St. Mary’s College of Maryland senior Katherine Grein has been selected by the executive board of the Gatlinburg Conference as the recipient of the Laraine Masters Glidden Undergraduate Student Travel Award. The award will pay $500 towards Grein’s expenses to travel to the Gatlinburg Conference on Research in Developmental Disabilities, being held in San Antonio in March 2013, where she will present her research titled, “It’s Where You Look and When: The Value of Multiple Measures at Multiple Times.”
The Gatlinburg Conference—one of the premier conferences in the United States for behavioral scientists—was established in the 1960’s as a forum for the exchange of scientific findings and as a mechanism to promote scientific networking. The Laraine Masters Glidden Undergraduate Student Travel Award was established by the conference’s executive board in spring 2012 to honor St. Mary’s College Professor Emerita Laraine Glidden’s career contributions to the advancement of undergraduate participation in research involving individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.
“This award has really only come as a result of the wonderful opportunities that St. Mary’s has provided,” said Grein. “I have been extraordinarily lucky, during my time here, to be able to work directly with faculty on their ongoing research. In particular, I am very grateful for the chances Dr. Glidden has given me to become involved in her research on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Without her frequent support and guidance, I never could have even been considered for this award.”
Grein’s presentation will focus on her research on the well-being that characterizes families who are rearing children with disabilities, and on the importance of including different measures to fully describe a complex construct such as well-being.
“Researching with Dr. Glidden and other psychology faculty has been hard work sometimes, mixed in with other academic work, but it is one of the greatest experiences I have had here at St. Mary’s, and I am so glad to have had this chance,” continued Grein.