Amanda Klassen earned her associate’s degree in art at a community college, then took a year off to figure out what she wanted to do with her life — sell commissioned art pieces, work retail or go back to school.
The Reedley native decided to enroll at Fresno State to pursue a degree in psychology, which satisfied an early interest in applied behavior analysis and her passion for working with autistic children as her interest in neuroscience soared. Now a senior, she is preparing for graduate school and is working on the presentation of a lifetime with classmates from Dr. Chris Miller’s Neuroscience of Mood and Anxiety-Related Disorders Lab.
Klassen, four of her classmates and Miller will each present their neuroscience research at the European Psychiatric Association 2023 Congress from March 25 to 28 in Paris. Another five students, four alumni and faculty from other universities contributed to these projects. It will be the first international conference — and largest group — from Fresno State’s Department of Psychology to present since before the COVID pandemic started in 2020. The group will also attend the Society of Biological Psychiatry annual meeting in San Diego, considered one of the most prestigious psychiatric conferences in the world, from April 27 to 29.
“If you told me a year ago that I would willingly be taking another statistics class to prepare for graduate school, that I’d actually apply to grad school and wanted to go, and that I’m going to Paris to present at a conference, I would have looked at you like you’re crazy,” Klassen said. “I couldn’t have imagined it then, but I’ve just stuck with it, and it’s been so worth it.”
Klassen joined the NOMAD lab, as it is known, this past August after spending the spring 2022 semester falling in love with her neuroscience classes. In the lab, students analyze published research papers, review brain scans (such as functional MRI) and use meta-analysis and machine learning to determine the brain activity of people with depression and anxiety-related disorders. The goal is to better diagnose, treat and prevent different psychiatric disorders.
“It takes a lot of trial and error to get patients with depression more effective antidepressants, if they ever get one, and a lot of patients drop out in that very frustrating process,” Miller said. “We think that brain scans can be really useful in helping them get matched with an effective treatment and that the process can be done a lot more quickly.”
Miller, a psychology professor at Fresno State for five years, has regularly taken students to international conferences, but only a limited number at a time, he said. Three of his students were accepted to the European conference in 2020 when it was held in Madrid, but COVID forced the event to be canceled. Since then, many conferences have been held virtually.
This year’s students applied in late fall to present in Paris. One poster presentation and four oral presentations were accepted. Most of the students will be attending their first conference and for nearly all, it will be their first international experience. The group is among the only undergraduates presenting at the Paris conference, Miller said. Most presenters are post-doctorates, fellows and residents in psychiatry.
“A single culminating experience like this can be transformative for them in their development as a scientist and in terms of their long-term educational trajectory,” Miller said. “To hear them talk about the excitement that they have in being able to share the work that they are proud of with other people who are much more advanced in their careers, to be able to network with them, and to have opportunities to enroll in courses and research areas that they are interested in while they are at the conference is really exhilarating to see as a faculty member.”
Senior psychology major Caitlin Baten still can’t believe she’s traveling to Paris in a few days. She flew on a plane for the first time in her life in early February to interview for a graduate program at a university in Iowa, though she has since decided to stay at Fresno State for graduate school. The Fresno native has had a long higher education journey choosing to take a four-year break after graduating from high school before deciding around age 23 that it was time to earn a degree.
She got an associate’s degree in psychology at Clovis Community College, then transferred to Fresno State. Psychology is an interdisciplinary field with elements of biology and philosophy that interested her, Baten said. Inspired by her younger brother, who has mental health issues, Baten sought a field that allowed her to understand the complexity of human behavior and how to help people, while having an opportunity to do research. She will be giving an oral presentation at the conference.
“What drew me to psychology was the different communications styles, the different behaviors, the different disorders and how they come about and why,” Baten said. “It’s that questioning, that philosophical aspect. Let’s observe these things in science. Let’s ask these questions, let’s test.”
She joined the NOMAD Lab this past summer. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of research, applying for the conference and thinking about graduate school.
“It really felt like I was living a different story, a different life, but it was mine. It just didn’t seem real to be honest,” Baten said. “Last semester, my two other lab mates, we would book study rooms to study for class and there was a moment where we realized we had applied to go to Paris and we were dreaming, ‘like would that actually happen?’ And when we got that [confirmation] email, we all texted each other and were like, ‘OK, we’re going.’”
