News

Quinnehtukqut McLamore awarded the fifth annual Keith Rayner Memorial Graduate Student Research Award

Quinnehtukqut McLamoreQuinnehtukqut McLamore, a fourth-year student in the Psychology of Peace and Violence concentration of the Social Psychology program working with Dr. Bernhard Leidner, was awarded the fifth annual Keith Rayner Memorial Graduate Student Research Award for the project, Challenge and Threat Framings of COVID-19 Messaging and Downstream Consequences.

Spring 2020 Newsletter

campus pond and grassy field in spring

Catch up with the latest PBS news in our Spring 2020 Newsletter, including spotlights on our talented students, faculty, and alumni!

Read full issue

Features include:

  • PBS holds Virtual Graduation Celebration
  • Emotions and patient care in the ER
  • Investigating how estrogens in the brain affect auditory learning
  • Alumni Profile: Courtney Keeton ‘05PhD, Clinical Psychologist
  • 2020 Psychology Major Senior Awards
  • Tweet Blitz: Undergraduate Theses

Educational app levels the playing field for preschoolers

school children use tablets in classroom

Scientists find Khan Academy app can help bridge the education achievement gap for at-risk children, an important finding during coronavirus-induced remote learning 

As millions of families struggle to keep their children learning while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary results of a randomized, controlled study led by David Arnold, psychological and brain sciences, show that 4- and 5-year-olds from low income families who used a Khan Academy Kids App for three months at home achieved “substantial gains in their pre-literacy skills that brought them nearly to the national average.” 

Directors of UMass Amherst Public Engagement Project Explain How Scholars Can Better Share Research with Non-Academic Audiences

Global coronavirus pandemic creates critical need for researchers to engage with journalists, policymakers, practitioners and advocates

from left, Amy Schalet, Linda Tropp and Lisa Troy
From left: Amy Schalet, Linda Tropp, and Lisa Troy

With the United States and the world facing an unprecedented health and financial crisis due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and with universities scrambling with budget shortfalls, the past and present directors of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Public Engagement Project say that there has never been a more pressing moment for researchers to demonstrate their tangible value to communities and the public at large.

Tweet Blitz: Undergraduate Theses

student works with child on IPadDoes sleep microarchitecture in preschoolers differ across levels of nap habituality? It appears so! We found that habitual nappers (5+/wk) have more slow wave activity over their occipital lobes when compared to occasional or non-habitual nappers. —Noah Miranda

enkephalin neurons
enkephalin neurons (in green)

What does addiction look like in the brain? Fluorescently labeling subtypes of neurons that communicate between specific brain regions that regulate stress, reward, and motivation allows researchers to identify pharmacological targets for treating the behaviors underlying addiction. —Anthony Ferranti

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