Announcements

June 2025

We would like to thank all of the families who participated in our study on self-regulation in early adolescence! We have now completed data collection for this study, and we are no longer recruiting new participants. Please see our projects page for information about our upcoming studies or follow us on Instagram @uofa_sampl for more content.

Data collection for our study on the job satisfaction of library workers in Canada was also completed in March 2025. We would like to extend a massive thank-you to all of the library workers that participated in our study, and we are no longer recruiting new participants. To learn more about that study, please visit our projects page or follow us on Instagram @uofa_sampl for more content.

Stay tuned for upcoming presentations and publications from both projects!

May 2025

The SAMPL lab would like to congratulate three of our graduate students, Kelsie Slater, Zuha Durrani, and Alanna Kaser on receiving tri-council funding through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)! 

Kelsie Slater received the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS-D), which is valued at $40,000 for 3 years ($120,000 total), alongside the President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction valued at $10,000.

Zuha Durrani and Alanna Kaser received the Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's (CGS-M), which is valued at $27,000, alongside the Walter H. Johns Graduate Fellowship valued at $7,100.

The Canada Graduate Research Scholarship program recognizes and supports the next generation of outstanding innovators, knowledge workers, creative thinkers and researchers. By providing support for a high-quality research training experience to awardees, the program strives to foster impacts within and beyond the research environment.

These federal awards are a major accomplishment and we are proud of Kelsie, Zuha, and Alanna for achieving this academic feat!

April 2025

We would like to welcome Alanna Kaser, an incoming Master's student in the School and Clinical Child Psychology Program, to the SAMPL lab! Alanna is joining us after completing her undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax and currently works as a research assistant in the Determinants of Child Development Lab at the University of Calgary. To learn more about Alanna, please visit our team page. Congratulations Alanna!

Members of the SAMPL lab attended the 39th Annual Royce Conference in Psychology on April. 4th/2025 at the University of Alberta! The Royce Research Conference showcases research in the Psychology Department at the University of Alberta and psychology research in the broader university and Edmonton community. This year, Kiran Ghag and Sharen Anna Manuel attended and presented research. See some pictures from the event below:

March 2025

Congratulations to Dr. Yuliya Kotelnikova and her collaborators Dr. Pan Liu and Dr. Sandra Meier (please click on their names for more information) on receiving the 2025-2028 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Early Career Operating Grant ($150,000 CAD) for the project Within-person dynamics between adolescent social media use and internalizing symptoms and their associations with between-person differences in emotional development: A pilot study. The goal of this funding opportunity is to build research capacity, generate new knowledge, and support knowledge mobilization in human development, child and youth health by funding operating grants to early career researchers. Please visit our funding page to see all current funders. 

We would like to extend a massive congratulations to our doctoral student, Kelsie Slater, on receiving the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) Graduate Student Elevation Award ($1,450). Great work Kelsie!

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) Awards Night took place on March. 12th, 2025 at the Lister Conference Centre in Edmonton, AB. This event confers awards on graduate students who have distinguished themselves in research, teaching, academic achievement, leadership, and service to the University and to the wider community. More information about the event can be found here.

This year, Kiran Ghag received a Research Assistant Award which recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated innovation, versatility, and value as Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) at the University of Alberta. Jaron Tan, a graduate student supervised by our collaborator Dr. Pan Liu (whose lab can be found here), received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes graduate students who show exceptional promise at the outset of their program and serve as role models to fellow graduate students through their vision, determination, and academic contributions. We would like to congratulate both Kiran and Jaron on their achievement! Pictures from the event can be found below:

December 2024

We would like congratulate our graduate research assistant, Julia Hu, on receiving the University of Alberta Opportunities Graduate Award in Counseling Psychology ($3,500). Excellent accomplishment Julia!

November 2024

The SAMPL lab would like to extend a massive congratulations to Amanda Santarossa and Zuha Durrani on receiving the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year, valued at $12,000. The AGES recognizes outstanding academic achievement of students pursuing graduate studies in Alberta. It was established to incent the best and the brightest students, including international students, to study in Alberta. Great work Amanda and Zuha!

