Volume 19: No. 10, November 2005

November 2005 Announcements

Nominations Requested for Tanaka Dissertation Award

APA’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) seeks nominations for the Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology, which recognizes work that contributes to a better understanding of the psychological issues and concerns facing communities of color.

Tanaka was an Asian-American scholar and psychologist whose work emphasized the importance of culture and ethnicity in the scientific understanding of behavior. He was a fellow of APA’s Div. 5 (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics) and a member of Divs. 8 (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) and 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues). Tanaka was chair-elect of CEMA at the time of his death in 1992.

CEMA welcomes applications from individuals who filed their dissertations in 2004 or 2005. The winner receives a nominal cash award, APA convention registration, a travel award sponsored by the APA Science Directorate to APA’s 114th annual convention, and an invitation to briefly present the dissertation to the membership.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 1. Please contact the APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs (202-336-6029) for more information, or visit the website.

Call for Nominations for 2006 McGuigan Prize

In 2006, APF will award its third biennial $25,000 F. J. McGuigan Young Investigator Prize to recognize the efforts of a young psychological science investigator to explicate the concept of the human mind from a primarily psychophysiological perspective. Physiological and behavioral research may qualify for support, but dualistic approaches, such as those espoused by many contemporary cognitive psychologists, do not qualify for support.

Nominees must have earned a doctoral degree in psychology or a related field and be fewer than 9 years post-doctoral degree at the time of the nomination. Nominees must also be affiliated with an accredited college, university or research institution. The prize will be awarded to the recipient’s institution for the benefit of his or her research. Faculty salaries and indirect costs may not be requested.

The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2006. Nomination packages must contain six (6) copies of a nomination package, each package to include: a letter of nomination written by a senior colleague (no self-nominations); 1-2 page statement of accomplishments and plans for the next five years (written by nominee); a curriculum vitae; and two representative publications. Materials should be sent to: APF Frank Joseph McGuigan Young Investigator Prize, APA Science Directorate, at the APA address.

For more information, visit the website or contact the APA Science Directorate.

Feb 15 Deadline for Proposals on Giftedness

APF requests proposals for the 2006 Esther Katz Rosen Grants, which award up to three scholars grants of up to $25,000 per year for three years for research on and programs for gifted children. Renewed funding is contingent upon the submission of an interim progress report and availability of funds. APF offers grants for:

New scholars who would like to pursue research in the broad area of the psychology of giftedness;
Established scholars who would like to begin pursuing work in this field; and
Graduate students who have academically progressed through their qualifying exams and who are working with an established scholar in the area of giftedness.

APF will give special consideration to projects that are innovative and can be become self-supporting or lead to external funding. Some preference is given to APA members.

The application deadline is February 15, 2006. To apply, submit a four- to six-page proposal, curriculum vita, and IRB approval to foundation@apa.org. Graduate student applicants must also submit recommendations from a graduate advisor and department chair or director of graduate studies. For complete application guidelines, contact the APA or visit the website. Direct questions to (202) 336-5814.

Psi Chi and the APA Science Directorate Announce New Psi Chi Internship Grant

Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology, and the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Science Directorate are pleased to announce the Psi Chi/APA Science Directorate Internship Grant. This grant expands the opportunities for Psi Chi student members to apply the knowledge they learned in the classroom, add to their knowledge base, practice their professional skills, develop new skills, explore career options, solidify their career goals, and expand their network of professional contacts through their work in an exciting internship setting.

The Psi Chi/APA Science Directorate Internship Grant is a collaborative initiative of Psi Chi and the APA Science Directorate that provides an opportunity for a Psi Chi member to do a summer internship at the APA’s Science Directorate. The applicant for the internship must be a Psi Chi member who is a rising senior or rising junior majoring in psychology. The 10-week paid internship in Washington, DC will give Psi Chi members the opportunity to gain experience in science administration and learn more about cutting-edge research in psychology. For example, interns might assist with data entry for directorate projects; conduct Internet searches on a variety of topics; write summaries of selected research or issue areas; help construct databases of researchers or topic areas; help develop and implement components of larger projects (e.g., Decade of Behavior initiative, Exploring Behavior Week initiative, PSY21 initiative); help assemble materials for the Summer Science Institute or for the annual convention; sit in on Directorate policy meetings; and/or attend congressional hearings and/or meetings on the Hill. The Psi Chi National Council and staff members in the APA Science Directorate will collaborate on selecting one intern for the summer internship. The grant will provide $2,000 to supplement the salary (approximately $3,500) paid by the APA. The deadline for the 2006 summer internship is January 15, 2006. The cover sheet and submission instructions can be downloaded.

