Category Archives: Announcements

APA Summer Science Fellowships for undergraduates

The Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association (APA) will sponsor its Summer Science Fellowship program, hosted by the Psychology Department at George Mason University, June 8 – July 20, 2013.  Up to twelve students who are current juniors will be selected for this six-week, paid summer research internship.  Students will be selected for experiences in one of several areas of psychology, including biological, applied developmental, applied cognitive, neuroscience, clinical, school, and industrial/ organizational.

Students currently enrolled in US or Canadian colleges are eligible.  International students at US or Canadian institutions may apply; US citizenship is not required. Students from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Please visit the Summer Science Fellowship page for more information about the program.  Contact ssf@apa.org or call 202-336-6000 if you have questions.

The application deadline is February 11, 2013.  Please encourage your best students to apply for this outstanding program.

SJSU VITAL program reaches out to student vets

by Natalie Cabral
Spartan Daily, Nov 7, 2012
http://spartandaily.com/90412/sjsu-vital-program-reaches-out-to-student-vets

 

Arriving back in the United States after seven years of service in the U.S. Army was not an easy transition for global studies major Dustin Delzell.

“It was hard,” Delzell said, “It sucked and it still sucks. You leave a place where everybody thinks and acts like you do and then come here where nobody thinks or acts like you do.”

The grant program Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) initiative has been put into place on campus since early 2012 in order to help veterans such as Delzell successfully transition to college.

Damian Bramlett, the program’s veteran coordinator, said the purpose of the initiative is not only to provide a major source of veteran information regarding recent GI bills, but to assist with the unique struggles a veteran faces transitioning into the college atmosphere.

“These veterans need a climate where they’re not getting flack for being a veteran too,” Bramlett said.

The initiative, according to Bramlett, was a grant opportunity discovered last December that had already been successfully established at five colleges and universities in the U.S.

After submitting a proposal created by Annabel Prins, an associate professor of psychology, SJSU was one of 15 colleges and universities that was granted the funds to run the initiative, according to Bramlett.

“In March we began the foundations for the program,” he said, “That included every little thing from business cards and brochures which aren’t paid for with the grant money.”

According to Bramlett, the initiative’s grant only includes funding for his salary and a student assistant’s.

“We’ve used outside donors to help us out and that’s been great,” he said.

Since the program’s establishment on campus, Bramlett has worked to reach out to each and every veteran on campus through word of mouth, emails and advocacy.

“This initiative helps them with trying to finish their goal of finishing college,” Bramlett said.

The initiative allows him to provide information about physical and mental health counseling, financial help regarding the GI bill and housing assistance to all veterans on campus, according to Bramlett.

According to psychology professor Elena Klaw, the initiative helps create the type of community that can be a solution for veterans who feel a sense of isolation at SJSU.

In addition, Klaw also teaches a class through the Veterans Student Organization (VSO) titled Warriors at Home.

The course discusses issues relevant to veteran life such as post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, depression, anxiety and healthy relationships, according to Klaw.

“It creates a community of veterans and mutual support,” Klaw said, “We know veterans are at a higher risk of things like suicide and violence in relationships, but social support is an important remedy.”

Mark Pinto, vice president of the Veterans Student Organization, served 20 years in the Marine Corps as a helicopter pilot and said veterans can use this initiative to gain a sense of visibility on campus.

“A lot of these young soldiers come back with traumas and issues,” Pinto said, “They feel isolated and they’ll find reasons to just drop out.”

Pinto said the importance of providing information to veterans about scholarships, work study, financial help and grants is crucial to feeling involved in the veteran community.

“Anything we can do to make people find a location to connect and reach out will create a sense of community,” Pinto said, “It’ll also bridge that gap of veterans and students.”

For Delzell, it is a gap that is all too real.

“We have different needs than a regular student,” he said. “The job title Damian holds is indispensable.”

