Dr. Brian Albanese, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University and Dr. Amanda Wright, who joins the department as an assistant professor in the fall, were recently named “Rising Stars” by the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
“The Rising Star Award recognizes early-career researchers across the broad domain of psychological science who are doing outstanding, influential and impactful work,” said Dr. Mindy Bergman, professor and head of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “This prestigious award is presented to researchers who are clearly on a trajectory to make a lasting impact on the field.”
Brian Albanese
Albanese’s research areas in clinical psychology include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and other anxiety-related conditions.
Early in my training, I was struck by how many people experienced comorbid anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, which suggested that focusing on a single diagnosis in isolation might cause us to miss something important.
“My research focuses on core vulnerabilities that cut across multiple conditions, often referred to as transdiagnostic risk factors,” he said. “The idea is that if we can understand why some individuals are broadly more vulnerable to different forms of psychological distress, we can develop interventions that target those shared mechanisms, rather than treating one disorder at a time.”
Albanese joined the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences faculty in 2022. “Texas A&M is a top-tier research institution that offers the opportunity to work alongside outstanding scientists across a wide range of areas,” said Albanese. “I was particularly drawn to the strong support for research at the department, college and university levels, which creates an environment in which high-quality, impactful work can flourish.”
Albanese's research on anxiety sensitivity (AS) and avoidance-related behaviors has led to significant advancements in PTSD and suicide prevention research. Employing a suite of methods, including electroencephalography (EEG), behavioral measures and augmented/virtual reality, his work is at the forefront of research demonstrating how AS and avoidance behaviors contribute to PTSD and suicide to inform future intervention and prevention efforts.
His research also expanded the understanding of how individuals might transition from contemplating suicide to engaging in suicidal behavior. Identifying those with suicidal thoughts who are highest risk for engaging in suicidal behaviors is a critical frontier for suicide prevention science.
Amanda Wright
Wright’s research focuses on personality, how it changes over time, and the implications that personality development has on life outcomes and mental health.
As recently as the early 2000s, it was almost exclusively believed that personality was fixed in adulthood. Many studies since then have shown that personality traits continue to change across the lifespan.
Building on these findings, Wright investigates the existence and consequences of other types of individual personality differences.
Her key theoretical advancement involves rethinking the development of personality. She found that personality can change in different ways over time, and those changes can vary and have real consequences. In her landmark study, “Do Changes in Personality Predict Life Outcomes?” she shows how shifts in people’s “Big Five” personality traits—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism — can predict significant outcomes in health, education, career, finance, relationships and civic engagement. Her findings to date lay the groundwork for intervention research, which is the focus of her postdoctoral work at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
“The quality of Amanda’s publications is exceptional and places her at the forefront of her field,” said Joshua Jackson, professor of psychological and brain sciences and Wright’s Ph.D. mentor at Washington University in St. Louis. “The merit of her work is demonstrated by its theoretical depth, as she consistently asks novel questions that fundamentally challenge and advance the field of personality science.”
Wright will join the Texas A&M Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences faculty in August. “At Texas A&M, I look forward to connecting my research on long-term development and short-term changes by investigating how people’s dynamic, momentary manifestations of their personality accumulate into their person-typical thoughts, feelings and behaviors,” said Wright. “I am particularly interested in the timescales in which this process unfolds and which mechanisms drive this development.”
Albanese and Wright join Drs. Brian Anderson, Jessica Bernard, Rebecca Brooker and Annmarie Macnamara in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who were previously recognized as APS Rising Stars.