A warm congratulations to our amazing Psi Chi Local Chapter Award winners for the 2016-17 academic year!
Suedfeld Scholar Award Winner, Manesh Girn 
The Suedfeld Scholar Award is designed to recognize and honour one Psi Chi member per year with the all-around most outstanding combination of academics, research and service. Manesh is in his final year at UBC, and will graduate with a BA in Cognitive Systems in May. He is actively involved in Dr. Kalina Christoff’s Cognitive Neuroscience of Thought Lab and Dr. Lawrence Ward’s Psychophysics and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. Together with his research supervisors, Manesh has co-authored a number of journal articles and book chapters. He has presented his research at such conferences as the Society for Neuroscience, and is President of the UBC Meditation Community and the UBC Psychadelic Community. After graduation, Manesh plans to spend another year as a research assistant in Drs. Christoff’s and Ward’s labs before starting his PhD. Congratulations to Manesh!
Eich Undergraduate Travel Award (EUTA) Winners,
Dawson Born
Ariel Ko
Elizabeth Leong
Joey Manaligod
Katherine Moore
Austin Rothwell
This year, we were able to fund six outstanding Psi Chi members in their efforts to build skills related to the presentation of research and to foster networking skills with researchers in the student’s field of interest.
Goldsmith-Whillans Award for Outstanding Student Leadership Winner, Thalia Lang
The Goldsmith-Whillans Award is designed to honour one Psi Chi member per year with the most impressive evidence of leadership on the UBC campus or in the community. Thalia is a third-year honours student interested in the impact of psychopathology on relationships. She is chair of the UBC United Way Student Committee and works with children with autism as a Behavioural Interventionist. She is currently wrapping up her AMS Impact Grant study on the effects of interpersonal factors on suicidal ideation and attempts of first-year students transitioning to UBC. Thalia hopes to become a clinical psychologist and professor one day.
Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award (DURA) Winner, Ariel Ko
The Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award (DURA) is designed to honour one Psi Chi member per year who has the most impressive evidence of outstanding research on the UBC campus or in a UBC-related facility/program. As a fifth-year psychology student, Ariel currently holds research positions in three labs. She is conducting bilingual language studies on toddlers at the UBC Infant Studies Centre, leading an investigation on the cultural differences in parents’ attitudes and knowledge of ADHD at BC Children’s Hospital, and examining the relationship between perfectionism and attachment in children and adolescents as the project manager at UBC’s Perfectionism and Psychopathology Lab. Recently, Ariel had the opportunity to present her research at Harvard’s international undergraduate research conference. She is also currently working towards her first publication as a co-author on clinical treatments for perfectionism. Ariel will be graduating in May, and plans to spend her summer exploring different countries in Asia. She will be returning to UBC in September as a master’s student in clinical psychology.