Psychologist awarded NIH grant to develop at-home tracking of young kids’ outbursts
A University of Massachusetts Amherst psychologist will use a newly awarded, two-year, $428,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop and test mobile health devices worn by parents and young children that track – and perhaps can help predict – preschoolers’ tantrums.
The technology may also one day be able to identify “clinically significant tantrums,” assessing kids at high risk for mental illness, says Adam Grabell, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, who studies early childhood development in his Self-regulation, Emotions and Early Development (SEED) Lab.
The Office of Faculty Development has announced Tammy Rahhal, senior lecturer II and associate chair of teaching and chief undergraduate advisor of psychological and brain sciences, as a recipient of a Chancellor’s Leadership Fellowship for the 2022-23 academic year.
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Tricia Serio says “I am thrilled to work with and learn alongside the Chancellor’s Leadership Fellows this year. Their projects integrate their expertise and knowledge of our campus with a new context to advance both their leadership development and our mission in new and creative ways.”
Improving childhood learning using interactive media
Heather Kirkorian, Laura M. Secord Chair in Early Childhood Development and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison began her career as a developmental psychologist at UMass Amherst under the mentorship of Professor Emeritus Dan Anderson. They explored the effects of educational media on childhood learning and attention, seeking out ways to make programming more beneficial.
Two faculty members and one graduate student have been awarded College of Natural Sciences Leadership Fellowships for 2022-2023
Rebecca Ready
Established by Dean Tricia Serio, this program is designed to foster leadership and professional development in faculty and graduate students and to promote initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Each of the fellows was selected to work with one of the CNS Associate Deans on projects within their respective offices.
Rebecca Ready, professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, will be working with Karen Helfer, Associate Dean for Graduate, Postdoctoral, and Faculty Development. Dr. Ready’s project will be to develop initiatives to improve success in recruiting and retaining BIPOC graduate students.
UMass Amherst research aims to help equip teachers to engage in crucial conversations
Linda Tropp examined how teachers’ implicit racial biases and concerns about appearing racist may affect their intentions and confidence about engaging their students in race talk.
This podcast is based on research they conducted together when Goldberg was Rudd Family Visiting Professor in 2021. The project involved a nationwide sample of K-12 teachers, and asked what they knew about adoption, how they use that knowledge, and what they wished they knew.
People diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can exhibit problem behaviors that result from impulsivity. PhD Student Elinor Waite and Associate Professor Katherine Dixon-Gordon of the Clinical Affective Science Lab (CASL) have theorized that during these impulsive moments, an individual may not have learned from the negative consequences of their past actions. The researchers wanted to find out if emotions affect learning in a way that makes processing potential consequences more difficult. Their study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, focused on people at-risk of engaging in suicidal behaviors, testing whether their emotional state could ultimately impede decision-making.
The survey, answered by more than 20,000 Afghans from all areas of the country, was particularly designed to capture women’s voices and measure gender gaps in attitudes
UMass Amherst researchers are implementing NIH-supported, family-centered program to aid immigrants in the U.S.
After years of working with Bhutanese community members in Western Massachusetts, a team led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher has developed a peer-led, family-centered preventive intervention to reduce stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms and promote mental health among immigrants in the U.S.
The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) is pleased to announce that Professor Maureen Perry-Jenkins has been elected Department Chair, serving a three-year term.
Perry-Jenkins is a nationally renowned scholar whose contributions on the national, state, regional, and university levels have had a profound impact on family research. Her work focuses on the ways in which socio-cultural factors such as race, gender, and social class shape the mental health and family relationships of parents and their children.
UMass Amherst research aims to help equip teachers to engage in crucial conversations
The survey, answered by more than 20,000 Afghans from all areas of the country, was particularly designed to capture women’s voices and measure gender gaps in attitudes
UMass Amherst researchers are implementing NIH-supported, family-centered program to aid immigrants in the U.S.
The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) is pleased to announce that Professor 