Breadcrumb
Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Amber Gaffney, Benny Anjewierden
Psychology
Benny Anjewierden and Amber Gaffney co-Chaired a symposium with Professor Dominic Abrams at the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in Lisbon, Portugal (Praise some, punish others: When and why deviance is embraced or erased within groups). They then presented at the University of Porto, Portugal, for invited talks. Anjewierden presented some of their joint work on the polarizing nature of criticizing political leaders. Gaffney presented some of their work detailing how motives for social identity can differentially predict political extremism.
Jennifer Lucero, MD, MA; Gregg Gold, PhD; Eraka Bath, MD; Gerardo Moreno, MD, MS; Esmeralda Trejo, MSEd; Ricardo Antillon, MPH; Gianna Giacomotto BA
Psychology
Presented research entitled “Evaluating the Effectiveness of the UCLA Pre-Med Enrichment Program,” and “Lessons Learned on UCLA UIM-COE Clinical Clerkship Psychology of Bias” at the November 13, 2025, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Medical Education Day conference. Co-authors included UCLA Medical School Faculty, Staff, and recent Cal Poly Humboldt psychology graduate Gianna Giacomotto.
Kauyumari Sanchez
Psychology
Kauyumari Sanchez, PhD published the article Cross-modal matching of monosyllabic and bisyllabic items varying in phonotactic probability and lexicality in Frontiers in Language Sciences, 4, 1488399. https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2025.1488399
Ethan Gahtan, John Steele, Emma F. Jones, McKay Gog Butler, Darina Trendafilova, Mayra S Mendez, Luke A. Jernigan
Psychology
Professors Ethan Gahtan (Psychology) and John Steele (Biology) along with students from psychology, biology, and chemistry developed a new transgenic zebrafish line in the Behavioral Neuroscience Research Lab. This development was first described in 2022 in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. They developed a zebrafish fluorescent reporter line to track neuronal chloride (Cl-), KCC2, expression in vivo during early brain development. "KCC2 regulates neuron excitability and development". Then in 2024 the team contributed this genetics resource to the Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) to make it available to external researchers. Article reference: DOI: 10.1002/cne.25411 ; ZIRC entry: https://zfin.org/ZDB-PUB-221018-26#summary
Matias Solorzano
Psychology
Matias Solorzano, a graduate student in Academic Research in the Psychology Department was awarded the McCrone Graduate Fellowship Award in recognition of his research in neurodivergence in academia. The award not only recognizes Matias' dedication to research but will provide support for his research. Matias will be speaking on his research on Tuesday, November 12th during the McCrone Award Reception at the Plaza Grill from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Amber Gaffney, Benny Anjewierden
Psychology
Dr. Amber Gaffney along with alumni and current lecturer Benny Anjewierden and several other alumni published a paper in Groups Processes and Intergroup Relations. This paper details major theory and methodological developments in a social identity model of social influence. Anjewierden*, B. J., Syfers*, L., Pinto, I. R., Gaffney, A. M., & Hogg, M. A. (2024). Group responses to deviance: Disentangling the motivational roles of collective enhancement and uncertainty reduction. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.
Amber Gaffney, Benny Anjierwerden
Psychology
Dr Gaffney along with three former Cal Poly Humboldt alum published a paper, Our group is worth the fight: Group cohesion is embedded in willingness to fight or die for relatively deprived political groups during national elections, in Translational Issues in Psychological Science. The first, second, and third authors all graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt with a Master's in Psychology from our Academic Research Program. One of the authors, Benjamin Anjierdwerden, is currently a lecturer in the Psychology Department.
Frank DeMatteo
Psychology
Dr. Frank DeMatteo, School Psychology Program Coordinator, received $2 million in Grant Funding (two grants). Over the next five years these grants, in partnership with the Northern Humboldt Union High School District, will be used to increase the number of mental health practitioners in disadvantaged school districts. They will also support the professional development of students and their field-based supervisors. Three students from the first-year School Psychology cohort were awarded $15,000 for the next two years. Four students from the second-year cohort, received $10,000 to support the completion of their 540 hours of school-based practicum for the 2023-2024 Academic year.
Kathleen Brewer, Dr. Mary Gruber
Psychology
Kathleen Brewer (M.A., 2013) and Dr. Mary Gruber (Emerita Professor) published their peer-reviewed Professional manual for the Parent Reaction to Autism Diagnosis Scales (PRADS-2) with guidance for tailoring parent supports, in May 2022. It is available through open source at https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/textbooks/7/ and also as a book through Amazon. The manual describes their research, development, and validation of the scales, along with instructions for using them accurately, ethically, and beneficially in tailoring supports for parents. Their manual also cites nine Humboldt graduate student thesis research studies on supports for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities.
Student Alumna Kathleen Brewer and Faculty Emerita Dr. Mary Gruber
Psychology
Student Alumna Kathleen Brewer and Faculty Emerita Dr. Mary Gruber published their peer-reviewed Professional manual for the Parent Reaction to Autism Diagnosis Scales (PRADS-2) with guidance for tailoring parent supports. It is available at https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/textbooks/7/ and also as a book through Amazon. The manual describes their research, development, and validation of the scales, along with instructions for using them accurately, ethically, and beneficially in tailoring supports for parents. Their manual also cites nine Humboldt graduate student thesis research studies on supports for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities.