For the eighth year in a row, Hope College psychology students have earned regional recognition for excellence in research.

Seniors Nathan DeYoung of Hudsonville and Alicia Hofelich of Midland will each receive Regional Research Awards in May from the Midwestern chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. It is not only the eighth year in a row that Hope students have received the honor, but the fourth consecutive year that at least two students from Hope have been recognized.

They will receive their awards during the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, being held in Chicago, Ill., on Thursday-Saturday, May 3-5. DeYoung and Hofelich have earned two of only 20 of the awards being given by the chapter, and were chosen from among 280 entries.

They are each being honored for research concerning forgiveness conducted with Dr. Charlotte vanOyen Witvliet, associate professor of psychology. DeYoung is being recognized for "Assessing Forgiveness Physiology: An Experimental Comparison of Suppression and Reappraisal Responses to Cope with Memories of a Past Interpersonal Hurt." Hofelich is being honored for "Linguistic Analyses of Attempts to Forgive a Real-Life Offender: An Experimental Comparison of Reappraisal, Suppression, and Rumination."

DeYoung and Hofelich are actually sharing in both awards, since each is also the secondary author of the other's project.

DeYoung has been working with Witvliet for the past two-and-a-half years, including part-time during the school year and full-time during the summers of 2005 and 2006. Hofelich has been working with Witvliet for the past year, including full-time during the summer of 2006.

Next fall, Hofelich will begin her Ph.D. studies in cognitive neuroscience at University of Michigan and DeYoung will begin his Ph.D. studies in clinical psychology at Purdue University.

The Psi Chi national honor society was founded in 1929 to encourage, stimulate and maintain excellence in scholarship, and advance the science of psychology. Psi Chi has chapters at more than 1,000 senior colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Since its founding, the honor society has registered more than 500,000 members.

Psi Chi chapters are grouped within six regions: Eastern, Midwestern, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. The Midwestern Region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Hope's chapter of Psi Chi was chartered in 1965.