Sioux City Journal, IA
04-05-07
Symposium brings psychology to criminal justice
Morningside College will host its fourth annual Palmer Student Research
Symposium from 9 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. April 11 in the college's James and Sharon
Walker Science Center.
Morningside College will host its fourth annual Palmer Student Research
Symposium from 9 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. April 11 in the college's James and Sharon
Walker Science Center.
Dr. Gary L. Wells, professor of psychology at Iowa State University and
internationally recognized scholar in scientific psychology, will deliver the
keynote address "Eyewitness Identification: An Application of Psychological
Science to Criminal Justice" at 12:45 p.m. in the Yockey Family Community
Room of the Olsen Student Center. The event is open to the public free of
charge.
The Palmer Student Research Symposium will open at 8:45 a.m. with remarks by
Morningside College President John Reynders and Dr. William Deeds, vice
president of academic affairs and dean of the college.
Fifty-five research projects in the academic areas of biology and chemistry,
business administration and economics, English, history and political science,
mass communication, mathematical sciences, modern languages, music,
nursing, philosophy, psychology and religious studies will be presented
throughout the day.
The presentations include empirical and non-empirical independent or classroom
research projects presented in oral and poster format.
Wells has written and published extensively on the subject of the reliability of
eyewitness identification. His research, funded by the National Science
Foundation, has been incorporated into standard psychology and law textbooks
and his conclusions about eyewitness identification have appeared in the New
Yorker, Time magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and Los
Angeles Times. He has made appearances on several national television
programs and has served as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases across
the United States and Canada.
Wells was a founding member of the U.S. Department of Justice group that
developed the first set of national guidelines for eyewitness evidence and was
cochair of a panel that wrote the department's training manual for law
enforcement on collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence.
In addition to his responsibilities at Iowa State University, he serves as director of
social sciences for the American Judicature Society Institute of Forensic Science
and Public Policy in Greensboro, N.C.
The Palmer Student Research Symposium is coordinated by Dr. John Pinto,
professor of psychology, Jackie Barber, associate professor of nursing, and
Morningside students Jennifer Ball, Jaclyn Buttermore, Amanda Fangmeier,
Nicole Kranz, Stephanie Loeschen, Whitney McElrath, Heidi Meyer, Emily Olsen,
Brandilynn Shipler, and Joelle Stout.
The Palmer Student Research Symposium is supported by an endowed gift from
the Palmer family in honor of Edward C. and William E. Palmer.