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Senior Award for Achievement in Research
This award is given to senior students who have demonstrated significant achievement in undergraduate research projects.
2009 Award Recipients
- Chris Gesualdi
Christopher Gesualdi - Christopher Gesualdi is being recognized today for outstanding research at the undergraduate level. Chris began his research efforts in his freshman year, with a directed study with Dr. Zinn. He helped with data collection and the creation of a poster. In his junior year, he undertook a research assistant position in an independent study with Dr. Saville and assisted with multiple studies related to discounting. He held a second position that Spring through an independent study with Dr. Barron, where he assisted with writing a chapter titled “Validity” which will be published in a handbook of Psychology. For three semesters, Chris continued working with Dr. Saville as a research assistant on the discounting project. Christopher’s efforts have resulted in being one of multiple authors on a book chapter and seven conference posters. Christopher is a member of Psi Chi. He was honored in 2008 as our James J. Hart Memorial Award for Outstanding Juniors, and in 2007 he received our award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Methods. He plans to attend graduate school to pursue a career in the field of Behavioral Analysis.
- Eric Miner
Eric Miner - Eric is currently a senior psychology major, is a member of Psi Chi, and has served as a research assistant in both Dr. Irons’ and Dr. Saville’s research labs. Eric is somewhat of a renaissance man with respect to research and his contributions to research protocols including task development, data collection, data analysis, conference submission, and project coordination. Eric contributed to a project which examined the reliability of a choice task designed to assess adequate incentive values for abstinence among college student smokers. He also contributed to a study of effort discounting among college students. Eric served as a project coordinator to a study designed to examine the effects of caffeine on delay discounting. Impressively, Eris designed a computerized titrating version of a commonly used choice task that streamlines data collection and analysis. Eric has functioned as a leader in the laboratory setting and has been relied upon to coordinate others for training, project management, and other tasks. During his senior year, Eric has been involved in a personnel training Field Placement under the supervision of Dr. Tracy Zinn and coordinated with JMU’s Training and Development Department. After graduation Eric plans to pursue graduate school in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
- Loretta Vitt
Loretta Vitt - Loretta has worked with Dr. Serpell and Dr. Evans and was co-author of a poster presented at Eastern Psychological Association on the difference between girls diagnosed with ADHA in childhood or adolescence. She is currently completing her honors thesis on the effects of stereotypes on women running for political office, and she will present her thesis at the Colonial Academic Alliance (CAA) Undergraduate Research Conference. Loretta is also co-president and founder of Psychologists for Sustainability. Loretta served as a summer research assistant in 2008 at the Darden School of Business at UVA, and assisted with a project on building positive diverse business relationships. Loretta was a member of the Psychology Learning Community, and received our Junior Outstanding Achievement in Research Award in 2008. After JMU, Loretta intends to continue to graduate school in social psychology, with emphasis on the stereotypes and prejudice in politics and business.
Past Award Recipients
2008
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Alex Byland - Alex has worked two semesters at the Alvin V. Baird Center and is currently a paid research assistant there. He is currently engaged in research with Drs. Craig Abrahamson and Gregg Henriques on anxiety and heart rate variability and Dr. Jessica Irons on classroom behavior modification. In addition, Alex is doing an honors thesis with Dr. Cheryl Talley on the effects hypnotherapy in smoking cessation. He has presented or will present this spring one workshop, one lecture, and three poster sessions, one of which won the award for Excellent Research Poster at the departmental poster session last spring, and including one which will be presented at Eastern Psychological Association this spring. Alex is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Psi Chi, Golden Key Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
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Brantley Jarvis - Brantley is a Behavior Analysis Concentration student who has been working in Dr. Sherry Serdikoff’s Laboratory for the Analysis of Behavior for the past year. He has helped with experiments investigating resistance to change in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats, an animal model of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. He and his co-authors were awarded a Department of Psychology Grant for Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship to support their work and presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis. However, the majority of Brantley’s efforts have been centered around the development of his honors thesis, which is one of a group of studies designed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a contingency management intervention for smoking cessation of JMU students and he is co-author on a grant for more than $1,350 from Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, to support this work. He and his co-authors will be presenting the results from the first study from this project at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Boston and the results of his thesis at the annual meeting the International Association for Behavior Analysis in Chicago. Brantley is a gold member of the JMU Chapter of Psi Chi and a student member of the Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis, Maryland Association for Behavior Analysis, Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis, and International Association for Behavior Analysis. He hopes to pursue graduate training in behavior analysis and a career using behavior analytic principles and techniques to ameliorate social problems such as substance abuse and obesity as well as other health-related behaviors.-
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Daniel (Max) Crowley- Max started doing research his first year taking an independent study with Dr. Craig Abrahamson on the effectiveness of replacement therapy. He has completed an independent study with Dr. Tracy Zinn on students’ views of themselves as consumers, worked with Dr. Steve Evans on the Interactive Media Project, and is currently involved in two projects at the Alvin V. Baird Learning Disability Center. Max is completing an honors thesis with Dr. Kenn Barron on the role played by motivation on psychosocial therapy. In addition, Max has been involved in research projects with Drs. Poulson and Paugh in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He also spent two summers at the Duke University Center for Cognitive Neuroscience working on research projects. He research has been presented at the American Sociological Association, Eastern Psychological Association, and Association for Psychological Science. Max was a member of the Psychology Learning Community, has served as Vice President of Psi Chi, was elected Junior Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and was awarded a Hart Outstanding Junior Award and the Edythe S. Rowley Honors Thesis Scholarship. He is also a member Phi Kappa Phi, Golden Key Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, American Sociological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Eastern Psychological Association, and American Psychological Association.
