Congratulations to Lucas Strickland for receiving the Shelley Taylor Dissertation Award
Lucas Strickland (Social Area) received the Shelley Taylor Dissertation Award for his dissertation titled “Perceiving Gender Identity: Mental Representation, Categorization, and Evaluation of Transgender Targets.” 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.
Congratulations to Kasheena Rogbeer for receiving the Harold H. Kelley Award
Kasheena Rogbeer (Social Area) for received the Harold H. Kelley Award for her paper titled “Solidarity as a Bridge: Shared Discrimination Is Indirectly Associated with Voting Intentions Among People of Color.” This award has been given since 1997 and honors an exceptionally meritorious research paper addressing basic issues or theory in social psychology.
Congratulations to Alexair Gonzalez and Molly Smith for receiving the Bertram Raven Award
Alexair Gonzalez (Social Area) and Molly Smith (Social Area) for received the Bertram Raven Award for their papers titled, respectively, “Is Assimilation Still a Requirement for Acceptance in the U.S.? Perceptions of Latino Assimilation among White Republicans and White Democrats” and “Individual, Interpersonal, and Socioeconomic Predictors of Divorce: A 12-Year Prospective Study.” This award has been given since 1997 and honors an exceptionally meritorious research paper addressing a social issue or problem. This year, the award committee chose to honor two papers.
Two Assistant Professors Selected as 2026-27 UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows
Congratulations to Assistant Professors Jaime Castrellon and Yi Feng for being selected as 2026-27 UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows. The program provides support and encouragement for the research of promising Assistant Professors who show capacity for great distinction in their research.
Congratulations to Yesenia Aguilar Silvan for receiving the 2026 Dena Chertoff Graduate Student Service Award
Yesenia Aguilar Silvan (Clinical Area) for received the 2026 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 Kevin Tan for receiving the 2026 Joseph A. Gengerelli Distinguished Dissertation Award
Kevin Tan (Social and Affective Neuroscience Area) received the 2026 Joseph A. Gengerelli Distinguished Dissertation Award for having the most outstanding dissertation in our department this year. This award honors Professor Gengerelli, who is remembered for his teaching, guidance of students, innovative research, and departmental leadership.
Congratulations to Tyrus Korecki for being selected by the Pritzker Committee for Excellence to receive the seventh annual Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award
Tyrus Korecki (Health Area) was selected by the Pritzker Committee for Excellence to receive the seventh 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 Leah Cha and Tyrus Korecki for receiving Honorable Mention accolades for the Health Psychology Graduate Research Award
Leah Cha (Health Area) and Tyrus Korecki (Health Area) for received Honorable Mention accolades for the Health Psychology (Division 38 of the American Psychological Association) Graduate Student Research Award.
Congratulations to Robin Blades for receiving a Society for Health Psychology Graduate Student Research Award.
Robin Blades (Health Area) received a Society for Health Psychology (Division 38 of the American Psychological Association) Graduate Student Research Award.
Congratulations to the following Clinical Area Award recipients
Michelle Chang: Senior Clinical Scientist Award Melanie Dratva: Stanley Sue Distinguished Research Award Chris Machle: Clinical Scientist Award Kaitlin McManus: Charles Y. Nakamura Research, Teaching, and Mentorship Award Rddhi Moodliar: Senior Clinical Scientist Award Haley Wang: Michael J. Goldstein Distinguished Dissertation AwardCongratulations to Louisa Lyu , Lisa Shen ,and April Su for receiving Liu Yunghuo Bei Qui Memorial Awards
Louisa Lyu (SAN Area), Lisa Shen (SAN Area),and April Su (Developmental Area) received the Liu Yunghuo Bei Qui Memorial Awards.
Congratulations to Heather and Lisa Shen for receiving Clara Leplin & Beatrice Rasof Awards
Congratulations to Heather Jensen (SAN Area) and Lisa Shen (SAN Area) for received the Clara Leplin & Beatrice Rasof Awards.
Congratulations to Erin Morrow for receiving the Atamdede Award
Erin Morrow (Cognitive Area) for received the Atamdede Award.
Congratulations to Ashley Flores for receiving the Monica Salinas Scholarship Award in Latino Mental Health and Research
Ashley Flores (Clinical Area) for received the Monica Salinas Scholarship Award in Latino Mental Health and Research.
Congratulations to Rocio Burgos-Calvillo for being selected to participate in the Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) program.
Rocio Burgos-Calvillo (Developmental Area) was selected to participate in the Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) program. Rocio’s proposal for an undergraduate course titled “Culture, Psychology, and the College Experience” has been approved for funding.
Congratulations to the following11 graduate students for receiving a Graduate Research Mentorship (GRM) Award, which is designed to assist doctoral students in acquiring and developing advanced research skills under faculty mentorship
| Name | Area |
| Blandl, Flora | SAN |
| Cheng, Yuhan | Clinical |
| Goldberg, Esther | Cognitive |
| Jensen, Heather | SAN |
| Kang, Jee Won Diane | Clinical |
| Liu, Shiyin | Clinical |
| Naclerio, Maria | SAN |
| Pratt, Julia | BNS |
| Pratt, Sam | SAN |
| Smith, Molly | Social |
| Su, April Chi Jiun | Developmental |
Highlighting Faculty Member Zili Liu
Why does the world look the way it does? We experience vision as direct contact with reality. The world appears to be “there,” fully formed in front of us. Yet from the perspective of the brain, perception is an extraordinarily difficult problem. The retinal image is only two-dimensional (2D), incomplete, and fundamentally ambiguous. Many different 3D worlds could produce the same image projected onto the retina. And yet, almost effortlessly, we perceive a stable and coherent reality. My research asks how the brain accomplishes this.