Psychology and Human Factors News

Category: News

Kayla Conn receives CLS Department Scholar Award

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MTU Junior, Kayla Conn, was selected by CLS as the 2020 Department Scholar. Kayla is a Psychology major, minoring in Global Community Development. Academically, Kayla strives to excel in her coursework, has strong teamwork skills, and demonstrates a curiosity and depth of understanding that we strive for our students to obtain.

Kayla has participated in two internships thus far. She served as an intern at the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Domestic Violence Shelter in Calumet, where she was trained in answering the domestic violence crisis line, lead child care and group therapy sessions, and ensured clients’ needs were met while residing at the shelter. She is currently an intern at Counseling Services, assisting with event planning and implementation. In addition, Kayla has been offered a paid internship this summer with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Kayla is also a member of the Women’s Leadership Council (Executive Board member 2019-2020), a Student Ambassador for the College of Sciences and Arts, and a Young Women Leaders Program Mentor.

Congratulations Kayla!

To see the full virtual awards ceremony, click here.

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Psychology Research Methods 2020 Poster Conference Zooms Out!

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Congratulations to Michigan Tech’s psychology students who presented their original research posters today to CLS faculty and graduate students…over Zoom! (That’s a first!)

The research, which students worked on all semester, covered a range of topics from personality to human factors, decision making to well-being.
Great job Huskies!

“The Effect of Mindfulness within Pre-Game Rituals on Self-Reported Confidence and the Acute Effects of Mindfulness on Present State of Well-Being” by Emilie Jacques and Tyrell Buckley.

“The Effects of Priming with Informative Videos on Likelihood to Report Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder“ by Ashley Van Handel, Erin Casey, and Emily Wisz.

“The Effects of Gamer Status and Gender on Impulsivity in Decisions and Thoughts” by Mariah Clement.

“The Effect of Word List Length on False Memory Generation Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott Paradigm” by Alex Pippenger

“Impact of Self-Esteem on Levels of Regret in Action-Inaction Decision Scenarios” by Brooke C. Poyhonen.

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Two CLS Students Receive Awards

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Brooke Poyhonen, who was recently accepted into the ACSHF Accelerated Master’s program, and two classmates won 2nd prize for their coursework poster as part of the World Water Day events held by the GLRC.

“My group and I presented our poster on the potential climate change impacts on the waterborne transmission of Giardia Lamblia.  Giardia is an intestinal parasite that is transmitted through a fecal-oral route, which can be through contaminated water, food, or soil.  Giardia infections are common in children, because they most typically have poor hygiene practices and tend to place many things in their mouths.  The mortality rate for Giardia is relatively small, but if climate change continues at the rate it is now, we will see an increase of Giarda-based infections worldwide, but especially in developing countries where clean water sources are already scarce.  This impact could lead to higher death rates, especially in the elderly and young children. “-Brooke Poyhonen.

World Water Day Poster
Brooke Poyhonen and classmates’ World Water Day poster that won 2nd prize

Tyrell Buckley, psychology major, was one of 92 recipients of the 15th annual WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award the league announced on February 27. To see the full story, click here.

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Call for Applications: Songer Research Award for Human Health Research

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Matthew Songer, (Biological Sciences ’79) and Laura Songer (Biological Sciences ’80) have generously donated funds to the College of Sciences and Arts (CSA) to support a research project competition for undergraduate and graduate students.

Remembering their own eagerness to engage in research during their undergraduate years, the Songers established these awards to stimulate and encourage opportunities for original research by current Michigan Tech students. The College is extremely grateful for the Songers’ continuing interest in, and support of, Michigan Tech’s programs in human health and medicine.

Any Michigan Tech student interested in exploring a medically related question under the guidance of faculty in the College of Sciences and Arts may apply. Students majoring in any degree program in the college, including both traditional (i.e., biological sciences, kinesiology, chemistry) and nontraditional (i.e., physics, psychology, social science, bioethics, computer science, mathematics) programs related to human health may propose research projects connected to human health. 

Submit applications as a single PDF file to the Office of the College of Sciences and Arts by 4 p.m. Monday, March 30. Applications may be emailed to djhemmer@mtu.edu.

Read more about the Songer Research Award here.

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Q & A: Nicole Lopez

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Nicole Lopez shooting at range

Before she became an FBI agent, 2008 Michigan Tech graduate Nicole Lopez guarded terrorists in military prisons and conducted night raids as part of an elite military team identifying High Value Targets in Afghanistan. None of the accomplishments came easy. Hearing loss, discovered in early childhood, presented extra hurdles.