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James Koepfler - Since the fall of 2007, James has been working on research with Drs. JoAnne Brewster and Michael Stoloff. One study involves attempting to predict aggressiveness in police officers, a second is attempting to validate a test of proneness to aggressive behavior, and a third, with the Air Force’s Operation of Special Investigation, seeks to identify reasons special agents have been decredentialed. James has also been involved in research with Dr. Gregg Henriques on reducing anxiety through biofeedback and the Tree of Knowledge System. He is a member of Psi Chi and the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. He has attended the annual conference of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology, and a poster presenting some of his work has been presented there.
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Stephen Robertson – Stephen has been working in the Laboratory for the Analysis of Behavior since spring 2006 and is a student in the Behavior Analysis Concentration. In that time he has helped with a variety of projects including studies investigating the reinforcing efficacy of various concentrations of saccharin in rats, resistance to change in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (an animal model of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), and the impact of numerous variables on rats’ consumption of saccharin within the context of the Chronic Mild Stress procedure (an animal model of depression) and has been co-author on 6 conference presentations presenting the data form these projects. Currently Stephen is working on his thesis where he will examine the behavioral effects of Kava Kava on rats in the Elevated Plus Maze, an animal model of anxiety. He will be presenting the results of his thesis at the annual meeting the International Association for Behavior Analysis in Chicago. He is also conducting research in behavioral pharmacology with Drs. Jessica Irons and Bryan Saville. Stephen is a gold member of the JMU Chapter of Psi Chi and a student member of the Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis, Maryland Association for Behavior Analysis, Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis, and International Association for Behavior Analysis. He hopes to pursue graduate training and a career in behavioral pharmacology.
2007
Kristen Klein is completing her honors thesis with Dr. Apple and will be presenting this research at the 2007 CAA Undergraduate Research Conference. She is conducting additional research with Drs. Apple and Reis-Bergan. She has served as a Teaching Asssistant for our Psychological Research Methods labs and has been awarded Junior Fellow status with the American Academy of Political and Social Science. She has previously received an award for Achievement in Statistics and Research Methods and the Glenn Smith Memorial Scholarship. Her professional goal is to complete an advanced degree in the social sciences.
Amber Mendres is graduating with a second degree in Spanish, a minor in Special Education and a concentration in Behavior Analysis. She is also an Honors Program Scholar. She has had research experiences working with Dr. Sherry Serdikoff and Dr. Bill Ernst, and she is completing an Honors Thesis with Dr Jim Benedict in conducting a functional assessment of a child who displays self-injurious behavior. She has been a freshman orientation guide, a member and officer of Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority, served as a translator for an after school Hispanic mentoring program, worked with children of parents living in Mercy House, and chosen as an officer of the JMU Equestrian team. During the summers she has worked at an academy in New Jersey as a teacher of individuals with autism and mental retardation. Her professional goal is to earn an advanced degree in Applied Behavior Analysis and Clinical Psychology for the purpose of assessing and treating individuals with developmental disabilities.
