The American Psychological Association congratulates the outstanding graduate students who have been awarded 2010 APA Dissertation Research Awards.  These awards are made annually by the APA Science Directorate to promising graduate students to assist with the costs of their dissertation research.  Students may apply for funding of up to $5,000.  (See the award website for additional information.)

Out of 126 applications this year, three students with the highest rated proposals received awards of over $1,000, and 38 students received awards of up to $1,000.   Listed below are the names and dissertation projects of each of the winners.

Recipients of Awards over $1,000

Kelsie Forbush
University of Iowa

Dissertation topic: The Structure and Assessment of Eating Disorders

Kelsie Forbush’s research is designed to model the statistical relations between eating disorders and other forms of psychopathology, with the goal of developing a comprehensive multivariate model of mental disorders that will be useful in both research and clinical settings. 

Laura Villasana
Oregon Health & Science University

Dissertation topic: The Effects of 137Cs and 56Fe Irradiation on the Cognitive Function of ApoE2 and ApoE4 Female Mice

Laura Villasana aims to integrate behavioral and molecular techniques to address questions about learning and memory at both cognitive and cellular levels. 

David Yeager
Stanford University School of Education

Dissertation topic: An Incremental Theory of Personality Reduces Aggressive and Depressive Responses to Victimization or Exclusion: Tests of Mechanisms and an Intervention

David Yeager’s interests are in the investigation and improvement of adolescents’ responses to peer victimization, the theoretical underpinnings of psychological interventions that improve developmental outcomes, and the investigation of ways to optimize social scientific research methods.

Recipients of Awards up to $1,000

Claire Adams
Louisiana State University
Effects of Mindfulness on Body Image, Affect, and Smoking in Women

Abby Adler
Ohio State University
Change in Automatic and Strategic Cognition: An Examination of Cognitive Therapy for Depression

Alison Baker
North Carolina State University
Severity of Conditions, Collective Identity, Civic Skills and Attitudes, and Sociopolitical Development among Salvadoran Youth

Margaux Barnes
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Predictors of Physical Activity in Child and Adolescent Survivors of Cancer

John Best
University of Georgia
Video Gaming as an Experimental Tool:  Effects of Physical Activity and Cognitive Engagement on Children's Executive Function

Laura Blackwell
University of Miami
Pain and Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis

Rebecca Brock
The University of Iowa
Explaining the Role of Marriage in the Development of Internalizing Disorders: An Integrated Conceptual Framework

Michael Chen
Stanford University
Neural Functioning in Primary Insomnia

Benjamin Clark
Dartmouth College
Interactions Between the Brain's Representation of Spatial location and Direction

Daniel Effron
Stanford University
"The Misdeeds I Might Have Done:" Counterfactual Transgressions Facilitate Moral Self-Righteousness

Rachel Farr
University of Virginia
Coparenting among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive couples: An Observational Study

Megan Freeman
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Family Functioning and Genetic Risk in Early Onset Bipolar Disorder

Cassandra Gipson
University of Kentucky
A Translational Model of Mood-Based Rash Action

Kasey Griffin
University of Pittsburgh
Genetic Links to the Reinforcing Effects of Alcohol in a Social Context

Catherine Hartley
New York University
Individual differences in the expression and regulation of conditioned fear

Chia-Lin Ho
North Carolina State University
Implicit Leadership Theories: The Validation of Explicit and Implicit Measures

Anna Holt
University of California San Diego
Modeling the Development of Individual Differences in Task-Switching Fluency in Early Childhood

Sara Kover
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Language and Learning in Boys with Fragile X Syndrome: On-line Assessment of Syntactic Comprehension and Syntactic Bootstrapping

Heekyung Kwon
University of Florida/College of Education
Constraint on Absolute Accuracy of Metacomprehension Assessments: The Anchoring and Adjustment Model vs. the Standard of Coherence Model

Sara Langworthy
University of Minnesota
The Impact of Executive Function Impairment on Reward Processing in Children: Neural Correlates and Individual Differences

Matthew Lerner
University of Virginia
Knowledge or Performance - Why Youth with Autism Experience Social Problems

Nanxin Li
Yale University
Rapid Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine

Ian McDonough
University of Chicago
Autobiographical Reality Monitoring in Aging

Elizabeth Mezick
University of Pittsburgh
Sleep and Cardiovascular Stress Responses

Elizabeth Mietlicki
State University of New York at Buffalo
The Effects of Ghrelin on Body Fluid Homeostasis

Andrada Neacsiu
University of Washington
Use of Dialectical Behavioral Skills in Treating Emotion Dysregulation across Axis I Disorders

Caitlin Orsini
University of Michigan
Neural Circuitry Underlying Renewal of Fear in Rats

Muniba Saleem
Iowa State University
Reducing Intergroup Bias and Conflict Through Attachment Theory

Leo Schlosnagle
West Virginia University
Following Advice Because it’s Been Paid For: Age, the Sunk-Cost Fallacy, and Loss Aversion

Margaret Sibley
State University of New York at Buffalo
Increasing Academic Success in Middle School Students with ADHD

James Stafford
Oregon Health & Science University
The Dynamic Nature of Memory Retrieval: Seeking Insight from Behavioral, Neural Systems and Molecular Analyses

Elizabeth Tenney
University of Virginia
The Social Consequences of Self-Knowledge

Michael Treadway
Vanderbilt University
Anhedonia and the Neurobiological Basis of Effort-based Decision Making in Depression

Joseph van Steenburgh
Drexel University
Direct Current Stimulation of Right Anterior Superior Temporal Gyrus During Solution of Compound Remote Associates Problems

Jill Waring
Boston College
Interactions of Attention and Memory in Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Eric Wesselmann
Purdue University
Punishment and Protection: Beneficial Uses of Ostracism in Groups

Martin Wiener
University of Pennsylvania
Functional and Molecular Mechanisms of Time Perception in Humans

Xiaomeng Xu
Stony Brook University
Self-expansion and Cigarette Craving: fMRI and Behavioral Correlates