PAU Stars is an annual Celebration of Achievement and Service, where all members of the PAU community are honored and recognized for hard work and accomplishments.  One of the features of PAU Stars is the presentation of academic awards to students as nominated and chosen by their faculty members.  From Excellence in Service, in Clinical Work, and in Research, to Academic Excellence and Outstanding Student, these awards serve to highlight and honor the extraordinary work of PAU students.  See the list of academic awardees and read what their professors had to say as part of nominations.  

Awardees by Category

Award of Academic Excellence

• B.S. in Psychology Program: Chelsea Monet Lewis, Isaac “Ike” Houston, Leah Campbell, Sheila Park, Catherine Salerno-Kirkwood, and Lillian Martell 
• M.S. in Psychology Program: Cyrus Chang, Leila Joseph, Hillary Kingman, Rachel Murley, and Jill Yamada
• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Jill Reavis

  Award for Excellence in Clinical Work

• M.A. Counseling Program: Florence Ntakarutimana
• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Jasmine Thomas
• PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Program: Monica Allen, Elizabeth Cordell, Kayla Jimenez, and Julia Rossi

  Award for Excellence in Diversity

• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Gabriel Corpus
• PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Program: Alisha Saxena and Shaneece Lane

  Award for Excellence in Research

• M.A. Counseling Program: Fredrica Dennis
• M.S. in Psychology Program: Victoria Guinn
• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Afik Faerman, Nicole Greenberg
• PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Program: Katy Stimpson

  Award for Excellence in Service

• B.S. in Psychology Programs: Ziyang Guo
• M.A. Counseling Program: Brittany Tachkov
• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Kaleen Carimbocas

  Award for Outstanding Student

• B.S. in Psychology Programs: Shirin Aghakhani
• M.A. Counseling Program: Jocelyn Scheider
• M.S. in Psychology Program: Arya Zale, Kevin Herdman
• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Saranya Sundaram
• PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Program: Billy Chan

  Award for Excellence in Teaching

• Ph.D. in Psychology Program: Brian Seo

   

Awardees by Program

PAU B.S. Program

PAU M.A. Program

PAU M.S. Program

PAU Ph.D. Program

PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Program

   

B.S. in Psychology Program

Award for Outstanding Student: Shirin Aghakhani Shirin was consistently high performing in her academic realm and was always very active in the larger school community. She held many leadership roles and was able to effect change within the program. She always went above and beyond, whether it was asking for feedback on her presentations in order to improve or her reaching out for help to prepare for grad school interviews. She is an intelligent, personable, and motivated student that PAU is lucky to have. and she deserves to be rewarded.   Award for Academic Excellence: Chelsea Monet Lewis, Isaac “Ike” Houston, Leah Campbell, Sheila Park, Catherine Salerno-Kirkwood, and Lillian Martell

• Chelsea Monet Lewis - Chelsea has consistently finished at the top of her class, and she consistently over-achieves. Not only does she do quality work, but she engages her fellow classmates and contributes substantially to their learning by elevating the conversation. If she has a motto, it must be "Never Second." 
• Isaac “Ike” Houston - Of all of the students in the BP program, his thoughtfulness in his work is impressive. More than any student, he integrates newly learned ideas with other research to introduce original thought to the class. He truly excels in his discussion assignments, where student-to-student learning takes place. That is where his strengths make a big contribution to his fellow students by exposing them to new ways to think about things. Ike is a high-level thinker.
• Leah Campbell - Beyond maintaining a fantastic academic record, Leah demonstrates a professional, kind, and compassionate approach towards her peers and faculty. Leah is employed as a note-taker for class, helping other students to focus on learning while receiving notes afterward. She never missed a class and has been incredibly transparent and respectful in her communications with me across the courses I taught. When other students are not present, Leah is among the first to volunteer to convey to them what has been taught or discussed during class. Outside class, Leah joins other students in study groups and contributes to her peers' learning experience. Overall, Leah is excelling in several aspects of being a student - academically, socially and interpersonally, and ethically.
• Sheila Park - Sheila was always a wonderful student to have in class. She is a consistent contributor and has intellectual responses, including thought-provoking questions. She consistently performed at a high level across the courses she was in. It is clear that she is an intelligent, organized, and highly successful student. PAU is lucky to have her as a representative of our academic programs.
• Catherine Salerno-Kirkwood - Catherine demonstrates exceptionalism in her completion of coursework and goes above and beyond in her commitment to hard work and achievement. Her diligence and attention to detail are noted in her writing and collaboration with other students. Catherine takes the initiative in asking questions and presenting varying perspectives on course content. She is an outstanding student and a pleasure to teach.
• Lillian Martell - Academically, Lillian has consistently performed in the top three of the class. She is an outstanding performer and holds herself to extremely high standards. Lillian consistently strives to do her very best, and she consistently responds positively to feedback, adjusting to integrate new guidance to perform even better.