Renowned psychologist, Alan E. Kazdin, will speak about his effective method on parenting

by Celeste Lodge,
Spartan Daily Staff Writer
Oct 21, 2012 1:33 pm
http://spartandaily.com/86910/alan-e-kazdin-will-speak-about-his-method-on-parenting

Alan E. Kazdin, a nationally known psychologist for his work in child development and alumnus of San Jose State will give a lecture on parenting defiant children by using his method, the “Kazdin Method,” which encourages using positive reinforcement for good behavior rather than punishment for a child.

The lecture,“Treatment for Oppositional, Aggressive and Antisocial Child Behavior,” will take place today.

Kazdin is the director of Yale University’s Parenting Center, the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry, and former president of the American Psychological Association, according to Ronald Rogers, professor and chair of the SJSU psychology department.

Rogers said Kazdin has been using method for many years at the Yale Parenting Center and has written numerous books and more than 600 articles about it.

The method  requires parents to positively reinforce good behavior of a child without giving them rewards in order to reduce their bad behavior.

Practicing the method will teach the child to repeat their good behavior.

Kazdin has made many appearances on television shows as an expert discussing his method, including Dr. Phil and Good Morning America.

He has received the MERIT award, the Distinguished Service Award to the Profession of Psychology, and the American Psychological Association Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.

“He’s nationally renowned when it comes to parenting,” Rogers said. “(Kazdin) is a name that anyone in Child Development and Parenting knows.”

Jessica Grady, a lecturer in child and adolescent development, said she is looking forward to hearing more about his research and method.

“He’s someone who has devoted his whole life to this,” Grady said. “It’s inspiring to hear that he has contributed so much to the field and is devoted to bettering the world of children and parents.”

Kaity Navarro, a fourth year child and adolescent development major,  said she is excited to learn more about how to handle difficult childhood behavior.

“Right now I wouldn’t know how to properly handle a child like that,” Navarro said.

Hannah Bond, a freshman liberal studies major, wants to know more about his method because she has a 2-year–old daughter.

“To have an experts view on the best ways to maximize her (daughters) learning and behavior would be really useful, especially because she’s in her ‘terrible twos,’” Bond said.

This lecture will be the first of a series that was anonymously endowed with funding and in honor of Kazdin.

“(The series) allows us to bring in renowned psychologists from around the United States to speak to SJSU students every year,” Rogers said.

Rogers wanted to start off the series with Kazdin himself, so he reached out to him to have him speak.

Rogers said Kazdin’s method is an effective method for parenting and is looking forward to hearing more about it because it’s not his area of expertise.

“I’m also looking forward to meeting him as one of our most successful graduates of our undergraduate program,” Rogers said.

This is Kazdin’s first time speaking at SJSU.

“We are incredibly proud to claim Dr. Kazdin as an alumnus and a model for current faculty and students as well as for those to come,” said Sheila Bienenfeld, dean of the College of Social Sciences.

The lecture is open to students, faculty and the public and is today from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Engineering Room 189.

An insider’s review of “Freud’s last session” at San Jose Repertory Theater

By Dr. Roger Karlsson

The San Jose Repertory Theater is currently playing “Freud’s last session” and I had the pleasure to be their consultant. Since I spent five years studying Freud at a psychoanalytic institute and I am a practicing psychoanalyst, I felt I would be the perfect person to illuminate Sigmund Freud’s personal history as well as psychoanalysis.  Little did I know! Instead of lecturing for a group of novices I found myself involved in a scholarly dialogue with a group of people who had researched the subject thoroughly. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised; after theater professionals are known for preparing well.  For example, J. Michael Flynn, who plays the role of Freud, told me he started to prepare for this role last summer and the director, Stephen Wrentmore, was like a walking encyclopedia about Freud and had read several of his books as inspiration when directing the actors!

I also had the chance to read Mark St. Germain’s script of the play and I was again amazed! Although the meeting between Freud and C.S. Lewis probably never actually occurred, I found the script masterfully weaving together factually correct biographical information about Freud and Freud’s version of psychoanalysis in a dialogue that discusses the eternal questions about the human condition: why do we live, why do we die, how can we live with our personal emotional wounds, is there a God, and if so, why isn’t God doing something about our personal suffering and the global suffering in the world?  In fact, I only found one slight error in the script, which I am sure St. Germain did on purpose for some dramatic effect.

