*UPDATE* The application process for a position in my lab through the PhD program is closed. Thank you to all that applied - there was an impressive pool of applicants. I anticipate recruiting again next year (Fall 2027 start).
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If you are looking into applying to a PhD program in the future, please take a look at this FAQ, which is organized into these sections:
Questions about joining the Targeted Interventions Lab as a graduate student.
Questions about the Psychological Clinical Science Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Questions about the application process.
Questions about living in Honolulu.
Questions about joining the Targeted Interventions Lab as a graduate student.
What is your experience providing mentorship?
I am new faculty, so I am new to mentoring graduate students. However, I have extensive experience mentoring undergraduate students and post-bacs who have gone on to clinical or counseling doctoral programs; master's programs in counseling and data science fields; industry positions; and government agencies (read more about that here). I look forward to continue recruiting graduate students who will play an active role in building the culture of our lab.
What is your mentorship style?
My overarching goal is to provide opportunities and training that lead to the development of knowledge and skills that make you highly competitive in whatever career you choose to pursue after graduate school. When you start graduate school, I don't expect you to know with 100% certainty what career you want to have - a lot can happen in 5-6 years. I also don't expect all of my trainees to follow a specific path. I want to provide highly personalized mentorship to my trainees, which means I depend on them to be proactive participants in the mentoring relationship. What does that look like?
I've been reading a lot about Mentoring Up, which is an approach that "empowers mentees to be active participants in their mentoring relationships". The principles of mentoring up include: maintaining effective communication; aligning expectations; assessing understanding; addressing individual needs; fostering independence; promoting professional development; and ethics. If you want to dive deeper into these principles, they are described on page 138 and implementation strategies are listed on page 141.
Note that this approach places a lot of power on the mentee - and with that power comes responsibility. Take a look at these resources to see what you think about this approach:
Blog post written by 1st-gen graduate student who applied mentoring up
TED talk: 1st-gen student gives advice on how to be "mentorable"
Twelve tips for successfully employing a mentee-driven approach to mentoring relationships
What kind of training can I expect to receive from you?
To position my trainees to be highly competitive for careers in academia, industry, medical centers, non-profits, or clinical practice, I focus on these key areas:
Scientific communication: publishing in peer-reviewed journals; oral presentations in different contexts (e.g., conference, lay audience, job talk); grant-writing
Data science: open science practices; advanced statistical approaches; data analysis in R
Experimental design: randomized controlled interventions; experimental psychopathology approach
Leadership: recruiting, training, and running a successful team; providing mentorship
How do I know if I'm a good fit for the lab?
If you have an interest in the lab's current research priorities and you have relevant experience, then you are probably a good fit. You should note the following:
Although most of my work has been in the context of PTSD, substance use, and suicide, I am happy to train students who want to apply our approaches to other clinical populations. In other words, this is not a PTSD/SUD/Suicide lab - this is a lab that focuses on interventions that target mechanisms and individual needs.
You do not need to be proficient in data analysis. However, you should have enough experience in data analysis to know that you like working closely with data. For example, I did not use R before going to graduate school, but I had run some Matlab scripts so I knew that coding was something I was willing to learn. It would not make sense to wait until you join the lab to see if you really want to heavily invest in honing your data analytic skills.
I also encourage you to engage in an honest reflection of these questions:
Do I like the mentorship style described above? Note that the mentorship approach places a lot of the power and responsibility on the mentee. This is done in a progressive manner - I don't expect you to be 100% independent when you start.
Do the training emphases appeal to me? Note that we will develop a training plan that is highly personalized to your needs and interests. But all plans will involve rigorous work with data; scientific writing including grant applications; and working with people (e.g., patients, research participants, undergraduate research assistants, collaborators). You're not expected to be an expert in any of these areas when you apply, but hopefully you've gotten enough experience to know whether you want to continue investing your time honing your expertise.
Do I really want to do research, or is my goal to be a clinician? Note that I am also a clinician, and I highly value clinical training. If, through the course of graduate school, you decide that you really want to be a full-time clinician, I would support your goal, and help ensure that you are competitive for a wide range of clinical positions. However, if even before applying to graduate school, you know that you want to be a full-time clinician with a PhD, please consider whether it makes sense to pursue a position in a lab that highly emphasizes research training.
Questions about the Psychological Clinical Science Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
What is the program like?
The atmosphere in the program is collegial and collaborative. The clinical area faculty have expertise in a wide range of areas, including mindfulness and ACT; dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices; grief and identity; eating disorders; and ADHD. You can read more about the program below.
What is the funding situation for graduate students?
In the last 20 years, all students have received full funding throughout the course of the program. Typically students start in a teaching assistant (TA) position for the first two years before transitioning to a graduate research assistant position (GRA). As stated above, grant-writing is a key training goal for lab members. I will mentor students through the grant application process at NIH so that they can secure their own grants, and there will also be other options for grant funding.
Funding levels can be found on pages 2-3 of our Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data. Funding levels have been increasing over the last several years. Currently, 9-month stipends range from $24-27k and 11-month stipends range from $28-31.5k. Tuition is fully covered and health insurance is provided. There are also opportunities for additional salary support (e.g., teaching a summer course, paid practicum experience). The department regularly provides awards for conference travel and data collection.
What clinical and training opportunities are available to students?
The department offers coursework in child and adult psychopathology and treatment - students can acquire expertise in either (or both). See the Practicum Handbook for more details. Students have practicum opportunities across a wide range of sites, including:
How competitive are students for internship?
