Past News: July 2021
For recent news, please visit the Recent News page.
New review paper published in Neuropharmacology
Published: July 6th, 2021
"A new review paper written by Psychology's Dr. Serafine and Dr. O'Dell has been recently accepted for publication in a special issue of the journal Neuropharmacology. The special issue is called Vulnerabilities to Substance Abuse.This review paper highlights data from humans and animals that demonstrate overlap between food and drugs when it comes to neurobiological, metabolic and behavioral effects. The authors discuss how exploring these intersecting effects is relevant for understanding vulnerability to conditions related to food (e.g., obesity, binge eating disorder) and drug (e.g., substance use disorder) misuse. This review includes data from animal models, clinical populations and epidemiological evidence in behavioral, genetic, pathophysiologic and therapeutic domains." For details, please visit the link.
New research from PhD student Nicholas Evans and Dr. Adam Fetterman: Fetterman et al., 2021
Published: July 12th, 2021
"UTEP PhD student Nick Evans, former UTEP Assistant Professor Dr. Adam Fetterman, and colleagues have published a manuscript in PLOS ONE titled What shall we call God? An exploration of metaphors coded from descriptions of God from a large U.S. undergraduate sample. The article examines common metaphors for God, with findings pointing to important implications for psychological and behavioral outcomes of using such metaphors..." For details, please visit the link.
UTEP Professor to Study COVID-19’s Effect on Hispanics
Published: July 16th, 2021
"A faculty member in The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Psychology plans to expand on her recent study into the pandemic’s effect on the mental health of college students, and put a greater focus on the Hispanic population. Katherine M. Serafine, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and director of UTEP’s Serafine Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, helped design the survey experiment used by Nora Charles, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) School of Psychology..." For details, please visit the link.
UTEP Graduate Student Earns Prestigious Fellowship
Published: July 16th, 2021
"The Society for Neuroscience announced recently that Israel Garcia-Carachure, a behavioral neuroscience doctoral student at The University of Texas at El Paso, would be one of its 2021-23 Neuroscience Scholar Program (NSP) fellows. This is among the most prestigious fellowships offered to early-stage researchers in the neuroscience field. Most NSP fellows come from the nation’s top tier research universities. Garcia was among 18 fellows selected from a group of national applicants. The first-generation college student said he was thrilled with the fellowship, which begins this fall, and said he may be the first Miner to be an NSP fellow. Regardless, he said he would be proud to represent UTEP and its Department of Psychology..." For details, please visit the link.
Dr. Christine Potter awarded $250,000 grant from James S. McDonnell Foundation
Published: July 23rd, 2021
"Dr. Christine Potter [from the UTEP Department of Psychology] has been awarded $250,000 from the James S. McDonnell Foundation through the Understanding Human Cognition Opportunity Awards program. This project, titled Effects of financial concerns on low-income parents’ speech to children, will be carried out in collaboration with Drs. Casey Lew-Williams and Eldar Shafir of Princeton University..." For details, please visit the link.
UTEP Ph.D. Student Earns Social Justice Fellowship
Published: July 29th, 2021
"Diana J. Lopez, a doctoral student at The University of Texas at El Paso, was named to the inaugural list of Social Justice Fellows of the Memorial Foundation, the organization behind the construction of the national Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Lopez, who completed her first year of borderland history studies, is one of 50 individuals nationwide that the foundation picked to participate in the eight-week fellowship that started July 8, 2021..." For details, please visit the link.