Sarah Pulaski has completed two semesters of Independent Research in Dr. Michael Hall’s laboratory that has examined the potential integration of auditory–visual emotions in speech. In her work she became familiar with Adobe Audition, stimulus generation, data collection, and as a result of this work she developed an interest in emotion. Specifically, she became interested in how certain emotions could potentially impact the measurements associated with vocal cues to deception, and she is completing an Honors Thesis project in this area under Dr. Hall’s supervision. Sara is a member of the Eastern Psychological Association and plans to present her research at the annual EPA conference this spring. In addition, Sara has worked as a Neuropsychological Trainee-volunteer at the The Neurology Center (in Maryland), as a volunteer teaching assistant at Montevideo Middle School and as a TA for Dr. Bryan Saville’s Psychological Research Methods class. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Golden Key International Honour Society, Psi Chi and, National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Sara intends on pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical neuropsychology.
2006
- Andrew Hucks - a senior, plans to attend graduate school in the experimental analysis of behavior at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand . He has worked on research projects with Dr. West, and with Dr Serdikoff who is currently his Honors Thesis Advisor. He has been the lab manager in the Psychology department’s animal laboratory, has been active presenting his research at several regional and national conferences and has become the student representative to the executive council of the Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis.
- Rebecca Oliver - a senior, is interested in a career in Neuroscience, especially Neuropsychopharmacology. She has worked on research projects with Drs Reis-Bergan, Stoloff, Riveria-Hianji in Chemistry and with Dr Andre who is her Honors Thesis Advisor. Her thesis is investigating the differences in processing speed and neural persistence of hierarchically distinct components of visual stimuli among able and disabled readers. She will present her thesis results at the National Undergraduate Research Conference. Rebecca began her college experience in the Psychology Learning Community and also participated as a big sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program. She was also a resident advisor and hall director for two years. During the next two years she will be working at the National Institute of Mental Health as a Post Baccalaureate research trainee.
- Carson Walker - a senior, has worked on research projects with Drs Serdikoff and Barron in Psychology and Ms Karr at the Counseling and Student Development Center. She is currently working with Dr. Barron on her honors thesis. She also has taken a semester-long field placement experience at Pilgram’s Pride Corporation and has been a 2-year member of the Psychology Department’s Student Advisory Committee. Eventually she wants to earn a graduate degree either in I/O, cross-cultural or clinical psychology.
- Rebecca Wilde - a senior and President of Psi Chi, Psychology’s honor society, has worked with Dr Steve Evans for three years on his research program for ADHD middle school children. She was chosen to work in Biostatistics last summer at the UW-Madison and was able to learn about research being done in brain imaging. She would like to seek a career that combines psychology, biostatistics and medicine.
2005
- Mary Ellen Guldin – Mary has been involved in research with Drs. Cheryl Talley and Ashton Trice. With Dr Talley, she has looked at memory modulation and the effects of subdiaphragmatic vagatomy and D-glucose in rodents on radial-arm maze performance. With Dr. Trice, she wrote a literature review looking at the function and frequency of lies in ADHD children. Mary has made poster presentations at the 2004 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, the 6th and 7th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences. Her poster at the latter conference won her the 1st place poster award.
- Magen Lynn Sier - Magen is a double major in Psychology and Art, with a minor in Biology. She has been assisting in animal research with Drs. Suzie Baker and Sherry Serdikoff. Currently, under the direction of Dr Baker, she is performing an honors thesis entitled: Social Structure Within a Captive Giraffe Herd. She will be presenting her results at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Spring 2005. Magen hopes to expand these ideas after graduation, not only to help enrich the lives, but also to increase public awareness of captive animals.
- Jon Slezak - Jon is a psychology major, and has completed the coursework for the pre-med, pre-professional program. He entered James Madison University as a member of the JMU Honors Program, and has been on the Dean’s List or the President’s List every semester since his arrival. He is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. Jon has volunteered at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic and completed a psychology externship at the Northern Virginia Training Center . Jon has been involved in research for the past two years. In Dr. Sherry Serdikoff’s Laboratory for the Analysis of Behavior, he has been a member of research teams investigating such diverse issues as the behavioral effects of nutraceutical compounds and the effects of reinforcement delay in an animal model of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder. Jon has co-authored over six conference presentations at local, state, regional, national, and international conferences and was the co-recipient of a research grant from the Virginia Academy of Science to support his work.
2004
2003
- Elizabeth Franges
- Emily Hebda
- Allan Hoffman
- Elizabeth Ruff
- Jennifer Thomas
2002
- Jennifer Amato
- Rachel Harper
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