Watching the play is an absolute delight.  J. Michael Flynn is depicting Freud not only with the iconic grey beard and cigar, but even manages to incorporate Freud’s speech pattern, gestures, and postures.  In the play, we meet Freud only three weeks before he ended his life through euthanasia.  He was a man marked by his sixteen-year struggle with mouth cancer, in constant pain, but refusing to take analgesics since he was afraid it would prevent him from continuing work on his theory.  In fact, Freud died in the midst of writing one of his most important papers, where he discusses how the self, as a consequence of trauma, can as a defensive measure split into experiencing several versions of reality, each one carrying parts of the “truth” but distorted by how we wished things would have unfolded.  Freud knows he is dying soon but instead of lying down and waiting for the end he can’t stop seeking the truth of the human condition and engages the deeply religious Lewis in a fiery battle of reason.  On stage, you can witness Freud and Lewis vacillating between despair, intense pain, bitterness, sarcastic humor, and joy, but never giving up on trying understanding each other despite their fundamental differences in how to relate to life.  In the end these two intellectual giants depart without anyone winning or a losing the debate, but that is not the point, instead through the meeting of the minds both men are different when they say goodbye.  After their epic battle of reason, Lewis’ mindset is now a part of Freud and Freud’s mindset is now a part of Lewis – how psychoanalytic is that!  Wouldn’t we all wish we had “enemies” that challenged our world view and were willing to engage in a dialogue that forced us to think and think again?

I was very pleased to see a balanced view of Freud on stage, without idealizing him or smearing him. For example, the play isn’t hiding the fact the Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud, went in analysis with him, which we today would find to be highly questionable from an ethical point of view, but on the other hand, it also clearly explains that Freud’s definition of sexuality is substantially broader and different from today’s definition of “sex.” Indeed, the play shows masterfully that although Freud died, he is not dead and is still worth reckoning with.  I recommend all psychology folk spend an inspirational evening at the theater enjoying this play before it too soon moves to Tucson, Arizona!

Learn more about the play at http://www.sjrep.com/

 

Getting psyched about our graduates

image: Gina DonnellyGina Donnelly (class of 2000) was appointed as the Human Resources Director of Menlo Park this July.  Gina earned her BA in Psychology with a minor in Child Development and has experience with a wide array of labor and employee relations functions, including; labor negotiations, employee policy development, grievance and performance appraisals, and serving as an instructor/trainer in the San Jose Leadership Academy for newly appointed supervisors and customized trainings to promote organizational development. She has also worked as a child care center director and as a behavioral therapist.  Menlo Park is in excellent hands.  Congratulations.

image: Heather D.

Heather Denman (class of 2012) received a national academic award along with three of her women’s swimming and diving teammates.  Heather was  named a 2012 College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Individual Scholar All America Honorable Mention. The honor is given to a swimmer or diver who achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and had a “B” standard, but did not qualify to compete in the NCAA Championships.  Congratulations, Heather!!

 

Hey Alumni!  Let us know what you’ve been up to since you left beautiful DMH.  You can send your stories, updates, and news items to psychology@sjsu.edu.

 

Human-Robot Interactions 2012

HRI 2012 logoDrs Donald Kalar and Collin Green, faculty in Psychology at SJSU and researchers at NASA Ames Research Center, presented their research, “Understanding Situational Awareness in Multi-Unit Supervisory Control Through Data-Mining and Modeling with Real-Time Strategy Games” at the 7th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interactions (HRI).   HRI is a highly selective conference that aims to showcase the very best interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in human-robot interaction with roots in robotics, social psychology, cognitive science, HCI, human factors, artificial intelligence, engineering, and many more.  Learn more at http://hri2012.org/.  Learn more about our Department’s partnership with NASA Ames and the Human Systems Integration Division by visiting http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/.

 

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).