Gerald Davison Receives

Scientific Contribution in Psychology Award

The California Psychological Association (CPA) selected long

-time USC Professor of Psychology and Gerontology, Gerald

C. Davison, as the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Scien-

tific Contribution in Psychology award. This award honors a

psychologist who has contributed exceptional research of great

impact to the field of psychology. Davison is a leading expert

in mental health and cognitive behavior therapy, and in the

treatment of anxiety, stress, and depression.

In an academic career that has reached nearly 50 years, Da-

vison is no stranger to being recognized for his work. In 1988

he received an outstanding achievement award from APA's

Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility; in 1989 was the

recipient of the Albert S. Raubenheimer Distinguished Faculty

Award from USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; in

1993 won the USC Associates Award for Excellence in

Teaching, a university-wide prize; in 1995 received the Distin-

guished Psychologist Award from the Los Angeles County

Psychological Association; in 1997 was given the Outstanding

Educator Award of the Association of Behavioral and Cogni-

tive Therapies; in 2003 received the Lifetime Achievement

Award from ABCT; and in 2005 was the recipient of the USC

Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring.

Davison has authored more than 150 publications, been an

editorial board member for several professional journals,

served as President of the Association for Behavior and Cog-

nitive Therapies, and been on the Executive Committee of the

Division of Clinical Psychology, Board of Scientific Affairs,

and Committee on Scientific Awards. He is a fellow of the

American Psychological Association, the Center for Excel-

lence in Teaching, the Association for Psychological Science,

and of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Bosco Tjan Leading Team of Experts to

Improve Treatments for Blindness

Dr. Bosco Tjan, Professor of

Psychology, is leading a multi-

disciplinary, collaborative team

of USC researchers to investi-

gate how the human brain is

affected by blinding eye diseas-

es. The study is titled, "Human

Connectomes in Low Vision,

Blindness and Sight Restora-

tion." Working off a new $4

million grant from the National

Eye Institute (NEI) and utilizing the world's most ad-

vanced retinal imaging and comprehensive brain mapping

techniques, Tjan and his colleagues from the USC Eye

Institute will be working together in an effort to accelerate

future treatments and therapies to restore sight.

SPRING 2015 SPRING 2016

Alumnus’ High School

Ranked in Top 5% Nationally

After graduating from USC with

her BA in Psychology in 1996, Dr.

Meg Palisoc went straight into a

master's degree program at the

USC Rossier School of Education

(and later received her doctorate

there). After obtaining her mas-

ter's degree, she worked for the

USC Viterbi student affairs divi-

sion. Dr. Palisoc recalls, “I loved

working in student affairs, but I

also witnessed firsthand that there were not enough students

from low income neighborhoods who were getting into pres-

tigious universities, such as USC. As a result, I was inspired

to become part of the solution by becoming an inner city ele-

mentary school teacher.”

In 2004, in order to make an even greater impact on urban

education, Dr. Palisoc started a non-profit organization called

Synergy Academies, which operates three free public charter

schools in South Los Angeles, near USC. Synergy Quantum

Academy was just awarded a Silver Medal by US News &

World Report for being ranked in the top 5% of public high

schools nationwide! The US News & World Report annually

ranks public high schools across the country based on student

achievement and college-readiness.

Dr. Darby Saxbe won a USC Mentor ing Award for mentor ing of graduate students. Her four graduate

students (Sarah Stoycos, Geoff Corner, Mona Khaled, and Hannah Lyden) wrote letters of support. They all

attended the awards ceremony together on April 6th.

Dr. Jesse Graham, now Associate Professor of Psychology, has been awarded tenure. His research on

values, ideology, and morality, along with his natural leadership, mentoring, and teaching abilities, makes

Dr. Graham a valued member of our psychology faculty.

Dr. Daphna Oyserman has been awarded two new grants: 2016-2019 A Virtual Learning World for

Tweens to Experience Possible Identities (ME GAMES) (Carter, L, Oyserman, D., Schwartz, S. co-PIs).

National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, SIBR.

2016-2019 Identity-Based Motivation Journey to Academic Success (Anderson, K., Oyserman, D. co-PIs).

