Media, Awards, Announcements

The Lab of Dr. David Barker recently published a report in the European Journal of Neuroscience showing for the first time that neurons in a part of the brain's hypothalamus called the 'lateral preoptic area' are activated during key components of drug-seeking behavior.Dr. Barker, along with undergraduate student Vaishnavi Venkat, Dr. Mark West of the Department of Psychology, and alumni Dr. Kevin Coffey, examined the responses of lateral preoptic area neurons during drug-seeking behaviors,

 Maurice Elias, a psychology professor at Rutgers University and the director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab, says even thinking about having school without providing social-emotional learning is like having air without oxygen — it’s just not possible!  

 https://www.nj.com/opinion/2021/09/teaching-children-how-to-understand-and-manage-their-emotions-is-essential-opinion.html

Published research from Dr. Mark West’s lab has shown that chronic fentanyl self-administration generates a shift toward negative affect in rats during drug use, emphasizing that escape/avoidance of negative affect is a salient motivational factor reinforcing opioid addiction and supporting negative reinforcement as a driving factor for drug addiction. Read the article and learn more about how chronic fentanyl use generates negative affect in rats here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/8/1064

The department was thrilled to learn that Dr. Diana Sanchez was selected to receive the inaugural 2021 SESP Diversity Science Award. This award recognizes an early to mid-career individual who has made substantial, innovative, and sustained constributions to advancing the social psychology of diversity. Dr. Sanchez will receive this award at the upcoming Society of Experimental Social Psychology

New Jersey Association of School Psychologists’ Jane Bostrum Service to School Psychology Award is given to a school psychologist, general psychologist, an individual in a related field, or any individual or organization who has contributed to the field of school psychology given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession of school psychology: noteworthy recent contributions to the field, contributions over a long period of time, contributions to the professional literature,

Two new papers were just published by the Samuels Lab. Both papers were led by senior graduate student Andrew Dieterich. The first of these, published in Translational Psychiatry examined sex-specific deficits for motivated behaviors in an animal model of mood disorders.  The second paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience examines how a projection from the basolateral portion of the amygdala to the nucleus accumbens participates in the maladaptive behaviors that

We are extremely excited to announce that The Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey have passed a Joint Legislative Resolution to acknowledge Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Torres, and to praise her as an individual of strong character and exceptional determination. This legislature commends her and pays tribute to her meritorious record of service, leadership, and commitment to leading initiatives that have transformed research and treatments of autism in New Jersey. Dr. Torres' groundbreaking interdisciplinary work

Dr. John McGann's work, published in the journal Science in 2017 was recently cited by a New York Times article entitled "What Can Covid-19 Teach Us About the Mysteries of Smell?".COVID-19 has now become notorious for robbing individuals of their sense of smell, taking research on smell to the forefront of many scientific discussions.  Indeed, many individuals had taken smell for granted, considering it one of their weaker senses and the one they were most willing to lose.  Nonetheless, as

Dr. Elliot J. Coups earned his PhD in the Rutgers Social/Health Psychology Program in 2003 having worked with Drs. Richard Contrada and Gretchen Chapman, among other faculty as well as student collaborators. He held research positions at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Medical Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center before joining the Rutgers faculty where he was a full member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Associate Professor of Medicine at the RWJ Medical School, and of Health Education

In the Psychology Department, it is especially during times of high anxiety that students are drawn toward the Graduate Program Administrator and are fortunate to find Anne. They will show up to her office hours before their qualifying exam or thesis presentation asking about the various forms but, in point of fact, seeking any kind of assurance as they await their "trial." Anne responds to the requests with an efficiency that instills confidence but, more importantly, she recognizes the more salient