The Cognitive Development Society has presented the Steve Reznick Early Career Award to Elika Bergelson, PhD, for her research on how babies learn language. Bergelson is the Crandall Family Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Her SEEDLingS longitudinal study of infant behavior focused on how word learning is affected by infants’ visual and linguistic experiences.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale has named psychology professor Meera Komarraju, PhD, as its provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Komarraju had been serving as interim provost and vice chancellor since April 2018. She was previously dean of the university’s College of Liberal Arts for three years and prior to that served as psychology department chair and director of the department’s undergraduate program.
The University of Louisville has presented its annual $100,000 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology to Robert Plomin, PhD, for his theory that DNA is the most important factor shaping our personalities. Plomin’s theory is based on his 45 years of behavioral genetics research, most notably his Twins Early Development Study, which is following the development of 10,000 pairs of twins in the United Kingdom from infancy to adulthood. He is a research professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.
Women Leaders in College Sports has presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Colleen Hacker, PhD, a professor in the department of kinesiology at Pacific Lutheran University. Hacker served as a member of the U.S. coaching staff for six Olympic Games as a mental skills coach, including with the gold medal–winning U.S. women’s soccer team in 1996 and the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s ice hockey team in 2018. She is also one of the first two women to be elected to the United Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame.
Emily Ptaszek, PsyD, has been named president and CEO of Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida. Ptaszek was previously the health center’s chief operating officer and was also the chief psychologist responsible for developing the organization’s integrated behavioral health-care program. Before joining the center in 2013, she spent five years as a staff psychologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs specializing in trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Psychological Association of Greater West Texas has presented a Top Honors and Meritorious Service Award to Sangeeta Singg, PhD, for her service to the regional association as its president since 2010. Singg has grown the group’s membership and expanded its professional development offerings. Singg is a psychology professor at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and has taught at the school for 38 years.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has elected 10 psychologists as fellows in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in advancing science. The new fellows are: Michelle Suzanne Bourgeois, PhD, University of South Florida; Richard Gerrig, PhD, Stony Brook University; Richard Ivry, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; Kevin LaBar, PhD, Duke University; Gordon D. Logan, PhD, Vanderbilt University; Sharon Landesman Ramey, PhD, Virginia Tech; Paul Elliott Spector, PhD, University of South Florida; Margaret Beale Spencer, PhD, University of Chicago; Bethany Ann Teachman, PhD, University of Virginia; and David H. Zald, PhD, Vanderbilt University.