Psychology: Undergraduate Conference

Posters and Presentations

The third annual Undergraduate Research Conference of the University of Virginia will be held April 17, 2009. Participation is not limited to U.S. colleges and university students. International students are also welcome. Abstracts for oral or poster presentations may be submitted starting January 14, 2009, and continuing until February 20. A selection committee will review the abstracts and will notify those that are accepted for presentation. Instructions for presenters are here.

Who May Present

You must be currently enrolled or have completed your research when you were an undergraduate student.

Registration

Students who are not presenting, parents, and faculty are also encouraged to attend. There is no cost for registration but you must register by April 8, 2009. Given that space is limited, early registration is advised. If you plan to present please be prepared to sumit your proposal when you register. Your proposal should be no more than three double-spaced pages, excluding references. The proposal should include the standard sections of an APA-style report, and be sure to include your name, the name of one or more faculty mentors, name of your school, and contact information. Please also indicate whether your proposal is for a presentation or poster.

To Register

For questions send email to psych-conference@virginia.edu.

Conference Location

The conference will take place on the University of Virginia grounds.

Lodging

For those conference participants that will need to stay overnight we have blocked rooms at the following hotels:

• Charlottesville Courtyard by Marriott 1201 West Main St. 22903 434-977-1700
• Hampton Inn & Suites at The University 900 West Main St. 22901 434-923-8600
• Red Roof Inns 1309 West Main St. 22903 434-295-4333

You will receive a reduced rate when you mention UVA Psychology Undergraduate Conference. All of the above hotels are within walking distance of campus but we will be providing parking at our Emmet St. Parking Garage on conference day.

If you are traveling from out of State

We will be offering travel vouchers for presenters traveling from out of state to help with lodging and/or plane tickets. Please email us for more information.

 

 

About Lyne Starling Reid

Lyne Starling Reid was appointed to University of Virginia faculty in 1949 and served with unflagging dedication over an uninterrupted span of nearly three decades. In the months since his untimely death our sharp sense of loss has been tempered by a deepening appreciation of his unique contributions during a most critical period of development of the University and of the Department of Psychology, and during a time of unprecedented change in the discipline of psychology itself.

Starling Reid was born in Greenville, Mississippi on March 15, 1920, and received his early education in the local public schools. Interrupted by service in the United States Navy, his higher education began at Southwestern of Memphis, continued at the University of Mississippi, and culminated with award of the doctorate from the Ohio State University in 1949.

As was typical of the pre-war and immediately post-war generation of psychologists, Professor Reid's scholarly interests ranged across a broad spectrum. His numerous publications in the area of animal learning and motivation document his firm grounding in basic research. A dozen technical reports on the analysis of complex task performance and on factors in human perception illustrate in admirable fashion how the demands of the practical world can with success be approached by the investigator who is capable simultaneously of imagination and rigor.

The most persistent theme on his scholarly agenda was an interest in memory. He guided the writing of a number of dissertations on the topic, some of which continue to be widely influential. He invented a new method for studying the immediate memory span, a method that made possible its continuous monitoring. First presented in a paper with two students in 1960, it has become such a standard procedure in the investigation of memory, that the detailed citation of its origin is now considered almost superfluous.

His preoccupation with the memory process led him gradually and naturally to the topic of language. By the mid-sixties, linguistic theory was so highly developed that, for the first time, it was useful to experimental psychologists interested in cognition. Reid recognized that language is the principal mode of expression for cognitive processes, but also recognized that linguistic processes are not themselves cognitive. Therefore he avoided the mistake made by many psychologists of supposing that a syntactical grammar, such as that developed by Chomsky, provides also a grammar for cognition. Instead, he developed a psychological theory along independent lines. He was still in the process of refining that theory at the time of his death, but he had in 1974 published one important paper, "Toward the Grammar of the Image," and he left the manuscript for another in such a nearly complete form that it will be published with only slight editing.

The wide respect that Professor Reid's original work inspired led to his appointment to editorial positions for several distinguished psychological journals. He served with marked success as program chairman of the Eastern Psychological Association, and his professional stature was recognized not only by membership in the Society of the Sigma Xi and fellowship status in the Division of Experimental Psychology of the American Psychological Association and in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but also by election to the Council of the AAAS Section on Psychology.

At this University his service was characterized by a willingness to shoulder many types of responsibility, and his consistent effectiveness led him into a variety of positions of influence. For many years he was secretary of the informal but at-the-time highly important Assembly of Professors. For nearly a decade he was Chairman of the Athletic Advisory Committee, and as our faculty representative served a term as President of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was proud of the sound growth of the University's role as publisher, while he was Chairman of the Committee on the University Press.

But his most lasting contributions to the life of this University came from his extended tenure as Chairman of the Department of Psychology. During the dozen years in this capacity, as the number of faculty tripled, the centrifugal forces of specialization could easily have fragmented a group that had always enjoyed a remarkable degree of cohesiveness and interaction. It is to his everlasting credit that such an outcome was avoided, and the solid underpinning for the presently diversified Department was preserved and strengthened. His leadership was unobtrusive but steady, farsighted and at the same time responsive to daily needs, quietly patient and yet persistent in his strivings for the betterment of the whole Department. His colleagues could not fail to profit from his personal example as distinguished scientist and inspired mentor, and be touched by his unfailing concern and respect and encouragement.

By all his friends, Starling Reid continues to be remembered for his very special blend of warmth, humor, and kindness; for his adamant rejection of injustice, inequity, and intolerance; for his impatience with affectation and cant; for his integrity in thought and deed; and for his selfless devotion to those principles and those persons at the center of his life.