Psychology award recipients at university-wide competition

Psychology PhD student Stephanie Madden places in top three at the UMass Lowell 3MT competition.

UMass Lowell student teams, including Mock Trial, a cyber security team, Model United Nations (U.N.) and an investment class, are on a winning streak this year.

Just like students, every faculty member has a “first day” in a new classroom. Here’s what the first day was like for Asst. Prof. of Psychology Sarah Merrill, who is continuing a family legacy at UMass Lowell.

Students can customize their studies to meet their personal interests and goals through the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree. They choose two concentrations among 27 options in UML’s flexible, interdisciplinary program.

Asst. Prof. Yun-Ju Lai of the Solomont School of Nursing is leading a study that uses virtual reality to help UMass Lowell students improve health and well-being.

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran is much more than a struggle over whether women must wear the hijab, said exiled feminist activist, poet and scholar Fatemeh Shams, the 2024 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies.

A theatre arts collaboration between Haverhill High School and UMass Lowell, led by alumna Melissa Allen ’15 and Prof. Shelley Barish, serves as a bridge to college for young students.

Asst. Prof. of Psychology Jiabin Shen will study the effects of injuries on children with autism, analyzing the disparities between risk factors, health care and financial costs.

A new program aims to support transfer students so they can hit the ground running during their first semester at UML. The Transfer Alliance Program employs peer allies who are also transfer students.

A multigenerational group of UML alumni created the Lowell Youth Leadership Program, a nonprofit that runs a free summer camp for underserved kids designed to help them become self-confident, socially connected community leaders.

A health sciences professor is the new director of the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity. A researcher specializing in cardiovascular disease, Assoc. Prof. Mahdi Garelnabi brings extensive experience working on diversity within the American Heart Association and other groups.

Students in the Introduction to Gerontology course interviewed retired faculty about their lives and careers.

Psychology major Chioma Opara was among 10 students worldwide who were accepted to the Future Nobel Laureate Scholarship Program last year. Her journey culminated with a week in Sweden in December, learning and hearing from Nobel Laureates.

Students in health sciences are gaining research experience in Lowell, working alongside an adult advisory group and local agencies to help make the city an “age-friendly” community.

The city of Lowell is working in partnership with university researchers to get people with opioid use disorder into services and out of the criminal justice system. New grants are expanding the city’s diversion efforts, including for police calls involving people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Psychology Assoc. Prof. Urmitapa Dutta and her students do community action research together with Miya people in Northeast India who are being stripped of citizenship by the government.

Professors in music and psychology are running EcoSonic Playground music camps for children with autism spectrum disorder. UMass Lowell students are getting hands-on teaching. experience, too.

What are the best predictors that child sexual abuse cases will be investigated and prosecuted? Professors in psychology and criminology analyzed hundreds of cases and found that support from a child’s parent or other caregiver was the clearest factor. 

Three criminology professors have a federal grant to study police who join far-right extremist groups that engage in domestic terrorism, while one has another grant to study former and active-duty military personnel in such groups.

Sean Ellis, who spent almost 22 years in prison before he was exonerated in the murder of a Boston Police detective, told students that they could be in his shoes. 

Psychology Assoc. Prof. Rocio Rosales is leading a $914,000 grant that will train UML master’s students in applied behavior analysis and autism studies to collaborate with special education teams – and master’s students in special education at Lasell University to understand applied behavior analysis.

The new ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity aims to change the culture across campus for faculty from underrepresented and marginalized groups. It builds on the programs and research of the five-year, National Science Foundation-funded Making WAVES program.

This summer, a UML support program for first-generation college students is piloting a “First to Launch” program on campus for incoming first-year students. With support from two recent grants, the River Hawk Scholars Academy is also expanding its services to sophomores, juniors and seniors. 

Joseph Sheedy was a man who embodied lifelong learning. He earned his final degree in Psychology from UMass Lowell, posthumously.

Jiabin Shen's new $713,112 research grant from the National Institutes of Health will help him further his quest to improve the quality of life for children and adolescents suffering brain injuries.

Prof. Stephen Balsis is part of a $3.74 million National Institutes of Health grant to improve the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries that can lead to CTE.

As Massachusetts officials advised everyone to stay at home to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus, students are adapting to studying online – and adopting coping strategies to help manage the upheaval.

UML's Elissa Johnson-Green's EcoSonic Playground melds music with STEM and ends up being a whole new thing at the regional science fair.

A large gathering recently celebrated the unveiling of a student-painted portrait of late FAHSS Dean Nina Coppens. It is, say friends and family, exactly what she would have wanted.

