Phone 480-232-9154 • E-mail:
Melissa Chan
Education______
PhD, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California
Date of graduation: Expected June 2016
Major: Developmental Psychology
GPA: 3.85
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, Arizona
Date of graduation: May 2010
Major: Psychology
Minors: Chinese and Creative Writing
GPA: Overall 3.95, Psychology 4.0, Chinese 4.0, Creative Writing 3.89
Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
Yangtze International Study Abroad Program, June 2008 – July 2008
GPA: 4.0
Research Interest(s)______
The impacts of acculturation-related stress on the physical health of Asian and Latino American adolescents from immigrant families
Research Experience______
Graduate Research Assistant, UCLA, Department of Psychology, Mentor: Dr. Andrew Fuligni. September 2010 – Present.
- UCLA Study of Adolescents’ Daily Lives
- Cleaning up six waves of a longitudinal dataset of over 1,000 participants
- Analyzing data in pursuit of own research questions:
- Is the stability of religious identity, religious participation, and religious affiliation during emerging adulthood affected by a) post-high school graduation pathways (college versus working world), b) college type (two- versus four-year colleges), and c) residential status (living at home versus away from home)?
- Family Health Study
- Helping with the finalization of measures
- Recruiting 540 subjects by presenting study at various high schools
Undergraduate Research Assistant, UA, Department of Family Studies and Human Development, Mentor: Dr. Emily Butler. August 2009 – May 2010.
- Continued and expanded upon summer research project (cultural and marriage type differences in adult attachment) by examining whether other factors such as collectivism-individualism, age, and marital satisfaction impact attachment
- Wrote research paper on updated findings
- Gave a poster presentation at the 11th Annual SPSP conference in 2010.
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program, UA, Department of Family Studies and Human Development, Mentor: Dr. Emily Butler. June 2009 – August 2009.
- Utilized mentor’s completed dataset to examine the cultural and marriage type differences in adult attachment styles
- Analyzed data using a statistical analysis program, SPSS
- Wrote a research paper on the findings
- Orally presented results at the 2009 McNair Scholar’s Symposium and the UA’s Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program’s Colloquium in 2009
Undergraduate Research Assistant, UA, Department of Psychology, Mentor: Dr. A.J. Figueredo. January 2009 – May 2009.
- Conducted experiments on phenotype and its relationship to assortive mating and life history strategies
- Set up laboratory equipment and videos
- Presented participants with consent forms and debriefed them
- Compiled an evolutionary psychology paper on the cultural versus universal perspectives on physical attraction to fulfill independent study requirements in the honors college
Undergraduate Research Assistant, UA, Departments of Linguistics and Psychology, Mentor: Dr. Janet Nicol. August 2008 – December 2008.
- Carried out experiments on native English and Chinese speakers and observed their reading speed responses to deliberate grammatical errors
- Recruited participants for my proposed research question that examined whether the same effect found in native Chinese speakers applied to Chinese-English bilingual speakers
- Independently ran participants in own experiment and collected data
Professional Experience______
June 2009 – May 2010, Ronald E. McNair Scholar, UA, Tucson, Arizona.
- Conducted research with faculty mentor established during the summer for the Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program
- Produced research paper, created PowerPoint research presentation, and designed and presented research poster
- Gave a presentation on updated research findings at a national conference
- Immersed in an environment in which training and research mimicked graduate school lifestyle
August 2009 – December 2009, Behavioral Health Para-Professional, UA, Tucson, Arizona.
- On a weekly basis, worked with mentee who had been diagnosed with mental health and social disorders
- Acted as a positive role model for mentee and encourage communication by providing an empowering atmosphere
- Assisted mentee in improving personal goals such as developing social skills
- Completed weekly and monthly encounter forms with objective descriptions of interactions with mentee
- Received 14 hours of training to become a Behavioral Health Para-Professional (BHPP)
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Leadership and Activities______
August 2004 – May 2006, Peer Tutor for Tutoring Others to Enhance Minds, Mountain
Pointe High School, Phoenix, AZ
- Tutored peers in both small groups and one-on-one settings in all levels of mathematics, American History, Spanish, and various sciences
- Edited peers’ essays and elaborated on comments in a one-on-one setting
Presentations______
1. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2011, March). Examining differences in attachment styles between marriage types (love versus arranged) in Asian Indians and Americans. Poster will be presented at the 2011 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
2. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2010, January). Examining differences in attachment styles between marriage types (love versus arranged) in Asian Indians and Americans. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada.
3. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2009, November). Examining the cross-cultural differences in attachment styles within marriage types between Asian Indians and Americans. Poster presented at the 2009 Student Showcase, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
4. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2009, August). Examining the cross-cultural differences in attachment styles within marriage types between Asian Indians and Americans. Orally presented at the UA’s Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program’s Colloquium, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
5. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2009, August). Examining the cross-cultural differences in attachment styles within marriage types between Asian Indians and Americans. Poster presented at the UA’s 14th Annual Graduate College Summer Research Conference, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
6. Chan, M., Randall, A., & Butler, E. (2009, August). Examining the cross-cultural differences in attachment styles within marriage types between Asian Indians and Americans. Orally presented at the 2009 McNair Scholar’s Symposium, University of California, Berkeley, California.
Honors and Awards______
Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship Recipient September 2010
National Science Foundation Honorable Mention April 2010
Ronald E. McNair Scholar June 2009-Present
Student Poster Award Finalist at the 11th Annual Society January 2010
for Personality and Social Psychology Conference
First Place in Undergraduate Social Sciences and Law November 2009
Category at the UA’s 2009 Student Showcase
Dean’s List (University of Arizona) January 2009-May 2009;
August 2006-December 2006
Honorable Mention (University of Arizona) January 2008-December 2008;
January 2007-May 2007
Dean’s List with Distinction (University of Arizona) August 2007-December 2007
Professional Memberships______
Society for Research in Child Development (Student Membership) July 2010-Present
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Student Membership) June 2009-Present
Languages______
Fluent in English and Cantonese
Conversational Mandarin and Spanish
Skills______
Technically proficient in MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Familiarity with running DMDX for reaction time experiments
Experience with multi-level modeling using SPSS
References______
Dr. Andrew Fuligni
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
University of California – Los Angeles
760 Westwood Plaza, Box 62
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Office: 310-794-6033
Dr. Maria Teresa Velez
Assistant Dean of the Graduate College
Program Director, Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program
University of Arizona
Administration Building Room 322
Office: 520-621-7814
Andrew Huerta
Assistant Program Director, Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program
University of Arizona
1031 North Mountain
PO Box 210102
Tucson, AZ 85719-0102
Office: 520-626-7475
Fax: 520-626-3590