On September 8, join us for our first “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit.
A diverse team of people from the psychology community will be responding to your questions from u/UBCPsych. You can also find us at r/UBC.
This is a chance for new and returning students to ask us questions about our psychology programs, student resources, research opportunities, life as an RA, student clubs, and much more, in real time.
Meet the psychology people taking part and learn about the kinds of questions they can answer!
PANELISTS
Faculty
Steven Barnes
Steven Barnes is an Associate Professor of Teaching and Associate Head, Undergraduate Affairs in UBC’s Department of Psychology. He is known for his work related to online learning technologies (e.g., Tapestry Project; TYDE Project), student mental health and wellbeing, and bipolar disorder. He is the recipient of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, the top national award given for teaching in any discipline in any postsecondary institution in Canada.
Ask me about:
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Online learning technologies
- Where to go when you have concerns/complaints about your Psychology degree or courses
- My own experiences as a UBC student (undergraduate and graduate) in Psychology (albeit in a different century!)
- Emerging technologies
- Artist-Scientist collaborations
- Online learning in the time of COVID
Benjamin Cheung
Benjamin Cheung is a Lecturer and Indigenous Initiatives Coordinator in the Department of Psychology at UBC. His research interests include scholarship of teaching and learning, service and experiential learning, cultural psychology, and student engagement.
Ask me about:
- What it’s like to teach, or preparation for teaching
- Being at UBC throughout my years as an undergrad student, grad student, and now faculty
- Non academically: Gaming, hockey, sushi, or anything else!
Deborah Giaschi
Deborah Giaschi is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and an associate member of the Department of Psychology where she teaches courses on sensory systems and perceptual processing. She is the recipient of a Killam Teaching Prize. Her research at BC Children’s Hospital examines the typical and atypical development of vision and of reading. She is also the coordinator for the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards competition in the Faculty of Medicine.
Ask me about:
- Summer student competitions
- Visual perception
- Approaching professors about: reference letters, working/volunteering in labs, etc.
Kiley Hamlin
Kiley Hamlin is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at UBC and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Psychology. Her work explores the earliest developmental origins of the human moral sense, by examining precursors to moral cognition and action in preverbal infants.
Ask me about:
- Research opportunities in psychology
- Honours program
- Developmental psychology area/courses
Jay Hosking
Jay Hosking is a Lecturer in UBC’s Department of Psychology where he teaches a number of courses related to neuroscience and psychology. He is also the advisor for the BSc Behavioural Neuroscience program.
Ask me about:
- The Behavioural Neuroscience program
- Courses related to neuroscience (e.g. PSYC101, 207, 301, 304, 370/371)
- The intersection between neuroscience and psychology
- How psychology is underselling itself as a rigorous scientific discipline
- How to maximize your time during undergrad
- What grad school is like
- Careers inside and outside of academia
- Balancing your academic career against your many other interests
Toni Schmader
Toni Schmader is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at UBC with expertise in Social Psychology. She is the Director of the Engendering Success in STEM Consortium. She is the Director of the Social Identity Lab where she examines how people are affected by various social identities, stereotypes, and biases.
Ask me about:
- Research opportunities
- Tips for doing well in your courses
- Social psychology and courses available
- Advice for graduate school
Eva Zysk
Eva Zysk is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology and at Vantage College, UBC. Her research interest include contamination fears in OCD, virtual reality therapy for Social Anxiety, and student presentation anxiety. She has received awards for her teaching, including the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award. She is passionate about helping students settle into and enjoy university.
- Student transitions into university
- Student presentation anxiety
- University motivation, time-management & hacks
- How to succeed at university (e.g. growth mindset!)
- Mental health and wellbeing
- First Year Psych classes
- My own experiences as a UBC undergraduate
- Post-graduate programs in the UK
Students
Carolyn Baer
Carolyn Baer is a PhD Candidate in Developmental Psychology at UBC working with Drs. Darko Odic and Susan Birch. Her research explores the cognitive building blocks that allow children to learn efficiently about the world, including critical thinking skills and social reasoning.
Ask me about:
- Whether you need to go to grad school in psychology
- How to apply for an RA position (and actually get it)
- How to apply for grad school
- How to make the most of your undergraduate or graduate experience in Psych
Oscar Cetnarowski, 4th Year, BA Honours Student
Oscar’s research and volunteering are with the Personality, Emotion, and Behaviour Lab which focuses on suicide, emotion, nonsuicidal self-injury, and borderline personality disorder. In addition to schoolwork and research, he also volunteers as a call taker for Options Community Services which answers calls to 1-800-Suicide, the Fraser Health Crisis Line, and 310Mental Health Support.
