UW Oshkosh psychology alumna Blair Braun earns 2024 Outstanding Young Alumni Award

Blair Braun, a 2018 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh psychology graduate who is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Platteville, will be honored this fall with a UWO 2024 Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Following her UWO diploma, Braun continued her studies by enrolling in a doctoral program in experimental psychology at Kent State University, Ohio, where she earned a master's degree in 2020 and her Ph.D. in 2023 in psychological sciences.

Braun has a shaped a reputation for excellence steeped in research.

During graduate school, she presented research posters at six professional conferences and had three peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals. She earned six research-related grants, has engaged in service opportunities and has participated in numerous teacher training seminars.

As an undergraduate, she earned four grants totaling nearly $6,000.

"The UW System is extremely lucky to have this talented and dedicated scholar helping to educate future leaders and innovators," said UWO associate professor Aaron Karst, who nominated Braun for an alumni award and noted that she has developed into an" independent scholar and pedagogically informed teacher within five short years."

Quin Chrobak, psychology professor at UWO, said Braun was a member of his research team for four semesters, focused on examining factors that influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. He said Braun was the strongest member on his team when it came to critiquing peer-reviewed scientific research. She presented at Psychonomics conferences-the annual international conference in cognitive psychology-and was involved in a separate research lab in the psychology department.

Chrobak, who said Braun is among the top 1% of students he has known in his 14+ years of teaching in the UWO psychology department, said it is clear to him that Braun's commitment to becoming a strong researcher and teacher will greatly benefit her students and, as a result, the broader Wisconsin community.

Maria Zaragoza, professor and chair of Kent State University's department of psychological sciences, said she was Braun's major adviser during her time as a Ph.D. student at the university.

She called her an "accomplished researcher, outstanding teacher and superb administrator."

Zaragoza spoke of Braun's published journal articles at an early stage in her career, as well as conference presentations and teaching experience as a graduate student with four different courses in face to face and virtual formats. Additionally, Braun accepted a visiting assistant professor position at Oberlin College while completing her dissertation, where she taught a number of new classes and involved students in undergraduate research.

As a graduate student, Braun was in leadership roles on committees and several elected positions as a student representative. Among them, was serving on a dean's search committee and twice being elected as president of Graduate Association of Students in Psychology.

Great foundation at UWO

"The achievement I am most proud of is graduating from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with honors. Like most college students, my goals have changed because of my experiences-both good and bad."

Braun started at UWO as a transfer student and a business major. In her first semester at UWO, she struggled and was unsure what direction she wanted to go as she was not passionate about her major and felt disconnected from the campus community.

She withdrew and took two years off to try and explore what she was passionate about.

When she returned to UWO in fall 2015, her general psychology course "ignited her career." She found she was fascinated with the material and eager to immerse herself in the major.

For two years, she worked on research with Quin Chrobak as they investigated factors that influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. The research served as the basis for her dissertation and has since been published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Braun also was involved in undergraduate research with Sarah Kucker, examining factors that influence learning. During the summer of 2017, they investigated children's ability to generalize known words. The data was presented at UWO's Celebration of Scholarship, where she won the Clow Social Science Award, and has since been published in Child Development.

"I would not be where I am today without the support of Dr. Chrobak and Dr. Kucker. They believed in me, encouraged me, and pushed me to be a better student, researcher, educator and person," Braun said, adding the UWO professors are a big reason for her success in grad school and ability to land her "dream job" at UW-Platteville supervising undergraduate research and being a mentor like Chrobak and Kucker were to her.

Learn more:

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