It is once again time to announce this year’s winners of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) Psychological Science Research Grant (PSRG)! Every year, graduate students apply for $1,000 worth of funding to provide support for their psychological research endeavors. This year, we are proud to announce a total of 107 applicants were considered for the $12,000 of funding: $9,000 awarded to student researchers with an additional $3,000 awarded to innovative research dedicated to topics on diversity and minoritized populations.

Here are PSRG winners for the general category:

Meredith Ann Blackwell (University of New Mexico) will develop culturally valid measures of sexual violence for four of the largest refugee and forcibly displaced populations of women resettled in the United States. This study will help provide foundational knowledge to inform intervention precision, treatment focus, and epidemiological understanding of sexual violence in conflict-exposed and displaced communities.

Sarah Katheryn Stevens (University of California – Irvine) will clarify how the vagus nerve influences the relationship between childhood maltreatment and fear learning in adulthood and examine whether the hormone estradiol further influences the relationship between maltreatment and psychophysiological processes in adulthood (e.g., heart rate variability). Identifying the physiological processes that increase vulnerability to maladaptive outcomes in adults who experienced childhood maltreatment has the potential to improve prevention and intervention efforts for at-risk populations.

Kimi Hashimoto (Seattle Pacific University) will investigate the factors impacting the relationship between somatization and health-related quality of life in individuals identifying as a racial or ethnic minority. This study will expand on the understanding of somatization and healthcare disparities to investigate the role of symptom catastrophizing and perceived injustice in impacting the health-related quality of life.

Madelyn Harris (Boston College) will employ a community-based participatory research partnership to gain insight into caregivers’ experiences supporting loved ones at clinically high risk for psychosis. Her study further aims to identify caregivers’ experiences receiving support, the influential role of social-cultural identities, and support group recommendations. This study will allow us to better understand and target the unmet needs of caregivers and will contribute to our understanding of the stigma experienced by family members of people with severe mental illness.

Minghui Ni (Cornell University) aims to identify the reasons why people who make professional selection decisions seek out candidates’ social media information. Understanding why decision-makers seek out social media information is necessary to develop interventions to encourage self-blinding and thus reduce biases in the professional selection process. The proposed research will provide evidence-based guidance for organizations and decision-makers on the use of social media in the professional selection process.

Emily Rae Padrutt (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities) will test the extent to which pre- and postnatal depression is linked to infant self-regulation through distinct pathways (i.e., autonomic regulation and maternal sensitivity), and establish whether the association linking less maternal sensitivity to impaired self-regulation is stronger for infants with autonomic dysregulation. This project will help develop nuanced models of pathways involved in the intergenerational transmission of depression, specifically considering the timing of symptoms, interactions between pathways, and infants’ developing self-regulation.

Jordan Rubin-McGregor (Miami University) will be using a daily diary methodology in which participants will report on their discrimination experiences, mental health symptoms, and disability identity to investigate the impact of stigma related to ability status on individuals with disabilities. This research aims to understand the way this stigma impacts the individual’s identity and mental health by identifying which dimensions of group identity are affected by discrimination.

Shea Elizabeth Ferguson (University of South Carolina) aims to investigate how graduate teaching assistants understand student motivation in undergraduate students experiencing anxiety in the context of school related to the pandemic. Graduate teaching assistants are often overlooked in their impact on student education and motivation. The goal of this study is to help inform future efforts in educator training to support student motivation, including those by graduate teaching assistants.

Virginia Ulichney (Temple University) aims to study intergenerational emotional support between younger and older adults by identifying the most beneficial verbal and linguistic features. Further, this study moves to classify predictive linguistic features in intergenerational emotional support conversations on improved emotional states. The outcomes of this study will inform our understanding of communication and healthy aging.

Here are the three diversity grant winners:

Julia Nicholas (University of Louisville) will investigate the impact of invalidating responses on distress tolerance and risky behaviors related to health in sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. The outcomes of this study will help inform work toward creating more affirming environments for SGM populations and specific intervention strategies to promote SGM mental health.

Michelle Gereau Mora (University of Utah) seeks to understand the interactions between heart rate variability (HRV), emotion regulation, and executive functioning (EF) in older adults. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of these processes and, additionally, will investigate the differences between Latino/a/x and non-Latino/a/x populations.

Fernanda Morales Calva (Rice University) aims to improve our understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) diagnoses in Latino/a/x and non-Latino/a/x populations. To do so, this study seeks to develop a memory measure that is sensitive to cultural differences. A goal of this project is to promote health equity and incorporate Latino/a/x samples into research to inform our understanding of AD in these populations.


Thank you to the members of the APAGS Science Committee, in addition to other APAGS volunteers, for dedicating their time and efforts to reviewing proposals and identifying winners. Be on the lookout for information on next year’s application process if you are interested in applying for future funding!

Posted by Sarah Kohnen and Marianne Chirica, members of the APAGS Science Committee. Feel free to reach out to Marianne and Sarah with any questions you may have!