Lindsey Root, a 2003 Hope College graduate from Novi, has received second place in a competition sponsored by the national Psi Chi psychology honorary society for research she conducted as a student.
Root, a psychology major, has been recognized for her paper "Enhancing Recall of Names by Providing Feedback on the Use of Expanding Retrieval" in the national Psi Chi/Allyn & Bacon Psychology Awards competition.
Sponsored by Allyn & Bacon publishers, the awards are open to all undergraduate Psi Chi members and recognize those who submit the best overall empirical research papers. Root conducted her research at Hope with Dr. John Shaughnessy, professor of psychology.
Copies of her paper will be distributed at the Allyn & Bacon exhibition booth during the American Psychological Association convention being held in Toronto on Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 7-10. The abstract of her paper, along with a biographical sketch and her photo, will also appear in the fall edition of the "Eye on Psi Chi," the honorary society's national publication. The recognition also includes a $650 cash prize and an award certificate.
Root was active in the college's Psi Chi chapter for two years, serving as vice president as a junior and president as a senior. In May, she and a classmate presented a Psi Chi paper session during the Midwest Psychological Association Conference.
In addition to her research on memory with Shaughnessy, she also worked with Dr. Charlotte van Oyen Witvliet of the Hope psychology faculty on several projects, focusing on forgiveness, justice and psychophysiology.
Later this month, Root will begin in the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at the University of Miami in Florida, and will study forgiveness, gratitude and spirituality across the life span under the direction of Dr. Michael McCullough. Her long-term goal is to continue to do research and to teach in a university setting.
Root graduated from Hope summa cum laude, and was consistently named to the dean's list as a student. In addition to her involvement in the department of psychology, her activities as a student included the Chapel Choir; the Dance Marathon charitable fundraiser for DeVos Children's Hospital; serving as a volunteer tutor with the Children's After School Achievement (CASA) program; and the spring break mission trip program coordinated by the college's Campus Ministries Office.
She is the daughter of Randy and Jan Root of Novi. She is a 1999 graduate of Novi High School.