天美传媒

by Rebecca Endres

In just a few years, Fallon Kane, an junior majoring in and , has earned the respect of her peers and professors as an ambitious student and committed campus leader and advocate. Kane鈥檚 drive to help others is especially evident in her work with faculty in the and in her extracurricular pursuits.

At Derner, Kane has opted to participate in the selective , in which undergraduates work alongside faculty in pursuing original research. Kane explained that she is working with Professor Robert Bornstein, Ph.D., on a quantitative analysis of 鈥渢he relationship between dependency and male perpetrators of intimate partner violence.鈥� They are analyzing the studies on this topic that have been conducted in the past 25 years and finding trends based on quantitative data.

Their research to date indicates that 鈥渢he more dependent men are, the more likely they are to physically hurt their spouse,鈥� a phenomenon Kane attributes to a desperate need to hold on to a partner or spouse. 鈥淗urting them becomes a way to make them stay,鈥� she said. The next step will be finding ways to train therapists to effectively treat these perpetrators. She will be presenting the findings at three conferences, including the American Psychological Association conference in Toronto.

鈥淚鈥檓 very interested in any way that psychology and the criminal mind intersect,鈥� Kane explained, and when she approached Dr. Bornstein, he proposed collecting research for his study of dependency and violence. She jumped at the opportunity to unite her two interests. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 something I definitely want to do in the future; I didn鈥檛 realize how interested I was in that specific area of interpersonal violence and domestic violence until I started researching it,鈥� she said.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Kane has also been involved in multiple internships and club activities, from serving as a program intern and mentor for the (NEDA) to mentoring high school students at risk for dropping out through , a community service organization on campus that she is heavily involved with. As the president of Adelphi鈥檚 Psychology Club, she recently helped organize events to fundraise for the (NAMI).

鈥淓very day I want to try to find something to make the world better,鈥� she said when asked about her tireless work on campus and drive in the classroom, 鈥渟o that鈥檚 just another avenue through which I can do it.鈥