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HATTIESBURG
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A pair of University of Southern Mississippi psychology graduate
students have been accepted to two prestigious postdoctoral sleep
research programs.
Chris Ward
of Hattiesburg and Monique Lebourgeois of New Orleans, doctoral
candidates at Southern Miss, will spend the summer advancing their
education at Ivy League institutions Harvard University and Brown
University, respectively.
Ward, whose
emphasis area is experimental psychology, will study the basic mechanisms
of sleep in the Harvard Department of Psychiatry, where he will
study under Dr. Robert McCarley. "I'm just elated, very excited,"
Ward said of his acceptance to the program. "He (McCarley)
is a big name in the sleep research field. Just to be able to work
with someone of his stature is incredible."
Lebourgeois
will continue her research on adolescent sleep patterns while studying
at Brown's E.P Bradley Sleep Research Laboratory. She will work
under the supervision of Mary Carskadon, whom Lebourgeois said is
also a top name in the sleep research field.
Both Ward and
Lebourgeois believe the preparation they received at Southern Miss
was key to their acceptance to the programs.
"My graduate
research at Southern Miss (under the supervision of Southern Miss
psychology professor Dr. John Harsh) has provided me with a variety
of opportunities, and those opportunities have increased my confidence
and shaped my research interest," said Lebourgeois, who has
supervised the Southern Miss Department of Psychology's Sleep Laboratory
for the last five years.
Ward also credited
Harsh and Southern Miss professor Dr. John McCoy for their guidance
of his research at Southern Miss. "Those two have really done
a lot for me and helped prepare me for this," he said.
Harsh said
Ward and Lebourgeois' selection to the programs is a result of their
dedication and sacrifice. "Both of them have worked very hard,
both day and night and on weekends and during breaks to do the things
that need to be done to be successful," he said.
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