GTF wins award for research on depression
George Slavich's research
was in conjunction with
Stanford University
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER
NEWS REPORTER
University graduate teaching fellow
George Slavich was recently awarded
the 2004-05 Edwin B. Newman Grad
uate Research Award, a national award
given annually to the psychology stu
dent who submits the best research
paper published or presented during
the past year.
The award is given by Psi Chi, the
National Honor Society in Psychology,
in conjunction with the American Psy
chological Association.
“The best part of the award is the
national exposure for our research,”
Slavich said. “The award gives nation
al exposure and validation that we are
on the right track and our work is im
portant and interesting.”
Slavich won the award for a 12-page
manuscript he submitted that discuss
es the work he and other researchers
conducted about the effects of stress
on physiology in the context of people
who become depressed.
The project began five years ago as a
collaborative effort between re
searchers at Stanford University and
the University of Oregon. Slavich be
gan working on the project at its con
ception as a junior undergraduate stu
dent at Stanford and continued with
the project when he started graduate
school at the University.
“It’s a collaborative project to look
at how depression develops among
adults,” Slavich said.
The project has four principle inves
tigators, each heading up a specific
portion of the project. Slavich is work
ing with University professor Scott
Monroe, his adviser and co-author,
Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer
University graduate
teaching fellow
George Slavich was
awarded the 2004-05
Edwin B. Newman
Graduate
Research Award by
Psi Chi and the
American
Psychological
Association.
who headed the life-stress segment of
the project.
Their research involves a “Life
Events and Difficulties Schedule,” a
tool used to measure different life
events and the effects they may have.
Slavich said he and Monroe
hold weekly conference calls with
an interviewer at Stanford, who re
lays information from people partic
ipating in the research to Slavich
and Monroe at the University. The
questions are about life stressors
such as finances or whether the
person has lost someone close.
“They elicit information about
stressful events that occurred before
they were depressed,” Slavich said.
“Then we rate the events along differ
ent dimensions.”
The information gained through the
research can be used to better under
stand depression.
“Understanding how disorders de
velop is the first big step to knowing
how to treat the disorder,” Slavich said.
“This is important information be
cause it suggests that disordered physi
ology may be related to severe life
events within depressed persons and
may represent one pathway through
which life stress can cause depres
sion,” Monroe said in a University
press release.
Last year, Psi Chi and the American
Psychological Society awarded
Slavich with the Albert Bandura
Graduate Research Award. Slavich is
the only person ever to win both the
Newman and Bandura awards. Both
awards are given based on a blind
read in which reviewers judge the pa
pers without knowing the authors’
names or with which institution or
university they are affiliated.
“(The blind-read review) makes
receiving both awards much more
validating,” Slavich said. “It is on
going validation that what we are
doing is important.”
abolsinger@dailyemerald. com
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