2015 P&N Year in Review

2015 P&N Year in Review

In 2015,  members of the P&N community made news headlines on a weekly basis, including everything from groundbreaking research studies, news editorials, and numerous awards and honors.

Here is a month-by-month glance at 2015.

January

Courtnea Rainey on goal-setting on the Graduate School's professional development blog

February

Kevin LaBar quoted in USA Today on Brian Williams's false memories

Huffington Post: Ahmad Hariri's lab uses amygdala function to predict later depression and anxiety

Gary Bennett says there’s very little research that proves health incentives actually improve health

Mark Leary's research featured in U.S. News article "The Anatomy of a Broken Heart." The words people use for hurt feelings refer to physically painful experiences -- across at least 14 languages

Eve Puffer Selected as 2015 Triangle Global Health Emerging Leader

Ali Giusto selected as DGHI Doctoral Scholar

P&N mourns the passing of Professor Nestor Schmajuk

March

Jessica Bolton wins Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring

Read about Eve Puffer's collaborative work with the IRC to reduce violence towards children in homes

Peggy Morrell receives Presidential Award

April

Martha Putallaz is recognized for her outstanding contributions as Duke’s Faculty Athletics Representative by the National Football Foundation

2015 P&N Graduate Student Awards and Fellowships

Terrie Moffitt's keynote address at the inaugural International Convention of Psychological Science in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, shows how self-control in childhood affects life in adulthood

May

P&N holds reception of honor for Professor and former Dean of Trinity College, Robert Thompson

June

John Curry tells New York Times that the V.A.'s database appears to pinpoint more people at risk of suicides “than identified by clinical variables alone”

Scott Huettel quoted on climate change and human nature

July

Led by the Center for Aging’s Dan Belsky and P&N Professor Terrie Moffitt, a research effort explores what aging looks like in the third and fourth decades of life. (Coverage also appeared on BBC News and more than 65 other news outlets.) --Also: Here's why you may be aging faster than your friends (TIME)

P&N faculty lead "The Resiliency Project" to understand college student health and well-being

P&N's Ahmad Hariri and colleagues report patterns of brain function that predict problem drinking

August

Mike Tomasello receives 2015 APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution award, APA's highest research award

Tobias Egner and postdoctoral researcher Yu-Chin Chiu test how self-discipline affects memory

New York Times: Harris Cooper suggests math-anxious parents help their children by creating a math-positive environment

An exploration in ethics with Gary Bennett

Duke mentioned as best U.S. College for a major in psychology

Are tapeworms good for your brain? Staci Bilbo finds that they may prevent memory loss in rats

September

P&N undergrads create app to battle depression

October

Keith Whitfield to receives GSA's 2015 Minority Mentorship Award

Some stereotypes about older adults are positive, but "in most Western societies, the perception of age and aging is predominantly negative," says Dana Kotter-Gruehn, P&N visiting assistant professor, in Wall Street Journal Article

Ken Dodge Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Mark Leary co-recipient of the 2015 Scientific Impact Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology

Roberto Cabeza to lead Duke's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN)
 

November

Amber Beckley on Ben Carson: "What we’ve discovered in the field of criminology is that teens go through a rough spot in which they act out, which is no surprise to any parent.”

Shelly Lanpher wins George Bray Thesis Award From The Obesity Society.

Korinna Duffy and Tanya Chartrand pinpoint what extroverts do that helps them build strong social ties.

December

Ken Dodge:  Learning Soft Skills in Childhood Can Prevent Harder Problems later 

Why do Chronically Lonely Teens Stay Lonely? Collaborative research study by P&N's Steve Asher, Molly Weeks, and
visiting Scholar Janne Vanhalst published in the November 2015 issue of Personality and Social Psychology


Martha Berg  inaugural winner of the Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research