Diversity Travel Award Past Recipients
Diversity Travel Award Past Recipients
2024 Diversity Travel Award Recipient
Omega Luxor (she/her)
Toronto Metropolitan University, BA Psychology (2022)
Lab Manager & Research Coordinator, York University
Get to know Omega!
Omega Luxor graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honours (with distinction) from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Psychology Program in 2022. During her undergraduate studies, she gained a wealth of experience, including completing an Honours Thesis under the guidance of Dr. David Day, Ph.D. This research focused on attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV), testing the Defensive Attribution Theory proposed by Shaver in 1970.
Omega has also worked in various research labs at Toronto Metropolitan University, including the Childhood Cognition Lab (ECC lab) and the Sexuality Hub: Integrating Feminist Theory Lab (SHiFT lab). She is deeply committed to community engagement and has volunteered for organizations promoting connection and mentorship. In addition, Omega served as a Distress Centre Hotline Operator at the Distress Centres of Greater Toronto, which further established her passion for bettering mental health resources for those in need.
Currently, Omega is a Lab Manager and Research Coordinator at the TULiP lab, where she focuses on improving the quality of life for individuals struggling with life-threatening behaviors, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her research interests include maladaptive relationship dynamics, racial and gender studies, prevention of life-threatening behaviors (such as self-harm and suicide), and the development of emotion regulation in personality disorders.
What inspires or drives your research interests?
Omega grew up in a community where mental health struggles were stigmatized, and access to quality education, food, and healthcare was limited, contributing to a range of mental health issues. This experience sparked her desire to understand how to use her empathetic nature and curiosity to learn to help others. Throughout her psychology degree, she took various courses, worked in several research labs, and volunteered in the community, which allowed her to refine her research interests. Omega now hopes to research the subjects of psychopathology and social psychology, driven by a commitment to impact people's lives positively. Unfortunately, this world does not fairly distribute misfortune and trauma, but with active efforts to enhance research strategies that address such concerns, there is hope for all to heal, inspire others and advance.
What about the 2024 ABCT convention are you most excited for?
Omega looks forward to being surrounded by like-minded individuals in a field she would like to be a part of and learning from their research ideas, topics, and talks. Omega will also present her first poster at this conference and looks forward to contributing to the iconoclastic work. Lastly, she is excited to ask questions, develop her professional networks and enjoy some Philly cheese steak! 😊
What are your future plans?
Omega aspires to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to become a clinical practitioner and researcher. She is dedicated to working with racialized and marginalized communities to enhance mental health treatments and advocate for statistically underserved populations.
What are some of your hobbies or what do you enjoy to do outside of school/work?
Outside work, Omega engages in visual arts (painting, drawing) as a form of self-care and radical resistance/ acceptance. Indulging in artistic practices serves as an escape for Omega to create a beautiful reality and allows her to engage in creative possibilities that aid her perspective and approach to research ideas and her well-being. Her Instagram combines her passion for mental health awareness and artistic expression and is @luxor_wellness.
2023 Inaugural Diversity Travel Award Recipient
Umiemah Farrukh (she/her)
UCLA—BA Psychology, USC—post-bacc researcher
Get to know Umiemah!
I graduated this Spring with a BA in Psychology from UCLA, and I now manage a depression and suicide lab at USC. My research interests include the individualization of treatment for depression and anxiety and the examination of personality/PD as predictors of internalizing disorders and treatment response. I have won several awards for my research, including the Chancellor's Service Award and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion award at UCLA.
What inspires or drives your research interests?
I come from a minority community, and I know the stigmas and biases people still hold against those with mental illness, which is why I would like to change the conversation about mental health within these communities. By changing the conversation and raising awareness about these disorders, I hope to create a space in which to lower the burden of these disorders by ushering in more effective and personalized treatments for all people, but specifically for people-of-color, minority groups, and those who have historically had lower access to mental health services. I want to leave the world a better place than I found it, and I know that translational research is the way to do that.
What about the 2023 ABCT convention are you most excited for?
I am most excited to listen to and see the presentations from peers who conduct treatment, depression and anxiety, and personality/PD research. I want to learn about the innovative ways they are moving the clinical psychology field forward and be inspired by their work so that I return home recharged and motivated. Seattle itself is close to my heart because it is right next-door to where I grew up in Vancouver. The atmosphere, culture, and weather are like home to me.
What are your future plans?
I will be applying to Clinical Psychology PhD programs next fall, with the goal of becoming a professor as well as opening my own treatment and research clinic. I also hope to continue community service efforts with my education non-profit, and I want to take mental health services to disadvantaged communities in Pakistan and around the world.
What are some of your hobbies or what do you enjoy to do outside of school/work?
I am an amateur barista and love to craft coffees for my loved ones. In addition, I enjoy crocheting fun items like teddy bears and coasters, baking yummy treats, and reading anything I can get my hands on. I am also the CFO of a new non-profit for education equity, and recently celebrated the opening of our second school in Pakistan, and working on initiatives for this organization is something I look forward to in my free time.