Eric D. Cortez (Health Area) received an LGBT Health Scholar Award from the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine for his poster titled “Intersectional Discrimination and Mental Health Among Sexual Minority Men of Color: Ethnic Identity as a Buffer.”
Karissa Tran (Health Area) received a Scholar Award from the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine for her poster titled “HIV-related shame and alcohol use among men who have sex with men: The mediating role of posttraumatic stress symptoms related to being recently diagnosed with HIV.”
Haley Wang (Clinical Area) was quoted in a New York Times article titled “How Bad Are A.I. Delusions? We Asked People Treating Them.” The article is available at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/chatgpt-delusions-psychosis.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HVA.OTAL.5yUw4lKRQkTD&smid=url-share
Naomi Gancz (Developmental Area) received a National Institute of Mental Health F31 fellowship grant titled “Oral Microbiome Dysregulation as a Contributor to Depressive Symptoms and Altered Brain Connectivity in a High-Risk Sample of Youth,” with Associate Professor Bridget Callaghan as sponsor.
Glen Spiteri (Cognitive Area) was featured in a UCLA Newsroom article titled “A connection forged by language.” The article is available at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/connection-forged-by-language-maltese.
Sydney Tran (Social Area) was awarded a Clara Mayo Grant from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for her project titled “Asian Americans, their racial position, and their view of intergroup relations.” The grant program was set up to support masters’ theses or pre-dissertation research on aspects of sexism, racism, or prejudice.
Glen Spiteri (Cognitive Area) was awarded a Humane Studies Fellowship from the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University for his project titled “A computational theory of moral circle expansion and contraction.”
Erin Morrow (Cognitive Area) was quoted in a New York Times article titled “To Protest Budget Cuts, Young Scientists Try Letters to the Editor.” The article is available at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/science/science-budget-cuts-protest-letters.html?smid=url-share.
Fran’s dissertation is titled “Early Caregiving Adversity and Internalizing Symptoms in Middle Childhood to Adolescence: Gut Microbiome and Inflammatory Mechanisms,” and her dissertation committee chair is Bridget Callaghan.
The Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award is intended to support graduate students in the Department of Psychology who demonstrate excellence in the conduct of psychological science with the potential for high public impact.