The Cooper Lab traveled into Downtown Phoenix this weekend to attend the AAAS annual meeting! Olivia and Katey presented a short talk introducing the Fail-Safe Science Initiative. Mary presented a poster on coping among graduate students with depression facing research stressors. Tasneem presented a poster on the impact of science instructor disclosure of a mental health condition to students. Jynx presented a poster on STEM majors, gender & mental health: understanding depr

Through a national audit study, the research team (Baylee Edwards, Corinne Mitra, Anna Abraham, Dr. Katey Cooper, and Dr. Sara Brownell) examined how medical school admissions committee members respond to applicants who disclose bipolar disorder. Admissions committee members rated applicants similarly whether or not they disclosed bipolar disorder to explain a period of poor academic performance. However, about a quarter of reviewers raised bipolar disorder as a concern, sugg

Through a nationwide, multi-institutional study, the research term (Dr. Carly Busch, Parth Bhanderi, Dr. Katey Cooper, and Dr. Sara Brownell) explored how undergraduate biology students respond when their instructors disclose LGBTQ+ identities during class. Nine LGBTQ+ instructors at universities across U.S. states with varying levels of LGBTQ+ acceptance revealed their identities to a total of 2,045 students. Surveys measured students’ thoughts of this disclosure and its im