University of South Carolina Psychology Department Chair's Blog

Sara St. George Wins Outstanding Thesis Award

mindsee — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:43:58 +0000

Sara St. George has been awarded the University of South Carolina Graduate School’s 2012 Outstanding Thesis Award in the Social Sciences, Business & Education category. Sara is a graduate student in the clinical-community program. The title of her thesis is: Teens talkin’ health: A qualitative study of family, peer and intrapersonal factors related to physical activity and healthy eating in underserved African American adolescents.

Congratulations Sara!

Bridgette Tonnsen Wins National Research Service Award from NIH

mindsee — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:24:54 +0000

Congratulations to Bridgette Tonnsen, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Bridgette has won a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award.

The project is titled: “Predicting Autism through Behavioral and Biomarkers of Attention in Infants.”

Under the mentorship of Psychology faculty members Drs. Jane Roberts and John Richards, Bridgette will investigate the relationship between autistic behavior and behavioral and biomarkers of visual attention during infancy. This work builds on Dr. Roberts’ recently awarded R01 grant from NIH that investigates infants at high risk for autism, including infant siblings of children with autism and infants with fragile X syndrome, as well as Dr. Richards’ ongoing research on visual attention in typically developing infants. Bridgette will implement computerized attention orienting and visual preference paradigms integrated with concurrently-measured heart-defined attention. She will apply these paradigms within high-risk infant samples evaluated prospectively from 6-24 months of age. Bridgette’s study is among the first to apply these integrated methods to the prospective surveillance of infant attention in autism, as well as to compare behavioral and biomarkers of attention across high risk infant siblings of children with autism and infants with fragile X syndrome. Findings may promote earlier detection and treatment of autism by informing the timing, emergence and specificity of early attention predictors.

During her 2.5 year award period, Bridgette will pursue specialized training in developmental cognitive neuroscience theory and methodology, biological underpinnings of neurodevelopmental disorders, and advanced quantitative methodology. By integrating developmental cognitive neuroscience into her training program, Bridgette hopes to strengthen her capacity to contribute to theory and advance methods to the early detection field, thus facilitating earlier diagnoses and treatment for children affected by neurodevelopmental disorders.

Psychology Department in National Top 20 for Research Expenditures

mindsee — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:47:16 +0000

Every year the National Science Foundation issues a report summarizing research and development expenditures from all sources in the science and mathematics disciplines. The most recent report places Psychology at the University of South Carolina in the top 20 for the discipline nationally. Only one other area at USC (environmental science) was in the top 20 in its field. The department ranks higher than many of the strongest and most highly ranked departments in the country, including Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, and Yale.

This achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of the members of the department and is yet another clear indicator of the rising national stature of Psychology at USC.

Dr. Chris Rorden Appointed Chair in Neuroimaging Research

mindsee — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:46:51 +0000

Dr. Chris Rorden has joined the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina as the SmartState Chair in Neuroimaging Research. Rorden has also been named the director of the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging.

Rorden studies the behavioral difficulties experienced by individuals after brain injury. Most of his work centers on stroke, the leading cause of disability in the United States. He uses neuroimaging and brain stimulation to study brain activity and to understand the difficulties in speech production and perception that result from stroke, and to predict treatment outcomes. He also studies epilepsy, the leading major neurological disorder.

“The college is delighted that Professor Rorden is serving as the scientific leader of the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging, which uses emerging methods to understand brain function in infants, children and adults,” said Dr. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Rorden is working with other scientists at the university who conduct stroke-related research. Rorden said the SmartState chair at USC was appealing for several reasons.

“There are certain motivating factors as a scientist,” Rorden said. “The university has good facilities, which include the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging. It also has a critical core of neuroscience researchers and a vision for both.”

“We are delighted to have attracted a scientist of Dr. Rorden’s caliber to the department and the McCausland Center,” noted Dr. John Henderson, chair of the Department of Psychology. “This appointment highlights the department’s and university’s strong commitment to growth in basic and translational neuroscience.”

The South Carolina SmartState™ Program (previously known as the CoEE Program) was created by the South Carolina legislature in 2002 and is funded through South Carolina Education Lottery proceeds. The legislation authorizes the state’s three public research institutions, Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence in research areas that will advance South Carolina’s economy.

Psychology Chair Named Academic Leadership Development Program Fellow

mindsee — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:19:58 +0000

Drs. Ralf Gothe, Irma Van Scoy, John Henderson, and Joel Samuels

John M. Henderson, PhD, College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, has been named an Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) Fellow for 2011-2012.

The program, established by the Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium (SECAC) in 2007, is designed to help develop the leadership skills of tenured faculty on SEC campuses who have demonstrated exceptional ability and leadership promise. The ALDP mission is to identify, develop, prepare, and advance faculty as academic leaders in and for the SEC universities.

Faculty Positions Available in the Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina

mindsee — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:28:07 +0000

The Department of Psychology invites applications for three tenure-track Assistant Professors with research interests in cognitive neuroscience. The target appointment date is August 16, 2012.

