Congratulations go to Kelechi Uzoegwu, who was recently recognized with a P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship for the AY2021-22. The International Peace Scholarship Fund was established in 1949 to provide scholarships for selected women from other countries for graduate study in the United States or Canada.

P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) was founded in 1869 to support women’s opportunities in education, and the organization has awarded more than $300M in several scholarship categories over the years. Congratulations to Kelechi (and to advisor Josh Magee) for this honor!

We are very pleased that our own Jay Smart has been selected to receive the Provost’s Excellence in Academic Advising Award. This award recognizes faculty who demonstrate outstanding commitment to advising students at Miami. Jay is scheduled to receive this award on August 11, 2021, at 12 noon in the John Dolibois Room of the Shriver Center. Congratulations to Jay — we are so appreciative of your tireless, outstanding student advising!

The Department of Psychology is pleased that Pankhuri Aggarwal has been selected as its Dissertation Scholar for the 2021-22 AY. Pankhuri’s dissertation project will examine how the quality of interpersonal relationships elevates the risk for experiencing depressive symptoms. It also will explore several moderating factors (e.g., inclusion of others in self, upward social comparisons) connected to the COVID-19 pandemic that can reduce relationship quality and make experiencing depression more likely. Congrats to Pankhuri (and advisor Vaishali Raval)!

Each year, Psi Chi oversees the process by which our undergraduates nominate and vote on faculty member and graduate student of the year honors.

For the 2020-21 academic year, our students have selected Brooke Cropenbaker as Psi Chi Faculty Member of the Year and McKenna Freeman as Psi Chi Graduate Student of the Year.

Congrats to both Brooke and McKenna for these honors. We appreciate everything you do to support the education and development of our students!

Four psychology doctoral students were awarded the Patrick J. Capretta Memorial Scholarship based on their excellent scholarly work during the post master’s degree period of their graduate training. This year’s recipients are Feven Ogbaselase (advisor Aaron Luebbe), Salime Salim (advisor Terri Messman), Sydney Risley (advisor Liz Kiel), and Tyler Jacobs (advisor Allen McConnell).

We are very proud of their many contributions to our department, especially through their high-quality scholarship and positive student engagement. Congratulations!

Hannah Elias (Miami BA, ’20) received a Midwestern Psychological Association award for a top graduate student paper (MPA awards 6 total each year). Elias, now a PhD student in clinical psychology at West Virginia Univ., received the award based on research she conducted at Miami as part of her senior honors thesis project, supervised by Dr. Heather Claypool and her graduate student Alejandro Trujillo. Congrats to Hannah, Heather, and Alejandro for this excellent recognition!

Congratulations to Shruti Ram and to Shelby Ortiz, each of whom received a $1500 scholarship from the Academy for Eating Disorders to support their research projects. Congrats to Shruti, Shelby, and advisor April Smith for these recognitions!

Miami University’s Office of Research for Undergraduates recently announced recipients for DUOS (Doctoral Undergraduate Opportunity Scholarships) awards, and there were four awarded in the Department of Psychology. Below is a listing of those projects. Congratulations to our faculty members who oversee these active lab groups, our graduate students who provide mentorship experiences, and our undergraduates who drive these excellent projects!

Dr. Jeffrey Hunger, Faculty Advisor; Alejandro Trujillo, Graduate Student Mentor; Jackson Heitt, Undergraduate Student (PSY Major 2022); for the topic “Examining Intersectional Social Identity Threats”

Dr. Allen McConnell, Faculty Advisor; Tyler Jacobs, Graduate Student Mentor; Antonio Lim, Undergraduate Student (PSY Major 2022); for the topic “The Nature of Disaster: The Effects of Natural Disasters on Climate-Related Behavior Depends On Individuals’ Political Beliefs”

Dr. Jonathan Kunstman, Faculty Advisor; Brielle Johnson, Graduate Student Mentor; Nana OfosuHemaa, Undergraduate Student (PSY Major 2022); for the topic “Raced Based Differences in Confrontation Likelihood and Satisfaction”

Dr. Matt McMurray, Faculty Advisor; Danielle Tapp, Graduate Student Mentor; Zoe Platow, Undergraduate Student (BIO Major 2023), for the topic “Establishing How Dorsal Raphe Projections Modulate Reward Learning”

Congrats to Cricket Meehan and her team in the Center for School-Based Mental Health (including Debora Robison) and their colleagues in Miami’s Departments of Educational Psychology and Family Science and Social work for officially receiving word about their School Wellness Initiative grant to aid mental health and substance use for Ohio’s K-12 students and staff.

This $6 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund will support this project for 21 months throughout 2021 and 2022. The project seeks to address mental health issues that have grown worse during COVID, including establishing a Student Assistance Program, strengthening intervention efforts, and promoting mental well-being among school administrators and staff. The funding will support new personnel to help oversee the project and provide more than $1M in indirect costs for the university.

Congrats to Cricket, Debora, and the entire team for overseeing this important project! You can listen to an interview with Cricket that aired on WVXU/WMUB public radio on Jan 19.

Dr. Paul Flasohler has been awarded a grant to support the project entitled, “Evaluation Of The Character Effect.” This $40K grant will support Flaspholer’s Miami University School and Community Research and Action Team (MUSCRAT), who will partner with the Beech Acres Parenting Center to develop and implement strategies to evaluate The Character Effect Program. Congrats Paul!