Crista Gallo '13

As a Derner Institute Emerging Scholar, Crista Gallo ’13 collaborated with Professor Joel Weinberger, Ph.D., in designing and conducting research on phobias. The work culminated in her poster presentation, “Brief Subliminal Exposure to Feared Stimulus Promoting Approach in Spider Phobic Individuals,” which was named the Best Poster Presentation in Psychology at the 2013 Adelphi Research Conference. She was also selected to present her research at the American Psychological Association (APA) convention in Hawaii in August 2013. “Participating in the Emerging Scholars Program…opened my eyes to the world of research—a world which I thirsted to explore,” Ms. Gallo said. In fact, her experiences in the Emerging Scholars Program encouraged her to pursue other research opportunities postgraduation with Professor Robert Bornstein, Ph.D.. In addition to being actively involved in research, she aspires to work in various clinical settings, such as in hospitals and in private practice, collecting comprehensive data from multilevel analysis. More immediately, she plans to earn her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and was admitted to Derner’s doctoral program for fall 2014.