Pomona College Psychological Science

09/04/2026

Summer might be over, but the Psychological Science department always celebrates our students!

Charles Liu is a rising junior majoring in Public Policy Analysis with a Psychology concentration. This summer, he interned at the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Northern District of California at San Francisco. He was a paralegal/investigator intern and helped with reviewing discovery, researching cases, assisting with mitigation work, and drafting memos.

At Pomona, classes like Asian American Psychology with Professor Goto and Social Psychology with Professor Pearson have helped him with various aspects of his internship through mitigation work and providing defence strategy ideas. His lab work at the Culture, Race, and Brain (CRAB) Lab with Professors Goto and Lewis has also significantly helped him on his psych journey.

As Charles prepares for his second-to-last year of college, he hopes to dive into more diverse topics in psychology classes and gain more research experience in the lab. He also aspires to find and research the intersections between psychological concepts and policy initiatives.

09/01/2026

We had a fantastic turn out from first-year and transfer students at the Department Fair last week. Many thanks to seniors Quan and Peter for representing PsychSci!

08/31/2026

Now in her final year, let’s see how Emily Kim spent her summer!

Emily Kim is a rising senior majoring in Psychological Science on the pre-med track. This summer, she’s volunteering at Adventist Health, shadowing a gastroenterologist, and dedicating most of her time to studying for the MCAT

Her academic path has been shaped by courses like Asian American Psychology and the Cultural Psychology Seminar, deepening her understanding of how cultural identity intersects with healthcare and the importance of patient-centered care.

This is further reflected in her research in Professor Goto’s Culture, Race, and Brain Lab, where she examines how cultural frameworks and self-construal influence prefrontal cortex activity and emotion regulation — bridging neural science with holistic, culturally informed care.

As she enters her senior year, Emily looks forward to continuing her lab work and pursuing a thesis at the intersection of healthcare and psychology.

08/07/2026

We are hiring a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Psychological Science and Neuroscience (75%/25% joint appointment), starting July 2027. Review begins October 1, 2026. Please spread the word, and feel free to reach out with questions!

Job , Assistant Professor of Psychological Science & Neuroscience, Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont, California, US

07/01/2026

Last week, the department hosted a super fun summertime lunch off-campus! It was a chance to celebrate our Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) students and just get together and yap over lunch from Petisco’s in Claremont 😂

Professor Masland’s PPPR Lab is lucky to have Semi Osunkeye, Francesca Coppo, and Peter Neid working as Research Assistants this summer. Edwin Wu is completing a collaborative SURP with Professor Doan at The Berger Institute and Professor Stern’s FAM Lab. Not pictured: Arissa Gupta and Gerard Lapuente doing awesome remote research for the CRAB Lab.

It was also such a treat to have Pomona alums Sofia Centeno and Izzy Cuervo Rengifo in attendance, too. Sofia is headed to a summer job in Maine and Izzy is going back to France for another year of TAPIF English-teaching!

Psych Sci majors have an incredible spectrum of interests and expertise. It was so much fun to chat and catch up. Hope everyone is having a beautiful summer so far. Share what you’re up to in the comments 🫶

06/22/2026

One of our fantastic professors of Psychological Science, Sara Rose Masland, was an expert contributor to TIME! In the article written by Angela Haupt, Professor Masland helped bust a few common myths about Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD.

Masland, who is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, will be the upcoming Department Chair for Psych Sci, and also leads the Pomona Personality, Psychopathology, and Relationships Lab (aka PPPR Lab 🫑😍) here at Pomona College. She is doing such amazing work on de-stigmatizing personality disorders (including NPD, or Narcissistic Personality Disorder) and to say we’re proud of her work is a huge understatement!

There are a few quotes here, but we STRONGLY encourage you to check out the full article on TIME and stay tuned for great things coming out of the PPPR Lab!

👏 👏 👏

05/21/2026

To know Professor Nicole Weekes is to love her! After 28 years, the Harry S. and L. Madge Rice Thatcher a Professor of Psychological Science and Professor of Neuroscience is saying “Ciao!” as she transitions into RETIREMENT in Spain.

We will miss Professor Weekes dearly here in Lincoln Hall, but it was a good party! 😂 🎊 Listening to students, staff, and faculty share stories about her unique contributions towards scholastic and inclusive excellence was so inspiring! Her speech was full of real talk, both heartfelt and hilarious.

Thank you Professor Weeks for all your years of service to our community! Special shoutout to Chef Nick for the Spanish-inspired menu, Créme for Nicole’s signature “MWAH!” cake, and the Neuroscience Department for collaborating on this beautiful event.

05/21/2026

What a whirlwind for our graduating Class of 2026!

Seniors: please stay in touch! We already miss everyone’s presence on campus, but we know you’re all headed for great new experiences and opportunities! It was so fun to celebrate alongside families and friends! 🎉

A huge thanks to all of our faculty, staff, and students who came out on Saturday, May 16th to eat, drink, and reflect. We couldn’t have done it without Joyce from Patra Fine Dining who catered the event, Erica from Crème bakery for the pastries and tarts, and our amazing Catering and Facilites teams who do an incredible job every time. Thanks all!

05/13/2026

Watching the Class of 2026 present their final Senior Thesis Presentations was a fantastic community experience. Every single student shined ✨

There was an exceptional diversity of topics, but everyone who presented was a content expert in their field. It was hugely impressive to see the amount of effort involved in writing and presenting Senior Theses: research project iteration, extensive literature reviews, data collection and analysis, and scientific writing.

These students collaborated with labs, faculty advisors, diverse communities on campus and across the United States, and with each other as they maintained a peer support network.

This Saturday is our Senior Reception and a celebration is very much in order! We can’t wait to congratulate our graduating seniors and their families for a job well done. See everyone by the Skyspace on Saturday, May 16 at 11am to 1pm. We’ll have pastries from Crème, a delicious Thai food lunch buffet, chocolate covered strawberries and all the beverages. See you there!

05/13/2026

Let’s have a moment of gratitude for all of our incredible faculty in the Department of Psychological Science here at Pomona College. Without their brilliant and thoughtful research, teaching, mentorship, and collaboration, none of this would be possible.

It’s an honor to work alongside these wonderful folks, and an inspiration to see how their passion and dedication inspires the next generation of scholars and engaged citizens.

It’s always a good time to send a heartfelt thanks to our community, but it feels especially poignant at the end of spring semester. Thank you to all of our faculty, staff, and students who make this community what it is! 👏

Thank you Professors Bacio, Burns, Goto, Hurley, Lewis, Masland, Pearson, Sher, Stern, Weekes and visiting Professors Erickson, Kan, Keil, Peterson, and Vitello!

Add any special shout-outs in the comments 📣