May 1, 2017
Psychological sciences awards students
The psychological sciences department announces this year's departmental award winners. These undergraduate and graduate students were honored at an event on April 25.
Mary Hellmer, senior, Shawnee, received the John C. Peterson Undergraduate Scholarship Prize for outstanding graduating senior. She was the Psi Chi honor society president in 2016, conducted research in Mark Barnett's lab, is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and will work in student affairs at K-State after graduation.
Navanté Peacock, senior, Wichita, received the E. Jerry Phares Undergraduate Research Award. His research with Donald Saucier entailed the study of perceptions of racial microaggressions as harmful, intentional and racist. In fall 2017, he will be a psychology doctoral student at the University of Kansas. Peacock also was the 2017 recipient of the K-State Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Research and winner of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Undergraduate Student Poster Award.
Hannah Greer, sophomore, Wichita, received the Curtis Lee and J.B. Gee Psychological Sciences Scholarship. This award is based on a combination of academic achievement and financial need.
Karli Kubik, junior, Wichita; Emilio Rivera, senior, Junction City; Taylor Hofeling, junior, Great Bend; Jennica Rogers, junior, Manhattan; Jesseca Pirkle, junior, Arenzville, Illinois; and Bree Humburg, junior, Ness City, are recipients of the Doreen Shanteau Undergraduate Research Awards. The award provides funds to enable students to conduct research with their faculty mentors during the following academic year.
Kubik will work with Saucier to examine how individuals' perceptions of a woman's response in the case of sexual assault and masculine honor may be related to both factors that promote and prevent a woman from reporting instances of sexual assault.
Rivera will investigate the potential moderating effect of romantic rejection techniques on the relationship between men's masculine honor adherence and expected aggression following being romantically rejected by a woman, also in Saucier's lab.
Hofeling will study the effects of African-American vernacular English on the interview process; she will work with Chris Lake.
Rogers will examine whether playing commercials containing emotional content during a television show will positively influence or instead disrupt memory recall for a show's content; she'll conduct this research in Heather Bailey's lab.
Pirkle will work with Kimberly Kirkpatrick to examine how excess insulin in the bloodstream — that exists as a result of insulin resistance — affects impulsive choice.
Humburg will investigate the effects of different abstinence periods and environmental protection on sucrose incubation and accumbal protein expression in the laboratory of Mary Cain.
Stuart Miller, Wamego, received the Outstanding Graduate Research Award/Harry Helson Memorial Scholarship. Miller has co-authored 13 journal articles and book chapters, and recently co-authored a book on quantitative data analysis with Jerry Frieman and Saucier. He is completing his doctorate under the supervision of Saucier.
Two graduate students are recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award: Miller, and Erik Garcia, Centennial, Colorado. The recipients received monetary awards thanks to the Nobuko S. Nicholson Opportunity Fund for Psychological Sciences.
Finally, the department announced three winners of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award: Conor O'Dea, Manhattan; Tucker Jones, Mosca, Colorado; and Jared Peterson, Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Their awards were funded by the department's Graduate Teaching Assistant Support Fund that has been generously supported by a number of alumni.