President's Section:
History of Scientific Psychology
by Kelli Vaughn-Blount, APSSC President
There is no more difficult moment for a researcher than that which puts the foundations of your theory in question. Luckily, as students, it is not a moment that will come as soon as it will for others in our profession. We are trained to build a body of research around a few closely associated ideas and to parlay that into a career. What happens if those ideas begin to unravel, what then? Psychology has not historically been extremely forgiving of those whose theories become outdated even when they attempt to modify them or to step outside the softly padded box they created for themselves. But I digress; this month I am wondering how the behaviorists must have felt the first time they read Keller Breland and Marian Breland’s 1961 aptly titled article “The Misbehavior of Organisms.” That is not to say that this was the first or the last article to challenge classical conditioning theories. It was however one that did it with such simplicity and ease that the fundamentalist’s heart-career break must have been palpable. Then again, I could be wrong, check out the article for yourself. Can you hear it?

Run for the APSSC Board!
by Kelli Vaughn-Blount, APSSC President
If you are an APS student affiliate who is interested in getting more involved with the APSSC, you should consider running for one of the 2009-2010 Student Caucus Executive Board positions! This is a wonderful opportunity for both professional and personal development as well as way to be involved with this organization during its annual convention! For more information about the positions and the duties for each, go to the APSSC main page and the APSSC bylaws.

To nominate yourself, please send the following materials via email to
Kelli Vaughn-Blount (apssc.president@psychologicalscience.org):

• MS Word document with the following information:

  A) Name
  B) Position for which you are interested in running
  C) University
  D) Research Area
  E) Year in Program / School
  F) Contact Information (email / phone / address)

• Curriculum Vita
• A brief statement of interest (describe why you are interested in the position, your familiarity with the responsibilities of the position for which you are running, and your understanding of the purpose of APSSC.)
• A formal candidate statement (describe your qualifications for the position (e.g. relevant experience, abilities, skills, etc.). This statement will be posted during in the elections and seen by the voters. Do not include any mention of what you would specifically do in the position.)

Requirements: All candidates must be able to attend the upcoming annual convention in San Francisco, CA (May 22-25th, 2009) and the APSSC fall meeting (one weekend in late September, paid for by APS).

To run for a position, you must be a graduate student – except for the Undergraduate Advocate position, for which you must be an undergraduate student.

Nominations will close at midnight (EST) on Friday, March 6th 2009.

Funding opportunities and deadlines for March & April
by Lisa E. Hasel, APSSC Past-President
Do you qualify for any of these awards? If you do, now is the time to act because the deadlines are fast approaching!

March 1st

• New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee’s Shirtcliffe Fellowship
• Psi Chi’s Summer Research Grant
• Society for Neuroscience’s SfN-IBRO International Travel Award

March 2nd

• American Psychological Foundation’s Esther Katz Rosen Fellowship
• American Psychological Foundation’s Wayne F. Placek Grants
• Elderhostel’s Elderhostel K. Patricia Cross Doctoral Research Grant

March 10th

• The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Cooke Graduate Scholarships

March 12th

• The Leverhulme Trust’s Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships

March 20th

• Experimental Psychology Society’s Undergraduate Research Bursaries

April 1st

• American Psychological Association’s Student Travel Award

April 8th

• National Institute of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA / NHLBI) for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellows (F30)

April 15th

• American Australian Association’s Australia to US Fellowship
• American Psychological Foundation’s Paul E. Henkin Travel Grant
• National Institute of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (F31)
• National Institute of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Predoctoral Fellowship Training in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (F31)
• National Institute of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research

April 24th

• Canadian Society for Industrial Organization and RHR’s Kendall Award
• Canadian Psychological Association's Section on Women in Psychology Student Paper Award
  

For more information about these opportunities and more, check out the APSSC's Online Funding Database!

Have a Look at the March Student Notebook – Non-Academic Careers: Plan A, Plan B, or Simply Curious
by Peter M. Vernig, APSSC Student Notebook Editor
Yale’s Agata Gluszek brings to light some of the issues surrounding pursuing a career outside of academia. While many students and faculty alike may spend little time considering this option, a variety of fulfilling careers await psychologists willing to leave the halls of academe. Gluszek discusses some of these options, and provides pointers for graduate students.

Helpful Hint for March:
Know what to expect at the Convention
by Jeremy Ashton Houska,
Communications & Marketing Officer
Many of you will be attending an APS Convention for the first time this May. Do you have that excited-nervous feeling? I will admit that I did at the 19th Annual Convention in Washington, D.C.

If you are eagerly anticipating the Convention, go ahead and read Ingrid Preusche's article in the September 2005 issue of the Observer. I think some of your questions may be answered about how to contact other researchers, what occurs at poster sessions, and the importance of attending Student Events.

I agree whole-heartedly with Preusche's statement: "If you are a student or a young scientist, go there! You can get in contact with other scientists, the convention itself is interesting, and you can benefit from it and receive valuable of input for your own research."

The APSSC E-News is a monthly publication of the Association for Psychological Science Student Caucus and is prepared by Jeremy Ashton Houska, APSSC Communications and Marketing Officer. Please direct all feedback on the E-News to him at apssc.cmo@psychologicalscience.org

UNSUBSCRIBE from the APSSC E-News by sending an e-mail to Jeremy Ashton Houska, APSSC Communications & Marketing Officer at apssc.cmo@psychologicalscience.org

PLEASE NOTE: If you received this e-mail from any source other than APS, you have likely been forwarded the e-mail by another party. In this case, if you wish to stop receiving our e-mails, please contact the sender, not APS.

Bookmark the APSSC webpage at http://www.psychologicalscience.org/apssc/