Psychology (M.A) - Experimental Psychology

Students In The News

The EXPY Awards

Emily Branyon received the 2011 Anderson-Parente Scholarship. This award is given to a graduate student in the Psychology Department who demonstrates superior academic performance.

Michael Eskenazi was presented with the 2011 Outstanding Experimental Psychology Student Award at the Psi Chi Induction and Awards Ceremony. The criteria for this award include outstanding class performance, evidence of research productivity, and completion of a top-quality thesis.

Michael Eskenazi and Alexandra Kiskowski (Chong) both received the Psychology Department’s Distinguished Graduating Masters Degree Recipient Award. This award recognizes noteworthy contributions to scholarship and application of psychology and is given to students who have been admitted to doctoral programs in psychology.

Teresa Ferrara was awarded the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for service. This scholarship supports students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines.

Alexandra (Chong) Kiskowski was awarded the 2010-2011 Graduate Diversity Grant funded byTowson University’s Center for Student Diversity. This award recognizes minority group membership in pursuit of a higher education.

Alexandra (Chong) Kiskowski was selected to be the Graduate Speaker for Towson University’s 2011 College of the Liberal Arts Commencement Ceremony.

Doctoral Program Admissions

Michael Eskenazi and Alexandra Kiskowski (Chong) were both admitted to Kent State University’s Experimental Psychology PhD program.

Teresa Ferrara was admitted to The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) Neuroscience program.

Graduating Students

The following students graduated in December, 2010:

Jonathan Freedlander
Mark Hendricks

The following students graduated in May 2011:

Twila Beck
Michael Eskenazi
Teresa Ferrara
Alexandra (Chong) Kiskowski
Erin Matsiyevskaya
Margo Mitchell

Alumni Updates

Brisa De Angulo was recently selected as a finalist in the “Do Something” contest for her efforts to prevent child and adolescent abuse: http://www.dosomething.org/project/centro-una-brisa-de-esperanza

Jon Freedlander began working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service as a Social Science Research Analyst.

Kenny Herrell has been recently hired as an adjunct instructor in TU’s psychology department. He continues to work at the US Census Bureau.

Mary Hinch is working as a Social Science Researcher for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the Office of Behavioral Safety Research.

Chet Meinzer is working on a substance abuse prevention evaluation study for a private research firm in San Francisco.

Erin (Greenbaum) Musok has been workingas a Senior Research Assistant at the George Washington University Biostatistics Center. Recently, she has been working with several researchers to examine the m anagement of Myelomeningocele. Some of the research Erin worked on is now published in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1014379

Wes Quattrone recently started working for Insight, which is Westat's Center for Health Information technology. He has been with Westat since 2008.

Adam Schuman has been hired to work as a (top secret?) data analyst in a federal agency.

Ryan Schurtz successfully defended his dissertation at the University of Kentucky and has been hired as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stevenson University.

Elizabeth Sinclair is working at the US Census Bureau.

Jessica Stansbury has been hired as a full-time Lecturer in TU’s psychology department.

Jeff Tsai has been accepted into a Survey Methodology doctoral program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Rachel (Cochran) Tocco has recently been hired as the multi-site study coordinator for the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes and Assessment Research at the University of Michigan. She coordinates research studies with sites around the country, working with participants with cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and other conditions requiring rehabilitation.

Andrea Weber is assisting children with Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Vista School in Hershey, PA.

Student/Alumni Publications and Presentations

Publications

Janae Brown co-authored an article with Drs. Evangeline Wheeler and Leonie Brooks titled, “‘Gettin’ on my last nerve’: The mental health, physiological and cognitive effects of racism on people of African descent,” to be published in the Journal of Pan African Studies.

Teresa Ferrara recently co-authored an article with her lab at Aberdeen Proving Grounds titled, “Neuroprotective efficacy of caramiphen against soman and mechanisms of action,” published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

Marshall Miller co-authored an article with his lab at Tufts University titled, “SIRT1 is essential for normal cognitive function and synaptic plasticity,” published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Jessica Stansbury and Jeff Tsai co-authored an article with Dr. Geoff Munro titled, “A causal role for negative affect: Misattribution in biased evaluations of scientific information,” to be published in Self and Identity.

Rachel (Cochran) Tocco co-authored an article with collaborators at the University of Michigan titled, “Public health impact of antiviral therapy for hepatitis C in the United States,” published in Hepatology.

