Psychology Students Win Big in Research Forum

University graduate and undergraduate students showcased their research in eight areas at the 21st Annual Student Research Forum held March 30.

Undergraduate psychology students presented 16 out of the 19 posters in the Social and Behavioral Sciences division. Rachel Tillery, who worked in Dr. Charles Blaha's lab, won first prize in this division. Her poster was based on her honors senior thesis, "Contributions of Acetylcholine Receptors During Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation: Relevance to Parkinson's Disease."

Jennifer Maynard, Lawrence Houston III (undergraduate) and Theresa Acklie-McGaughey (undergraduate) from Dr. Randy Floyd's lab won first prize out of 14 posters in the graduate section of the Social and Behavioral Sciences division. Their poster was titled "G Loadings and Specificity Effects of DAS-II Core Clusters."

Deranda Lester and Tiffany Rogers from the Blaha lab won first prize in the graduate section of the Physical and Applied Sciences division. Their poster, titled "Pathways Involved in Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus for Treatment of Parkinson's Disease," was the only Psychology poster competing with entries from Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science.

Rebecca West, psychology doctoral student, presented the research for her dissertation, titled "The Role of Parent and Family Gambling in African-American Adolescent Gambling Behaviors," at the awards ceremony held in Rose Theater. She has worked under the guidance of Drs. Andy Meyers and Jim Whelan.

Pictured on Psychology's homepage with President Raines are Rachel Tillery (left) and Deranda Lester.

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