Award for Excellence in Services - Ziyang Guo Ziyang has been instrumental in helping other students with the switch to online classes due to the pandemic. Zi has provided assistance to other students with keeping up with courses, uploading assignments, etc. In addition, Ziyang always has interesting and insightful additions to class discussions and is a compassionate individual overall.    

M.A. in Counseling Program

Award for Outstanding Student: Jocelyn Scheider Jocelyn has exhibited exemplary leadership skills at Palo Alto University and in her volunteer work for the mental health profession. As a Family Program Educator for NAMI, she has completed certifications and led courses in order to build resources and support for families working through mental health diagnoses. She is a strong student, has excellent organizational skills, and has a sincere desire to utilize these skills for the benefit of others. She has displayed in classes, campus organizations, and in community service opportunities that she is responsible, hard-working, and that she will intentionally seek out avenues to serve her fellow students, as well as the Counseling profession.    Currently, Jocelyn is working as a Teaching Assistant for master’s level classes in the program and serves on the PAU Common Book committee, promoting community and new ideas on PAU’s campus. Promoting community would be a strength Jocelyn evidences. She works diligently to connect with her colleagues and professors and works to keep her cohort connected and supported. She displays her engagement in counseling coursework by asking intelligent questions in class, striving to achieve above and beyond the required classroom information, and by making excellent grades. It is clear that she is able to multitask and manage multiple responsibilities in a successful way as she is able to navigate her volunteer and community commitments while participating in the master’s counseling program.    One look at Jocelyn’s resume will show a strong commitment to mental health work. She has sought training in Psychological First Aid, Family Mediation, SPIRIT, Mental Health First Aid Training, and numerous NAMI training. She is a Behavioral Health Family Caregiver that currently volunteers at East County Child and Adolescent Services, a NAMI Family Program Educator, and has co-founded and co-directed a camp, Camp New Hope, in Livermore, CA, for children (7-17) diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. Jocelyn has sought out the information above and beyond what is required in coursework and is open to sharing her experience of working with family members with mental health diagnoses in an appropriate and professional manner. I have a great appreciation for her dedication, commitment, work ethic, empathy, and passion as a Palo Alto Counseling Student.   Award for Excellence in Service: Brittany Tachkov Other PAU faculty and I have had the pleasure of working with Brittany through research projects, coursework, and as the Treasurer of the Master’s Student Council at Palo Alto University. She is a strong student, has excellent organizational skills, and has a sincere desire to utilize these skills for the benefit of others. Brittany has displayed in classes, research activities, and service opportunities that she is responsible, hard-working, and that she will intentionally seek out avenues to serve her fellow students, as well as the Counseling profession.    She has been an asset to the Master’s Student Council (MSC) at PAU. She has led programs designed to increase the visibility of the MSC, including welcome packages for new students, both online and in-person, and social activities on campus and online (Bring your own coffee/tea Zoom meetings). She advocates for students (requesting to faculty and administration that graduation be recorded for online students’ families), and has been responsive and diligent in meeting the requirements as an officer. She displays her engagement in counseling coursework by asking intelligent questions in class, striving to achieve above and beyond the required classroom information, and by making excellent grades. It is clear that she is able to multitask and manage multiple responsibilities in a successful way as she is able to navigate both working and participating in a full-time counseling program. She has also been the president of the California Association for Music Therapy, where she facilitated the founding of this nonprofit association as well as gained experience in grant writing. Brittany will be presenting at the American Counseling Association in San Diego, CA, this April, working with a faculty member with a specialty in play therapy. Brittany seeks out opportunities to learn and share her knowledge in many forums such as this. Words that come to mind when I think of Brittany are responsible, honest, and kind. I am excited to nominate her for the Award for Excellence in Service.   Award for Excellence in Research:  Fredrica Dennis As a new student in 2018, Drica Dennis applied to join a faculty-led Summer Research Institute in the Counseling program, and she dove in all the way. She brought curiosity and a passion for learning to the group. At the end of the summer, she was one of the only students to express interest in continuing to work on our research project and the only one to continue with the project, long-term. In 2019, the faculty of the Summer Research Institute began a research project to evaluate how the research group impacted the research self-efficacy, research attitudes, and research identity development of the master's students in the group. Drica worked with the faculty methodologist to design the project, collect data, and do quantitative and qualitative analysis. She has presented with our research team on this topic at two national conferences.    