Current and Former Psych Majors represent Santa Clara at local, regional and national conferences
In April, Senior Caitlin Courshon traveled with her advisor Dr. Tim Urdan to the American Educational Research Association meeting in Washington, D.C. Caitlin presented a poster about reducing stereotypic beliefs of Hispanic students’ academic success, and was one of only twenty students in the nation chosen for an AERA Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Fellowship.
The Western Psychological Conference for Undergraduate Research was held in late April at St. Mary’s University. Students Caitlin Burns and Sarah Piombo from Dr. Kieran Sullivan’s lab presented their work about online communication in relationships. Dr. Birgit Koopmann-Holm’s students Kiki Bartel, Maryam Bin Meshar, and Evangeline Yang presented work on the avoidance of negative emotion. Students Jose Pablo Diaz, Vania Doan, Alyssa Crooke, Meghan Carlsen, and Maggie Head from Dr. Bruchmann’s lab presented work on social comparison and comparative biases.
Nine current and former Psychology majors also traveled to Long Beach to present research at the
annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association. Students Erin Furay, Dana Zylstra, Tess Miller and alumna Katie Ciffone from Dr. Kirsten Read's lab presented two posters about the kinds of shared story book reading experiences that can benefit young children. Students Danielle Marchand, Leah Emery, Blythe Collier, Gretchen Monke, and Jenna Bagley from Dr. Lisa Whitfield's lab presented two posters on children's beliefs about nature and whether natural settings influence cognitive processes like memory in children. Seniors Kathleen Vogt and Kimya Sabzbalouchibam from Dr. Katy Bruchmann's lab presented a poster about how comparing to individual people or comparing to an average influences the way people evaluate themselves.
Caitlin Courshon, Kimya Sabzbalouchibam, and Kathleen Vogt also presented their work at the Stanford Undergraduate Conference in May.
Congratulations to all of the students and their faculty advisors on a successful conference season!