Department of Education, Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) Development Grants

Julia Loup, undergraduate senior honors student, has received a Fulbr ight Grant in research, study,

and teaching for next year in Vienna, Austria. Her collaborative research at USC on exercise self-efficacy in

older adults, with Dr. Jo Ann Farver in Psychology and Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski in Gerontology, was awarded

the interdisciplinary prize at the annual Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work.

Alyssa Kennedy, senior honors student, was awarded a

travel grant from the Department of Psychology to at-

tend the Hawaii International Conference on Social Sci-

ences. Her project focused on culturally sensitive clini-

cal treatments targeted toward ethnic minority clients.

The analyses demonstrated what types of cultural adap-

tations could potentially be harmful when used in treat-

ment. Alyssa will be pursuing her doctorate in Counsel-

ing Psychology and the University of Oregon next fall.

Dylan Abrams, senior honors student, was awarded a

travel grant from the Department of Psychology to attend

the Stanford Undergraduate Psychology Conference. The

purpose of his study was to examine the relationship be-

tween gang identity, perceptions of law enforcement,

and participation in gang-related crime. Dylan has ac-

cepted a job as Clinical Research Coordinator at Massa-

chusetts General Hospital and plans to pursue his doctor-

ate in Clinical Psychology in the near future.

Briere, J., Agee, E., Dietrich, A. (2016). Cumulative trauma and current PTSD status in general population and in-

mate samples. Psychological Trauma: Theory Research Practice and Policy. doi: 10.1037/tra0000107.

Briere, J., Godbout, N., & Dias, C. (2015). Cumulative trauma, hyperarousal, and suicidality in the general popula-

tion: A path analysis. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 16, 153-169.

Briere, J., Madni, L., & Godbout, N. (2015). Recent suicidality in the general population: Multivariate association

with childhood maltreatment and adult victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:

10.1177/0886260515584339. [Epub ahead of print]

Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (2015). Dissociation in individuals denying trauma exposure: Findings from two sam-

ples. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 203, 439-342.

Briere, J., & Scott, C. (2015). Complex trauma in adolescents and adults: Effects and treatment. Psychiatric Clinics

of North America, 38, 515-27.

Clewett, D., Lee, T.H., Greening, S., Ponzio, A., Margalit, E., & Mather, M. (2016). Neuromelanin marks the spot:

Identifying a locus coeruleus biomarker of cognitive reserve in healthy aging. Neurobiology of Aging, 37, 117-126.

Dehghani, M., Johnson, K. M., Hoover, J., Sagi, E., Garten, J., Parmar, N. J., Vaisey, S., Iliev, R., & Graham, J.

(2016). Purity homophily in social networks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 366-375.

Gatz, M., Reynolds, C.R., Finkel, D., Hahn, C.J., Zhou, Y., & Zavala, C. (2015). Data harmonization in aging re-

search: Not so fast. Journal of Experimental Aging Research, 41, 475-495.

Godbout, N., Hodges, M., Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (2016). Structural analysis of the Trauma Symptom Inventory-

2. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma. doi: 10.1080/10926771.2015.1079285.

Greening, S., Lee, T.H., & Mather, M. (2016). Individual differences in anticipatory somatosensory cortex activity

for shock is positively related with trait anxiety and multi sensory integration. Brain Sciences. doi: 10.3390/

brainsci6010002.

Graham, J., Meindl, P., Beall, E., Johnson, K. M., & Zhang, L. (2016). Cultural differences in moral judgment and

behavior, across and within societies. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 125–130.

Greene, E. (2016). Recognizing words and reading sentences with microsecond flash displays. PLoS ONE, 11, 1-22.

Han, S. C., & Margolin, G. (2016). Intergenerational links in victimization: Prosocial friends as a buffer. Journal of

Child & Adolescent Trauma. doi:10.1007/sr0653-015-0075-7 [Published online: 12.17.2015].

Kaplan, J.T., Gimbel, S., Dehghani, M., Immordino-Yang, M-H., Sagae., K., Wong, J., Tipper, C., Damasio, H., Gor-

don, A ., & Damasio, A. (2016). Processing narratives concerning protected values: A cross-cultural investigation of

neural correlates. Cerebral Cortex, doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhv325.

