Tag Archives: jsf

Meet the 2023 JSF Winners!

One of the many incredible resources provided through the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) Science Committee is access to funding to support student research. Every year, the APAGS Science Committee and Psi Chi work together to provide financial support to research-oriented graduate students in psychology programs (either in their first year or first semester of their second year) through the Junior Scientist Fellowship (JSF). This year, we are proud to announce that 16 students were awarded $1,000 in grant funding to support their psychological research endeavors from a pool of 42 applicants. Below are the recipients and their research topics.

Ann Bernhardt (Texas A&M University) plans to study the impact of ADHD and anxiety on diagnostic identification and college-level performance. Ann’s research aims to reframe anxiety as a compensatory tool to help students increase their self-efficacy and college success.

Marley Billman Miller (Auburn University) aims to assess how food insecurity influences stress levels in racial/ethnic minority women in rural populations. Findings from this study may impact our understanding of populations who experience adverse health outcomes related to food insecurity.

Rachel Brough (University of Denver) strives to continue previous research on the influence of affective and motivational states on cognitive control. Specifically, Rachel plans to investigate the relationship between uncertainty and an increased need for control.

Jonathan Doriscar (Northwestern University) will investigate the factors contributing to systemic racism and prejudice reduction. Jonathan’s work aims to bridge psychological research with societal change.

Eli Halbreich (Texas Tech University) will investigate the role of companion animals as social support for LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults. Eli’s research aims to understand the relationship between companion animals, coping with stress, and physical activity.

Elizabeth Kruse (University of Rochester) plans to evaluate the degree to which people can suppress the area of the brain allocated to focus their attention. Elizabeth hopes to use this research to inform interventions for improved cognitive performance.

Brandon Martin (Kent State University aims to understand how stigma related to weight and body image in men informs our understanding of men’s health. Brandon’s research will address a gap in existing research on weight management and stigma, which has previously focused on women.

Renee McCauley (George Mason University) strives to understand how speaking with an accent impacts an applicant’s likelihood of being hired in job interviews, and how gender further informs this relationship. Renee hopes to improve our understanding of gender and accented speech as this intersection of identities has been underrepresented in the research to date.

Maggie McCracken (University of Utah) plans to further research the interaction between multisensory cues, focusing on the benefits of auditory cues when performing tasks which require the perception of distance. Maggie hopes to investigate if the presence of sound will improve the performance on distance perception tasks for people who are visually impaired.

Charlie McDonald (Binghamton University – SUNY) aims to identify the mechanism of dissociation, or the disruption of consciousness, emotions, and other cognitive functions. Charlie hopes to use virtual and augmented reality to inform the development of treatments for dissociation.

Margaret Powers (University of Louisville) aims to examine the relationship between abstract thinking skills and understanding or engaging with information about systemic racism. Margaret further aims to incorporate the results of this study into anti-racist work in explaining systemic racism to racially privileged groups.

Krutika Rathod (University of Maine) plans to continue researching the mechanisms associating substance use, specifically regarding cannabis, to socioeconomic adversity. This research will continue to advance the fund of knowledge on the social determinants of substance use in rural communities.

Joseph Slade (Oregon State University) strives to investigate the degree to which students retain information when using artificial intelligence (AI) databases, such as ChatGPT. Joseph’s study will not only focus on the depth of student engagement with course material as they use AI to complete tasks but will also investigate the impact of learning when students believe information was generated by AI versus humans.

Nikhila Udupa (Florida State University) aims to develop and validate a measure used to examine the uncontrollability of suicidal thought. Nikhila hopes to further examine the association between uncontrollability of suicidal thought and other control-related constructs.

Marie Wild (Cornell University) will examine the impact of relocating older adults to a senior living facility on their emotion regulation abilities. This research will advance our understanding of how aging impacts our emotion regulation behaviors and inform interventions aiding in the adjustment of relocation in older adults.

Alireza Zareian Jahromi (Fordham University) aims to conduct a longitudinal study to investigate the mental health outcomes of Iranian people living in the United States following sociopolitical events in Iran. This research further aims to understand the impact of emotion regulation strategies, acculturation, and perceived social support on mental health outcomes following these sociopolitical events.

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to all who participated in the 2023 JSF process! The APAGS Science committee and Psi Chi are committed to supporting research-oriented graduate students by promoting their work in psychological sciences. Participating in the JSF allows students to gain experience in grant writing, ultimately preparing them to apply for further funding and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Additional thanks to the APAGS reviewers for their time reviewing applications and providing valuable feedback to each applicant!

Posted by Sarah Kohnen, an APAGS Science Committee member and counseling psychology doctoral student at Chatham University. Feel free to reach out to Sarah with any questions you may have!

Introducing the 2022 JSF Winners

Every year, the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) and Psi Chi join forces to provide financial support to research-oriented students entering their first year (or a first semester of their second year) of a graduate psychology program. This year, 12 exceptional students were selected to be awarded a $1,000 grant dedicated to directly fund research-related costs in effort to contribute to society-at-large and the field of psychological science. Below are summaries for their anticipated research projects.


