Jeremy Grabbe, PhD, a psychology professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) Plattsburgh, found a unique way to engage his 7-year-old triplets during stay-at-home orders: co-authoring a research paper. “Trustworthiness of Online COVID-19 Preventative Messages.” The paper—which is not for peer review, only posted on his website—explores how a source of COVID-19 information influences whether people find that information trustworthy. His children—Regina, Alexander and Daniella—helped design the study and graphed the results (in crayon). “It was a fun little study that showed how people view messages of preventing COVID-19, and the triplets and I were able to do something together,” Grabbe told the SUNY Plattsburgh news office.
Texas A&M University and its Association of Former Students has awarded Krystal T. Simmons, PhD, a Distinguished Achievement Award for her work in student engagement. Simmons, a clinical professor of educational psychology, studies ethnic/minority consideration in crisis prevention and intervention, disruptive behavior disorders, and parent involvement in education.
Five researchers have won Early Career Impact Awards from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences: Neil Cohn, PhD, of Tilburg University, for research on how readers conceptualize drawings and understand comics; Lisa K. Fazio, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, for research on how to mitigate the effects of reading false information and how to increase classroom learning; Adam Gerstenecker, PhD, of the University of Alabama–Birmingham, for research on the effects of inflammation on hippocampal internal architecture, cognition and daily functioning in neurodegenerative disorders; Bridget L. Callaghan, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, for research on how early life experiences influence interactions between physical and mental health across the life span; and David G. Rand, PhD, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for research on why people believe misinformation and how to motivate people to cooperate with each other.
Erika H. James, PhD, is the new dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as of July 1, the first black and first female dean in the school’s history. She had been dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, and is known for her commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration.
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has named 10 psychologists to its newest class of members in honor of their exceptional scholarship, innovation and leadership. The new members are: Ana Mari Cauce, PhD, University of Washington; Edith Chen, PhD, Northwestern University; Geraldine Dawson, PhD, Duke University; Dacher Keltner, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; Sarah Mangelsdorf, PhD, University of Rochester; Gregory L. Murphy, PhD, New York University; Seth D. Pollak, PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Suparna Rajaram, PhD, Stony Brook University; Jennifer A. Richeson, PhD, Yale University; and Joshua B. Tenenbaum, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Five psychology researchers are among the new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences, recognized for their achievements in original research. They are: Randall Engle, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology; Susan Goldin-Meadow, PhD, University of Chicago; Elke U. Weber, PhD, Princeton University; Janet F. Werker, PhD, University of British Columbia; and Timothy Wilson, PhD, University of Virginia.