Drica has shown additional research leadership by applying for and being selected as an Emerging Leader in the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling. This was a competitive selection process, and Drica was the only master's student to be selected. This position gave her the opportunity to travel to the AARC National Conference to participate in the board meeting and present at the conference. She was also awarded a grant to attend the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision National Conference to present her research at the conference. A reviewer of these grants told me Drica's application was one of the strongest ones she had seen.    Drica has represented Palo Alto University and her research with excellence. She approaches research with passion for making change in the counseling profession. Her curiosity and work ethic around research is infectious. She continues to seek research collaboration opportunities with faculty to strengthen her research interests and competencies. She has been a joy to have on our research team and look forward to seeing her shifting the counseling profession from her research!    Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Florence Ntakarutimana Florence Ntakarutimana, a mother of four adolescents, is a survivor of the Burundian Civil War, a 12-year armed conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups in Burundi.  She enrolled at PAU in 2016 with the aim to develop additional counseling skills to improve her effectiveness in serving community members in Africa. Florence began working as a Trauma Healing Specialist in 2006, using a methodology called Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) in Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Currently, as the Program Manager with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), she continues to apply this model with the people of Central African Republic (CAR). Florence’s service population is comprised of victims of the genocide, war, violence and poverty, mostly women and children. Most people she works with are illiterate, have difficulty accessing education, healthcare, clean water, electricity, and daily essentials.   Florence is currently based in Mbaiki, located at 110 km from Bangui, the capital city of the CAR.  The communities in which she work experienced frequent guerilla attacks by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) rebellion, mostly from Uganda and South Sudan. Others have suffered much from the cycles of crises that confront CAR.  Florence and colleagues use a systematic curriculum in leading trauma healing workshops, train trauma professionals, provide individual counseling, and conduct community activities that help people build resiliency. The philosophical foundation of HROC methodology is to bring together people from the same community and explore the impact of crisis in their lives and develop coping skills to address the trauma. To date, Florence has trained hundreds of community facilitators who continue to help people in need in CAR and surrounding countries. She has been invited to introduce the same model in other countries including Cameroun, Nigeria, Niger, and in Sudan.    Florence has the capacity to deeply empathize with her clients’ struggles because she shares in their experience. She lost her parents during the Rwandan genocide of 1993. Her father was from the Hutu ethnic group while her mother was a Tutsi. Some Hutus from the community joined the rebellion and asked her father numerous times to kill her mother, but he could not do it, so they ended up killing her father. Her mother was poisoned by her sister, and for the same issues that she had married a Hutu man.    Florence felt her work in trauma healing is personally rewarding because “I was able to find a lifeline and healthy ways of starting to heal my wounds and handle my inner turmoil. My new lease of life enabled me to forgive those who hurt me and I became firmly committed to helping others.”   Florence described some of the challenges of her work this way: “We had to travel with food items when touring communities. At the CRS sub-offices, they used generators for working hours. At night, generators have provided satellite HF radios to communicate how we are doing.”   She added how these factors impacted her academic journey at PAU, “Sometimes I missed classes because of these issues . . . many challenges including internet issues, learning in English, which is my third language after Kirundi my native language and French, finding books, waking up in the middle of nights to be in classes, because of time zone difference.”   She also values the education she receives at PAU in that she learned how to be an effective multicultural counselor and this is critical because she works in different contexts with people from a diverse background.   Post-graduation work: Florence is pursuing counseling certification, which will add value to her qualification due to a lack of Certified Counselors and counselors with a Master's degree. She plans to create a collaborative network of mental health professionals in her country, which could serve as a model in Burundi and Africa. “I am dreaming to become a leader somewhere in the counseling domain. However, I will always remember that a good leader serves others, in a humble way.”    