Congratulations to our Principal Investigator, Dr. Yuliya Kotelnikova, on being this year's recipient of the Coutts-Clarke Research Fellowship awarded by the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Education. Some information about this award: 

In order to encourage high quality programmatic research and as part of the Faculty’s priority to recognize its best researchers, the Faculty of Education initiated the Coutts - Clarke Research Fellowship. The recipient is awarded a $10,000 research allowance, which can be used for any combination of professional development, graduate research assistance, and course related release from teaching responsibilities. This Fellowship is sponsored by the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Education. 

The name Coutts - Clarke is meant to honour two prominent former Faculty leaders, Dean Herbert T Coutts and Professor Stanley C T Clarke. Both of these scholars contributed extensively to educational scholarship locally, nationally, and internationally. Their names are meant to remind us of the Faculty’s long and prominent history of educational research and development.

The lab is delighted by Dr. Kotelnikova's accomplishment and dedication to meaningful research!

Congratulations to Zuha Durrani on receiving two scholarships from the Faculty of Education for the 2024-2025 academic year! This includes the Audrey and Jack Reid Graduate Scholarship ($2,800 CAD), which is awarded on the basis of academic achievement and the Patricia Barbara Zolf Memorial Graduate Scholarship ($2,600 CAD), which is awarded to a student entering an applied master's degree program (within Educational Psychology) on the basis of academic standing. An excellent accomplishment, Zuha! 

October 2024

The Faculty of Education Undergraduate Research Celebration and Awards Ceremony took place on October, 29th 2024. This event brought together students, their families, faculty, administrators, and members of the community to recognize and celebrate the excellent undergraduate research projects! The SAMPL team attended to support the event and learn about the research taking place within the Faculty of Education. Some picture from the event can be found below:

The SAMPL team attended the 2024 Society for Research in Psychopathology (SRP) Annual Meeting! This opportunity allowed Dr. Kotelnikova's current students to share their own research, connect with members of her research tree, and converse with world-renowned experts in psychopathology. Some of the pictures from the event can be found below:

August 2024

Congratulations to Dr. Yuliya Kotelnikova on joining the Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation (CRAME) as an academic member! Please see the CRAME website for more details on their research projects, team, and activities.

We are happy to announce that Kelsie Slater has successfully defended her master's thesis Risk for Child Psychopathology Across Development: The Role of Paternal Internalizing Symptoms and Child Self-Regulation. She will begin the PhD program in School and Clinical Child Psychology in September 2024, congratulations Kelsie!

Congratulations to Dr. Yuliya Kotelnikova on receiving the 2024 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Explore Grant ($5,000 CAD) for the project Checking-in: Job Satisfaction Survey for Library Workers, A Measure Development Project. We are almost ready to run this study and look forward to starting data collection soon!

July 2024

Congratulations to Dr. Yuliya Kotelnikova on receiving the 2024-2026 Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Innovation Grant ($60,000 CAD) for the project How Does Ability to Self-Regulate Relate to Risk for Depression and Anxiety in Young Children? Please visit our funding page to see all current funders. 

Congratulations to our collaborator Dr. Pan Liu from the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta on also receiving the 2024-2026 Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Innovation Grant ($60,000 CAD) for her project How Thinking About Oneself is Associated with Problematic Eating Behaviors and Depressed Mood in Young Women.

We are excited to welcome Zuha Durrani, an incoming master's student in the School and Clinical Child Psychology (SCCP) program, to the SAMPL Lab! To learn more about Zuha, please visit our team page.

May 2024

The SAMPL Lab is pleased to welcome Katherine Wujcik and Sabina Fassbender, who are recipients of the Roger S. Smith Undergraduate Research Award from the Faculty of Education. Please see the team page for more information.

Congratulations to Kiran Ghag, who joined the SAMPL lab in January of 2024, on receiving the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship.