Sierra Walters (Florida International University) will be developing and validating novel machine learning algorithms to promote sensitive ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology to naturally assess reactions to familial conflict. This research aims to explore familial conflict phenotypes that are strongly linked to adverse outcomes in hopes to advance the knowledge and prevention of family conflict.


Eleanor Schuttenberg (University of Maine) aims to further elaborate on previous findings of the cognitive and psychological mechanisms of forgiveness by utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in adolescents. Furthermore, the EMA portion of the study will consist of a short-term intervention aiming to cultivate forgiveness. Eleanor’s research has potential to produce significant clinical and theoretical implications to utilize protective factors (i.e., forgiveness) in relation to mental health outcomes.


Elizabeth Hoelscher (Texas Tech University) aims to examine the relationship between trait emotion-related impulsivity, momentary negative affect, and suicidal ideation among young adults exiting inpatient psychiatric care. Elizabeth’s research will provide valuable insight into short-term risk factors of suicidality in a population deemed higher risk.


Sonakshi Negi (University of Kansas) will investigate the impact of emotion regulation
flexibility on eating behaviors and behavioral outcomes in real-life utilizing ecological
momentary assessment (EMA) methodology. Sonakshi hopes this study will contribute to the knowledge of the effects of emotion regulation on the biopsychosocial basis of eating disorders.


Valerie Wong (Rutgers University) will be examining positive rumination and disordered eating utilizing EMA methodology. Valerie hopes understanding the cognitive mechanisms (i.e., positive rumination) may explain why individuals may either respond adaptively to dieting versus unhealthy/harmful dieting.


Sumaiyah Syed (Southern Methodist University) aims to examine the potential health consequences of (formally) disadvantaged older adults who have strived and accomplished upward mobility (i.e., academic, economic, or psychosocial success). This study has the potential to advance knowledge in several health domains (e..g, psychological and public health) as it investigates the impact of skin-deep resilience, or the process of “overcoming the odds”, on biological aging.


Julie Pham (Southern Methodist University) will study the relationship between rumination, cognitive performance and resting heart rate variability (HRV) in older adults. Julie hopes that results from this research will inform cognitive and physiological implications of rumination and a sustained stress response.


Julia Nicholas (University of Louisville) aims to explore the psychosocial mechanisms
contributing to engagement of risky behavior among sexual and gender minority (SGM)
individuals. Given the negative implications of minority stress (e.g., negative affect and
emotional dysregulation), the current study aims to investigate how invalidation/validation of emotions may impact SGM individual’s capacity to engage in regulating emotion and subsequent risky behaviors. This study aims to inform prevention initiatives to specifically address emotional dysregulation and risky behaviors by training various individuals (e.g., parents, teachers, providers) to provide adequate validation and affirming environments for SGM individuals.


Cristina Nardini (Fordham University) aims to investigate the impact of stress and cognitive mechanisms (e.g., mindset) on psychological and academic outcomes among first-generation college students (FGCS) utilizing various methods, such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and experimental designs. Cristina hopes this study will elucidate economic and social disparities in FGCS in effort to provide valuable information to organizations with the aim of community-based engagement promoting obtaining college degrees.


Madelyn Harris (Boston College) will explore the potential mediational role of coping style in the relationship between vicarious grief (amidst online exposure to police murders of Black Americans) and mental health outcomes among Black Americans. Furthermore, Madelyn will qualitatively examine reactions to grief and trauma with aim to understand nuances in coping styles and subsequent well-being. This research will advance the literature on the overarching impact of trauma exposure, even in light of not being exposed to the actual traumatic event (e.g., police brutality) itself.


Kayla Wagler (Oklahoma State University) aims to examine how suicidal thoughts and behaviors are effected by experiencing minority stress among sexual minority individuals in real- time utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in addition to qualitative methodology. As research in this area has traditionally focused on cross-sectional methodology, this study will examine which type of minority stressor(s) may specifically predict suicidality in effort to inform tailored interventions.

Ei Thinzar (University of North Carolina – Greensboro) will utilize mixed methods to
examine parent-child emotion socialization and communication practices (i.e., reactions to child distress and the impact on regulating emotions). Furthermore, Ei aims to investigate how a parent’s cultural upbringing may influence emotional socialization as a parent. This research has the potential to advance knowledge of how early influences of culture and psychosocial risk (e.g., stressors) may impact future generations. Moreover, this project may inform workshops/clinical interventions aimed at promoting effective parent-child communication and healthy socioemotional child development.


Special thanks to the APAGS Science Committee members for their efforts in reviewing
applications this year! The Junior Scientist Fellowship (JSF) process is dynamic as it orients students to the process of grant writing in general – specifically, thinking critically about one’s research to inform intellectual merit and broader implications. Moreover, the JSF process primes students to the specific process of applying for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship by providing key feedback to improve their applications. Please take a look at this post by the Association for Psychological Science for more grant-writing tips and tricks.


Posted by Mitchell Mazzone, an APAGS Science Committee member and a clinical psychology doctoral student at Hofstra University. Feel free to reach out to Mitchell with any questions you may have!