When the Honors College dean put out the call for volunteers at a local food pantry, dozens of students stepped up, allowing Central Food Ministry to serve more families. Now, two honors student fellows are helping to sustain and grow the partnership.

The start of the spring 2020 semester brings the reopening of the university’s earliest academic building, Coburn Hall, as well as a new home for the Centers for Learning and Academic Support Services and progress on several other Facilities Management projects.

UML’s College of Education is working with the state and local school districts to recruit future teachers who represent the Merrimack Valley’s diversity. Lawrence High School students visited the campus recently to learn more about careers in education – and campus life.

Under a new partnership, 20 high school graduates from Washington, D.C., are studying at UMass Lowell this fall with merit scholarships. It’s part of the university’s mission to support students from all backgrounds in getting a great college education.

When criminal justice students intern for credit, they get real-world experience and a broader perspective on the careers available to them. And some internships lead to great jobs.

For his entire career, Psychology Prof. Robert Kunzendorf conducted research on human consciousness, from sensory consciousness and subconsciousness to consciousness of the self. He was just named editor of the leading journal in the field, “Psychology of Consciousness.”

More than 280 students finished the academic year by presenting their work at the annual Student Research & Community Engagement Symposium. Many of the students’ research projects aimed to solve or engage real-world problems, from public health to violent crime.

Education, psychology and art faculty worked with community groups to collect folktales from four Southeast Asian countries and turn them into a book that can be used in the Lowell schools.

Alum Nicole Falotico ’11 was one of five Tesla employees who recruited UML students for summer internships and co-op positions via a video conference presentation at Saab ETIC’s Perry Atrium.

Yusef Salaam, a member of the “Central Park Five” who spent years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, talked with students about the pressure to plead guilty even when you are innocent. He came to campus for a panel discussion on the notorious case of Kalief Browder.

Yusef Salaam, a member of the “Central Park Five” who spent years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, talked with students about the pressure to plead guilty even when you are innocent. He came to campus for a panel discussion on the notorious case of Kalief Browder.

Asst. Prof. Miko Wilford has won a five-year, $498,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant to study an urgent issue for the justice system: Why innocent suspects plead guilty.

The Honors College has a dedicated advisor and a “Transfermation” peer mentoring program to help transfer students. The goal: Make the transition as smooth as possible.

Assoc. Prof. Wilson Palacios is researching new approaches to prevent opioid overdoses and the spread of disease in Lowell. Meanwhile, Asst. Prof. Angela Wangari Walter is identifying barriers to prevention, treatment and recovery for fishing industry workers in New England.

Psychology Prof. Meg Bond, an expert in workplace sexual harassment and director of the university’s Center for Women and Work, has been named University Professor for 2018.

Operation250, which began as a student project to combat terrorism, is the subject of a $1 million U.S. government grant to develop and evaluate its program for teaching children, teenagers, parents and educators about online safety, hate sites and terrorist recruitment tactics.

Disability Services – and the entire campus – supports students by embracing universal design principles in buildings and technology while also offering individual help.

Most arrests end in guilty pleas instead of trials, and research suggests that many innocent people plead guilty to escape the threat of a long prison sentence. A psychology professor has teamed up with an art professor to make plea bargains easier to research – and to change an unjust system.

For Mary Humble, studying at UMass Lowell is the fulfillment of a dream – after her high school education was cut short in Ireland nearly 60 years ago. Her daughter recently joined her on campus, and her granddaughter starts at UML this summer.

When student interests cross the borders of traditional academic disciplines, they turn to interdisciplinary studies and the Bachelor of Liberal Arts program to customize their education.

This year, the Honors College offered 100 fellowships to students who wanted to delve into research, read broadly outside their majors, intern at a nonprofit or create something original. The fellowships pay students for 100 hours of work with a faculty, staff or community mentor.

The top-to-bottom renovation of Coburn Hall will allow the College of Education to return to its historic home – with updates that will carry it into the future.

UMass Lowell and UMass Medical project will help train professionals.

Four social science professors, led by Asst. Prof. Neil Shortland, have won a $794,000 Department of Defense grant to study the interaction between personality and messaging in online terrorist recruitment and counterterrorism efforts.

Assoc. Prof. of Education Judith Davidson says the best way for her graduate students to learn research methods is by practicing them. So she teamed up with faculty in the First-Year Writing Program on a project that allowed graduate students to learn how first-year students navigated the transition to college – and where they stumbled.

Assoc. Prof. Richard Serna has won a $250,000 National Institute of Mental Health grant to create training software featuring a virtual child with learning difficulties associated with autism. The interactive software will help address a shortage of behavioral technicians.

