Category Archives: Uncategorized

M.A. Alumni Making a Difference

Image: Dr. Adriana ManagoDr. Adriana Manago (MA in Experimental Psychology, Class of 2004) has accepted a tenure track position in Cultural Developmental Psychology at Western Washington University in Bellingham!  After leaving SJSU, Adriana received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology and a certificate in Culture, Brain, and Development from UCLA in 2011.  Just before accepting her new faculty position, Adriana completed postdoctoral training in Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan.  We wish Adriana all the best and look forward to hearing more about her research and work in Chiapas Mexico.

image: Karen Gee AtwoodKaren Gee Atwood (MA in Experimental Psychology, Class of 2004) has accepted a tenure track position in the Department of Psychology at Mission College, Santa Clara, CA.  After completing her degree at SJSU, Karen worked for several years as an Instructor of Psychology at Foothill College.  Karen also hold a Master degree in Education from Stanford University.

Karen’s thesis investigating the impact of instructor-provided lecture notes on note taking and generative processing will no doubt inform her work within the classroom.

image: Bryan McClainBryan McClain (MA in Experimental Psychology, Class of 2002) is the President and Co-founder at Metric Lab.  Bryan co-founded Metric Lab in 2005 with the vision of helping clients truly understand their consumers and design products that are user-centered. Bryan’s background stems from rigorous academic and industry experience which includes a BA and MA in experimental psychology from SJSU and over eleven years experience in user-centered research and design. Bryan is a published author with several magazine articles, academic journal articles, and web periodical articles to his name. He has also acquired a U.S. patent and registered trademark for concepts that he has developed.

image: Demetrius MadrigalDemetrius (MA in Experimental Psychology, Class of 2002) truly believes in the power of research, when it is done well. With a background in experimental psychology from SJSU, Demetrius performed research in the University setting as well as NASA Ames Research Center before co-founding Metric Lab with long-time collaborator, Bryan McClain. At Metric Lab, Demetrius enjoys innovating with powerful research methods on exciting projects ranging from consumer electronics with companies like Microsoft or Kodak, to modernization efforts with the U.S. Army.

Dr. Dante PicchioniAfter receiving his master’s degree, Dr. Dante Picchioni (MA in Experimental Psychology, Class of 1999), was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Experimental Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi.  While receiving a “broad” degree such as experimental psychology isn’t the usual path for someone considering a career in cognitive neuroscience, Dante was able to tailor and focus his classes and research on neuroscience topics. For example, he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the epidemiology (causes) of narcolepsy.

When it came time for him to do his post-doctorate study, he took a position where he learned the intricacies of working with and employing the fMRI for conducting neuroscientific research. Dante now works at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

Congratulations to Drs Feria and Laraway for being tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Cary Feria holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine (2004). Before joining the Psychology Department at San Jose State University in 2008, she was an Assistant Professor at Morehead State University in Kentucky.  Her research interests are in the area of visual perception, and include multiple object tracking, visual search, and engineering applications of visual perception.

Dr. Feria has published numerous research articles in the journals Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics and Perception, on the topics of attention to moving objects and distance perception. She and a co-author also have a forthcoming paper in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, regarding visual search on mobile phones while walking. Dr. Feria was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the spatial distribution of visual attention within moving objects.

Sean Laraway holds a PhD from Western Michigan University (2003). Upon completing his doctoral program, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Western Michigan working on studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition to his appointment in the Department of Psychology, he currently serves as the Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Human Factors/Ergonomics in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering. His research interests include learning and memory, motivation, behavior analysis, substance use/abuse, behavioral pharmacology, and behavioral systems analysis.

Dr. Laraway has co-authored articles that have appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Behavioural Processes, the Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, Management Decision, and Women and Therapy. He has also contributed to several book chapters and encyclopedia entries in the areas of psychopharmacology, statistics, and research methods.

Dr. Erin Woodhead Joins Psychology

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Erin Woodhead to our clinical faculty this fall.  Dr. Woodhead holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University (2009). Before joining the SJSU Psychology Department, Dr. Woodhead completed clinical and research postdoctoral training in geropsychology and geriatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Her research interests include health care decision making among older adults, interventions to facilitate mental health treatment among older adults, and increasing aging content in undergraduate and graduate psychology curricula.

Dr. Woodhead’s scholarly work has appeared in Psychology and Aging, International Psychogeriatrics, Aging and Mental Health, and the American Journal of Health Behavior (forthcoming). She has received funding from the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making to study how older adults decide to initiate treatment for depression, and from the Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs to study career decision making of clinical and counseling graduate students. Dr. Woodhead is on the editorial board of Medical Decision Making and serves on the board of The Society of Clinical Geropsychology (APA Division 12, Section II).

Kevin Jordan Receives $73.3 Million Award to Participate in NASA Research

SAN JOSE, Calif., — The NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., has selected San Jose State University Research Foundation for a five-year, $73.3 million cooperative agreement to participate in the development of systems for improving the safety and efficiency of air and space travel. NASA scientists, along with SJSU faculty members and graduate students, will collaborate on this effort, funded by the largest federal award in SJSU history. The principal investigator will be Professor of Psychology and of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Kevin Jordan.  Read the full story here.

image: Jordan and colleagues in 777 simulator