Andrew Choi, doctoral student at the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara, has been selected to be a 2018 APA Minority Fellowship Program Psychology Summer Institute Fellow. Choi also has been selected for the 2018 Distinguished Student Research Award from the Society for the Psychological Studies of Culture, Ethnicity and Race (APA Division 45).
The American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program (APA MFP) is an innovative, comprehensive and coordinated training, mentoring and career development program that enhances psychological and behavioral outcomes of ethnic minority communities. MFP is committed to increasing the number of ethnic minority professionals in the field and advancing our understanding of the life experiences of ethnic minority communities. The Psychology Summer Institute provides educational, professional development and mentoring experiences to advanced doctoral students of psychology and psychologists who are in the early stage of their careers. Participants are guided toward developing research projects that focus on issues affecting ethnic minority communities.
The purpose of the Distinguished Student Research Award is to recognize outstanding psychological research on ethnic minority issues conducted primarily by a graduate student, including – but not limited to — dissertation research. Candidates whose goals and professional development are consistent with a career involving the psychological study of ethnic minority issues will be given preference for this award. The award will be presented at the 2018 APA Convention in San Francisco during the Division 45 Presidential Address, Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony.
Choi is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology with an emphasis in Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences. He is a UC Regents Special Fellow, a Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC-12) Postgraduate Scholar, a recipient of the Certificate in College and University Teaching, and recently earned an MA in Applied Quantitative Methods under the tutelage of Dr. Karen Nylund-Gibson. Before entering UCSB, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah with honors in Psychology and Sociology. His professional interests involve applying advanced latent variable models to understand culture-bound constructs, within-group variation, and mental and behavioral health disparities among diverse populations, including ethnic, racial, and sexual minorities. His research has been recognized by the Asian American Psychological Association and the APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs and published in outlets such as the Journal of Counseling Psychology and Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. He will complete an APA-accredited predoctoral internship at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa Counseling and Student Development Center in the 2018-19 year.