Ask me about:
- Transferring from college into the honours program
- Volunteering/working in a lab
- Time management for coursework, labwork, and volunteering
Joshua Cunningham, President, Psychology Students’ Association
Josh is a 4th year B.Sc Behavioural Neuroscience Student in the Psychology Department at UBC and the current president of the PSA. With the PSA, Josh strives to create a community for the Psychology department with his team by organizing social events throughout the year. Through academic events, the team also brings together knowledgeable experts to help the professional and academic development of students in the PSA and hosts an undergraduate research conference at the end of the year. He has volunteered in the Behavioural Neurogenetics lab with Dr. Catharine Rankin and wrote a thesis last year investigating how nociceptor stimulation in C. elegans development affects habituation. Outside of school Josh spends his time volunteering at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital as well as with St. John Ambulance as a first aid attendant.
Ask me about:
- Psychology Students’ Association Details and Membership
- Social Events for Psych Students
- Academic Events for Psych Students
- Life in Behavioural Neuroscience B.Sc
- Balancing Class Work, Volunteering, Work, and a Social Life in University
- Volunteering in labs (Behavioural Neurogenetics Lab with Dr. Catharine Rankin)
Abhi Dasgupta, Psi Chi Co-President
Abhi is a 3rd Year B.A Psychology student with a minor in Education (Interpersonal Development) at the University of British Columbia. He is currently a research assistant in The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress lab with Dr Joelle LeMoult studying the peripheral biology that characterizes co-occurring depression and anxiety. Abhi was also a Wellness Peer at the UBC Wellness Center. He is interested in providing undergraduate students with academic and professional development opportunities at the University of British Columbia.
Ask me about:
- Psi Chi Membership
- Being a Research Assistant in Psychology labs.
- Undergraduate Psychology
- Transition from High School (IB) to University
- Life at UBC
Jia Yue He, 4th Year, BA Honours Student
Jia Yue is a 4th year BA Honours student in psychology and English. She is the laboratory manager of the Social Accuracy Lab of Dr. Jeremy Biesanz, has held a Quinn Research Assistantship and volunteers at the MAGIC lab (investigating the effects of demotivating influences on people of differing socioeconomic statuses) under the supervision of Dr. Kristin Laurin, and will be joining the Social Identity Lab as a research assistant investigating how gender norms affect LGBTQ+ individuals. She is deeply interested in interdisciplinary approaches to studying social issues, the social impact of academic research, education, rhetoric and language.
Ask me about:
- Studying multiple specializations (double major, double honours)
- Working/volunteering in a psychology lab (RA in SAL, MAGIC, SIL)
- Writing (academic and otherwise)
- Being a new teaching assistant/tutor/mentor, adapting to pandemic times
- (Also open to answering fun questions. Can speak at length about cats, Wikipedia, and fiction)
Griffin Rutledge, 4th Year, BSc Behavioural Neuroscience Honours Student. Under the supervision of Dr. Stan Floresco and Graduate Student Nicole Jenni, he completed his third year thesis investigating the functional role of the mOFC-DMS pathway in risk/reward decision making. In his final year, he will be working in the Soma Lab studying the role of maternal sucrose intake on offspring behaviour, neurodevelopment, and neurosteroid regulation.
Ask me about:
- The Honours program
- Conducting research
- Writing an academic paper
- Balancing school and hobbies
- Neuroscience methodology
- Problems facing the neuroscience field
- Neuroscience subfields
- Deep learning/ Neural networks
Victoria Wardell, 4th Year, BA Honours Student
Victoria is a 4th year B.A.Hons in Psychology student at the University of British Columbia. She currently holds an NSERC URSA in the Memory and Imagination laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Daniela Palombo. She further volunteers at the Depression, Anxiety and Stress lab as a study coordinator, Coping with Neurological Symptoms lab as a study lead, and Body Health and Aging lab as a research assistant. Through these experiences she has gained experience in all aspects of research, from designing studies to publishing peer-reviewed articles and presenting at international conferences. In addition, Victoria is passionate about furthering diversity and inclusivity in the field, and has co-founded a journal club beginning this year at UBC that highlights the work of people of colour, LGBTQ, and other minorities in psychology.
Ask me about:
- Honours program
- Volunteering in labs (Memory and Imagination, DAS, CNS, and Body, Health and Aging [soci lab])
- Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods
- Intersectional Perspectives in Psychology Journal Club (co-founder)
- Publications/conference presentations
- Learning statistics and computer coding
- Process of applying for grad school
