Psych Mic

Claire Ciliotta, PhD, has been a practicing psychotherapist since she was 37, and she is now 75.  Prior to that, she worked in a bank (very, very briefly!), worked for Pan American Airlines, Louise Wise Teen-age Unwed Mother residence, Sheltering Arms Children’s Service Group Homes, and ran a Child Life Program at Bellevue Hospital Inpatient Pediatrics. "All of which," she says, "made me a much more effective therapist."

She holds an MA in Learning Disabilities and Reading, and she later pursued a Ph.D in Applied Psychology from NYU. 

In this live event from December 2020, we talked about:

• what it means to be a witness
• what Claire learned about life and human nature through working with children facing their mortality
• why Claire listens to what is not being said in the therapy room as much as what is
• how to not carry things home with you
• the role of intuition in the therapy room
• and so much more. 

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

Music by: Adam Fine 

Heidi K. Gardner, PhD, is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession. Previously she was a professor of Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. Dr. Gardner’s book “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos” was published in 2017 by Harvard Business Press, and became a Washington Post bestseller. Named by Thinkers 50 as a Next Generation Business Guru, Dr. Gardner co-founded the research and advisory firm Gardner & Co, which helps clients across professional services, industry, government, and non-profits to drive change through smarter collaboration.

Dr. Gardner has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow, and for McKinsey & Co. and Procter & Gamble. She earned her BA in Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters degree from the London School of Economics in Industrial Relations, and a PhD from London Business School in Organizational Behavior. 

Topics we cover:

• Growing up in Amish Country - Lancaster, PA
• Why Japanese language, culture, and history fascinated Heidi
• How Heidi went from being a Japanese major to a manager at Procter & Gamble
• What it means to be a leader & getting your team to shine
• Heidi’s Fulbright scholarship in post-communist Germany
• “As long as you are dealing with human beings, the value of psychology will always shine through”
• Why Heidi loves going to grocery stores in new countries
• What is Industrial Relations? - Heidi’s Master’s program
• Organizational behavior - the human component of business
• Working at McKinsey - culture, people, & work
• Wanting a job you think about in the shower
• What does a PhD in Organizational Behavior give you?
• What is smart collaboration?
• How does Heidi apply smart collaboration today?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox!

Music by: Adam Fine 

Mark S. Blumberg, PhD, is a professor, neuroscientist, researcher, and author who specializes in the fields of developmental psychobiology and behavioral neuroscience. He is currently the department chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa. In addition to writing academic research articles, Blumberg has served as the editor-in-chief of Behavioral Neuroscience and authored several books, including Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution. His research also appeared on a 2020 episode of the Netflix series, Babies. Research in the Blumberg lab at U-Iowa focuses on sleep: its development, neural control, and functional significance. Read more about Mark's research here.

Topics in this episode:

• Mark’s research on: Why do we sleep so much when we’re young?
• Researching niche/obscure constructs and why that’s important to Mark
• The uncertainty of science
• Planning for the future versus following present interests and passions
• Non-permanence of seemingly permanent decisions, like pursuing a PhD
• How Mark got to love what he does
• Horrible mentor experiences
• How to properly read a CV to assess mentor fit
• Finding funding for obscure research interests
• Pros and cons to an academic career
• Hard and soft salary academic positions
• Being a psychology department chair
• Developing a mentorship philosophy
• What Mark looks for in a student on his lab
• What makes Mark a successful leader
• What skill does Mark want his undergrads to leave college with?
• Advice for college students on getting research experience
• Getting into grad school

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Kevin Scully, M.A., ED.S., is the development director for Students Without Limits, a 501c3 nonprofit based in San Diego that supports underserved and immigrant youth through mental health, legal, and continuing education services. Kevin has an M.A. in school psychology and an education specialist degree (ED.S.) and has worked with underserved and minority immigrant youth within San Diego schools for nearly 20 years as a bilingual school psychologist, teacher and education consultant. Given his experience and reputation within the school communities, Kevin serves as an esteemed liaison between SWOL and schools. Kevin uses his knowledge and experience to develop our popular Sensitivity Training Program for educators and Parent Programs. He also uses his expertise to connect students to key resources and provide quality intervention strategies and services to marginalized and struggling youth.

