The annual P&N Welcome Back Party was held on Friday night at The Wine Feed in downtown Durham. The event was well attended by 130+ guests and included live music by local duo Penny’s Bend, a lovely buffet of charcuterie and cheese, a vegetarian dinner, and a raffle of Duke-swag prizes! It was a gorgeous August night and as the sun set, the venue’s large garage door lifted and the party spilled out onto the patio where guests enjoyed Locopops, lively conversation, and some good old fashioned corn hole. The… read more about P&N Kicks Off the 2019-2020 School Year in Style! »
Duke professors Blake S. Wilson B.S.E. ’74, Ph.D.’15 and Leonard White will be honored for their contributions to advancing research in the fields of hearing loss and brain development, respectively. The awards will be presented by President Vincent E. Price and the Duke Alumni Association during Founders’ Weekend Sept. 26-28. Wilson will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Duke Alumni Association’s highest honor given to alumni who have made outstanding contributions in service to Duke and toward the betterment… read more about Alumni to Honor Two Faculty for Research, Teaching Advancements During Founders' Weekend »
P&N's person of the week, Hannah Moshontz, recently conducted a workshop for undergraduates that introduced them to the statistical software package R. Moshontz, a 6th-year PhD student, was invited to teach the workshop as part of P&N's VIP program. VIP is a summer research program for Duke Psychology majors that gives participants a head start on work that may culminate in a senior thesis. Previous VIP statistical workshops have focused on using SPSS. This is the first year that R has been taught. "R is very… read more about P&N Person of the Week: Hannah Moshontz »
Congratulations to Renate Houts, one of four recipients of the 2019 Dean's Pillars of Excellence Awards from Duke's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Valerie Ashby, Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, established these awards in 2017 to encourage excellence, celebrate staff accomplishments and to recognize the valuable contributions of Trinity College staff. Renate, a statistician with the Moffitt & Caspi Group in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, was nominated for her… read more about Renate Houts wins 2019 Dean's Pillars of Excellence Award »
In high school, Julie Uchitel recalls being interested in biology and psychology. “During my AP Psychology course, we studied a unit on neuroscience. I was blown away by the complexity of the brain – how many mysteries surrounded its function despite decades of research. That was when I knew that I’d found my favorite subject.” The recipient of a Marshall Scholarship, Uchitel will spend the next two years studying in the United Kingdom: the first year at the University of Cambridge where she’ll pursue an MPhil in… read more about Neuroscience Major Julie Uchitel Addresses Graduating Class of 2019 »
Graduating senior Sera Pekel has been selected by faculty committee as this year’s student speaker for the Department of Psychology Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony. Pekel, a native of Turkey, describes herself as, “A dedicated Istanbul-ite – if that’s even a word! I’m obsessed with my city.” At age 18, Pekel came to the United States as a Duke undergraduate and recalls with lighthearted humor that she cried for the entire 10-hour flight. “It’s unbelievable how much I’ve grown since,” she says. Pekel… read more about Sera Pekel Selected as Student Speaker for Psychology Graduation Ceremony »
The Duke Department of Psychology & Neuroscience hosted a retirement celebration for Professor Mark Leary on Friday, May 3 in Perkins Library. Attending the event were many colleagues and students, past and present, as well as friends and family. Leary, Garonzik Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, taught previously at Denison University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his Ph.D.… read more about Celebrating Mark Leary »
Congratulations to Julia Nicholas, winner of the 2019 Karl E. Zener Award. This award is given annually to an undergraduate psychology major at Duke University who has shown outstanding performance and scholarship, as determined on the basis of both the honors thesis (evaluated by a committee of faculty members) and the total academic record. "Julia is going to make the world a better place," said Dr. Nancy Zucker, her faculty mentor. "She is passionate about studying how people's negative life experiences, such as the… read more about Julia Nicholas wins 2019 Zener award »
P&N Professor Gary Bennett was recently interviewed for an episode of NPR's Life Kit. On the episode, "Boost Your Body Acceptance For Better Health,” Dr. Bennet discusses weight stigma with NPR Health Editor episode host Maria Godoy. “We don't think about health as also including one's emotions and one's mental health and one's social health,” Bennett says in the episode. Life Kit Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-kit-all-guides/id1461493560 Episode link:… read more about Gary Bennett interviewed for NPR's Life Kit »
