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Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Department of Psychology

Recent Doctoral Student Achievements

Ph.D. Program Clinical Psychology

	Eli Bell & Caroline Lee Eli and Caroline, PhD students in our program, are recipients of the Psychology Department's Diversity Award Research Grant! We are thrilled about this achievement and are excited to hear about their future accomplishments!
	Mayson Trujillo Mayson, a PhD student in our program, was selected for the 2023-2024 Dean's Dissertation Fellowship from the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies! This will provide a total stipend of $25,000 over the course of the academic year to support completion of Mayson's PhD. We are so proud of Mayson!
	Caitlin Rancher, Ph.D. Caitlin, a former student in our program, received funding for her K award proposal: "A Brief Intervention to Enhance Supportive Parenting and Treatment Engagement Among Families Waiting for Trauma-Focused Services". She will be looking at the best way to deliver the Project Support Positive Parenting module to families on the waitlist for trauma services. A huge congratulations to you, Caitlin!
	Sierra Rufino We are so proud of our graduate student, Sierra Rufino, for winning the Dean's Award at SMU Moody's 2023 Research & Innovation Week Graduate Poster Session for her research in "Volitional Change in Pathological Personality: Can People Change Their Maladaptive Traits?", co-author: Nathan Hudson. Congratulations, Sierra!
	Bree Geary Bree, a Ph.D. student in our program, was awarded the Society of Behavioral Medicine's 2023 Distinguished Student Excellence in Research Award to support her dissertation testing the effects of autonomy-supportive instructions in yoga. Way to go, Bree!
	Julie Pham Julie, a second year Ph.D. student, won the PSI/APAGS Junior Scientist Research Fellowship, which comes with a $1,000 stipend! This fellowship recognizes outstanding research-oriented students who are entering their first year (or first semester of second year) of graduate study to help them begin successful research programs/projects.
	Sumaiyah Syed Sumaiyah, a second year Ph.D. student, won the PSI/APAGS Junior Scientist Research Fellowship, which comes with a $1,000 stipend! This fellowship recognizes outstanding research-oriented students who are entering their first year (or first semester of second year) of graduate study to help them begin successful research programs/projects.
	Julie Pham Julie won the J. Frank Yates Student Conference Award for the upcoming November Psychonomic Society conference.
	Melissa Sitton Melissa's research on "Adolescents Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse: Non-Supportive Responses, Self-Blame, and Trauma Symptoms" tied for the Research and Innovation Week Psychology Award.
	Sumaiyah Syed Sumaiyah's research on "Depression, Inflammation, and the Moderating Role of Metformin: Results from the MIDUS Study" tied for the Research and Innovation Week Psychology Award.
	Rose Ashraf Rose, a recent graduate of our program, accepted a position as an attending psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital with a tenure-track appointment at Harvard Medical School.
	Chelsea Carson Chelsea’s poster submitted to the 2020 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Convention won a student poster award. The award was presented through the Couple Research and Treatment Special Interest Group. The title of the poster was “Broader Autism Phenotype and Relationship Satisfaction in Parents of Children with Autism: The Role of Partner Discrepancy.”
	Diane Chao Diane’s poster submitted to the 2020 Psychonomic Society virtual meeting received a Graduate Conference Award! This is a competitive award based on the excellence of the candidate’s conference abstract, and it comes with $1000. The title of the poster was “Effect of Reward Motivation on Directed Forgetting in Younger and Older Adults.”
	Juliet Kroll Juliet, a recent graduate from our program, won a poster award competition at the 2020 American Psychosomatic Society virtual meeting. The research she presented was based on her doctoral dissertation. The title of the poster was “Neural activity during a memory task in patients with asthma..”
	Caitlin Rancher Caitlin’s poster submitted to the 2020 Association for Psychological Science Convention won two awards: the APS Student Research Award and the Psi Chi APS Convention Society Research Award. Each award came with a small cash prize.
	Catherine Rochefort Catherine was awarded the SMU Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship for 2020-21. This award provides Catherine’s stipend for the year.
	Margaret Sala Margaret, a recent graduate of our program, will be joining the faculty as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Yeshiva University in the Spring of 2021.
	Kelli Sargent Kelli was awarded the Donald Routh Dissertation Grant by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (American Psychological Association, Division 53). Kelli was also selected to receive a 2021 P.E.O. Scholar Award, a $15,000 prize. These are competitive, merit-based awards that recognize and encourage academic excellence and achievement by women in doctoral-level programs.