dissertation is titled “An Examination of the Individual and Contextual Risk Factors For Sexual Victimization Among Female College Drinkers.” Jess is currently completing her pre-doctoral clinical internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Samuel Meisel, 2018-19 Recipient, is a student in our Clinical Doctoral program mentored by Professor Craig Colder. His dissertation is titled "An Examination of the Joint Effects of Adolescent Social Goals and Parenting on Substance Use Behavior." He is currently completing his pre-doctoral clinical internship at Alpert Medical Center at Brown University.

Laura Martin, 2017-18 Rice Award Recipient, is a graduate student in our Neuroscience Doctoral Program working under the mentorship of Ann-Marie Torregrossa. She received this award for her paper titled "Salivary proteins alter taste-guided behaviors and taste nerve signaling in rat” was published in Physiology and Behavior.

Kelcie Schatz, 2018-19 Rice Award Recipient,  is a student in our Neuroscience Doctoral Program working under the mentorship of Matt Paul.  She received this award for her 2018 paper titled "Investigation of social, affective, and locomotor behavior of adolescent Brattleboro rats reveals a link between vasopressin's actions on arousal and social behavior” published in Hormones and Behavior.

Jessica Blaney also received the 2018 Frank W. Putnam Trauma Research Scholars award ($1000) from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the 2018 American Psychological Foundation Judy Kuriansky Scholarship ($2,000) for her work on the intersection of Trauma and Substance Abuse. Jess is a student in our Clinical Psychology Program.  After finishing her clinical internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine, she will continue as a post-doctoral fellow funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Tierney McMahon won the 2017 Smadar Levin Award for the best poster from the Society for Research in Psychopathology.  Tierney is a 5^th year student in our Clinical Psychology doctoral program study the intersection of personality and psychopathology.

Sarah Blakely-McClure received the 2019 Outstanding Student Teacher Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology.  Sarah just graduated from our Clinical Doctoral program, and she will be starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Canisius College in Fall 2019.

Lauren Ministero (Social/Personality Program doctoral student) was an invited presenter at the 2018 Mind and Life International Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan.

Carrie Morrison (Social/Personality Program doctoral Student) was invited to attend the 2017 Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology.

Tiffany Janzer received a 2019 Psychological Science Research Grant ($1000) from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS).  Tiffany is in her 5^th year in the clinical doctoral program. 

Samuel Meisel also received a 2-year National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for his work on family and peer risk and protective factors for adolescent drug abuse.  Sam was also selected to participate in the European Adolescent Research Society Summer School held in Utrecht, Netherlands.  Sam is a doctoral student in our clinical program, and after completing his NRSA he will start his clinical internship at Alpert Medical Center at Brown University.

Thomas Saltzman received the 2018/2019 Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Teaching Assistants from the University at buffalo.

Kristin Perry was selected for the 2018 Young Investigator Program of the World Meeting of the International Society for Research on Aggression in Paris, France. Kristin is currently a 5^th year student in our Clinical Doctoral Program. 

Aria Wiseblatt

(mentors Jennifer Read and Maria Testa)

Anthony Nguyen

(mentor Christopher McNorgan)

• Karen Chow
• Brian Kline
• Maggie Postolache
• Leah Vermont

• Gregory Byrne
• Amanda Seccia

• Huaizhen Cai
• Robert Cooper
• Erica Edwards
• Chloe Evans
• Amanda Hellwig
• Han Young Jung
• Leanna Kalinowski
• Brandon Koscinski
• Schuyler Lawson
• Sara O’Donnell
• Juhyun Park
• Kristin Perry
• Lauren Rodriguez
• Gregory Smith
• Miriam Stotsky
• Sarah Tonkin
• Xinyi Zhan

• Meghan Bauer
• Craig Brinkman
• Gregory Egerton
• John Hamilton
• Tiffany Jenzer
• Morgan Jusko
• Kelly Kalicharan
• Elaine Paravati
• Eve Rosenfeld
• Deborah Ward

• Natalie Ball-Shakhray
• Kali Burke

• Laurel Screven – Spring 2018
• Ruixiang Wang – Fall 2018

• Whitney Fosco – Summer 2018
• Sharon Radomski – Summer 2018

• Emma Greenspon – Summer 2018
• Timothy Pruitt – Spring 2019