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Graduate Achievements


This page highlights recent first-author publications, PhD placements, and other news that promotes the success of our current graduate students, and recently graduated students.

Recent First-Author Publications

May. 23, 2023

Positive affect improves a transdiagnostic model of perinatal depression symptoms

Blaire Pingeton

May. 15, 2023

Trial history influences the malleability of gender differences in children’s mental rotation performance

Yaxin Liu

May. 15, 2023

Oxytocin receptor antagonism during early vocal learning reduces song preference and imitation in zebra finches

Natalie R. Pilgeram

Apr. 07, 2023

Polygenic influences on the behavioral effects of alcohol withdrawal in a mixed-ancestry population from the collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism (COGA)

Chelsie Bachman

Feb. 16, 2023

Development of an online peer support program for adolescents with food allergies

Melissa Engel

Feb. 10, 2023

Rhesus monkeys with damage to amygdala or orbitofrontal cortex perform well on novelty-based memory tasks

Joshua Krasney

Feb. 07, 2023

Hippocampal Connectivity With the Default Mode Network Is Linked to Hippocampal Volume in the Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Syndrome and Healthy Individuals

Katrina Aberizk

Oct. 21, 2022

Distribution of vasopressin 1a and oxytocin receptor protein and mRNA in the basal forebrain and midbrain of the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus)

Jeanne Powell

Oct. 13, 2022

Maternal Adversity and Epigenetic Age Acceleration Predict Heightened Emotional Reactivity in Offspring: Implications for Intergenerational Transmission of Risk

Brooke McKenna

Oct. 11, 2022

Allele-specific cis-regulatory methylation of the gene for vasoactive intestinal peptide in white-throated sparrows

Mackenzie Prichard

Sep. 24, 2022

Support for learning under naturalistic conditions

Lucy Cronin-Golomb

Aug. 08, 2022

TNF-alpha Antagonist Infliximab Increases Willingness to Expend Effort in Patients with Depression and High Inflammation

Sarah Etuk

Feb. 10, 2022

The Retrograde Memory for News Events Test (RM-NET) and the relationship between news event memory and performance on standard neuropsychological tests

Andrew Cawley-Bennett

Oct. 29, 2021

Visual perception of apparent motion abides by minimization principles of geometry

Yaxin Liu

Oct. 08, 2021

Behavioral trajectories of aging prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster): Adapting behavior to social context wanes with advanced age

Jeanne Powell

Oct. 08, 2021

Characterization of social behavior in the spiny mouse, Acomys cahirinus

Brandon Fricker

Oct. 05, 2021

When Anger Remains Unspoken Anger and Accelerated Epigenetic Aging Among Stress-Exposed Black Americans

Brooke McKenna

Sep. 09, 2021

Paternal Borderline Symptoms and Offspring Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Elaine Johnson

Sep. 07, 2021

Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism

Thomas Costello

Jun. 12, 2021

Psychological Distress Prospectively Predicts Later Sleep Quality in a Sample of Black American Postpartum Mothers

Madeleine F. Cohen

Postdoctoral Placements and Student Awards

Emory Psychology alum, Lauren Murphy has been named as one of Emory's 40 Under Forty! After graduating in 2018 from our neuroscience and animal behavior program under the mentorship of  Jocelyn Bachevalier, she has gone on to become the Associate Vice President for Material and uses her knowledge and passion for psychology to inform top brands on consumer perceptions and decision-making. Congratulations, Lauren!

Please join Emory Psychology in congratulating Nilo Vafaie and her mentor, Dr. Phil Kragel. Part of Nilo’s work that she is completeing for her Master's was not only accepted for presentation at the SANS, but also nominated for a data blitz, for which only top submissions are considered. Congratulations, Nilo!  

Emory Psychology would like to welcome back Dr. Kristin Bonnie, Frans de Waal's former PhD student. She will be joining Emory Oxford's Faculty as new Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Acting Professor  of Psychology at Oxford College of Emory University.  It’s great to have Dr. Bonnie affiliated with Emory once again. Congratulations on your new appointment!

Please join the Psychology Department in congratulating Chaela Nutor, Ami Ikeda, and Jocelyn Stanfield, on their acceptance to attend the FRONTIERS IN ADDICTION RESEARCH AND PREGNANCY (FrARP), This NIH-sponsored advanced training course provides skills development, hands-on laboratory research taught and mentored by addiction research leaders, and ongoing mentoring resulting in comprehensive, sophisticated training in clinical and translational strategies for addressing the current challenges in addiction during pregnancy and for designing better therapies for the future. Congratulations, all! 

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Postdoctoral Placements

Read about our recent postdoctoral placements (2020 and 2021)
Join us in congratulating Brooke McKenna, whose proposed project was selected for a National Institute of Social Sciences 2022 Dissertation Grant. This grant comes with a financial contribution to Brooke’s research work and an invitation to participate and present in an in-person event with the Institute’s members and others in New York. Congratulations, Brooke! 
Emory Psychology would like to congratulate Katherine Soderberg, Jocelyn Stanfield, and Chaela Nutor for for their outstanding work, resulting in NSF recognition. Katherine, working with her mentor Dr. Phil Kragel and Jocelyn, under the tutlege of Dr. Patricia Brennan have recieved awards, and Chaela was granted an Honorable Mention for their submissions. Congratulations, all! 
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Congratulations to Chaela Nutor on winning the 2021 International Society for Developmental Psychobiology Best Poster Award!
The Psychology department would like to congratulate recent graduate Jennifer Merritt, who studied under Dr. Donna Maney during her time with Emory Psychology. She has been named as the recipient of the W. C. Young Recent Graduate Award from the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. This is a highly competitive award, given to one recent graduate per year, and a great honor. Congratulations, Jennifer! 
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Congratulations to Shauna Bowes on winning a 2020 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award!

 

Congratulations to Katrina Aberizk (and her mentor, Dr. Elaine Walker) on being selected to receive a President’s Award from the Society for Research in Psychopathology (SRP). Katrina was selected based on her outstanding research work. 

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Congratulations to Brandon Fricker who was chosen from over 7942 applications to receive the 2021 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award. It is a highly competitive award that recognizes his academic excellence. 

The NDSEG Fellowship Program is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the Office of the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering. This program is administered by Systems Plus, Inc.

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Congratulations to Thomas Costello for winning a 2020 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Heritage Dissertation Research Award!
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Congratulations to Viviane Valdes on being selected a Distinguished Contributor at the Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) 2020 Student Poster Competition.

Congratulations to Melissa Engel who recently won the following four awards:

(i) 2021 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Strategic Plan Poster Award (recognized as exemplifying Interdisciplinary Research related to children’s development)
(ii) 2021 Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) Student Conference Award
(iii) SPP Diversity Poster Award, and
(iv) SPP Allergic Diseases Special Interest Group Poster Award
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Congratulations to Lauren Bertin on being granted a Training in Advanced Data Analytics and Computational Sciences to End Drug-Related Harms (TADA) Fellowship!