M.S. in Psychology Program

Award for Excellence in Research: Victoria Guinn Victoria has been volunteering in Dr. Gomez’s research lab: Aging, Neuropsychology, and Depression (AND) Lab for this academic year.  She has collaborated as a co-author in a couple of studies including one study that examined the effects of working on physical and emotional strain on African American versus Caucasian caregivers.  This study was accepted as a presentation for WPA.  It will be presented this Fall 2020.  In Dr. Gomez’s lab, she has also started her own project as the PI using archival data from the ADAMS study (a longitudinal national database of cognitive functioning of older adults with and without neurocognitive disorders).  There, she is hoping to examine the effects of substance abuse on cognition in ethnic minority older adults.  Furthermore, she is applying her knowledge in geropsychology to serve the community of isolated older adults.  As a member of the PAU Student Association of Gerontological Enhancement (SAGE), she is helping build and give psychoeducation presentations to three retirement communities in the Bay Area.  These presentations are to help introduce the residents to PAU and to provide referrals for residents who need and are interested in services at the e-clinic.  In my many years of teaching in the M.S. program, I believe that she has been the most active and productive student in research at PAU.  She is a role model to other students, and a great example of the PAU values and commitment to diversity, academic and research excellence, and service.   Award for Outstanding Student: Arya Zale I am delighted to nominate Arya Zale for the Award of Outstanding Student for the Master of Science in Psychology program at Palo Alto University.  Arya is an active student in the program who pushes for especially thoughtful class discussions and demonstrates high-quality performance.  Furthermore, she has reached and exceeded the goals expected for M.S. students. Not only does she have a perfect record in each of her classes as reflected by her transcript, but she also contributes to an amicable climate with the whole cohort. Even though she took all her courses from new Zealand, she managed to make us all feel close and connected. I am looking forward to witnessing her new academic experiences.    Award for Outstanding Student: Kevin Herdman I am delighted to nominate Kevin Herdman for the Award of Outstanding Student for the Master of Science in Psychology program at Palo Alto University.  Kevin not only obtain a perfect record in his classes, but he has also been an active participant in every class he took. His class participation has always been respectful, thoughtful, and enriching. Kevin has the skills to succeed in whatever he proposes; I am looking forward to seeing his future steps in the psychology field.   Award for Academic Excellence: Leila Rose Joseph, Hilary Kingman, Rachel Michele Murley and Jill Sumiko Yamada  Leila, Hillary, Rachel, and Jill had an outstanding academic performance within the M.S. Psychology Program. Throughout their coursework, they have demonstrated intellectual growth, motivation, and improvement. In addition to their educational successes. We are fortunate that Leila, Hillary, and Rachel will be transferring to the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology Program in the Fall of 2020, and I am absolutely confident that they will continue their academic excellence as well as develop their passion for psychology.     Award for Excellence in Service: Cyrus Chang Since his early steps at PAU Undergraduate program, Cyrus became highly involved with the PAU community. He was the student cohort representative in his junior year and student council president in his senior year. He then joined the M.S. program and became the vice president of the Behavioral Intervention Technologies Student Group where he played a major role in organizing the very successful speaker series of Super Star Psychologists in Technology. In these events, hundreds of participants got the chance to learn from inspiring role models in the field. PAU is very fortunate to have Cyrus contributing to community development. Thank you Cyrus for all that you are doing.   Ph.D. in Psychology Program   Award for Academic Excellence: Jill Reavis Jill has excelled across the board in her three years at PAU, earning a perfect GPA. Jill is a leader in the classroom, always asking pointed questions. Her writing and statistical skills are exceptional, and she has taught herself complex stats (i.e., LPA) in her "spare time" - showing her dedication to not only learn in the classroom but apply what she has learned to her professional activities. In addition, she has achieved outstanding grades and active engagement in research while being STUCO co-president and very active in our lab, co-coordinating data collections, writing papers, and co-authoring or senior authoring eight posters presented at national conferences.   Award for Excellence in Research: Afik Faerman It is my pleasure to nominate Afik Faerman for the PAU research excellence award. On his path towards a career as a clinical researcher and an educator in academia, Afik advocated for research as the president of the Pacific Research Society (PRS), has demonstrated storng competency in the classroom, and focuses most of his academic growth on excelling in research and scientific writing. Afik has pursued research with PAU faculty, as well as initiated successful collaborations with leading researchers at Stanford University, UCSF, and the Palo Alto VA. During his time in the program, Afik authored six peer-reviewed publications (two as the first author), presented over 15 posters at professional conferences, and is currently leading the writing of three more manuscripts. Advancing research at PAU, Afik's dissertation research has received the Graduate Research Grant from APA's Division 19 (Society for Military Psychology) and the APA's Division 40 (Society for Clinical Neuropsychology) Dissertation Award. Overall, Afik has demonstrated clear excellence in research and I believe he is an outstanding candidate for the PAU research excellence award.   