LaBrie, J. W., Earle, A. M., Hummer, J. F., & Boyle, S. C. (2016). Is prepartying a cause of heavy drinking and con-

sequences rather than just a correlate? A longitudinal look at the relationship between prepartying, alcohol approval,

and subsequent drinking and consequences. Substance Use and Misuse, electronic publication ahead of print.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Annual Sarnoff A. Mednick Memorial Lecture

May 20, 2016 at 11am - 12pm in Cammilleri Hall

Terrence Sejnowski, Ph.D.

* Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

* Francis Crick Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies

* Director of Computational Neurobiology Laboratory

"Schizophrenia as failed adaptive capacity in neural circuits"

Luczak, S. E., & Wall, T. L. (2016). Gambling behaviors and associations with alcohol use disorders in Chinese-, Ko-

rean-, and White-American college students. The American Journal on Addictions, 25, 195-202.

Luczak, S. E., Rosen, I. G., & Wall, T. L. (2015). Development of a real-time repeated-measures assessment protocol

to capture change over the course of drinking episodes. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 50, 1-8.

Luczak, S. E., Yarnell, L. M., Prescott, C. A., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Mednick, S. A. (2015). Cognitive abilities

and academic achievement in middle childhood predict alcohol use and problems by mid-adulthood in a non-Western

birth cohort. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29, 365-370.

Margolin, G., Ramos, M. C., Timmons, A. C, Miller, K. F., & Han, S. C. (2016). Intergenerational transmission of

aggression: Physiological regulatory processes. Child Development Perspectives, 10, 15-21. doi: 10.1111/

cdep.12156.

Mather, M. (2016). The affective neuroscience of aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 213-238.

Mather, M., & Harley, C.W. (2016). The locus coeruleus: Essential for maintaining cognitive function and the aging

brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 214-226.

Meindl, P., Johnson, K. M., & Graham, J. (2016). The immoral assumption effect: Moralization drives negative trait

attributions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 540-553 .

Miller, K. F., Margolin, G., Shapiro, L. S., & Timmons, A. C. (2016). Adolescent life stress and the cortisol awaken-

ing response: The moderating roles of attachment and sex. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi: 10.1111/

jora.12250 [Published online: 2.1.2016].

Moll, H. (2016). Tension in the natural history of human thinking. Journal of Social Ontology, 2(1), 65-73.

Valdesolo, P. & Graham, J. (Eds.). (2016). Social Psychology of Political Polarization. New York, NY: Routledge.

[amazon link]

Wall, T. L., Luczak, S. E., & Hiller-Sturmhoefel, S. (2016). Biology, genetics, and environment: Underlying factors

influencing alcohol metabolism. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 38. Retrieved from http://

www.arcr.niaaa.nih.gov/arcr/arcr381/article07.htm

If you have submissions for the Department of Psychology Newsletter, please email Daniel Paris <dparis@usc.edu>.

Graduate Program

Leslie Berntsen, won the 2016 Wilber t J . McKeachie Teaching Excellence Award

(Graduate student) given by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Division 2 of

the American Psychological Association). The award, a plaque, and a check will be pre-

sented at the STP's 15th Annual Conference on Teaching (ACT) October 21 & 22, 2016,

in Decatur, Georgia.

A panel of graduate students from all five areas of study speak to a class-

room of undergraduate students who are planning for graduate school.

This event is an annual collaboration between the Graduate Association

for Students in Psychology (GASP) and the Psi Chi Honors Society.

A couple of graduate students recruiting research

assistants for the USC Family Studies Project Lab

at the annual Research Opportunities Faire.

Samantha Waters Wood has been awarded the Graduate School Disser tation Com-

pletion Fellowship for the 2016-17 academic year. The purpose of this award is to pro-

vide support for advanced graduate students to complete their dissertation and, later, to

advance their research after being awarded the PhD.

Carol Iskiwitch received an NSF GRFP Honorable Mention for her research on moral metacog-

nition as well as how moral judgments change, whether over time or by context.