Congratulations to our Psychology Major Honors Students who presented their theses in poster form at the Duke Visible Thinking showcase at Penn Pavilion on Monday, April 22. Scroll down for the full list of students and their presentations. Naime Benitez, Working harder not smarter: Arousal’s influence on Parkinson’s Law Jason Brovich, Searching for Inclusive Progress: Whites React to Increasing Diversity… read more about Psychology Major Honors Students Present Posters at Visible Thinking 2019 »
Full coverage of all Trinity Award winners can be found on the Duke Today Website Congratulations to Dr. Leonard White, this year's winner of the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching award. This student-selected award honors a Duke professor who has excelled as a teacher, advisor and leader of undergraduate students. The recipient of the award exemplifies each of the following statements: Is original, flexible, and clear in their approach to the classroom; Fosters an environment for learning that promotes… read more about Leonard White Receives Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award »
Congratulations to first-year graduate students in Psychology & Neuroscience and the Cognitive Neuroscience Admitting Program for the completion of a successful First Year Festival! This year's poster presentations were held on Friday, April 5th in the new P&N gathering space in 236 soc-psych. For those who missed the festival, links to all poster presentations are included below, listed by area. Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience Program Erin Campbell,… read more about P&N and CNAP First Year Festival 2019 »
Doris Tsao, PhD, Professor of Biology at Cal Tech and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, spoke to a packed crowd at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences (DIBS) on Wednesday, March 20. Tsao won a MacArthur "Genius" fellowship in 2018 . In her lecture, "How the Brain Represents Objects," Tsao described objects as constituting the fundamental currency of the brain, as things we perceive, remember and think about. For primates, Tsao said, a face is one one of the most important objects. She then went… read more about MacArthur Neuroscience Fellow Doris Tsao speaks at DIBS »
Duke neuroscience major Julie Uchitel was one of 48 winners of the 2019 Marshall Scholarship. With a pool of over a thousand applicants, the Marshall is one of the most selective graduate scholarship programs for Americans. As a Marshall Scholar, she will be conducting research in pediatric neurology at Cambridge University and pursuing a master’s in international child studies at King’s College London. For her Marshall application, a researcher at Cambridge--now her academic advisor--had written her a letter of support… read more about P&N Person of the Week: Julie Uchitel »
The Duke Global Digital Health Science Center (Duke Digital Health), which is directed by Gary Bennett (Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and P&N Professor) and Dori Steinberg (Duke University School of Nursing) moved to the newly renovated suite in the basement of the Sociology-Psychology building last week. While they are getting settled in to their new space they remain focused on their mission: to close health disparities using digital health. They do this by designing, testing, and disseminating effective… read more about Duke Digital Health Moves to Sociology-Psychology Building »
Joshua Gordon, MD, PhD, Director, National Institute of Mental Health, will be giving the keynote presentation as part of the 2019 DIBS Distinguished Lecture & Symposium. P&N faculty, students, trainees and staff are invited to register for this free event. For more information:https://dibs.duke.edu/February_20_2019_Symposium_with_Josh_Gordon_flyer read more about NIMH Director to Speak February 20 at DIBS Symposium »
P&N Graduate students have published a Mentoring Handbook, an evolving document capturing best practices and ideas for mentoring undergraduates in research in Psychology & Neuroscience labs and related departments. The idea began during a group brainstorming session in which P&N Graduate Students Brenda Yang and Paula Yust were discussing departmental teaching initiatives with P&N Professor of the Practice Bridgette Hard. Later, Yang said she went to a conference and asked a faculty member at a liberal arts… read more about P&N Graduate Students Create Mentoring Handbook »
Congratulations to P&N Ph.D. student Natasha Parikh, recipient of the 2019 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching. The review committee of deans, graduate faculty, staff, and graduate students chose Parikh and three other graduate students who best exemplify the characteristics of effective college teaching described in the purpose statement and award criteria. In addition, the review committee strives to recognize applicants who have engaged in professional development activities and have made significant… read more about Natasha Parikh Receives Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching »
Members of P&N's Bergelson Lab, led by Dr. Elika Bergelson, recently attended the 43rd annual Boston University Conference for Language Development (BUCLD.) Undergraduate RAs Sarah Yang and Katya Khlystova were supported by travel awards from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience made possible through a generous gift from the Charles Lafitte Foundation. (Additonally, lab members Dr. Fredrica Bulgarelli and Shannon Dailey were supported by the Paula Menyuk… read more about Reflections: Boston University Conference for Language Development (BUCLD) »