Award for Excellence in Research: Nicole Greenberg During the 2019-2020 school year, Nicole Greenberg has been an author/co-author on three research posters accepted at national level conferences and has published a first-author article in a high impact peer-reviewed journal. She is currently working on two manuscripts through her research appointment at the Palo Alto VA studying longitudinal effects of loneliness on cognitive functioning in late life through two different mediation models. Nicole is extraordinary in her research productivity and her strong grasp of quantitative methodology. In addition to research and academic obligations, she also serves as the co-chair of the Research Methods Special Interest Group within APA Division 20, where she has been collaborating on a manuscript on COVID-19 and elder abuse with clinical scientists at the Boston VA.   Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Jasmine Thomas Second-year student, Jasmine Thomas. has worked with particularly challenging clients from various backgrounds and clinical presentations. Her maturity, composure, and ability to connect with these clients has been a beautiful scene to witness. She is compassionate, warm, and yet she is able to effectively and safely challenge a client when necessary. Jasmine stays grounded even when clients become highly emotive, staying with the client in a safe, contained, and holding environment. Jasmine's skills are flexible in meeting the needs of her clients. She can be solution-focused while also helping a client explore heightened levels of previously avoided emotions and memories. I highly recommend Jasmine, as her skill and intuitive clinical nature are advanced beyond her years.   Award for Excellence in Teaching: Brian Seo Brian Seo, for consistently going well above and beyond his duties. He has been a super-TA for two highly demanding classes, organizing the teaching of 5 other TAs and serving as the primary point of contact between students and the teaching team (TAs and faculty). He has been amazingly responsive, dedicated, knowledgeable, and a reliable educator, and one of the top two TAs I've ever had the pleasure of working with.   Award for Excellence in Diversity: Gabriel Corpus Gabe has proven himself a passionate and dedicated advocate for ethnic minority communities, and a selfless, organized, and a humble, collegial, driven, and selfless leader for Asian American psychology on a national level. Gabe has pursued extensive advocacy and leadership during graduate school, purely by interest and a desire to further Asian American advocacy within the field. He has served as an APA Division 45 (the Society for the Psychological Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture) Campus Representative Co-Chair, a student representative for the Division of Filipino Americans in AAPA, and co-president of PAU’s Asian American Psychology Student Association. He has even helped to develop a new group within the Asian American Psychological Association, leading the AAPA Education and Training Committee.   Award for Excellence in Service: Kaleen Carimbocas Kaleen Carimbocas has shown a genuine and deep passion for social justice and making a difference in underserved communities. Kaleen has translated this drive for service to surrounding communities by taking the lead in refining and providing a set of mental health and suicide prevention trainings throughout Santa Clara County. In this role, she has mentored several other students in their own skills in running community psychoeducation workshops, and she has also provided mental health and suicide prevention to numerous groups (e.g., NAMI groups, churches, parent groups, schools, and community centers).   Award for Outstanding Student: Saranya Sundaram Saranya Sundaram is a 5th-year clinical psychology Ph.D. student in the neuropsychology area of emphasis at Palo Alto University (PAU). Currently, she is completing her predoctoral internship in the adult/geriatric neuropsychology track at Emory University School of Medicine. At PAU, Saranya completed her clinical training at both the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System and UCSF Memory and Aging Center. Saranya joined my NIH-funded study on aging and neurodegeneration in HIV and Parkinson’s disease through SRI International and Stanford University, where she examined the speed of information processing and aging between HIV and Parkinson’s disease, as well as the impact of neuropathology, sleep, and glymphatic system functioning in Parkinson’s disease. She has presented 10 posters at national conferences and has several peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Currently, she has presented a poster at the International Neuropsychology Society 2020 conference in Denver, Colorado and has subsequently submitted a manuscript for publication under review from her dissertation study on the role of emotion in daily functioning in older adults living with HIV and Parkinson’s disease. Saranya also successfully defended her dissertation in May 2019. Saranya clearly demonstrates passion and productivity in empirical knowledge and skills, very much in line with what is expected of a postdoctoral fellow. Throughout her graduate career, Saranya has developed an enthusiastic interest in teaching and mentorship. She has served as a teaching assistant for several graduate courses, including Cognitive Bases of Behavior, Personality Assessment, Integrated Assessment, and Neuroanatomy & Neuroimaging. She was also selected to independently teach Biological Psychology as an adjunct faculty instructor in the PAU undergraduate program and helped co-facilitate an evidence-based teaching workshop for PAU graduate students interested in pursuing academic teaching in the future. In summary, Saranya is simply an outstanding student.     