APA Science Student Council

2013 Chair: Casey Calhoun, (2012-14), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Research Focus: Clinical Science
Calhoun is a fifth-year graduate student in the clinical psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research broadly considers the effects of peer relations and social cognition on adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Calhoun's most recent work examines the effects of negative peer experiences on adolescents' biological stress regulation. He also maintains a continued interest in exploring the conceptual and methodological issues regarding inter-rater discrepancy scores.

Richard Chambers, II (2013-15), Louisiana Tech University
Research Focus: Industrial/Organizational
Chambers is a second-year doctoral student in industrial-organizational psychology at Louisiana Tech University. His research interests include technology and social-media use in the workplace as they relate to counterproductive work behaviors and in terms of their utility in employee selection. Chambers is also a member of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology's Electronic Communications Committee and an enthusiast of the R statistical package. To learn more, visit LinkedIn.

Corbin A. Cunningham (2013-15), Johns Hopkins University
Research Focus: Cognitive
Cunningham is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University working under the tutelage of Howard Egeth. His research focuses on the interaction between visual attention and memory. Specifically, he investigates the nature of the representation of visual information (e.g. objects and scenes) in memory during processes such as searching for a specified target in a scene. Additionally, he is interested in how top-down information, such as categories, influences attention during inhibitory processes. To learn more, visit corbincunningham.com.

Jason Fuchs (2012-14), University of Vermont
Research Focus: Behavioral Neuroscience
Fuchs is a fourth-year graduate student in the biobehavioral cluster of the general/experimental psychology program at the University of Vermont. His research focus is in the neurobiology of learning and memory. Using eyeblink classical conditioning as a model of cerebellum-dependent learning, he is interested in examining the role of voltage-gated ion channels in cerebellum-dependent learning and how their regulation and expression contribute to various aspects of conditioning, such as acquisition and extinction. He is also interested in studying the in vivo electrophysiological consequences of voltage-gated ion channel regulation within the cerebellar circuitry.

Allison E. Gaffey (2013-15), University of Notre Dame
Research Focus: Biopsychology
Gaffey is a fourth year doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Notre Dame. She conducts research under the guidance of Professor Michelle Wirth, in the area of stress and emotion physiology, with a focus on neuroendocrine systems. Currently, Gaffey is examining how those physiological mechanisms (including the hormones cortisol, progesterone, testosterone and oxytocin) can buffer against the negative effects of stress, promoting or protecting against psychopathology — including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. To learn more, visit Emotion and Stress Physiology Lab.

Joseph Gonzales (2013-15), University of California, Davis
Research Focus: Methodology
Gonzales is a quantitative psychology PhD student at the University of California, Davis. Broadly, his research is on methods for analyzing multivariate longitudinal data (e.g., the affect of romantic couples or the relation between behavior and physiological processes). An area of emphasis is consideration of the problem of process heterogeneity when using aggregate modeling techniques. Other methodological interests involve questions of factor invariance, time series analysis and multivariate-multisystem modeling. More substantive interests are in romantic relationships, mate selection, evolutionary psychology and ovulatory effects on behavior in humans. To learn more, visit Joseph's UC Davis website.

Patty X. Kuo (2013-15), University of Michigan
Research Focus: Developmental
Kuo is a PhD candidate in developmental psychology at the University of Michigan, where she works with Brenda Volling. Her research investigates parenting and family processes using biological, social and cognitive approaches, with a special focus on fathers of young children and infants. Her recent work investigates the role of fathers' testosterone in their parenting behaviors during father-infant interaction.

Elizabeth Necka (2012-14), University of Chicago
Research Focus: Social/Personality
Necka is a third-year graduate student in the doctoral program in social psychology at the University of Chicago, where she works with John Cacioppo and Greg Norman. Necka's research interest is in the relationship between computer-mediated technologies, loneliness and stress. Specifically, she researches how differential behavior on computer-mediated communications, particularly the manner in which one communicates with his or her close others, influences loneliness, relationship satisfaction and the relationship between social support and stress.

Noreen Watson (2012-14), Texas Tech University
Research Focus: Health Psychology
Watson is a fifth-year clinical psychology student at Texas Tech University. Broadly speaking, she is interested in psychological factors that play a role in health behaviors. In particular, she is interested in examining social anxiety as a risk factor for various risky health behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking, alcohol and marijuana use, risky sexual activity and violent/aggressive behaviors). Watson is currently working on her dissertation, which will investigate the influence of social anxiety and smoking to cope on cigarette craving and subsequent smoking behavior.

Staff Liaison

Nicolle Singer
(202) 336-6000