Giving in Action: Psychology & Neuroscience
Student Support
25
Fellowships Awarded
17
Scholarships Awarded
Donor-Supported Improvements
The Learning Hub
When looking to name the brand new undergraduate academic resource center for psychology and neuroscience majors, we were struck by a particular definition of the word, hub—‘the effective center of an activity, region, or network’. True to its name, The Learning Hub provides welcoming spaces for all our majors, with the goal of encouraging them to engage in both formal and informal learning. Students not only interact with learning assistants, teaching assistants and faculty in this center, but also network and foster relationships with one another.
Emerging Faculty Research
Thanks to generous donor support, faculty in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience are able to conduct cutting-edge research like that highlighted below.
Joshua Correll
Joshua Correll joined the faculty in 2012. He studies the way people perceive one another across the divide of social categories like race and gender. His research examines how race can capture our attention and lead us to misidentify the people we meet. As a developer of the Chicago Face Database (www.chicagofaces.org), his work provides critical tools for research on face perception across disciplines like psychology, law, computer science, and communications. His most recent studies use eye-tracking, morphing, and machine learning to explore the way the physical features of a face (e.g., the size and shape of the eyes or nose) promote recognition, and how this process goes awry when viewing members of an outgroup. He is also developing and testing interventions, including training via an iPhone app, to help people perceive and conceive of each other as individuals rather than just as members of a category.
June Gruber
June Gruber joined the faculty in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in 2014. Gruber is a leader in clinical psychology and the science of happiness, where she and her students conduct research to understand how our emotions play a role in understanding bipolar and depressive mood disorders and severe mental illness. Discoveries in her lab include understanding the emotional ingredients—using surveys, facial behavior, and brain imaging—that predict optimal happiness and well-being as well as better understanding the features of challenges of emotional difficulties adolescents and adults face in current societal times. Some current projects are exploring how mental health has been impacted by the pandemic and global stressors and expanding diversity and inclusion of clinical psychology research towards understanding mental health disorders among historically under-studied and marginalized communities (e.g., Latinx/e young adults) and studying mood disorders across cultures. Another area of Gruber’s work focuses on studying gender disparities women face in the sciences and elevating the experiences and their role in psychology.
Listen to Gruber on The Ampersand podcast.