Our students are highly competitive for internship, with many getting their top choice in placement including:
University medical centers: Harvard Medical School, Penn State/Hershey Medical Center, University of Texas Health Science Center
VA Healthcare Systems: San Diego, Boston, Palo Alto, Ann Arbor, Maryland
Hospitals and psychiatric clinics: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic
University counseling centers: UH Mānoa, Central Washington University
Local sites: Hawai'i Psychology Internship Consortium, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, I Ola Lahui Rural Hawaii Behavioral Health Program
For a full list of sites where our students have placed and a decade of placement statistics see pages 3-6 of our Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data
Information about UH Mānoa
R1 ranked University breaking its extramural funding records
Ranked #1 when it comes to most beautiful campus in the U.S.
Check out this drone footage of the Psychology Department (Sakamaki Hall) on my colleague's lab website: https://www.brainandbehaviorlab.com
Questions about the application process.
When is the application due?
Applications for Fall 2026 admissions are due December 1, 2025.
What goes into the application?
All of the instructions with up-to-date links are provided here: https://psychology.manoa.hawaii.edu/applications-admissions/
The first step is to complete the Graduate Division application.
The college collects a fee. Unfortunately they do not offer any fee waivers.
The second step is to complete the Psychology Department's application for the Psychological Clinical Science Program.
Short essays
Curriculum vitae (CV)
Course information from your transcripts
The final step is to request letters of recommendation.
Are GRE scores required?
No
What can I do to be a competitive applicant?
There are many factors that are taken into account. Peer-reviewed conference posters and/or publications are an excellent way to demonstrate your involvement in research. If you have these, it's important to describe your specific contributions to the poster/paper in your CV or essay.
What information should I include in my essays?
We recently updated our instructions for essays. We ask for several brief statements (up to 3500 characters each ~ 1 page) that cover specific topics. Note that the 3rd essay is optional.
Program Fit: Please outline what draws you to our program in general, as well as your interest in specific faculty mentors. Key points to address include:
Your research interests and how they align with the focus of your proposed mentor's work.
Any knowledge or skills you possess that could complement and enhance the research conducted in your proposed mentor's lab. This might involve expertise in a particular population, subject matter, methodology, or analytical technique.
Your long-term professional aspirations and how our program will support you in achieving them.
Research and Clinical Experience: Please provide an overview of the skills and experiences that have prepared you for graduate studies. Key points to address include:
Your involvement in independent or collaborative research projects, including your specific role in each study.
Additionally, highlight any posters, presentations, or publications resulting from your research contributions.
Your proficiency in conducting various statistical analyses independently or with minimal supervision.
Details of any relevant clinical activities and experiences you have undertaken.
Other Experiences (optional): Please provide details of any additional experiences that may be pertinent to your application. Key points to address may include:
Barriers, challenges, or adversities encountered during your academic journey and how you navigated through them.
The impact of these challenges on your preparation for graduate school, if any, and how you managed them.
Any other relevant information you believe the admission committee should know about you that hasn't been covered in your application materials.
My advice is to focus your essays on addressing all the key points in a way that is concise and also provides specific details. As I read your essays my goal is to get a clear picture of:
Your interests: What you are interested in, how you got interested in it, and how it relates to the research priorities of the lab.
Your skills: What specific skills you have acquired so far, how you would apply these skills in the lab, and what additional skills you want to acquire in the lab.
Your writing style: In addition to the content above, I'm looking for evidence of how you communicate in writing. Whether it's emails, scientific articles, or cover letters for job applications, I value clear and concise language and logical structure. Although the statements have a word limit, I'm more impressed when writers can cover all the key points and stay below the word limit!
As for more general advice, I agree with much of Mitch’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology:
"The vast majority of personal statements follow an identical format. First, a brief anecdote is offered describing a watershed moment in which the applicant fully realized their interest in clinical psychology. Next, a brief section describes the applicants’ enthusiasm in one or more psychology undergraduate courses. Research experiences then are described in succession. For each experience, the title and principal investigator of the project are listed, followed by a list of the applicant’s responsibilities and tasks on the project. The statement often ends with a brief paragraph describing research interests, career interests, admiration of the graduate program, and perhaps the name of a specific potential mentor or two... this type of statement is not quite as effective as it may be, in part because so very many statements appear to be remarkably similar to one another. I believe that the statements that truly distinguish themselves are those that demonstrate evidence of the potential to become an independent investigator. As a graduate student, you will be expected to progressively develop research skills that will establish you as an independent scholar. To the extent that it is possible to convey this within the personal statement, you may be able to make your potential to excel as a graduate student very clear to the reader. " - Mitch's Uncensored Advice (p. 27)
Do you meet with prospective applicants before official interviews are offered?
The number of interested applicants has increased to a level that it has become challenging to schedule meetings before official interviews are offered. I also want to make sure that all potential applicants receive the same information. I am hoping that this website answers most of the questions that potential applicants may have. I am happy to answer any additional questions by email. Official interviews take place January-February. If you get to this stage I will make myself completely available so that you have all of the information you ned to make a decision that is right for you!
Should I use AI to write?
AI can be a powerful tool for sharpening your writing. However, solely relying on AI to write your materials can backfire. Something to consider.
Questions about living in Honolulu.
What is it like being a graduate student in Honolulu?
I sincerely cannot think of a better place to do graduate school. I will be expanding this section over the next several months but in the meantime let me start by pointing out that the weather is wonderful year round. There is also plenty of sunlight. And we know that good weather and sunlight have a positive impact on energy - which you'll need a lot of during graduate school. The quality, quantity, and accessibility of beautiful outdoor places makes it easy to incorporate relaxing, re-energizing breaks, on a regular basis.
Here is a nice walking tour of campus:
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