Psi Chi is the largest student psychological association in the world. Psi Chi has installed more than 1,040 chapters and inducted more than 490,500 members since its founding in September 1929. The mission of Psi Chi is to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in the scholarship of individual members in all fields, particularly psychology, and to advance the science of psychology. Psi Chi provides more than $250,000 in awards and grants each year to support this mission. You can find more information about Psi Chi and its awards and grants program at the Psi Chi website.

National Center for Health Statistics - New Fellowship - Deadline for Call for Applications: January 9, 2006

This program brings visiting scholars in health services research-related disciplines to the NCHS to collaborate on studies of interest to policymakers and the health services research community using NCHS data systems. Fellows can access the data resources provided by CDC and participate in developmental and health policy activities related to the design and content of future NCHS surveys.

Each year, up to two individuals will be selected for the fellowship. Applicants range from doctoral students (who have completed course work and are at the dissertation phase of their program) to senior investigators. Applicants must also have training or experience in health services research, be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or able to acquire a valid work authorization.

Fellows will reside in Hyattsville, MD for a duration of 13-24 months from September 2006 to January 2007.

For more information or to apply visit the website.

The Nineteenth International Workshop on Methodology of Twin and Family Studies: The Introductory Course

This year’s workshop will be held in Boulder, Colorado, March 6 – 10, 2006, with Dr. John Hewitt as local host. Much of the application programming will be based on the package Mx, developed by Dr. Mike Neale for the flexible analysis of genetically-informative data. Mike Neale serves as Academic Director for the workshop and is joined by approximately a dozen outstanding faculty from universities around the world. This workshop is funded by the National Institute on Mental Health.

This course is intended to be introductory. Participants interested in more advanced work (e.g., those who have attended earlier workshops) should consider the advanced workshop planned for 2007.

The course will include: Causes of variation; univariate twin analysis; between group heterogeneity; path analysis; analysis of raw data; multivariate genetic analysis; multiple raters; sibling effects; categorical data; power analysis; models of comorbidity; extended pedigrees; developmental models; and an introduction to quantitative trait loci analyses. Hands-on analysis will be emphasized employing networked notebook computers.

Minority students and scientists are especially encouraged to attend. Partial need-based financial support for US minority participants is available by application to the local host, John Hewitt.

More information may be obtained from John Hewitt, or the workshop secretary, Kendra Locher, IBG, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0447, USA; Telephone: 303-735-5440; FAX: 303-492-8063.

APA 2006 Annual Meeting will be held in New Orleans

The 2006 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association will be held in New Orleans, August 10 – 13, 2006, the APA Board of Directors announced today. The Board’s decision to keep the meeting in New Orleans was made by unanimous vote.

APA has been actively monitoring the New Orleans storm recovery, including a site visit on October 31. A number of factors went into the Board’s decision to keep the 2006 meeting in New Orleans, including:

• Parts of the city most critical to our meeting, the convention center area, our convention hotels, and the French Quarter, did not sustain any damage due to flooding and suffered much less serious storm damage than other parts of the city. These areas are well on their way to full recovery;
  
• Air quality tests conducted by federal, state, and private entities have shown that the air in New Orleans is safe;
  
• As of October 6, the Louisiana Office of Public Health announced that tap water is safe to drink in the convention center, downtown, and the French Quarter areas;
  
• In February New Orleans will host its annual Mardi Gras celebration. This spring and summer the city will also host a number of large conventions and society meetings. These events and others are expected to increase staffing and service levels across the city.

For more information about convention planning go to www.apa.org/convention, and as a reminder, convention program submissions are due to divisions on December 2.

NIH Moves to All-electronic Research Grant Application Submission

On December 1, 2005, the National Institutes of Health will begin receiving all research grant applications electronically. All grant mechanisms will transition to this new method over a period of time. The first mechanism to transfer to using Grants.gov (grant submission portal) will be Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer applications.

For information about the timeframe for transition, please visit http://era.nih.gove/ElectronicReceipt. For information about Grants.gov registration, software and form navigation, please go to http://grants.gov.

APA Gives Support to Departments Harmed by Hurricane Katrina

Seven institutions in the Gulf Coast area have been awarded small grants by the APA Science Directorate to assist in their recovery from the devastations wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Some of these departments reported that many assets were damaged or destroyed, including computer equipment, books and journals, and other necessary supplies to conduct research and teach.

Funding decisions were made by an ad hoc committee of the Board of Scientific Affairs (Ronald Brown and Sandra Graham) and the Board of Educational Affairs ( Mary Brabeck and Cynthia Hudley). Following is a list of the institutions and departments that received these grants from APA.

• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
  School of Allied Health Professions, Human Development Center
• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
  School of Allied Health Professions, Human
• Nicholls State University
  Department of Psychology
• Southeastern Louisiana University
  Department of Psychology
• The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast
  Department of Psychology
• Southern University at New Orleans
  Department of Psychology
• Tougaloo College
  Department of Psychology
• Tulane University
  Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience