News

Welcoming new Department Chair Maureen Perry-Jenkins

Maureen Perry-JenkinsThe 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.

Study aims to understand the psychology that threatens American democracy

red and blue figures in political demonstrationAmid an unprecedented democratic decline in the U.S., a new report by Beyond Conflict, co-authored by UMass Amherst social psychologist Linda Tropp, analyzes America’s current social divides through the lens of social science to understand how threats – both real and perceived – shape our sense of identity, our feelings of belonging and our perceptions of status and power relations in society.

Early detection of psychological disorders using lab-based game

children with slightly different facial expressions

Adam Grabell (Psychological and Brain Sciences) and Tauhidur Rahman (Information and Computer Sciences) have received a Technology Development Fund award from the University of Massachusetts. Across the five-campus UMass system, ten faculty research projects will each receive up to $25,000 from the Technology Development Fund, which helps to commercialize scientific breakthroughs. The fund is overseen by the Office of Technology Commercialization and Ventures (OTCV) at the UMass President’s Office in Boston.

Spring 2022 Newsletter

students walk by the library in spring

Catch up with the latest PBS news including spotlights on our talented students, faculty, and alumni!

Read full issue

Features include:

  • Program to Match Mental Health Patients to Psychotherapists’ Strengths Funded for Large-Scale Implementation
  • 2022 Senior Awards
  • Tweet Blitz: Undergraduate Research
  • Spotlight on Alumni

Institute of Diversity Sciences awarded a Reboot Representation Grant to Support Leadership Academy Program

The Institute of Diversity Sciences (IDS) at UMass Amherst, directed by Nilanjana Buju Dasgupta (psychology) was awarded a two-year $499,359 grant from Reboot Representation to support the IDS Leadership Academy for students from groups traditionally marginalized in tech & engineering. 

PBS honors faculty and students with Wendy Helmer Memorial Graduate Student Award and Faculty/Staff Ally to Graduate Students Award

Gorana GonzalezGorana Gonzalez has received the Wendy Helmer Memorial Graduate Student Award. 

Joel Ginn and Adrian Rivera-RodriquezJoel Ginn and Adrian Rivera-Rodriquez were given honorable mentions by their fellow graduate students.

Holly LawsHolly Laws has received the Faculty/Staff Ally to Graduate Students Award.

 

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