Psy.D. Consortium Program   Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Monica Allen, M.S. Monica Allen is an exceptional fourth-year clinician-in-training. She received not one but three nominations from her supervisors at her primary and supplemental practica.  Her clinical supervisors at Menlo College and Stanford Psychiatry commend her impressive combination of professionalism, maturity, work ethic, warmth and humility. They describe Monica as one of the most capable students with whom they have worked based on her sophisticated conceptualization and intervention skills, deep therapeutic vocabulary, and her ability to meaningfully connect with colleagues and patients alike. Monica is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Excellence in Clinical Work.   Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Elisabeth Cordell, M.S. Elisabeth Cordell has been a tremendous asset to her clinical teams at both the Palo Alto VA and Stanford Psychiatry this training year. She was also nominated for this same award last year. Her supervisors commend her ability to genuinely connect with her patients and deepen insight into their suffering, while also attending to skills acquisition. Her supervisors also express gratitude for her creative solutions to address barriers to treatment arising due to COVID-19; her diligent efforts helped to ensure continuity of care. Elisabeth is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Excellence in Clinical Work.   Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Kayla Jimenez, M.S. Kayla Jimenez is an incredibly polished and compassionate clinician-in-training. She received not one but two nominations from her supervisors at her primary and supplemental practica. In the Tobacco Cessation Program at Stanford, her supervisors highlight her ability to successfully engage a challenging patient population with the empathy and consistency of a seasoned clinician. They also praise her for insightful contributions to group supervision, selfless mentorship of other trainees, and pursuing her desire for greater impact by seeking out involvement with their implementation science team. Kayla is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Excellence in Clinical Work.   Award for Excellence in Clinical Work: Julia Rossi, M.S. Julia Rossi is an outstanding fourth-year clinician-in-training. At both Stanford Psychiatry and East Palo Alto Academy, her supervisors commend her for being highly impactful in practicum settings that required flexible and adaptive implementation of evidence-based protocols using a multicultural lens. Julia’s level of independence, extraordinarily compassionate, insightful, and nuanced ability to approach difficult clinical situations with calm and kindness were referenced as beyond expectations for her level of training. Julia is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Excellence in Clinical Work.   Award for Excellence in Diversity: Shaneece (Neece) Lane Shaneece (Neece) Lane is a second-year student who has been phenomenal in assisting Dr. Teceta Tormala, PAU's Director of Institutional Equity and Inclusion this year. She has conducted focus groups with students on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concerns, created a list of student-centered priorities for DEI work and systematically begun to address them, and conducted research on best practices in DEI at other institutions. Neece is incredibly hard-working, thoughtful, proactive, responsive, and a tremendous collaborator. She cares deeply about addressing DEI issues in institutions and about social justice more broadly, is highly deserving of this PAU Student Award for Contributions to Diversity.   Award for Excellence in Diversity: Alisha Saxena, M.S. Alisha Saxena is a fourth-year doctoral candidate who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to social justice, equity and inclusion. Her practicum supervisor stated that "I have worked with over 30 trainees across externship, internship, and fellowship levels; not one has showed promise in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion as Alisha Saxena has! Alisha stands out in this area because at the core of everything she does is social justice. This is evident in her clinical cases, supervision, seminar presentations, interprofessional communication correspondence, academic interests, and committee membership." Alisha is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Contributions to Diversity.   Award for Excellence in Research: Katy Stimpson Katy Stimpson is a second-year PsyD Consortium student who has demonstrated great research skills, dedication, enthusiasm, and energy in the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab. Katy has been assisting with research on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with Dr. Nolan Williams, furthering the Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT). Her work has resulted in a whopping 16 publications, including a recent second-author article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Katy is very deserving of the PAU Student Award for Excellence in Research.   Award for Outstanding Student: Billy Chan, M.S. Billy Chan is this year's outstanding Psy.D. Consortium student. Billy was nominated by Dr. Barr Taylor, who serves as Billy's dissertation chair. In his nomination, Dr. Taylor wrote that Billy "has done an amazing job with his study -- examining the feasibility/acceptability of VR therapy for social phobia." In addition, Billy has served as a project manager for a large grant for which his duties included recruiting 700 research participants, provided exemplary clinical care at his primary and supplemental practicum placements, served as a student assistant to the director of clinical training, and been a member of the PsyD student council. In all of his roles, Billy can be counted on to be responsive, supportive, collaborative and to complete his responsibilities with a smile on his face.