On Friday, May 5th, the UC-Davis Psychology Department held it’s annual conference, with oral presentations by postdocs, graduate students, and faculty, as well as a poster session, keynote speaker, catered lunch, and reception. It was a wonderful event, held at the Center for Mind and Brain, and it was full of excellent talks and discussion. Each session was judged independently by faculty members in order to determine the winners across three categories: Best Talk by a Postdoc, Best Talk by a Graduate Student, and Best Poster Presentation. This year, members of our lab completely swept the awards! Graduate student Lynea Witczak won Best Poster; graduate student Trent Simmons won Best Talk by a Graduate Student; and I won Best Talk by a Postdoc. Way to go Bales Lab! As John Capitanio said, Karen Bales won a “mentoring hat trick”!

Left to right: Lynea Witczak (Best Poster), Trent Simmons (Best Talk by a Graduate Student), Forrest Rogers (organizer, but NOT involved in judging!), and Dr. Sara Freeman (Best Talk by a Postdoc). All members of Dr. Karen Bales’s lab in the Psychology Department.