A growing partnership between the university’s Autism Studies Program and a new treatment center in Lowell offers multiple opportunities for students and graduates. The PrideStar Center for Applied Learning employs UML students and alumni and offers research opportunities for faculty and graduate students.

Two journalism majors are profiling students, faculty and staff at #HumansofUML as their honors capstone project.

Students Nick and Elizabeth Raymond are siblings with completely different interests and personalities. In fact, the main thing they share is a genetic condition. They’re living proof that a disability doesn’t define you.

In early 2016, Asst. Prof. of Psychology Yana Weinstein started tweeting advice to panicked students on how to study effectively. A colleague, Asst. Prof. Megan Sumeracki at Rhode Island College, quickly joined in. Now the website for their group The Learning Scientists, its Facebook page and its Twitter feed at @AceThatTest have thousands of followers.

The Southeast Asian American Studies Conference at UMass Lowell drew scholars and policymakers, artists and activists from around the country for three days of shared learning and performance.

Neil Shortland of the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies has won a $531,000 grant to study military decision-making jointly with HEROES, the Army’s Natick Soldier Center and researchers at Tufts University and the University of Liverpool.

A Lowell firefighter and two other veterans trying to join the fire department are taking advantage of the new Master of Public Administration program to learn skills that will help them advance in the department.

As babies and children and when we’re sick, disabled or dying, we all need care – and most of that care is provided by women working for low or no wages. It’s time to change that, according to speakers at the Global Carework Summit.

The annual Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium showcases research and service-learning projects in the arts and humanities, as well as the sciences and social sciences.

Honors students are learning about the hero’s quest in a new film and literature class, A Call to Adventure, and preparing to become the heroes of their own adventurous lives.

Five students who created a counterterrorism program won a trip to Washington and third place in an international competition. The Peer to Peer: Challenging Extremism contest taps college students’ savvy to help the Department of Homeland Security counter extremist messaging and recruitment, using social media.

Devon White, a new graduate of the Autism Studies Program, moved to Kuwait to help run the first affordable and comprehensive treatment center there.

Students in the Emerging Scholars program work with professors on research projects, gaining valuable experience and earning money.

The first students in UMass Lowell’s new Master of Public Administration program are getting a crash course in how to manage public and private agencies in the arts and humanities, criminal justice and human services.

Chemical engineering major New Michael Ingemi is a writer, performer and co-founder of Asperger’s Are Us, a comedy troupe that’s the subject of a new documentary by the same name.

Members of the campus Student Veterans' Organization find healing, support and camaraderie as members of the New England Warriors sled hockey team for disabled players.

Researchers at UMass Lowell are bringing together fields as diverse as psychology, education, nursing, economics, and engineering to build a Center for Autism Research and Education.

The Career & Co-op Center is targeting FAHSS majors with several innovative programs, including Employer-in-Residence days and a one-credit course on career preparation.

Christopher Allen, an assistant professor of psychology, has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to further his research on sexual violence and prevention.

In study-abroad course in Czech Republic, Assoc. Prof. Jana Sladkova’s students see immigration issues and refugee crisis through different lens.

A group of psychology, math, engineering and education professors and students, working with fiber artists, are using textiles to teach STEM concepts with the hope of reducing math anxiety in girls and young women and improving learning for all.

Asst. Prof. Urmitapa Dutta researches ethnic and gender violence in the Garo Hills of Northeast India – and involves students in everyday peace-building.

The Lowell campus has won three UMass Creative Economy grants that will fund educational projects on Southeast Asian folklore and immigrants, environmental history and animation.

EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum spoke at the Women’s Leadership Conference about a new task force report on workplace harassment. Psychology Prof. Meg Bond, director of the Center for Women and Work, served on the task force and recommended preventive strategies.

Criminal justice majors take diverse paths – into policy, nonprofits and research.

UMass Lowell is expanding its autism research and degree programs to help people with autism spectrum disorders.

Enrollments are climbing at the Division of Online and Continuing Education, thanks to new degree programs and national recognition.

New graduate degrees combine specialized knowledge in humanities and sciences with business management, data analysis and leadership skills.

The UMass Lowell Center for Asian American Studies is conducting research and building relationships to benefit the larger community.

UMass Lowell offers undergraduates hands-on research opportunities. Watch one student's research experience.

Like many students entering college, Danielle Cole had trouble deciding on her major. Now a senior in Sociology, she's working on interdisciplinary research -- and loving it.

Doreen Arcus, an expert on child development, foster care and teenage behavior, answered questions that parents ask.

Studies show that college students, like their K-12 counterparts, learn better with hands-on approaches.

UML Asst. Prof. Andy Hostetler received a $97,000 grant to study the needs of Lowell's Elderly.