Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA): 2018 Annual Report

BSA members: Sara Jo Nixon, PhD (Chair), Hector M. Betancourt, PhD, Nancy K. Dess, PhD, Adriana Galvan, PhD, Debra A. Major, PhD, Linda C. Sobell, PhD, Jerry M. Suls, PhD, Keith F. Widaman, PhD, and Jeffrey M. Zacks, PhD. (5 females, 4 males)

The Board of Scientific Affairs held two face-to-face meetings in 2018, on March 24-26 and on Nov. 2-4 and met by telephone conference call once a month through the year. The following report summarizes the major work topics, accomplishments, and other issues of concern to the Board over the past year, including work of the committees that report to the Board and activities managed by the Science Directorate.

Stemming from BSA’s recommendations and its discussions with Science Directorate and Membership Office staff, APA held its first Technology, Mind, and Society Conference on April 5-7, 2018 in Washington, D.C. The in-cooperation sponsors included the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and students from around the world attended the event. The conference provided a venue for reporting and assessing current efforts to understand and shape the interactions of human beings and technology, for identifying priorities for future work, and for promoting exchange and collaboration among participants. Recognizing the opportunity to build on the success of the conference, APA Science Directorate staff spearheaded a proposal to initiate a new APA journal in this area, which has been subsequently approved. This new journal could lead to APA playing a formative role in signaling the scientific importance of this new research area and establishing psychology’s role in this multidisciplinary field.

BSA members responded to current threats to science by drafting a statement regarding the need for psychological researchers to advocate for science. BSA submitted it for possible publication in the American Psychologist. However, the AP editor did not accept it for publication. BSA members were disappointed and decided to put this project aside and continue their work in other areas.

At the November meeting, BSA members held a retreat meeting together with representatives from its committees (CARE, CHR, CPTA). The discussion focused on evaluating and making recommendations about science-related programs and activities at APA, within the context of the broad landscape of psychological science. Meeting participants evaluated all areas of the discipline and the research training enterprise and identified mechanisms to strengthen APA’s support for psychological scientists and psychological science and its applications. Recommendations developed during the retreat was used to inform the development of APA’s strategic plan and were forwarded to the incoming Chief Scientific Officer for consideration in future planning.

BSA provides oversight of the ATI program, which offers training in cutting-edge methods and technologies. Five ATIs took place in 2018.

• Structural Equation Modeling in Longitudinal Research, at Arizona State University, May 29-June 2, 2018. Kevin Grimm, who is a faculty member at Arizona State University, led this course, which featured a series of lectures and hands-on computer workshops on longitudinal methods, modeling, and measurement in contemporary psychological research using SEM. 
• Big Data: Exploratory Data Mining in Behavioral Research at Arizona State University, June 4-8, 2018. Kevin Grimm, who is a faculty member at Arizona State University, led this course, which featured an overview of recent advances in exploratory data mining for the analysis of psychological and behavioral data, including both general principles and specific techniques. Participants also gained hands-on experience with the techniques and were invited to bring their own data and research problems to work on in consultation with the course instructors. 
• Research Methods with Diverse Racial & Ethnic Groups, at Michigan State University June 4-8, 2018. Frederick Leong led this ATI, which included sessions on methods for investigating treatment outcomes in diverse populations, quantitative and qualitative methods, measurement equivalence and invariance across diverse groups, and methods in areas ranging from genomics to aging research to community research. 
• Non-Linear Methods for Psychological Science, at the University of Cincinnati, June 18-22, 2018. Led by Michael Riley, this ATI provided a thorough introduction to a variety of non-linear and dynamical methods. Such methods are becoming increasingly prominent within psychology and related disciplines. Specific topics included time series analysis, recurrence quantification analysis, fractal analysis, and dispersion analysis. 
• Single-Case Intervention Research: New Developments in Methodology and Data Analysis at the University of Wisconsin August 13-17, 2018 under the direction of Joel Levin and Thomas Kratochwill.