But the psychology major, who minored in military arts and sciences and Spanish (later earning a master’s in forensic psychology), knew that figuring out what you want and pursuing the goal for as long as it takes will take you where you want to be—from Army ROTC cadet and setter on the Michigan Tech Women’s Volleyball team to a fulfilling career investigating violent crime.

Read more on Michigan Tech News

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Farewell Dr. Stacy!

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Dr. Stacy and students

The Association of Psychology Students hosted a farewell party for Dr. Peter Stacy on December 12. Known for his sweet tooth, students and staff made sure cake, cookies, and hot chocolate were on hand.  Dr. Stacy worked for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for 30 years prior to joining CLS in 2006. When comparing his 13 years with CLS to his previous career, Dr. Stacy believes his biggest impact has been with the students here at Michigan Tech.

“Dr. Peter Stacy has been one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the privilege to work with. His teaching is amazing; award winning in fact. Our students love him, and he cares very much about our students’ futures. As an adjunct faculty, he worked just as hard as a full-timer! For the past 13 years we have had the honor of working with Peter in his “second career” and will always consider him part of our family.”-Susan Amato-Henderson, Department Chair

Faculty and staff also took the opportunity during the party to recognize the 5 psychology students graduating at the end of the Fall semester.  Graduates were given gift bags with items to commemorate their time here at CLS. Once again, congratulations to the following students:

Elis Brehob
Adam Dodge
Hali Evans
Rose Hildebrandt
Caden Sumner

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CLS Faculty Hosts Doctoral Consortium in Barcelona

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ACSHF faculty, Dr. Elizabeth Veinott, hosted the 2019 CHI Play Doctoral Consortium workshop for the 2nd year.  This time the CHI Play conference was held in Barcelona, Spain from October 22-25. Dr. Veinott enjoyed working with 11 doctoral students from Universities on  four continents.  CHI Play is an interdisciplinary ACM conference for researchers across all areas of play, games, and human-computer interaction.

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CLS Faculty and Students Attend Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Conference

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Nine faculty and students at conference
Pictured left to right: Samantha Smith (Fac), Margo Woller-Carter (alum), Kelly Steelman (Fac), Alexandra Watral (MS Stud), Abigail Kuehne (UG Stud, Accelerated MS), Shruti Amre (Ph.D. Stud), Susie Amato-Henderson (Fac), Lavanya Rajesh Kumar (Ph.D. Stud). Missing from photo: Dr. Beth Veinott (Fac), Kaitlyn Roose (Ph.D. Student)

The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences supported the travel of 9 faculty and students to attend this year’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Conference in Seattle October 28 – November 1, 2019.

We are beyond proud of this group of fine people, and ESPECIALLY love that we are not the “typical” faces of scientists in this field, or at Michigan Tech.

Six Tech undergraduate and graduate students attended and met folks from a variety of government and industry research labs, presented the ACSHF department poster, and all around enjoyed Seattle.

Dr. Elizabeth Veinott organized a panel on Training and Transfer: Exploring issues of embedded training in complex systems with industry and Coast Guard partners.  As systems become smarter, development cycles are accelerated, and operational requirements are more dynamic, new ET models, methods, and evaluation strategies are needed.  Dr. Veinott talked about her research developing embedded decision training for different operational teams.  Kaitlyn Roose, one of her PhD students, also attended HFES before heading off to have Esport discussions at BlizzCon.

Dr. Samantha Smith served as co-chair of a session on the use of physiological measures in cognitive engineering and decision making and also presented a research lecture on the relationship between cerebral hemodynamics and sustained attention. In addition to the keynote presentations, Dr. Smith particularly enjoyed attending discussion panels centered around systems and strategies for promoting human factors teaching and learning, and strategies for enhancing equality in the field of human factors and ergonomics.

Dr. Kelly Steelman served as the chair of a session on Perception and Safety on the Roads. As a 2019 HFES Science Policy Fellow, she also attended trainings with the HFES Government Relations Committee and Lewis-Burke Associates to learn more about government affairs and opportunities to impact the policy process. A highlight of the trip was attending a VIP tour of the Boeing Everett Factory to see the many aspects of human factors in aircraft manufacturing and workplace safety.

Nine faculty and students at conference

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Kaitlyn Roose Discusses The Psychology of Esports in APA Podcast

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Russell Shilling, PhD, guest host for Speaking of Psychology and chief scientific officer for the American Psychological Association, sat down at APA2019 to talk with Shawn Doherty, PhD, and Kaitlyn Roose, MS, to discuss the psychology of esports, the benefits of gaming on higher level cognition and the culture of video games.

If you would like to listen to the full podcast, click here.  The link also provides a full transcript and video of the interview.

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