{"id":16095,"date":"2010-08-18T15:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T22:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=16095"},"modified":"2013-04-08T15:42:37","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T22:42:37","slug":"grant-gives-cultural-bent-to-study-of-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/grant-gives-cultural-bent-to-study-of-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Grant gives cultural bent to study of compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NAU Department of Psychology has received a three-year, nearly $1\/2 million grant to train undergraduate students in\u00a0Hojooba\u2019 bee la\u2019 hooniil, Undergraduate Studies into the Social Psychophysiology of Compassion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The National Science Foundation awarded the grant to\u00a0Larry Stevens<\/strong>, director of the Research Experience for Undergraduates program and professor of psychology, to study compassion and empathy, particularly from the perspectives of under-represented cultural groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Mentoring the next wave of psychology researchers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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The Research Experience for Undergraduates is an intensive
\n10-week summer program designed to introduce students to the world of scientific research. At NAU, students work closely with a faculty mentor on independent research projects that match their interests. The following pairings took place in the psychology department this summer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u2022<\/td>\nMichelle Harris, University of Arizona, studied the role of self-compassion in the friendship experiences of young adults, with faculty mentor\u00a0Meliksah Demir<\/strong>, assistant professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nIvan Valenzuela<\/strong>, Northern Arizona University, studied the positioning of compassionate masculinity and relational intimacy in the development of self-concepts in Latino and Hispanic men, with\u00a0Andrew Walters<\/strong>, associate professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nMichael Brower<\/strong>, NAU, researched self-centeredness, coping styles and reactions to unemployment, with\u00a0Steven Funk<\/strong>, associate professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nAkiee Mayon<\/strong>, NAU, studied the role of compassionate family support in coping with job loss, with\u00a0Ann Huffman<\/strong>, associate professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nJaneen Denny<\/strong>, NAU\/Din\u00e9 College, researched the EEG neuroimaging of the Quiet (Compassionate) Ego, with\u00a0Larry Stevens<\/strong>, professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nChristine Villasenor, Fort Lewis College, researched the psychosocial correlates of personal growth, empathy and compassion in the wake of job loss, with psychology professor\u00a0Heidi Wayment<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022<\/td>\nLynnette Cuellar, University of New Mexico, and Ashanti Bragg, Norfolk State University, studied the neuroimaging of psychophysiological correlations of empathic perspective-taking in the brain mirror neuron system, with\u00a0Chad Woodruff<\/strong>, assistant professor of psychology.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

NAU Departments of\u00a0Astronomy<\/a>,\u00a0Mathematics and Statistics<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Environmental Sciences<\/a>\u00a0also brought student researchers to campus this summer through REU programs.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Titled with a Navajo phrase meaning \u201cthe expression of loving kindness as healing to the suffering of society,\u201d the program supports eight 10-week summer research internships. Undergraduates from across the country collaborate with doctoral faculty in psychological research and gain cultural awareness and understanding exploring northern Arizona.<\/p>\n

The internships are a good match for the\u00a0NSF<\/a>\u00a0and NAU\u2019s mission to stimulate research careers by attracting and training a new generation of scientists.<\/p>\n

Stevens said the goal is to turn students onto research so they leave this program excited about science and wanting to pursue a career in it while providing support to underrepresented students who want to become academics.<\/p>\n

NAU faculty welcome students as colleagues. \u201cThe most exciting thing is when students start teaching us about their perspectives and their cultures\u2019 perspectives on compassion,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cIt\u2019s been an overwhelming success.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students the best part is getting their hands dirty doing graduate-style research, earning the opportunity to be published, developing a background in a variety of psychological areas and working with NAU faculty.<\/p>\n

Michelle Harris, from the University of Arizona, encountered \u201cthe most friendly and encouraging faculty\u201d while studying the role of self compassion in friendship experiences. \u201cThey love to teach and love what they do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stevens organizes a diverse faculty\u2014health, social, developmental and physiological psychologists\u2014challenging them to work with students and each other to understand compassion from their specialties\u2019 unique perspectives.<\/p>\n

Chad Woodruff,<\/strong>\u00a0assistant professor of psychology, commends the programs\u2019 benefits to the students as well as faculty.<\/p>\n

\u201cREU unites the common interest and passion of the psychology faculty,\u201d he said. \u201cIt strengthens that compassion commonality we have as professors.”<\/p>\n

And as far as the students, Woodruff gets excited about watching them learn how to do top-notch research.<\/p>\n

NAU student sophomore\u00a0Akiee Mayon\u00a0<\/strong>looked at compassion from a social side, studying how family support affects unemployed individuals. Upon completion of the program which \u201csculpted me to be able to do research and go further in my psychology degree,\u201d Mayon said he wishes \u201ceveryone could see what we are seeing, what we are learning about empathy and compassion and get that sense of common humanity with others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NAU Department of Psychology has received a three-year, nearly $1\/2 million grant to train undergraduate students in\u00a0Hojooba\u2019 bee la\u2019 hooniil, Undergraduate Studies into the Social Psychophysiology of Compassion. The National Science Foundation awarded the grant to\u00a0Larry Stevens, director of the Research Experience for Undergraduates program and professor of psychology, to study compassion and empathy,…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}