Justin Hummer completed a clinical externship at the Matr ix Institute on Addic-

tions, an intensive outpatient program for the treatment of substance use disorders.

Larissa Borofsky Del Piero accepted a two-year postdoctoral fellowship (starting next

year) in Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology at the Seattle VA.

Undergraduate Program

Annual USC Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Crea-

tive Work provides undergraduates with the unique op-

portunity to exhibit and share examples of their signifi-

cant research and creativity. All undergraduates at USC

are encouraged to participate. After all submissions are

judged by a panel of distinguished faculty, an award

ceremony recognizing the most outstanding works takes

place at the end of the symposium. Psychology students

compete in the largest category: Social Sciences.

41 students submitted their research in the Social Scienc-

es this year, with nearly half of these projects completed

by students in the Department of Psychology. In the end,

we can proudly state that once again, our students made

a “clean sweep,” winning all of the prizes available in

the Social Sciences category! Congratulations to the

2016 symposium winners, listed below:

Lillie Moffett (Dr. Henrike Moll) won 1st Prize in Social Sciences.

In fall, she will begin a Ph.D. program at University of Michigan.

Sarah Weingust (Dr. Nicole Sintov) won 2nd Prize in Social Sciences,

photographed here with the department Chair, Dr. Jo Ann Farver.

Jamie Nguyen (Dr. Karen Hennigan) won an honorable

mention in the Social Sciences category.

Nicole Tolbert (Dr. Steven Lopez) won an honorable men-

tion in the Social Sciences category. As a Discovery and

Global Scholar, Nicole was also one of ten Dornsife stu-

dents awarded the Dornsife Scholar prize for her research.

Undergraduate Program

Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s most widely known academic honors society, with chapters only established at America’s leading

universities. Every year, the top 5-10% of upper-division arts and sciences undergraduates are selected for membership.

The psychology student inductees of 2016 are: Fiona Alfait, Christopher Carpenter, Audrey Chai, Huiyi Chen, Nicholyn Chen,

Grace Cho, Nicolette Conte, Francesca Conterno, Margarette Deagon, Dilara Duyuran, Ellen Eastaugh, Jared Feldman, Annisah

Garrett-Gianardi, Kimberly Goldstein, Nitika Johri, Cody Kaneshiro, Naseoul Lee, Tiffany Lee, Case McMahon, Lillie Moffett,

Andrew Morris, Alison Parker, Corey Pettit, Austin Roy, Arvin Saremi, Camille Saucier, Allie Schmiesing, Mercy Sherman, Sha-

ron Su, Brianne Tabios, Xin Gisella Tan, Shreya Tanna, Kelsey Thayer, Erin Wright, Laura Yang, and Jasmine Zahedi.

Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology: USC Chapter

The 2015-2016 academic year was very successful for USC Psi Chi. The student organization celebrated its 86th year on campus

and had a record breaking number of new members for the third consecutive year. Psi Chi had almost two events per month this

year, including topics that range from graduate school, research in psychology, and careers in psychology. Psi Chi also had several

social gatherings and charity events. This year, Psi Chi students chose to participate in the 2016 charity walk for NEDA, the Nation-

al Association for Eating Disorders, raising over one thousand dollars to be donated to treatment for people with eating disorders.

USC Psi Chi Chapter Annual Spring Banquet Party

Senior Class of 2016 to Graduate School

The Department of Psychology is not only a place for those who want to pursue a career in psychology, but is also the most popular

major at USC for students interested in Occupational Therapy, Education, and Social Work.

Margaret Deagon Seoul, South Korea Fulbright Grant Teaching

Julia Loup Vienna, Austria Fulbright Grant Teaching

Claire Brunvand Boston University Master of Arts Teaching

Caroline Cannan USC Master of Arts Teaching

Katherine Bethel USC Master of Arts Teaching

Juliana Ferguson USC Master of Social Work Social Work

Lindsey Christian USC Master of Social Work Social Work

Lillie Moffett University of Michigan Doctorate Education and Psychology

Gabriella Maestas Brown University Master of Science Public Humanities

Tony Agazaryan CSU Northridge Master of Science Health Administration

Vivian Rotenstein Cornell University Doctorate Human Development

Sharon Su University of Pennsylvania Master of Science Counseling & Mental Health

#1 Ranked USC Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy Program:

Brianne Tabios, Kimberly Goldstein, Natasha Strickland, Sharon Sin, Grace Cho, Amanda Allen

Undergraduate Program

Featuring the Senior Class of 2016

As you’ve seen throughout this newsletter, our Psychology students go on to thrive in numerous fields and career paths. Many of

our alumni go on to become Doctors, Lawyers, Educators, Research Analysts, Social Workers, Sales Representatives, Occupational

Scientists, and much more. In fact, Psychology is one of the most common majors today for students on pre-health and pre-law

tracks. As the study of human behavior, our students also use their transferable skills to break into areas of marketing, human re-

sources, management, and other business related fields where client interaction and understanding consumer behavior is vital to a

company’s success. Take a look at some of our featured seniors below, and congratulations to the entire class of 2016!

Shirley Chung (left) is graduat-

ing from the Department of Psy-

chology along with a second de-

gree in Computer Science. Shirley

was an active member and leader

of Women in Computer Science

during her four years at USC. She

was also a teaching assistant for

CSCI 103, the introductory com-

puter science course, and for ITP

168, the introductory MATLAB

course. Additionally, Shirley participated in a number of

programs offered by Asian Pacific American Student Ser-

vices (APASS). She was a mentor in the PEER mentoring

program, and a teaching assistant for CIRCLE, a leader-

ship development program that offers participants a space

to discuss a number of issues such as race, class, and gen-

der. Starting this summer, Shirley will be working full

time as a Software Engineer for Google.

Jennifer Bailey (left) is graduat-

ing from the Department of Psy-

chology with minors in Spanish

and Healthcare Studies. While at

USC, she was a member of the

USC Helenes, Undergraduate Stu-

dent Government Judicial Coun-

cil, Residential Student Govern-

ment, Alpha Epsilon Delta

(Premedical Honor Society), and

Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish Honor

Society). She also studied abroad in the Fall 2014 term in

the USC Madrid Option II program and again in Summer

2015 term in Guatemala through the Problems Without

Passports program. This year, she was selected as a Dis-

covery Scholar, Renaissance Scholar, Global Scholar, and

Dornsife Scholar. Starting this fall, Jennifer will be at-

tending the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in

the MD/MPH program and plans to practice family medi-

cine in underserved urban areas.

Veronica Gempis (left) will be

graduating from the Department of

Psychology with a Gerontology

minor in Individuals, Societies, and

Aging. Academically, she has com-

pleted the Psychology Honors Pro-

gram and has been working on re-

search for the Neuroendocrinology

of Social Ties Lab for the past three

years. Aside from working close to

full time in administrative and hu-

man resources internships since sophomore year, she has

also been heavily involved in leadership positions on cam-

pus as an executive board member of the Psi Chi Honors

Society (including serving as President this past year), as

an orientation advisor for the Department of Psychology,

and as the Delta Experience Coordinator for the Alpha

Gamma Delta, Delta Alpha Chapter. Starting this summer,

Veronica has accepted a position as a Human Resources

Executive at the Corporate CPK office.

Patrick Brown (left) is graduating

from the Department of Psycholo-

gy this spring. In addition to being

a stellar student, he has been a

member of the USC Brazilian Jiu

Jitsu Club as well as the USC Tri-

athlon Team. He serves on the Ex-

ecutive Board as the Social Chair

of Zeta Beta Tau, is the Assistant

Director of the Trojan CEO Network, and a member of Psi

Chi. Starting this summer, Patrick has accepted a position

at Accenture PLC as a Management Consultant. Manage-

ment consulting is the practice of helping organizations to

improve their performance, operating primarily through

the analysis of existing organizational problems and the

development of plans for improvement. Accenture PLC is

a multinational management consulting services company.

It is the world's largest consulting firm as measured by rev-

enues, and is a Fortune Global 500 company.