Department of Psychology awarded prestigious T32 Training Grant from NIH

Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Department of Psychology in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has been awarded a prestigious National Institutes of Health T32 Training Grant to train graduate students in cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research. 

Spearheaded by Professors Susan Lutgendorf and Daniel Tranel of the Department of Psychology, with assistance from their psychology faculty colleagues Molly Nikolas, Michelle Voss and Mike O’Hara, the five-year grant—Mechanisms of Health and Disease at the Behavioral-Biomedical Interface—aims to teach the next generation of behavioral science researchers to utilize biomedical methodologies and conceptual frameworks for making breakthroughs in understanding both health and behavior. The training program funded by the grant will be conducted by faculty from the Department of Psychology and the UI Carver College of Medicine, with Lutgendorf as director.

"The NIH Training Grant represents a significant step forward for the Department of Psychology," said Department of Psychology Professor and Chair Jodie Plumert. "Most important, this training grant will allow us to train graduate students in innovative research at the interface of behavioral and biomedical science." Plumert noted that the program will further strengthen interdisciplinary research in the department and help forge strong connections between the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the UI Carver College of Medicine.

The funding will support two graduate students in psychology for the first year of the grant, and four students per year for the remainder of the grant. In addition, the UI Graduate College will provide matching training positions for two graduate students each year, with one earmarked for students from underrepresented populations.

--Dora Grote

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.