- The International Congress of Psychologists has given APA Director of International Relations Merry Bullock, PhD, its 2015 Fukuhara Advanced International Psychology Research and Service Award. The honor recognizes her sustained contributions to advancing international activities in psychology and uniting psychologists worldwide.
- The University of Mississippi has named Lee M. Cohen, PhD, as dean of its College of Liberal Arts. Cohen has been a faculty member at Texas Tech University for 15 years. In that time, he served as the director of the university's APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology and as chair of the department of psychological sciences. His work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- Lewis P. Lipsitt, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at Brown University, received the school's President's 2015 Award for Excellence in Faculty Governance. The award recognizes his service on many of the school's advisory committees, including the Honorary Degrees Committee, of which he has been chair. Lipsitt's research focuses on infant learning, child development and autism.
- Psychologists Walter Mischel, PhD, Philip Peake, PhD, and Yuichi Shoda, PhD, have won a Golden Goose Award for their longitudinal research on delayed gratification, or what's come to be known as "The Marshmallow Study."
The award, sponsored by such organizations as the Association of American Universities, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Science Coalition, recognizes federally funded research that has led to major scientific breakthroughs. Shoda, a professor at the University of Washington, and Peake, a professor at Smith College, were Stanford University graduate students when they began the research with lead investigator Mischel, then a professor at Stanford and now a professor at Columbia University. The investigators have followed up their original study participants into middle adulthood, and the research has led to a greater understanding of the role of self-control in people's lives and the strategies they can use to facilitate it. They accept the award at the Library of Congress this month.
- The State University of New York at Canton has chosen Douglas M. Scheidt, PhD, as its new provost and vice president for academic affairs. Scheidt is currently the founding dean of the School of Education and Human Services at The College at Brockport. He received a doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University at Buffalo in 1991 and is a New York state licensed psychologist.
- The Canadian Psychological Association has given Peter Suedfeld, PhD, its Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. Suedfeld studies psychological resilience and positive psychology, political decision-making, space and polar psychology, and Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy. The association noted that all of Suedfeld's projects have included international groups of colleagues, students and participants, and that his research group has published papers and chapters in Spanish, Japanese, Hungarian and German, as well as English.
- Harvard psychology professor John Weisz, PhD, has been given the 2015 Klaus-Grawe-Award for his research in improving children's and adolescents' mental health through evidence-based interventions. Based in Zurich, the Klaus-Grawe-Institute for Psychological Therapy provides empirically oriented psychotherapy, trains clinical psychologists and psychiatrists in psychotherapy, and conducts research.
APA honors psychological science projects
At the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fairopens in new window in May, APA gave 10 high school students prizes for outstanding projects in psychological science. Some 1,700 students from more than 75 countries, regions and territories competed. All winners received a one-year student affiliate membership. The winners are:
First Place Award of $1,500 to Aansh Shah, 17, of Roslyn High School, Roslyn, New York, for "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones: Middle School Students' Perceptions of Bullying."
Second Place Award of $1,000 to Alexandra Zoe Garth, 16, of Redeemer Baptist School, North Parramatta, Australia, for "Stay Tuned! Comparing the Effects of Long and Short-Term Auditory Stimulation for Increasing the Sensitivity of a Person's Hearing."
Third Place Awards of $500 to:
- Brothers Colter Norick, 17, and Colin Norick, 16, Columbia Falls High School, of Columbia Falls, Montana, for "The Effect of Multitasking on Reading Comprehension in Teens.";
- Margaret Caroline Steiner, 17, of Academy of Science and Technology, The Woodlands, Texas, for "Game Theoretic Model of Genetic Discrimination."
- Siblings Sarah Asfari, 17, and Yousuf Asfari, 15, of Al-Huda School, College Park, Maryland, for "Constructing a Carcinogen Indicator Application Based on Statistical Analysis of Statewide Cancer Incidences in Relationship with Graphical Consumer Data."
- Tran Minh Hieu, 17, and Le Hoang Nhat, 17, of Lam Son High School for Gifted Students, Thanh Hoa, Viet Nam, for "Intranasal Insulin Enhances Spatial Memory and Cognitive Adjustment."
- Arsh Shah Dilbagi, 17, of DAV Public School, Panipat, India, for "TALK — An AAC Device: Converting Breath into Speech for the Disabled."