In 2016, BSA worked with then-APA President Susan McDaniel and Science Directorate staff to develop the APA Prize for Interdisciplinary Team Research, the first honor designed specifically for interdisciplinary teams that include psychological scientists. The prize is given biennially. A subgroup of BSA members reviewed applications and selected the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products (CSTP) for the 2018 prize. Thomas Eissenberg, PhD (Virginia Commonwealth University), one of the Principal Investigators, submitted the team application. The team encompasses expertise in psychology, public health, internal medicine, analytical chemistry, mechanical engineering, and biostatistics.

BSA developed the Meritorious Research Service Commendation to recognize outstanding employees in government bodies (federal, state, or local) and nonprofit organizations who help foster psychological science through their work in planning, promoting, and managing funding programs for research and research training. 2018 was the 17th year in which the citation was given. BSA selected Tamara M. Haegerich, PhD (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Jane L. Pearson, PhD (National Institute of Mental Health) to receive commendations for 2018.

Science programs at the 2018 APA convention included the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award addresses, the Neal Miller Lecture, the Master Lectures, and Science Student Council programs.

Master Lecture Program

BSA selected the following speakers to participate in the 2019 Master Lecture Program at the 2019 convention: Jalie Tucker (University of Florida) in the applied psychology area, Cynthia Crawford (California State University at San Bernardino) in the biopsychology area, Nora Newcombe (Temple University) in the cognition and perception area, Christopher France (Ohio University) in the health and behavioral medicine area, and Phil Ackerman (Georgia Tech University) in the personality and individual differences area.

Distinguished Scientist Lecturer Program

BSA selected the following speakers to deliver Distinguished Lectures at regional psychology conferences in 2019: Simine Vazire from the University of California, Davis, Julio Ramirez from Davidson College, and Ken Norman from Princeton University.

Neal Miller Lecture

BSA selected Jill Becker (University of Michigan) as the Neal Miller Lecturer at the 2019 APA convention.

The work of the committees that report to BSA constitute a large part of science governance activities, as summarized below:

The Committee on Scientific Awards continues to recognize important scientific achievement in psychology through its selection of psychological scientists for prestigious APA awards. It selected recipients for the 2018 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (Charles Carver, Michael Scheier, Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, and Patricia Kuhl), the 2018 Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology (Kenneth Dodge), and the 2018 Distinguished Scientific Awards for Early Career Contributions to Psychology (Eliza Bliss-Moreau, Andrei Cimpian, Fiery Cushman, Donald Edmondson, Kristin Naragon-Gainey, and Darby Saxbe). The Committee also recommends psychologists that APA can nominate for other scientific awards not conferred by APA.

The Committee on Animal Research and Ethics focused on advocacy efforts to promulgate evidence-based regulations and promote implementation of regulations and policies that ensure laboratory animal wellbeing while facilitating scientific progress. To that end, CARE members met with their respective Congressional representatives and/or their staff to raise awareness of the role of ethical nonhuman animal research in improving the health and wellbeing of both humans and other animals. The Committee also provided APA with input in responding to proposed regulatory and policies changes by federal agencies.

In keeping with its mission to facilitate the conduct of and training in scientifically and ethically responsible research involving humans, in 2018 the Committee on Human Research focused its efforts on education, outreach, and regulatory issues. CHR revisited the issue of research ethics in the digital era, and began exploring mechanisms to raise awareness about the rapidly evolving research landscape with the increased use of digital technologies in research. The Committee also continued monitoring the status of and responded to updates on the revision of the federal policy for the protection of human research participants.

The Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment continued its work related to the activities of the Joint Working Group for a Professional Practice Guideline for Test User Qualifications. CPTA worked with SIOP on bringing the Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures to Council for approval. CPTA continued its work revising two statements, “Recent Developments Affecting the Disclosure of Test Data and Materials: Comments Regarding the 1996 Statement on the Disclosure of Test Data” and, “Third Party Observers in Psychological Testing and Assessment: A Framework for Decision Making.”

The Science Student Council advises BSA and the Science Directorate on issues of concern to graduate students. The Council selected the following recipients of the 2018 Early Graduate Student Researcher awards: João Guassi Moreira (University of California, Los Angeles), Annabelle Shestak (University of Massachusetts, Lowell), and Shirley Wang (Harvard University). The Science Student Council also developed programming for the APA convention.