Kavita Jain Dissertation Award
The Kavita Jain Dissertation Award was established in memory of Kavita Jain, a graduate student in the Clinical Doctoral Program. The award is presented to the student who is judged to have the best dissertation of the year by a committee of faculty in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.
2024
Shrey Grover (Brain, Behavior & Cognition Program)
“Causal Investigations of Rhythmic Electrophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Healthy Cognition and Disease Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation”.
First Reader: Rob Reinhart
2023
Peter Luehring-Jones (Clinical)
“Alcohol Use and Condom Use Motivation Among MSM: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Motivational Processes Underlying Sexual Risk”
First Reader: Tibor Palfai
2022
Ryan Piers (Clinical)
“Depression in Parkinson’s Disease: Etiology, Identification, and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention”
First Reader: Alice Cronin-Golomb
2021
Emma Weizenbaum (Clinical)
“Cognition ‘In the Wild’: Using Smartphones to Assess Cognitive Variability in Healthy Adults and Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease”
First Reader: Alice Cronin-Golomb
2020
James Brissenden (Brain, Behavior & Cognition Program)
“Cerebellar Contributions to Visual Attention and Working Memory”
First Reader: David Somers
2019
Tessa Kritikos (Clinical)
“Meaning Making, Parenting, and Child Functioning in Military-Connected Families: A Longitudinal Study of Factors of Psychological Health”
First Reader: Martha Tompson
2018
Meia Chita-Tegmark (Developmental Science)
“Social Interactions and the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game: New Measures of Cognitive and Behavioral Phenotypes”
First Reader: Peter Blake
2017
Kate Bentley (Clinical)
“Examining the Effects of Two Transdiagnostic, Emotion-focused Interventions on Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Using Single-Case Experimental Design”
First reader: David Barlow
2016
Chloe Jordan (Brain, Behavior, & Cognition Program)
“Understanding Comorbid ADHD and Cocaine Abuse: Consequences of Adolescent Medication in an Animal Model”.
First reader: Kat Kantak
2015
Maya L. Rosen (Brain, Behavior, & Cognition Program)
“Functional MRI and Behavioral Investigations of Long-Term Memory-Guided Visuospatial Attention”
First Reader: David Somers
2014
Yakeel Quiroz-Gaviria (Clinical Program)
“Brain Changes in Presymptomatic Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease”
First Reader: Chantal Stern
2013
Kristin Ellard (Clinical Program)
“An Examination of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Acceptance Versus Worry in Generalized Anxiety Disorder”
First Reader: David Barlow
2012
Rebecca K. McHugh (Clinical Program)
“Assessing the Amplification of Distress: Factor Analytic, Experimental & Genetic Evaluation of Distress Intolerance”
First Reader: Michael Otto
2011
Christina Boisseau (Clinical Program)
“Neuropsychological Functioning and Temperament in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Eating Disorders: Investigating the Proposed Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum”
First Reader: Heather Thompson-Brenner
2010
Lauren DeVito (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“Contributions of the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex to the Episodic Memory Deficits Associated with Schizophrenia: An Analysis at the Genetic, Anatomical, and Behavioral Level”
First Reader: Howard Eichenbaum, Ph.D.
2009
Susan Fenstermacher (Human Development Program)
“Genetic and Environmental Influences on Imitation in Toddlers”
First Reader: Kimberly Saudino, Ph.D.
2008
Jonathan Robitsek (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“The Hippocampus and Episodic Memory: Insights from Studies on Aging and Place Cells”
First Reader: Howard Eichenbaum, Ph.D.
2007
Sigurros “Rosa” Davidsdottir (Clinical Program)
“Visual, Spatial, and Spatiotemporal Perceptual Deficits in Parkinson’s Disease and Their Association with Veering and Freezing of Movement”
First Reader: Alice Cronin-Golomb, Ph.D.
2006
Stephanie McMains (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“Mechanisms for Attending to Multiple Spatial Locations: fMRI of Divided Visual Attention”
First Reader: David Somers, Ph.D.
2005
Karin Schon (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“Functional MRI Studies of Working Memory Maintenance and Long-Term Encoding”
First Reader: Chantal Stern, Ph.D.
2004
Yolanda Black (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“Role of the Subicular Regions of the Rat Hippocampus on Cognitive Task Performance and Cocaine Self-Administration and Reinstatement Behavior”
First Reader: Kat Kantak, Ph.D.
2003
Meghan Searl (Clinical Program)
“A Combined fMRI and Neuropsychological Investigation of Frontostriatal Dysfunction in HIV-Positive Individuals”
First Reader: Chantal Stern, Ph.D.
2002
Robin Abrahams (Human Development Program)
“Personality, Literary Genre, and the Interpretation of Narrative”
First Reader: Richard Ely, Ph.D.
2001
Jeff Wincze (Clinical Program)
“The Role of Under-Inclusion in the Etiology of Compulsive Hoarding Behavior”
First Reader: David Barlow, Ph.D.
2000
Alison Morris (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program)
“Chocolate Dandy Bars Can Make You Fat: Sentence Context, Word Recognition, and Repetition Blindness”
First Reader: Cathy Harris, Ph.D.
1999
Lisa Jones-Woodward (Human Development Program)
“Awareness of Motor Deficits Following Stroke: Assessing the Roles of Attention and Intention Using a Quantitative Measure Anosognosia”
First Reader: Jackie Liederman, Ph.D.
1998
Lisi Levisohn (Clinical Program)
“Neuropsychological Sequelae of Cerebellar Tumor Resection in Children”
First Reader: Alice Cronin-Golomb,Ph.D.