ABOUT SASSC

Compared to faculty, students have unique needs as they develop academic expertise and learn to navigate their profession.  We support affective science students—from undergraduate through postdoctoral levels—by coordinating both social and professional initiatives for student members of SAS. For example:

  • Social events help students interact with other student members, both during the annual conference and more locally throughout the academic year.  For example, the SAS Student Social happens on the Thursday evening of the annual society meeting each year, to help kick off the conference and connect students with one another.
  • Professional opportunities such as assisting with the Society’s social media and diversity outreach, annual programming, and expert interviews allow student members to be recognized by and interact with faculty.
  • We are also committed to helping the Society better support trainees from a diversity of backgrounds, such as minority students, international students, and students from disciplines beyond psychology and neuroscience.

We welcome any feedback you may have for how we can better support student members. If you have ideas for events or initiatives, please contact a member of the Executive Team listed below!

If you are a student member of SAS, please join our listserv and Facebook group to participate in student discussions and receive updates on student-specific events, initiatives, and opportunities.

Much of the behind-the-scenes work in the SAS Student Committee is achieved through the coordinated efforts of students serving on the Executive Team or as Members-at-large. If you are interested in volunteering with the SASSC, please contact a member of the Executive Team listed below.

The SAS Student Committee guides the development of SASSC and liaises with the SAS Executive Committee.

  • Angela Smith, University of Toronto – Chair
  • Livia Sacchi, University of Lausanne – Vice-Chair
  • Dasha Yermol, University of Wisconsin – Secretary

Members-at-large provide additional input and support to the Executive Team while developing year-round student-centric programming.

  • Julian Scheffer, University of California, Berkeley
  • Kyle Barrentine, University of Virginia
  • Eva Liu, Yale University
  • Paige Freeburg, Baylor University
  • Vale Patterson, University of Toronto at Scarborough
  • Maciej Behnke, Adam Mickiewicz University
  • Ola Tkacz, De Montfort University Leicester

Past Chairs

  • Olivia Zhao, 2020-2021 Chair
  • Catie Brown, 2019-2020 Chair
  • Katie Hoemann, 2018-2019 Chair
  • Jennifer MacCormack 2017-2018 Chair
  • Erik Nook – 2016-2017 Chair
  • Jasmine Mote – 2015-2016 Chair

The Events Team coordinates the Student Social at the annual SAS conference as well as any other regional SASSC events that may occur throughout the year. The Events Team also works with the SAS Program Committee to help develop student-focused programming for each year’s conference.

  • Lead: Olivia Zhao (SASSC Chair), University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Jocelyn Lai, University of California, Irvine
  • Andrew Langbehn, University of Tennesse-Knoxville
  • Christi Westlin, Northeastern University

The Diversity & Innovation Team supports our existing initiatives and generates new initiatives for SASSC to develop. In particular, SASSC cares about increasing the inclusion and diversity of affective science trainees. The Diversity & Innovation Team liaises with the SAS Outreach Committee to help the society attain these goals.

  • Lead: Angela Smith (SASSC Vice-Chair), University of Toronto
  • Vardui Grigoryan, University of Southern California
  • Ethan Harrod, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Jae-Young Son, Brown University
  • Nathan Young, DePaul University
  • Lucia D. Villarreal, Arizona State University

The Social Media Team maintains our SAS student listserv and Facebook group, helps “live-tweet” the annual conference, and coordinates our social media outreach efforts, including the SASSC the Expert Interview Series. As such, the SASSC Social Media Team collaborates with the main SAS Social Media Committee.

  • Lead: Jordan WYlie (SASSC Secretary), City University of New York
  • Olly Robertson, Keele University
  • Jennifer MacCormack, University of Pittsburgh

In addition to our student teams, the SASSC also supports Regional Student Representatives. Student Reps are a one-year volunteer commitment to serve as the contact person for a given region. Student Reps organize one or two local trainee meet-ups or events in their region during the year, to provide a more regular way for emotion research trainees at local universities to connect, share training resources, build collaborations, and bring in a wider diversity of students.

Southwestern U.S.

  • Bay Area:  Casey Brown [email], Belinda Carillo [email], Kuan-Hua Chen [email]

Northwestern U.S.

Midwestern U.S.

  • Chicago:  Nathan Young [email]

Northeastern U.S.

  • Boston: Erik Nook [email]
  • NYC: Diego Reinero [email], Jeffrey Brooks [email]

Southeastern U.S.

  • NC Triangle Area: Jennifer MacCormack [email], Mallory Feldman [email]

Canada

  • Toronto, Ontario: Angela Smith [email], Alex Daros [email]

United Kingdom

Czech Republic

  • Ondřej Mellor Novák [email]

We would love to expand representation to other major cities and U.S. regions as well as other countries around the world. If your region is not represented and you would be happy to serve as its representative, please get in touch with the current Student Chair! We also accept co-representatives if you would like to share the position with someone else.