USF College of Behavioral & Community Sciences

November 17 - 23, 2019

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Thursday, 11/21
Vanchetta
Criminology Assistant Professor Receives Outstanding Article Award from ASC

Yunmei (Iris) Lu, PhD, received the 2019 Outstanding Article Award from the American Society of Criminology for her work on a series of projects that apply the age-period-cohort modeling techniques to examine the impact of social change on crime patterns as well as the public perception of crime in different countries. This work has appeared in Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Rural Sociology, and British Journal of Criminology.

ABA Doctoral Students Shine at Recent Conferences

Congratulations to ABA doctoral students Marlesha Bell and Natalie Mandel for recent recognition at Applied Behavior Analysis conferences.

Marlesha Bell's dissertation project on teaching preschoolers consent skills won the B.F. Skinner Student Research Award from the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis. She was presented the award at the 2019 conference held in September. The award assists in funding graduate student-driven research.

Marlesha has also been selected as an invited speaker at the Behavior Analyst Leadership Council Conference in Boston, MA in April 2020. In addition, she and ABA faculty member Dr. Sarah Bloom will be presenting a webinar for CALABA Diversity & Inclusion Special Interest group in December.

Natalie Mandel won best poster at Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy 8th Annual Social in April 2019 with her research on behavior specific praise.

RMHC Student Completes USF's Entrepreneurial Program,
I-Corps

Congratulations to Aysha Tenouri for completing the I-Corps program at USF, an entrepreneurial program funded by the National Science Foundation that provides infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding as students work to build their business ventures. USF is one of the 100 national sites designated for this training and one of only two in Florida. Before joining the RMHC Program at USF, Aysha was a children's gymnastics teacher and also taught a children's music and movement program called Kindermusik. In her first year as a graduate student, her mother encouraged her to create a music and movement program for seniors and bring it to local assisted living and memory care facilities. She created a therapeutic music program, now known as InstruMix, which is a one-of-a-kind program that stimulates the mind and body as participants play various percussion instruments like egg shakers, sticks, bells, castanets, and scarves while moving to music. InstruMix can be done standing or in a chair which makes it the perfect wellness activity for people of all ability levels.

Research Roundup

Norin Dollard (CFS)
Kids Count 2019 Supplement
Sponsor: Casey (Anne E) Foundation
9/1/2019-8/31/2020
Amount: $25,000

This project is to cultivate a statewide network of early childhood stakeholders and to engage and train them on the importance of participation in Census 2020 activities, to help them develop outreach and engagement plans to increase the participation of the families of very young children in the Census and to provide messaging and outreach materials to support local efforts.

Melissa Johnson (CFS)
Citrus Helping Adolescents Negatively Impacted by Commercial Exploitation (CHANCE)
Sponsor: Citrus Health Network, Inc.
10/1/2014-6/30/2020
Amount: $302,412

CHANCE is a pilot treatment program developed by Citrus Health Network, Inc. in 2013 to address the special needs of children who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation or other forms of human trafficking. The program provides specialized placement options (including specialized therapeutic foster care) and an array of intensive therapeutic services and supports. Since early 2014, CFS has been providing an evaluation of the CHANCE program's implementation and outcomes. The study examines characteristics of exploited youth, treatment outcomes of program participants, fidelity to the program model, and youth's experiences with services using a mixed-method approach. Data are collected through a combination of qualitative interviews with participating youth and standardized instruments completed by youth and their therapists. A longitudinal design is used to assess changes over time in a variety of outcomes areas, including youth's mental and behavioral health outcomes, educational outcomes, strengths, and engagement in high-risk behaviors.

Erol Ozmeral (CSD)
Bose Device Comparison 2.0
Sponsor: Bose Corporation
10/11/2019-3/31/2020
Amount: $104,775

A key benchmark for any new hearing device is a robust comparison of the new device to existing devices produced by the leading, well-established, market shareholders. Reasonable comparisons often include subjective measures based on use by human subjects. Because sound quality is a key metric for consumers, manufacturers, and hearing professionals, this project evaluates the sound quality of a Bose prototype device to several premium, behind-the-ear hearing aids in a variety of natural auditory scenes. This project builds on the university-industry partnership between Bose and the Auditory & Speech Sciences Laboratory at USF that has been established through two prior collaborative projects.

James Winarski (MHLP)
Eckerd Child Welfare Training
Sponsor: Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc.
7/1/2016-6/30/2021
Amount: $4,410,780

The USF Child Welfare Training Consortium provides classroom training, field coaching, certification preparation services and ongoing staff development activities to Eckerd Community Alternatives case management staff in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. This training supports the state's efforts to achieve the goals of the Master Agreement with the Department of Children and Families, the Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, the Federal Child and Family Service Review, Florida's Performance Improvement Plan, and s. 402.40, F.S. The initial award was three (3) years beginning July 2016. The training program is currently in Year 4 (Renewal Year 1). Eckerd Connects, Inc. has been contracting with the USF MHLP Training Consortium through annual contracts since 2008. Beginning in 2016, the sponsor executed a multi-year contract agreement with renewal options.

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