Five Sul Ross State University students of psychology and Associate Professor Alicia Trotman, Ph.D., attended the American Psychological Association (APA) convention held Aug. 6-8 in Seattle.

The students completed their research projects in their capstone research course in Spring 2022, 2023 and 2024, and their proposals were accepted for presentation.

Yolanda Rey Carlos, a Psi Chi Honors student and McNair Scholar was accepted in Division 10: Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts to present her ongoing research on “Using Photovoice to investigate sources of failure among high-achieving Mexican-American female undergraduate students.”

Gabriel Cervantes presented “The Lone Wolf Mentality? Examining the effects between Loneliness, Social Connectedness, and Cognitive Reappraisal among college students” in Division 51: Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities.

Brianna Berry, a research associate of Dr. Trotman’s PRISM lab and Psi Chi Honors student, presented “Evaluating the depth and relevance of student-led podcasts at a Hispanic-Serving Institution” in Division 1: Society for General Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry.

Daniel Flores, an honorary recipient of the Psychology Student of 2024 award, presented his research on “Investigating the Correlation Between Playing Action-adventure/Fantasy Video Games and Advanced Vocabulary Acquisition” in the poster session held by Division 46: Society for Media Psychology and Technology.

In addition to receiving invitations to apply to graduate programs and to collaborate on research opportunities, the students also had the honor to meet and speak with the current president of APA, Cynthia de las Fuentes, the second Latina and Texas native in the position.

“The students witnessed the incredible significance of mentorship. They repeatedly overheard students and faculty at the convention recalling their experiences of achieving their most lofty goals with the support of their mentors,” said Trotman. “Their mentors provided them with the linguistic cues, cultural mores of academia, emotional support and professional validation that they needed entering as first-generation students.”

The trip was made possible through fundraising and financial support from the Student Government Association and the McNair Scholars Program.

Photo: Daniel Flores, Candes Ramon, Brianna Berry, APA President Cynthia de las Fuentes, Dr. Alicia Trotman, Gabriel Cervantes and Yolanda Rey Carlos.