Convocation and thesis awards

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Alumni Gold Medal

Child Language Research Award

Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in an Honours Program (Bachelor of Arts)

Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Honours Psychology (Bachelor of Science)

Governor General (Silver) Medal

Honours Thesis Awards

Alumni Gold Medal

Annually, one graduating student from an Honours Bachelor degree program in each faculty is awarded the Alumni Gold Medal for outstanding academic achievement. The ten carat, solid gold medal is embossed with the university crest on the front and the student's name and faculty are inscribed on the reverse. The medals are presented at the June convocation ceremony.

Each recipient and two of his/her convocation guests will be invited to the Chancellor's Lunch. 

Those graduating in June as well as the previous October convocation are considered for the award.

Alumni Gold Medal - further details including a list of recipients

Child Language Research Award

Annually, an award valued at $750.00 is provided to one graduating undergraduate student enrolled in any program at the University of Waterloo. Selection will be based on academic excellence, prior research experience related to child language development, and a demonstrated commitment to future postgraduate study in the area of child language development. No application is required. This fund is made possible by a donation from Knowledge in Development Inc.

This award is presented at the department level, and will not be mentioned at the convocation ceremony.

2019 recipient: Bronte Amelia Smith

Bronte Smith
The 2019 recipient of the Child Language Research Award is Bronte Smith,who completed her Honours thesis exploring the effect of learning a novel accent on word competition in Toddlers, in the Lab for Infant Development and Language.

Bronte will be receiving a Bachelor of Science with a major in Psychology and a minor in Biology at the Spring 2019 convocation. This coming fall she is starting her graduate studies in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at McGill University.

After graduate school, Bronte hopes to work with children with speech disorders. Besides her experience with child language development during her Honours Thesis, Bronte has also had experience in this area through volunteer work and placements at speech clinics in the community.

Congratulations, Bronte, on your academic achievements and the award, and best wishes for continued success in graduate studies!

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Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in an Honours program (Bachelor of Arts)

Annually, each department in the Faculty of Arts selects the top graduating student from the Honours Bachelor of Arts program to be the recipient of the Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement.

The award consists of a certificate signed by the Chair of the Department and the Dean for the Faculty of Arts, plus a $50.00 gift card for University of Waterloo Retail Services. These items will be included in the recipients' diploma cases. At the convocation ceremony, the name of the award will be mentioned when the recipient is presented with his/her degree. 

Those graduating in June as well as the previous October convocation are considered for the award.

2019 recipient: Abbigail Andrea Kinnear

Abbigail Kinnear

Degree Received June 2019: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with the Research Intensive Specialization.

In the fall, Abby will be entering the Clinical Psychology graduate program at Western University, where she will be studying the psychobiology of eating and related disorders with Dr. Lindsay Bodell.

Congratulations Abby on your stellar record and best wishes for success in graduate studies as well as your future career!

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Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Honours Psychology (Bachelor of Science)

(effective 2014)

The Department of Psychology chooses one recipient annually for this award. The award is given to the student with the highest academic record, and the recipient must have a cumulative overall average and a cumulative psychology average of no less than 87%. The award consists of a certificate signed by the Chair and Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology.

Those graduating in June as well as the previous October convocation are considered for the award.

This award is presented at the department level, and will not be mentioned at the convocation ceremony.

2017 recipient: Jason Dong Goo lee

Photo of Jason Lee. Jason is standing, smiling at the camera, wearing a tshirt with a pineapple on it. He's at the top of a lighthouse with the ocean in the background.
Degree received June 2017:
Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Thesis title: Promoting Analogical Reasoning with Mental Construal 

Jason has a strong interest in mental health and neuroscience, and he plans to pursue an M.D. and become a psychiatrist or a neurologist.

Comments from Jonathan Fugelsang (thesis supervisor):

"Jason is one of the most gifted students I have ever had the pleasure of working with.... He was instrumental in facilitating the research program of my graduate students and myself. He is hard working, motivated, and a quick study.

What stood out most to me about Jason was his technical writing and data analysis skills. He is easily among the top students I have worked with in this regard.

[Jason] is a very genuine and caring person, and has exceptional interpersonal skills. He gets along very well with others in the lab. In addition, after working closely with him, I can confidently say that he is extremely professional, and expresses a level of maturity that sets him apart from many of his peers."