Congratulations to P&N's Elika Bergelson for receiving a 2018-2019 Research Incubator Award from the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. The awards provide seed funding to support collaborative brain science research for projects of exceptional innovation and broad significance to the field. The projects engage at least two faculty representing multiple fields or levels of analysis and bring together investigators from across Duke whose individual programs of research are not already… read more about Elika Bergelson Receives DIBS Research Incubator Award »
The Duke Department of Psychology & Neuroscience is pleased to announce that Duke senior Alisa Bedrov is this year's winner of the Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. A double major in Psychology and Russian, Bedrov is in the process of applying to PhD programs in social psychology. She also works as a peer tutor for Introduction to Statistics in Psychology. She has her plan laid out to go straight to graduate school and then dive into academia with hopes of becoming… read more about Alisa Bedrov Receives 2018-2019 Jerome S. Bruner Award »
Congratulations to P&N's Staci Bilbo and Elika Bergelson, who have received Bass Connections professorships. They are among seven Duke professors across three Duke schools receiving these named professorships. Bass Connections professorships recognize faculty whose scholarship and teaching align with the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the program, while also recognizing the wider engagement and contributions of Duke schools to this university-wide effort. Individuals receiving Bass Connections… read more about Bilbo, Bergelson Receive Bass Connections Professorships »
The Prince of Duke, Psychological Past and Present John Blackshear lives on East Campus as a Faculty in Residence in Trinity Dorm, photo by ChenJohn Blackshear burst into the emergency room and yelled that he was having a heart attack. It wasn’t the first time this happened. The hospital took him in right away, connecting electrodes to his chest. Beep…. Beep…. Beep… His heart rate was getting faster and faster. Eventually, after realizing that he was indeed still alive, the beeps paced themselves… read more about P&N Person of the Week: John Blackshear »
The Duke Identity and Diversity Lab, led by Dr. Sarah Gaither, had an amazing showing with other Duke P&N members at the Society of Southeastern Social Psychologist Conference this year. Their day started off with lab manager Joshua Perlin's first ever data blitz talk on prosocial behaviors for children sharing across racial group lines. Next, graduate students Brenda Straka and Adam Stanaland each presented their first conference talks on their work focusing on social exclusion expectations and… read more about Society of Southeastern Social Psychologists Conference Reflections »
Psychology & Neuroscience is proud to announce the inaugural winners of the Graduate / Postdoctoral research awards. These students and fellows each received awards of up to $5,000 to spark novel research projects and to connect their research ideas to faculty and undergraduate students in our department. Christina Bejjani Modeling How Episodic Memory Affects the Learning of Cognitive Control on an Individual and Group Level Alexander Breslav Do computational models of human learning generalize to… read more about P&N Graduate Students and Postdocs Receive Research Seed Grants »
Moffitt pictured in blue frames, although she rotates approximately four frames at any given time, photo by Chen Duke Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Terrie Moffitt was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine, a leading organization providing advice on health, science and technology. P&N held a reception in her honor on Friday, 10/26. A Colorful Mind The interior of the Grey Building, where the Moffitt Lab resides, is anything but grey. Duke Psychology and Neuroscience Professor… read more about P&N Person of the Week: Terrie Moffitt »
The Duke NMU/SNP Neuroscience Mentoring Program Are you a freshman interested in neuroscience? Unsure as to how to navigate the many neuroscience opportunities at Duke? Would you like to learn firsthand from an upperclassman mentor how to find a research laboratory, conduct an independent study research project, select neuroscience courses, apply for graduate/medical school, and navigate neuroscience resources at Duke? If yes, we encourage you to apply to be a mentee with the… read more about The Duke NMU/SNP Neuroscience Mentoring Program »
Duke Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Terrie Moffitt has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, a leading organization providing advice on health, science and technology. Moffitt studies many of the pressing issues impacting American policy and society, including the interaction between genes and the environment, causes of certain abnormal behaviors, slowing down the aging process, the study of neighborhood conditions and their effect on health and behavior, and the impact of long-term cannabis usage on IQ… read more about Terrie Moffitt Elected to National Academy of Medicine »