Psychology Graduate Student at UA Receives Prestigious NSF Fellowship

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Rob Cramer, a University of Alabama graduate student in clinical psychology from Shrub Oak, N.Y., has been selected as a recipient of a National Science Foundation Fellowship.

The National Science Foundation Fellowship Program is designed to foster international collaboration between American students and researchers abroad.

Cramer is studying in Australia as apart of the NSF’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute. The NSF Institute introduces students to East Asia and Pacific science and engineering in the context of a research laboratory and it initiates relationships that will enable students to collaborate with foreign counterparts in the future. The institute lasts some eight weeks from June-August.

Cramer was awarded the fellowship to study with Drs. Jack White and Andy Day at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, this summer. While there, he is assisting White in his clinical practice and conducting research on personality functioning in an offender sample.

“I feel very fortunate to be the recipient of such an opportunity,” said Cramer.

Participating in this program has provided Cramer with opportunities including meeting scientists in varying disciplines across the country, learning differences in the legal system in Australia and collaborating with psychologists and graduate students in Adelaide.

He is pursuing his doctorate in clinical psychology with specialization in psychology-law under Dr. Stan Brodsky, UA professor of psychology. “Working with Dr. Brodsky has been nothing short of perfect,” said Cramer. “He has been a wonderful mentor and I have relied on him for professional development and guidance throughout my time in Alabama.”

His work centers on efficacious expert testimony, jury selection and hate crimes. Cramer also has an interest in young adult development and he works part-time as a trainee for the University Counseling Center.

For more information about the fellowship program, go to the NSF Web site at http://www.nsf.gov.