Andrea Weber and Allison Sypher co-authored an article with Dr. Justin Buckingham, titled, “Self-esteem and self-perpetuating effects of threat on contingencies of self-worth.” This article is in press at Self and Identity.

2011 TU Research Expo Presentations

Emily Branyon presented a poster titled, “The Effects of Misinformation on Varied Levels of Ego Involvement” Dr. John Govern was the faculty sponsor.

Teresa Ferrara, Alexandra Kiskowski (Chong), Michael Eskenazi, Janae Brown, Julia Zirpoli, Charlotte Eyring, and Jennifer Makar presented a poster titled, “D-serine as a cognitive enhancer of long-term potentiation.” Dr. Bryan Devan was the faculty sponsor.

Teresa Ferrara presented a poster titled, “Effect of Exercise on Recovery from Botulinum Neurotoxin-induced Paralysis." This was based on work Teresa conducted at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

Allison Sypher presented a poster titled, “So How Do I Look: The Effect of Negative Feedback on Self-Esteem and Appearance-Contingent Self-Worth” Dr. Justin Buckingham was the faculty sponsor.

Allison Sypher , Danielle Emery, and Eric Navarro presented a poster titled, “ Self-Esteem and Self-Perpetuating Effects of Appearance Threat on Contingencies of Self-Worth” Dr. Justin Buckingham was the faculty sponsor.

2011 Eastern Psychological Association Presentations

Adam Schuman co-authored a poster with Dr. Geoff Munro titled, “Ingroup-outgroup bias: Third party labels bias evaluations of political platforms among Democrats and Republicans.”

Tiana Krum co-authored a poster with Dr. Paz Galupo titled, “Development and validation of a scale to measure attitudes toward gender nonconformity.”

2011 APA Conference Presentations

Jon Freedlander is a co-author on two posters with Dr. Liz Katz. The first is titled, “Behavioral approach and inhibition, motives for use, and consequences of substance use among college students.” And the second is titled, “Anxiety sensitivity and trait anxiety as predictors of drug related consequences.”

Tiana Krum will present a poster with Dr. Paz Galupo titled, “Development and Validation of a Scale to Measure Attitudes toward Gender Non-Conformity.”

Erin Matsiyevskaya will present with Dr. Kerri Goodwin, “Co-witness Age Effects in Eyewitness Testimony.”

2011 APS Conference Presentations

Tasha Holden and Tiana Krum will co-author a poster with Dr. Kerri Goodwin titled, “Imagine acting like Sarah Palin: Multiple bizarre imaginings decrease imagination inflation”.

Julia Zirpoli will co-present two papers with Dr. Geoff Munro. The first is titled, “Political partisanship: Third party labels bias evaluations of political candidates,” and the second is titled, “Effects of personal threat on motivated reasoning and quantity of processing of scientific evidence.”

Other Conference Presentations

Andy Bauerband , Marcia Pearl, and Dr. Paz Galupo presented, “Analysis and Validation of Consolidated Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale” at the Association for Women in Psychology Conference.

Michael Eskenazi presented a discussion on “Using telegraphic text and scaffolding to increase Braille reading speeds.” At the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults. Dr. Ellyn Sheffield was a co-discussant.

Tiana Krum presented a paper with Dr. Paz Galupo titled, “Men in Mascara, Women with Whiskers: Development and Validation of a Scale to Measure Attitudes toward Gender Nonconformity,” at the Conference for the Association for Women in Psychology.

Erin Matsiyevskaya will present with Dr. Kerri Goodwin, “Eliminating Misinformation Effects While Maintaining Accuracy in Eyewitness Memory,” at the SARMAC IX Annual Conference.

Marshall Miller presented research on “Effect of age on human mobility and cognition” and “The behavioral effects of different polyphenolic compounds obtained from blueberries in aged rats” at the Society for Neuroscience conference. He also presented, “Multi-platform radial-arm water maze deficits following high-energy particle irradiation, a model of accelerated aging” at the AGE conference.

Jessica Stansbury co-presented with Dr. Geoff Munro, “Ambulance chasers, hypocrisy, and other indiscretions: The case of sociomoral disgust,” at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Andrea Weber and Chet Meinzer co-authored a poster with Dr. Justin Buckingham titled, “Self-esteem and changes in approval contingencies of self-worth” at the Midwestern Psychological Association conference.

Incoming Students

The following students will begin the program in Fall 2011.

Welcome to the program!