The psychology department at The University of Memphis has beennamed one of the top 10 university programs for research anddevelopment funding, according to the National Science Foundation(NSF).
The NSF based its findings on the amount of grant money auniversity received from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, The U of Mpsychology department received $9.37 million in funding.
"We are number six in the country, ahead of much largeruniversities like Michigan, Penn State, Indiana. That'sincredible," said Frank Leeming, a professor in the psychologydepartment at The U of M.
He attributes the success of the department to the combinationof the quality of professors and students.
"Number one we've been very successful in hiring good people,"Leeming said. "And they get very good support when they gethere."
Kenneth Lichstein, psychology professor and director of theSleep Research Project, is also pleased with the acknowledgementThe University has received.
"It makes me feel very pleased to know that we have an activeand productive psychology department that is receiving nationalrecognition," he said.
There are numerous projects going on all year round in thepsychology department, ranging from the prevention of obesity inchildren and adolescents to smoking cessation to improving studentsretention and learning.
The psychology department also works with a number of programsin the city, which include the Center for Community Health and theSleep Disorders Center at Methodist Hospital.
Lichstein has been at The U of M for 25 years working on sleepresearch studies.
"The current study we are doing is treating insomnia in olderadults (age 50 and older) who are also dependent on prescriptiondrugs," Lichstein said. "We gradually wean them off the medicationand then we treat the insomnia with behavioral and psychologicalmethods."
Lichstein said his program alone has received over $4.5 millionin the past 15 years. The funding for such research comes fromdifferent places.
"We've been funded by the National Institute on Aging, TheNational Institute on Drug Abuse, The Methodist Hospital Foundationand H. W. Durham Foundation," Lichstein said.
