The Academy’s Psychology Section has announced the winners of the prestigious 2008 James McKeen Cattell Award for "Outstanding Dissertation in Psychology." The award, in its 38th year, draws a distinguished pool of candidates from around the United States.

This year, the awards committee honored three researchers:

Vicente Martinez, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dissertation: A Repeated Amphetamine Model of Impaired Attention in Schizophrenia; Mentor: Dr. Martin Friedrich Sarter

Tatiana Pollo, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.; Dissertation: The Nature of Young Children’s Spellings; Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Treiman

Jason Reiss, University of Delaware, Newark, Del.; Dissertation: Object Substitution Masking: What is the Neural Fate of the Unreportable Target? Mentor: Jim Hoffman

The mentor and doctoral program that directed the winners will also be awarded a citation certificate. Dissertations are judged by the Section’s Steering Committee and in consultation with specialists in the area.

Mercedes A. McCormick, PhD, Vice Chair of the Psychology Section 2008-2009, was responsible for processing applications and distributing the dissertations to the panel of distinguished internal and external reviewers that decided on the Cattell Award winners. Also playing key roles in the process were Section Chair Ting Lei and Section Steering Committee members Richard Velayo, PhD; Florence Denmark, PhD; Bob Wesner, PhD; Ed Hollander, PhD; Uwe Gielen, PhD; Sheila M. Pfafflin, PhD; Frank Le Fever, PhD; Jeff Fish, PhD; Gwen Gerber, PhD; and Joanne Williams, PhD.

Interested applicants for the 2009 James McKeen Cattell award may send an e-mail of interest to Mercedes McCormick at mmccormick2@pace.edu.