Student Awards

Kristin Perry is the 2021 recipient of the Bugelski Dissertation Award. The award honors excellence in scholarly productivity during doctoral studies and the significance and quality of the doctoral dissertation project. Kristin is receiving this award for her dissertation titled, “The role of autonomic system coordination in relations between peer factors and aggressive behavior in early childhood”. This award is supported by an endowment in the honor of B. R. Bugelski, PhD, a UB Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Chair of our department in the 1960s.  Professor Bugelski was best known for the advancement of the concept of "secondary reinforcement," an idea that has become a core concept in learning theory and appears in many psychology textbooks. 

Stephanie Stewart-Hill is the 2021 recipient of the Feldman-Cohen Award. Named in honor of two distinguished former faculty, the award is given 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. Stephanie's thesis investigated the effects of awe on social power and responsibility for others in two experimental studies. Her work aimed to understand how the powerful could be humbled by exposure to something greater than themselves, whereas the powerless could be empowered by it.  

Gretchen Perhamus is the 2021 recipient of the Robert W. Rice Memorial Award. Professor Rice joined the UB Psychology department in 1976 and furthered his research examining quality of work and family life. The award in his name honors distinguished early career research contributions by a junior graduate student. Gretchen received this award for her work on the role of irritability and hostile attribution biases in childhood aggression. Gretchen’s 2021 paper titled, “Emotions and cognitions in early childhood aggression: the role of irritability and hostile attribution biases” was published in Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (now titled Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology). Her mentor is Professor Jamie Ostrov. 

Gabriela Memba and Cassondra Lyman are the 2021 graduate and undergraduate recipients of the Murray Levine Award for Community Engagement in Psychology. Murray Levine was a member of the UB Department of Psychology from 1968 until 2000. He was a member of the clinical area and a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor. Murray was among a core group of influential psychologists who helped launch the field of community psychology. This award recognizes original research that is poised to make a significant impact on the community surrounding UB and is sponsored by the generous support of Dr. Robert Fink, a UB alumnus and one of Murray’s former students. 

Gabriela Memba earned this award for her paper titled, “The role of peer victimization in predicting aggression and internalizing problems in early childhood: The moderating effect of emotion regulation and gender.” This research considers multiple levels of contextual influences to understand the harmful effects of peer victimization on children’s social adjustment, including family context (e.g., parenting practices, household chaos), peer relationships, school context, neighborhood/community influences, and larger societal forces (e.g., media). Importantly, Gabriela and her colleagues have worked together on this and other work with local community stakeholders, with the goal of promoting healthy social development in children. The paper is currently under review at Early Education and Development and will be presented at the upcoming Meeting of the International Society for Research on Aggression. Gabriela, the first recipient of this award. Her mentor is Professor Jamie Ostrov.

Cassondra Lyman was honored with this award for her countless hours of service to the Psychology department. Cass served as the President of Psi Chi and was a junior officer before that. She was a member and Vice President of the Undergraduate Psychology Association. She was the President and founder of the Statistics Club. She also served as an Honors College Peer Mentor, a Student Ambassador for the University, and an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for numerous semesters in the department. She also conducted research in numerous laboratories within the Psychology Department, including those of Drs. Sandra Murray, Leonard Simms, and John Roberts. She is our Department’s Outstanding Graduating Senior and was nominated for a SUNY Chancellor’s Award. Cass is the first undergraduate recipient of the Levine award.