October 2023

September 2023

July 2023

Amanda Santarossa and Kelsie Slater travelled to Regina, Saskatchewan on July 27th-July 29th to participate in the Future Directions Forum hosted by the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (JCCAP). They delivered poster presentations on Construct Validity of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Youth Version in Middle Childhood and, Evidence-Based Assessment of Temperament in Preschoolers: A Measure Development Project. These travel opportunities were funded by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) at the University of Alberta; including the Dr. Lorraine Bray Educational Psychology Clinic Fund, EDPY Travel Award, and the J. Gordin Kaplan Graduate Student Award (grand total of $2,000+). A big thank you to the FGSR for supporting these professional development opportunities. Congrats Amanda and Kelsie!

June 2023

The SAMPL Lab is pleased to welcome Sissi Kerboua, recipient of the Roger S. Smith Undergraduate Research Award from the Faculty of Education. 

April 2023

We humbly welcome a new doctoral-level graduate student from the School and Clinical Child Psychology (SCCP) program, Amanda Santarossa, to the SAMPL lab! Please see the team page for further details on Amanda. 

Also, congratulations to Kelsie Slater for obtaining the Walter H Johns Graduate Fellowship  ($7,100) from the University of Alberta! These funding opportunities will support further research in the multi-method assessment battery of temperament across the lifespan project - we look forward to ongoing development of this project for the 2023/2024 academic year!

November 2023

We extend our sincere gratitude for the grant support that is facilitating our ongoing research endeavours in the lab! Please see the funding tab for more details. In addition, congratulations to Kelsie Slater, who has been awarded the Professor Mian Muhammad Afzal Graduate Scholarship in Education ($1,000)!

August 2022

Dr. Kotelnikova, formerly Assistant Professor at Concordia University of Edmonton, accepted a position at the University of Alberta in the School and Child Clinical Psychology (SCCP) program and started in the Fall of 2022! Kelsie Slater, formerly attending Concordia University of Edmonton's Doctor of Psychology program, has transferred with Dr. Kotelnikova to the SCCP program and began the Master's program in the Fall of 2022 as well! Congratulations to both Dr. Kotelnikova and Kelsie for these exciting new opportunities! Find updates regarding ongoing research in the projects tab. 

June 2022

April 2022

Congratulations to Kelsie Slater, who was awarded the SSHRC CGS-M award of $17,500 for the 2022-2023 academic year!

February 2022

Congratulations to Dr. Kotelnikova, who was awarded a Seed Grant by the Concordia University of Edmonton Office of Research for a project on developing an integrated model of self-regulation in childhood and adolescence!

Dr. Kotelnikova was awarded a teaching reduction for 2022-2023 academic year by the Concordia University of Edmonton Office of Research to facilitate her research program on multi-method assessment of temperament in youth!

Congratulations Kelsie Slater, who was awarded the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) for $14,000!

2020-2021

Dr. Kotelnikova, formerly of the University of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A, has accepted a position at Concordia University of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! She is now an Assistant Professor for the Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program in clinical psychology!  

Congratulations to Kara Maughon for receiving the Jason Stamps Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a returning student majoring in Psychology!

Congratulations to Nicole Webre for receiving 2nd Place in Oral Presentations at INNOVATEUNO for her work on Evidence-based Assessment of Temperament in Preschoolers: A Measure Development Project!!!

Congratulations to our team member Nicole Webre for receiving a 2021 Tolmas Scholar award. Tolmas Scholars are awarded student worker positions in UNO faculty members' labs to pursue research and creative inquiry!

Congratulations to Dr. Kotelnikova for receiving the 2020 American Psychological Foundation’s John and Polly Sparks Foundation Early Career Grant for the forthcoming project "Multi-method assessment of Negative Emotionality in preschoolers: If my child looks sad, should I worry about depression?"

Congratulations to our team member Kara Maughon for receiving the Virginia Rosanne Amato Memorial Scholarship, to recognize undergraduate women who exhibit hard work, ambition, and motivation, and academic success!