Funding opportunities

Nominate a colleague for $50,000 Cummings PSYCHE prize

APF seeks nominations for the 2008 Cummings PSYCHE Prize, which recognizes a licensed practicing psychologist who is making significant contributions to expanding the role of psychologists as primary-care providers—especially to the colocation of psychologists as behavioral-care providers working side-by-side with primary-care physicians in organized systems of health-care delivery. To be eligible, psychologists must have at least 10 to 15 years of experience. To apply, e-mail a letter of nomination that should include the nominee’s experience in mentoring, training and developing other psychologists in the field; a one- to two-page statement of accomplishments and plans for the next five years, written by the nominee; and a curriculum vitae to APF. APF will accept self-nominations.

The nomination deadline is Dec. 1. For more information, visit www.apa.org/apf.

The prize is made possible by a contribution from the Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Foundation.

APF to recognize teaching excellence

APF invites nominations for its 2008 Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award. The award honors a career contribution to the teaching of psychology and is named after Charles L. Brewer, PhD, whose career-long devotion and contributions to the teaching of psychology embody the purpose of the award.

Nominees must demonstrate:

•  Exemplary performance as a classroom teacher.

•  Development of innovative curricula and courses.

•  Development of effective teaching methods and materials.

•  Teaching of advanced research methods and practice in psychology.

•  Administrative facilitation of teaching.

•  Research on teaching.

•  Training of teachers of psychology.

•  Evidence of influence as a teacher of students who become psychologists.

The winner receives a plaque, $2,000, and an all-expenses-paid round-trip to APA’s 2008 Annual Convention in Boston, where APF will present the award. APF will reimburse airfare and reasonable expenses for accommodations and meals.

The nomination deadline is Dec. 1. Nomination materials should include APF’s application form (available online at www.apa.org/apf/brewer.html), a description of how the nominee fulfills the award qualifications, the nominee’s curriculum vitae and bibliography. APF welcomes letters in support of the nomination. Send complete nomination materials to Foundation or mail to APF Teaching Award, at the APA address.

Nominate a colleague for an APF Gold Medal award

APF’s Board of Trustees invites nominations for its 2008 Gold Medal Awards, which recognize life achievement and enduring contributions to the science, application and practice of psychology, and contributions to psychology in the public interest.

All awardees receive a gold medal, $2,000 donated by APF to the charitable or nonprofit organization of the recipient’s choice and an all-expenses-paid trip to APA’s 2008 Annual Convention in Boston, where the award will be presented. APF will reimburse awardees for coach round-trip airfare and reasonable expenses for accommodations and meals.

Eligibility is limited to psychologists 65 years or older who reside in North America. Nominations should indicate the specific award for which the individual is nominated, a nomination statement that traces the nominee’s career, a curriculum vitae and bibliography. Letters in support of the nomination are encouraged. The chief nominator should coordinate and send all nomination materials in one package. There is no nomination form.

The nomination deadline is Dec. 1. Send nominations to Foundation or mail to APF Gold Medal Awards, at the APA address.

Apply for child psychology fellowship

APF seeks applicants for one of five $25,000 Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowships to support graduate studies in child psychology.

The Koppitz fellowships help nurture scholars in the broad area of child psychology, including topics such as developmental psychopathology and child-clinical, pediatric, school, developmental and educational psychology. The 2008 awards will include travel costs to attend preconference workshops for Koppitz graduate fellows in conjunction with APA’s 2008 and 2009 annual conventions and other conferences as funds allow. APF will also award $4,000 travel stipends to runners-up.

The application deadline is Nov. 15. Financial support will extend from Sept. 1, 2008, to Aug. 31, 2009. For complete application guidelines, visit www.apa.org/apf/koppitz.html or e-mail Foundation. Graduate students who have achieved doctoral candidacy are eligible to apply. Students can apply before passing their qualifying exams, but proof of doctoral candidacy is required.

Apply for LGB research grant

APF is accepting applications for the Roy Scrivner Memorial Research Grants, which encourage the study of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) family psychology and family therapy. APF will award one postdoctoral grant of $10,000 and two $1,000 graduate student grants. The foundation gives preference to dissertation candidates for the student awards.

APF encourages researchers from all behavioral and social science fields to apply.

Postdoctoral applicants and any co-investigators must hold doctoral degrees. Student applicants must be graduate students and their applications must include a letter of support from their supervising professor. All research involving human subjects must have been approved by an Institutional Review Board prior to application submission.

The application deadline is Nov. 1. For more information, visit www.apa.org/apf/scrivner.html.

Funding recipients

Spencer wins $2,000 Fantz award

APF has named John P. Spencer, PhD, as the 2006 recipient of the Robert L. Fantz Award, a $2,000 annual prize for a promising young investigator in psychology or a related discipline. Spencer is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Iowa and the founding co-director of the Iowa Center for Developmental and Learning Sciences. He earned his PhD in experimental psychology from Indiana University in 1998.

His research examines the development of visuo-spatial cognition, spatial language, working memory and attention, with an emphasis on and neural network models of cognition and action. He has had continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation since 2001. Spencer received the Irving J. Saltzman and the J.R. Kantor Graduate Awards from Indiana University, as well as the Early Research Contributions Award from the Society for Research in Child Development.

For information on next year’s award visit www.apa.org/apf/fantz.html.

Pincus honored in San Francisco

APF and APA’s Div. 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology) presented Aaron L. Pincus, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Penn State University, with the 2007 Theodore Millon Mid-Career Award in Personality Psychology at APA’s 2007 Annual Convention in San Francisco.

Pincus received $1,000 and a plaque for his work on advancing the science of personality psychology, including personology, personality theory, personality disorders and personality measurement.

Pincus earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1992. Pincus’s research focuses on the interpersonal nexus of personality and clinical science. He is a co-founder and past president of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research.

The Millon Award is made possible through a gift to APF from Dr. Theodore and Mrs. Renee Millon. For information on next year’s award, visit www.apa.org/apf/millon.html.

Paczkowski to study family dynamics

Emilie Paczkowski has won the 2007 APF Randy Gerson Memorial Grant. The $6,000 grant seeks to advance the systemic understanding of family, couple dynamics and multi-generational processes.

Paczkowski explores the long-term adjustment of parents adopting from foster care, and the influence of parent and child factors on perceived positive and negative family impact. Specifically, Paczkowski seeks to develop an understanding of the ways in which a child can influence the parent beyond the one-dimensional concept of satisfaction. Instead, she will examine parents’ positive and negative experiences as separate and independent variables. Ultimately, she aims to identify the factors that ultimately produce a positive and rewarding parenting experience.

Paczkowski is currently working toward her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

For information on next year’s award, visit www.apa.org/apf/gerson.html.

Iranian psychologist wins APF travel grant

Mohammad-Zakaria Pezeshki, PhD, has won APF’s 2007 Henry David Travel Grant, a $1,500 honorarium to fund his travel to the Psychosocial Workshop, which was held at the Population Association of America’s annual meeting in March in New York.

Pezeshki studies the reproductive behavior of Iranian couples, specifically during the time between marriage and first pregnancy. His research focuses on understanding three types of reproductive behaviors: contraceptive behavior, preconception health-related behavior and proceptive behavior.

A distinguished scholar in his home country of Iran, Pezeshki has served as assistant professor of community medicine at Tabriz Medical School since August 2002, when he graduated from Shiraz Medical School’s Department of Community Medicine. Pezeshki trains medical students in managing services in family planning, reproductive health and preconception care. Pezeshki is also the director of the Web-based international campaign Health Promotion before Childbearing.

—K. McKnight, E. Merck, K. Peterson and D. Schwartz