Psychology Staff Spotlight Award – Victor Tang
Victor Tang joined our department in June 2021, during a time when our operations had fully transitioned to remote work. Despite being one of the first staff members that was onboarded and trained entirely remotely, he learned quickly and demonstrated his ability to adapt and execute his responsibilities as a fund manager. Victor is always ready to take on additional challenges, learn new skills and share that knowledge with his team. More recently, he has become a subject matter expert on payment disbursement systems for our undergraduate student population, which is not an area of expertise that many fund managers have. Victor’s promptness, professionalism and willingness to learn new skills has enabled him to serve as a trusted resource for our faculty and students. His collaborative mindset makes a meaningful impact on our unit and on the department as a whole. Furthermore, his love of television and musical theatre make him a fun and interesting colleague to engage in conversation. We are grateful for Victor’s contributions and proud to recognize him for his dedication and outstanding performance. Congratulations, Victor!
Prof. Adelman Receives Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award
Congratulations to Professor Howard Adelman for receiving the Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award from the Research-to-Policy Collaboration (RPC) in recognition of his public impact and contribution to researcher and policymaker engagement. This award is given to scholars who have demonstrated commitment to achieving the public benefit of research at scale through public policy relationships by engaging in the RPC model activities.
Highlighting Faculty Member Patricia Cheng
The philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn asks: what must nature be like in order for science to be possible at all? As a cognitive scientist, my research asks a parallel question: what must we humans assume the world be like for us to comprehend it?
Prof. Christensen Receives 2025 Alfred M. Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research
Congratulations to Distinguished Research Professor Andrew Christensen for receiving the 2025 Alfred M. Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research from the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. He was selected for the award based on his numerous and outstanding contributions to the profession through scholarship, supervision, development of innovative interventions, and professional involvement at the state, national, and international level. More information is available at the National Register’s website.
Prof. Craske Included on 2025 Highly Cited Researchers List
Congratulations to Distinguished Professor Michelle Craske for being named among the world’s most influential scholars, according to the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics. The annual list identifies scholars whose work has been cited most often in papers published by other researchers in their fields over the past 11 years. Researchers selected for the 2025 list have authored multiple studies that rank in the top 1% of scholarly citations worldwide. More information is available at the UCLA Newsroom.
Prof. Montoya Appointed Chair of Open Science and Methodology Expert Panel
Congratulations to Associate Professor Amanda Montoya for being appointed as the next Chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Open Science and Methodology (OSM) Expert Panel. Her two-year term will be from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027.
Four Professors Appointed to Endowed Chairs
Congratulations to the following faculty for being appointed to term chairs endowed by Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey. Avi Adhikari has been appointed to the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair in Behavioral Neuroscience. Bridget Callaghan has been appointed to the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair in Developmental Neuroscience. Dave Clewett has been appointed to the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience. Tiffany Ho has been appointed to the Wendell Jeffrey and Bernice Wenzel Term Endowed Chair in Behavioral Neuroscience.
Psychology Staff Spotlight Award – Becca Bell
Highlighting Faculty Member Barbara Knowlton
My lab is focused on understanding learning and memory. Much of my work is motivated by the insight that learning is not a unitary phenomenon but consists of very different types of learning that depend on different brain systems.
Prof. Parkinson Receives 2025 S4SN Early Career Award
Congratulations to Associate Professor Carolyn Parkinson for receiving a 2025 Early Career Award from the Society for Social Neuroscience (S4SN). This award recognizes the formation of new approaches or paradigms within the field of social neuroscience, and/or the development or advancement of research that cuts across multiple fields of neuroscience to understand social cognition and behaviour.
Erin Morrow (Cognitive Area) was quoted in a New York Times article !
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
Congratulations to Fran Querdasi (Developmental Area) for receiving the 2025 Millard Madsen Distinguished Dissertation Award for the best developmental dissertation.
Congratulations to Fran Querdasi (Developmental Area) for receiving the 2025 Millard Madsen Distinguished Dissertation Award for the best developmental dissertation. 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.
Congratulations to Kaitlin McManus (Clinical Area) for being selected by the Pritzker Committee for Excellence to receive the sixth annual Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award.
Congratulations to Kaitlin McManus (Clinical Area) for being selected by the Pritzker Committee for Excellence to receive the sixth annual Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award. 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.
Congratulations to Shiba Esfand (Clinical Area) and Julia Fischer (incoming Quant Area) for being selected for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).
Congratulations to Shiba Esfand (Clinical Area) and Julia Fischer (incoming Quant Area) for being selected for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Both Shiba and Julia previously received Honorable Mention accolades and were recently notified that they were selected for the NSF GRFP.
2025 UCLA Psychology Graduate Hooding Ceremony
Congratulations to the 18 participants who participated in the Psychology Graduate Hooding Ceremony! We wish our students much success in their futures!
Prof. Monti Selected as Fulbright U.S. Scholar
Congratulations to Professor Martin Monti for being selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for 2025-2026 for Japan. Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious fellowships that offer scholars unique opportunities teach and conduct research abroad, playing a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy.
Congratulations to the graduate students who successfully defended their dissertations during Fall 2024, Winter 2025, and Spring 2025, and those expecting to file in Summer 2025
Congratulations to Xochitl Arlene Smola (Developmental Area) for receiving the 2025 Dena Chertoff Graduate Student Service Award
Congratulations to Xochitl Arlene Smola (Developmental Area) for receiving the 2025 Dena Chertoff Graduate Student Service Award. Established in 2009 to honor Dena Chertoff (who served as Graduate Advisor for 38 years), this departmental award honors graduate students who have made outstanding contributions to the overall well-being of the students, faculty, and staff in the department.
Congratulations to Molly Smith (Social Area) for receiving the Harold H. Kelley Award
Congratulations to Molly Smith (Social Area) for receiving the Harold H. Kelley Award for her paper titled “Can Generative AI Chatbots Emulate Human Connection? A Relationship Science Perspective.” This award has been given since 1997 and honors an exceptionally meritorious research paper addressing basic issues or theory in social psychology.
Congratulations to Ryan Sabillo (Social Area) for receiving the Shelley Taylor Dissertation Award
Congratulations to Ryan Sabillo (Social Area) for receiving the Shelley Taylor Dissertation Award for his dissertation titled “Blurring Boundaries: A Social Categorization Approach to Facilitate Tolerance Toward Diversity.” This award has been given since 2013 and honors an exceptionally meritorious dissertation completed by a graduate student whose primary advisor is in the Social Area.