Here are major questions we cover:

1. What is Students Without Limits?
2. How do nonprofits get funding?
3. What piece of advice do you have for people who are interested in starting a nonprofit but aren’t sure where to begin?
4. Why do you love working with kids?
5. What clinical experience did you get with a bachelor’s in psychology? How was your experience working with at-risk kids?
6. Why did you choose school psychology over clinical psychology?
7. Considerations for people weighing school and clinical psychology
8. What is the difference between school psychology and school counseling programs?
9. Why were you drawn to school psychology over school counseling?
10. Why did you decide not to pursue your doctorate (yet)?
11. Loan forgiveness opportunities
12. What is an education specialist degree?
13. What was the most valuable part of your master’s?
14. Why did you choose to travel right after graduate school, and what perspectives did you gain from doing so?
15. Why did you transition from working in public schools to the nonprofit space?
16. Favorite and least favorite parts about being a school psychologist
17. How do you welcome criticism?
18. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Sara Douglas, Psy.D., NCSP, is a neuropsychological evaluator and nationally certified school psychologist. Sara received her master's degree in school psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and then obtained her Psy.D  in school psychology from St. John's University. Sara has worked across a variety of settings including schools (both public and private), treatment clinics, and hospitals. At her current private practice, Sara conducts neuropsychological evaluations with school-aged children, adolescents, and adults who have unexplained academic, behavioral, or emotional difficulties. In the past, she’s worked as a school psychologist providing counseling to students, as an Associate Adjunct Professor within the School Psychology graduate program at St. John's University, and as an Adjunct Professor within Manhattanville College's Graduate School of Education. 

In this episode, we cover: 

1. What neuropsychological tests do you conduct, and what do they tell you?
2. What does a testing session look like?
3. What makes you good at this, and is that quality intuitive or learned?
4. How do you communicate difficult test results to parents?
5. How did you learn to be confident in synthesizing so much information?
6. What advice would you give someone who is interested in becoming a neuropsychological evaluator but is not sure?
7. Why did you want to become a lawyer, and why did you change your mind?
8. Did you think psychology would be useful in your future work as a lawyer?
9. How did you experiment and figure out that psychology was more of the right thing for you?
10. Why didn’t you want to be a child therapist?
11. Why did you decide to get your master’s in school psychology?
12. When did you realize testing was the path for you?
13. Why did you pursue a doctorate?
14. What was the most beneficial part of grad school?
15. What do you learn in a school psych grad program?
16. Can all school psychologists call themselves neuropsychologists?
17. Why did you open a private practice while also being a school psychologist?
18. What did you enjoy the most about being a school psychologist?
19. Was there anything you witnessed being kind of immersed in the education field that irked you and that you wish you could change?
20. Do you think on the whole, we rely on teachers to take on more of that psychologist role when they shouldn’t?
21. Was there something students came to you all the time about?
22. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has served you no matter where you went?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Shelby Cooley, PhD, is a senior research scientist for the Seattle Public Schools, where she works to better understand student needs and experiences pertaining to racial identity, school climate, academic engagement and more.  In the past, she has worked as the research director at a Seattle-based nonprofit called Community Center for Education Results, focused on improving student achievement and educational equity. Shelby received her B.A. from Scripps College in psychology and Black studies, and  her PhD from the University of Maryland in Developmental Science    where she examined the emergence of anti-Black racism in childhood, how environments shape children's perceptions of fairness and justice, racial identity, and contexts that enable all youth to challenge negative group norms. Her prior professional work focused on early learning access and quality instruction at New York University's INSIGHTS to Children's Temperament Lab, and at Child Trends in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit research center focused on  children, families, and wellbeing.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. What do you do as a senior research scientist for the Seattle Public Schools?
2. How does this research get used to improve the learning experiences of students?
3. Where does policy come into play, and are you involved in this step?
4. What are your primary research interests as they pertain to education?
5. When trying to make the education system more equitable, is the agent of change bottom up or top down?
6. What role does research play in systems change?
7. What types of conversations move us closer to antiracism in education, and what conversations have become unproductive?
8. Why did you major in psychology?
9. Why was a PhD a logical step for you?
10. How did your mentors shape you?
11. Why were you interested in identity development, particularly in people of color?
12. Can you describe any experience in grad school that helped you solidified what you wanted to do with your research?
13. Why did you not want to be a professor?
14. Her roles at nonprofit organizations
15. Where does change happen?
16. Is it becoming more common for folks with psych backgrounds to enter the education space?
17. What advice do you have for the Psych Mic audience?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Maxine Nwigwe, Psy.D. is a behavioral scientist, designer and futurist. She has held multiple roles across educational, corporate and nonprofit settings and has 10+ years experience in designing and developing solutions in learning, mental wellness/psychological wellbeing and workforce development. Dr. Nwigwe is also the founder of the instructional studio, Work. Love. Play, LLC. In this space, she advises startups/founding teams and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on the integration of culturally informed and environmentally sound behavioral insights to promote organizational development and transformation. She holds a Doctorate in Psychology (specializing in Assessment and Adult Development) from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology & Society (specializing in human behavioral ecology) from Cornell University.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What is behavioral science?
2. How do you use design and behavioral science in your work?
3. What makes you a good behavioral scientist?
4. Why did you major in biology and society?
5. Why did you decide not to continue as a pre-med student?
6. Why did psychology open the door for you to be a healer?
7. Can you recall an experience that solidified for you that you wanted to go into this field?
8. How do you pay attention to your interests?
9. Why did you choose a PsyD over a PhD?
10. What do you look for in great mentors?
11. How do you assess if your mentor aligns with your values?
12. What did you learn about yourself in graduate school?
13. How and why did you pivot into the community engagement and design space?
14. What is one skill, quality, or general factor that has helped you no matter where you went?
15. What does the future hold for the field of psychology?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Juliette Lyons-Thomas, PhD, works on a large-scale assessment program at Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization. Her research interests include the use of think aloud protocols for validation of assessments of complex thinking, policy-related issues in education, and issues related to cross-cultural and cross-lingual assessment. She received her B.Sc (Psychology) from McGill University, her M.A. (Educational Psychology, specializing in Psychological Measurement and Evaluation) from NYU, her Ph.D. from the Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology program at the University of British Columbia. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Teachers College, Columbia University and has previously worked at the Regents Research Fund and the New York State Education Department. 