Congratulations Jason on your outstanding academic achievements and best wishes on your future endeavours. 

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Governor General (Silver) Medal

Medals are presented on behalf of the Governor General along with personalized certificates signed by the Governor General. The medals (3 in 2013) are given to graduating students who achieved the highest academic standing upon graduation from an Honours Bachelor degree program. The medals are presented at the June convocation ceremony. Each recipient and two of his/her convocation guests will be invited to the Chancellor's Lunch.

Those graduating in June as well as the previous October convocation are considered for the award.

Governor General Medal - further details.

Honours Thesis Awards

The Department of Psychology recognizes the achievements of a small number of students who produced the most outstanding Honours Theses (PSYCH 499A/B/C). The Honours Thesis Awards consist of a certificate and the award winners will be announced in June.

Those who completed their Honours thesis in Spring 2018, Fall 2018, or Winter 2019 are considered for the June 2019 awards.

These awards are presented at the department level, and will not be mentioned at the convocation ceremony.

2019 recipients

The Psychology Honours thesis award is presented to students who have produced exceptional thesis projects. 

The following 14 students received an Honours Thesis Award for their outstanding projects:

Alexander Moore
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Arts and Business Co-op
Thesis Title: Consequences of leader metamotivational accuracy
Thesis Supervisor: Abby Scholer

Emily Amira Bissada
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology 
Thesis title: Predicting first offers in negotiation with speech rate and spatial context dependence
Thesis Supervisor: Wendi Adair

Emma Tran
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Co-op
Thesis title: The impact of social anxiety on memory biases for imagined social and non-social successes and failures
Thesis Supervisor: David Moscovitch

Hannah Lightfoot
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Thesis title: Relationships and the body: Social safeness as a protective factor against body-concealment
Thesis Supervisor: Allison Kelly

Huitian Valerie Chen
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Thesis title: Third-party reactions to non-forgiveness: The role of amend strength, victim gender and dyad gender composition
Thesis Supervisor: Ramona Bobocel

Katrina Chini
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology 
Thesis title: Physiological and behavioural responses to loot box openings in Overwatch
Thesis Supervisor: Mike Dixon

Laura Anne Paula Howes
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Thesis title: Staying in the zone: Flow and sustained attention
Thesis Supervisor: Dan Smilek

Maahum Ahmad
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Thesis title: Investigating the link between inflammation and attention
Thesis Supervisor: Dan Smilek

Mackenzie Morgan Burnett
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Thesis title: Examining the roles of self-esteem and agreeableness in saying "I love you" for the first time
Thesis Supervisor: Joanne Wood

Mane Kara-Yakoubian
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology 
Thesis Title: Examining the two-stage model of donation decisions: What about the proportion dominance effect?
Thesis Supervisor: Evan Risko

Molly Layne Scarfe
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Thesis Title: Investigating sound in multi-line slot machine play
Thesis Supervisor: Mike Dixon

Rachel Doreen Thorburn
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Arts and Business Co-op
Thesis Title: Do children think more openly about tool uses than other unusual events? Re-examining children's possibility thinking
Thesis Supervisor: Ori Friedman

Savannah Marie Heintzman
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Thesis title: Examining the roles of self-esteem and agreeableness in saying "I love you" for the first time
Thesis Supervisors: Liz Nilsen and Heather Henderson

Varsha Devi Gobin
Degree: Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology Co-op
Thesis Title: The restorative effects of greenspace and spiritual environments
Thesis Supervisor: Colin Ellard​


​A note about the thesis awards from PSYCH 499 coordinator, Dr. Richard Eibach:

"Congratulations to all of the students who completed a Psychology Honours thesis this past year. This accomplishment required dedicating many hours of your time investigating the background literature, formulating an original hypothesis, designing and executing a study (or studies), and analyzing and reporting your results. This work involved synthesizing what you’ve learned about psychological theory and methodology in your previous courses to make your own original contribution to psychological knowledge. Thanks to each of you for carrying forward our department’s rich tradition of undergraduate research.

I’d like to extend special congratulations to the thesis award winners for the exceptional quality of your work. This year the thesis projects covered a broad range of interesting topics and used a variety of innovative methods. Several of your supervisors and reviewers noted that your research was at the level of a graduate student, which really shows the advanced skills and dedication that you brought to your work. Well done!"


-(Dr. Richard Eibach, Psych 499 Coordinator)