Candidates must have demonstrated the ability to conduct research that augments and complements our existing technical expertise in brain stimulation, event related potentials, and magnetic resonance imaging using our 3T Siemens Trio (see www.mccauslandcenter.sc.edu for more information), and expertise in an area of cognitive neuroscience. The area of expertise is open for two of the positions, including but not limited to language, attention, and perception. The third position is focused on memory. A Ph.D. or MD in a relevant discipline is required, as successful applicants are expected to lead their own research program and teach. Applicants must demonstrate potential to acquire external grant funding. Teaching and postdoctoral experience is strongly preferred. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Applicants should submit a letter describing their interests and credentials, curriculum vitae, statements of research and teaching interests, accomplishments, three letters of recommendation and copies of selected publications.

Electronic application submissions are preferred and should be emailed to lewterv@mailbox.sc.edu with Cognitive Neuroscience Search in the subject line. Paper submissions may be sent to:

Cognitive Neuroscience Search
Department of Psychology
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208

For full consideration, all application materials must be received no later than October 1, 2011. Inquiries may be addressed to Professor Chris Rorden (rorden@mailbox.sc.edu) or Professor John Henderson (john.henderson@sc.edu).

The University of South Carolina is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply. The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or veteran status.

RAN – 03/17/11

Graduate Student Dorian Lamis Publishes Book

mindsee — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:46:00 +0000

Congratulations to Clinical-Community PhD Student Dorian Lamis, who has published an edited volume on the important topic of “Understanding and Preventing College Student Suicide”. The book was published in August by Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd. It is quite an accomplishment for a student to serve as the lead author on a book while still in graduate school. This achievement is representative of the activities of the outstanding cohort of graduate students in the Department of Psychology.

Prof John Richards Receives Prestigious NIH MERIT Award Renewal

mindsee — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:47:16 +0000

John Richards, PhD, Carolina Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina, has been awarded a second five years of funding for an NIH MERIT Award. The title of the award, funded through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH, is Development of Sustained Attention in Infants. Dr. Richards has been continuously funded by NIH for the past 25 years. The 5-year renewal will increase that record to an impressive 30 years of continuous NIH funding.

The research project examines the patterns of attention found in normal children, relates those attention patterns to physiological processes, examines potential brain areas that may be involved in those attention patterns, and may provide a model preparation for the study of children with irregular patterns of attention.

The overall objective of the MERIT Award program is to provide productive investigators with a history of exceptional talent, imagination, and with a record of preeminent scientific achievements the opportunity to continue making fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value.

MERIT Awards provide long-term, stable support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are likely to continue in the future and are intended to foster their continued creativity and lessen the administrative burdens associated with the preparation and submission of research grant applications.

MERIT awards are given in recognition of exemplary research programs that have been continuously NIH supported for at least three cycles of funding, and for which two concurrent competitive renewals receive a top score in their study section, and for which no revisions or amendments were required.

An investigator can only receive one in a lifetime, and only about 5 percent of NIH-funded investigators receive a MERIT award.

Dr. Bret Kloos Wins Fulbright Fellowship

mindsee — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:32:23 +0000

Dr. Bret Kloos, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, has won a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to conduct collaborative research in Portugal.

The Fulbright Award focuses on promoting community integration, adaptive functioning, and recovery for persons diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) in Lisbon, Portugal. Kloos will be working with colleagues at the Instituto Superior Psicologia Aplicada – Insituto Universitario Lisboa. The largest mental health hospital in Lisbon closed in 2011. In Portugal as in the U.S., there is increasing need to better understand how to support the growing number of persons diagnosed with serious mental illness living in community settings (e.g., apartments) rather than large institutions. The award will allow Kloos to undertake an intensive research collaboration with ISPA-IU researchers on psychiatric services and polices and teach cutting edge research methodologies in this area. His research collaborators in Lisbon recently received a large research grant that will develop community-engaged, participatory methodologies for investigating functioning in community settings. A complementary purpose of the Fulbright award is to help build the capacity of Portuguese scholars and mental health service professionals to develop, implement, and evaluate evidence based practices that best support persons with serious mental illness living in community settings.

Mind and Brain Colloquium Series

mindsee — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:27:33 +0000

Last October I posted a quote from Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Kandel– “Cognitive Neuroscience–With its concern about perception, action, memory, language and selective attention—will increasingly come to represent the central focus of all Neurosciences in the 21st century.” At that time I noted that the Psychology Department had initiated a colloquium series highlighting the relationship between mind and brain.

This year I’m excited to report that the department is continuing this series. We have already had two visitors to the department in August who presented stimulating discussions of their research.

Early in August, Dr. Philippe Schyns, Head of the School of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging at the University of Glasgow, gave a presentation titled Information Processing States and Their Transitions Inferred from Brain Activity.

Later in the month, Dr. Gina Kuperberg from Tufts University and Massachusetts General Hospital, presented her research directed toward the question What Can ERPs (and fMRI) Tell Us about Language Comprehension.

And there’s more to come. We’re looking forward to several additional talks over the coming months (stay tuned here for more information), including an upcoming talk by Dr. Joel Nigg from the Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Nigg is a world-leading expert on ADHD. His research combines a variety of approaches to understanding this important problem, including behavioral studies, neuroimaging, and molecular genetics.

What an exciting way to kick off the new academic year in the department!