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Drexel Psychology Faculty and Graduate Students Receive Awards

May 23, 2017

Zoe Zhang, PhD, honored with the COAS Teaching Excellence Award and 2017 Summer Research Award

M. Brian Blake, Provost and Executive Vice President, Zoe Zhang, PhD, and Erin Horvat, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Fengqing (Zoe) Zhang, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. Her general research interests lie in neuroimaging data analysis and quantitative research methods including hierarchical models, multivariate analysis, generalized linear models, data mining, and Bayesian modeling. She is particularly passionate about statistical modeling and methodological development for social, behavioral, and biomedical related problems.

Left to Right: M. Brian Blake, Provost and Executive Vice President, Zoe Zhang, PhD, and Erin Horvat, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Elizabeth Gale-Bentz Receives American Academy of Forensic Psychology Dissertation Grant

Elizabeth Gale-Bentz Drexel Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student

Elizabeth Gale-Bentz was awarded an American Academy of Forensic Psychology Dissertation Grant in Applied Law/Psychology for her dissertation, which will examine the relationship between probation officers’ recommendations and judges’ decisions regarding youths’ supervision status at community supervision review hearings.

Liz is a fourth-year clinical psychology doctoral student in Naomi Goldstein’s Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab. Her clinical and research interests include improving short- and long-term outcomes for individuals involved in the justice system. Liz is also interested in juvenile justice program development, implementation and evaluation, as well as the ways in which research can be used to facilitate policy and practice reform.

Victoria Grunberg Receives APA Travel Award

Drexel Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Victoria Grunberg

Victoria Grunberg, a clinical psychology PhD student mentored by Pamela Geller, PhD, and Mary Spiers, PhD, was awarded an American Psychological Association (APA) student travel award for the 2017 convention. She will present a project stemming from her thesis entitled "The Development of a Parental Self-Report Measure for NICU Infant Health Severity " at the APA convention in Washington, D.C. Victoria and Pamela Geller collaborated with the Director of Psychosocial Services and a neonatologist at the Newborn/infant Intensive Care Unit at CHOP to develop the first parental report measure of objective infant health severity during hospitalization and following discharge.

Emily Haney-Caron Receives Academy of Forensic Psychology Dissertation Grant

Emily Haney-Caron Drexel PhD candidate in Law-Psychology

Emily Haney-Caron was awarded an American Academy of Forensic Psychology Dissertation Grant in Applied Law/Psychology for her dissertation, which examines the validity of an existing measure of potential utility to forensic psychology and legal policy.

Emily is a 6th-year PhD candidate in the Law-Psychology program in clinical psychology, and received a JD from the Drexel University Kline School of Law in 2016. Emily's research focuses on juvenile forensic psychology, forensic assessment, and public policy. Her interests are in criminal justice issues unique to juveniles, including juveniles’ understanding of Miranda rights, diversion programs and the role of developmental immaturity among justice-involved youth. Additionally, Emily is interested in the relationship among empirical research, forensic practice and policy.

Mark McCurdy Receives National Research Service Award

Mark McCurdy, Drexel Doctoral Psychology Student

Mark McCurdy received an National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to support his dissertation research entitled, Social Competence in Youth with Neurofibromatosis Type 1. With the support of this award, Mark’s research will examine underlying neuropsychological and family-systems factors that contribute to social adjustment difficulties in this vulnerable population.

Mark, under the mentorship of Brian Daly, PhD, has also received the NIH F31 Pre-doctoral award.

Amanda NeMoyer Receives Drexel University Graduate College Award for Research Excellence

Drexel JD/PhD Psychology Student Amanda NeMoyer

Amanda NeMoyer, a JD/PhD student in law and clinical psychology mentored by Naomi Goldstein, PhD, has received the Drexel University Graduate College Award for Research Excellence. This university-wide award is presented to graduate students who have completed outstanding research, scholarship and/or creativity during their careers at Drexel. Amanda received this award in recognition of the applied, policy-oriented juvenile justice research she has conducted during her time at Drexel, including her recently defended dissertation, “Factors Associated with Youths’ Failure to Appear at Supervision Review Hearings.”

Mina Ratkalkar, mentored by Naomi Goldstein, PhD, received the 2017 Larry J. Siegel Graduate Fellowship for the Study of Gender and Crime from the American Society of Criminology, Division on Women and Crime.

Anna Marie Raphail, mentored by Maria Schultheis, PhD, received the 2017 Philadelphia Neuropsychological Society Student Award.