In this episode, we cover Juliette's decision to major in psychology, her early academic struggles and how they shaped her, educational psychology, what measurement is and why it's important, how measurement applies to education policy, graduate school application tips, reaching out to professors, the future of and problems with standardized tests, how to make tests more equitable, and more!

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter, where you'll get career tips, grad school resources, and job opportunities straight to your inbox.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D. is the Chief Science Officer of the American Psychological Association. He is a husband, a father, board certified in clinical child and adolescent psychology, and serves as the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the former Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mitch’s Peer Relations Lab has been conducting research on popularity and peer relations for almost 20 years, and has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child and Human Development, and several private foundations, resulting in over 100 scientific works, including a slew of scientific journal articles, book chapters, a set of encyclopedias on adolescent development, and even a textbook on the field of clinical psychology.

Mitch is deeply committed to science and training in clinical psychology. He is the author of a guide called "Mitch's Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology," which has helped thousands of students navigate the grad school process - please check it out if you are considering this path! His popular book, Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World, explores why popularity plays such a key role in our development and how it still influences our happiness and success into adulthood. It has been reviewed by esteemed peers such as Adam Grant, Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth, and Phil Zimbardo.

He and his research have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, U.S. News & World Report, Time magazine, New York magazine, Newsweek, Reuters, Family Circle, Real Simple, and elsewhere.

Sample questions/topics from this episode:

1. Why did you apply to both law school and psych grad school?
2. Why clinical psychology?
3. Why do sub-disciplines of psychology have a hard time talking to one another?
4. How did you become interested in researching peer relations?
5. How do you advise students to find their own great mentors?
6. Why do you love teaching and research?
7. How do you choose when you are excited by so many opportunities?
8. How did you develop the writing skills to be able to communicate your research with a mass audience?
9. Why did you write the book, Popular?
10. How can we be better as a field in disseminating psychological science, and what are the barriers to that?
11. What is your role as the CSO of the APA? 
12. If you could tell your 22-year-old-self anything in the world, what would it be?

GRAD SCHOOL:

1. What are some common concerns that you see that psychology students have as it relates to professional development?
2. How do you demonstrate potential in your graduate school application?
3. What red flags do you see in graduate school applications?
4. How much does school reputation matter for future career success?
5. What advice do you have for people who want to go to clinical PhD programs but are not interested in research?
6. What type of person would you advise not to go down a tenure track?

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine 

Anton Robert Berzins, Psy.D., N.C.S.P., is a school psychologist and Co-Founder and Director for the Ecuador Professional Preparation Program, a cultural immersion program for education and mental health professionals. He obtained his psychology and history (double major) undergraduate degree from Loyola College in Maryland, masters degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and doctoral degree (bilingual track) from St. John's University.

He is a full time, tenured school psychologist within the Great Neck Public School system in Great Neck, New York. In this role, he serves as the Case Manager to the Academic Career Exploration (A.C.E.) and Transition programs which are comprised of students with significant physical, and developmental disabilities. Additionally, he serves as the Case Manager to the English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) program, which is comprised of students from the Middle East, South America, Central America, Europe, and Asia.

For over the past decade, Dr. Berzins has spent his summer's working with a variety of schools, hospitals, clinics, community outreach centers, and orphanages in both Costa Rica and Ecuador. Furthermore, he has presented at district-level and national conferences. He has had articles, book reviews, and book chapters published in national psychology journals. His research interests include: school-sports psychology; resiliency; affect (positive and negative); exposure to violence (physical, verbal, sexual); post traumatic stress disorder; gratitude; positive psychology; and multicultural issues in psychology.

In this episode, we cover Anton's dreams of becoming a pro soccer player, his newspaper delivery service when he was 7 years old, the reasoning behind all his grad school decisions, how boldness, gratitude, and resourcefulness helps him throughout his career, why school psychology, what he does on a daily basis, how and why he founded the Ecuador PPP, advice for aspiring school psychologists, and more.

To submit questions for future speakers and to get even more career tips, follow @psych_mic on Instagram and visit psychmic.com to sign up for the newsletter.

Music by: Adam Fine