J E F F E R S O N S C H O L A R S F O U N D A T I O N

the jefferson fellows
Julia James
Macfarlane Family Fellow
Darden School of Business
Harvard University (B.A.)
University of Virginia (M.B.A.)
Birmingham, Alabama
In the fall of 2011 Julia received the William Michael Shermet Award, which
recognizes the top 5% of the first year class at the Darden School. During her
second year she served as the president of the Darden chapter of Net Impact,
a national non-profit organization dedicated to using the power of business
for social and environmental good. Julia traveled to Haiti over spring break to
build a house and conduct research for a project on market-based solutions
to social problems. After traveling and volunteering abroad during the
summer of 2012, Julia will begin work in October at Deloitte Consulting in
McLean, Virginia.
Matthew Daniel Lerner
James H. and Elizabeth W. Wright Fellow
Department of Psychology
Wesleyan University (B.A.)
University of Virginia (M.A.)
Nahant, Massachusetts
This year Matthew defended his dissertation and completed all research requirements
for his Ph.D. He first-authored five published, peer-reviewed papers and book
chapters and currently has nine more under review (four of which are first-authored).
He gave 13 talks, symposia, or poster sessions at international academic and clinical
conferences, and organized a conference in honor of Autism Awareness Month at
the Jefferson Fellows Center. Matthew was one of three graduate students selected
annually to present a Psychology Department-wide Colloquium, and he completed
his term as the U.Va. Fellow Speaker of the LIFE Program, a program on lifespan
development through the International Max Planck Research School. Most notably
Matthew was one of three inaugural recipients of the Graduate Student Achievement
Award, presented by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (APA
Division 53). Additionally, Matthew has continued to serve on the Leadership Team
of the Charlottesville Autism Action Group, which holds its monthly meetings at the
Jefferson Fellows Center. Clinically, Matthew continues to provide clinical assessment
services to children via his practicum placement at the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation
Center’s Learning Clinic through the U.Va. Neuropsychological Assessment Laboratory.
He also provided consultation to the Virginia Institute of Autism in the establishment
of their Pathways Social Skills Program, which uses the evidence-based
intervention model that he developed. This summer Matthew will begin a position
as a child psychology/pediatric neuropsychology intern/fellow in the Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
the 2012 annual report
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