The FABBS Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards and Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards honor student investigators who have conducted research of superior quality and with broader societal impact.
The nomination period for the FABBS Student Awards ends March 28, 2025.
Departmental affiliates can nominate undergraduates and nominate doctoral dissertations for FABBS awards
2023-2024 Awardees
Florencia Ontiveros
The Ohio State University
Project
Kayley D. Estes
University of California, Irvine
Dissertation
“Media Coverage of Collective Traumas: Implications for Cognition, Affect, and Behaviors“
2022-2023 Awardees
Marley Warren
University of Michigan
Project
Lily Reck
George Washington University
Project
“Experienced Emotion: Positive Valence Acquisition of Stimuli Associated with High Cognitive Effort“
Alex Silver
University of Pittsburgh
Dissertation
“Social and Linguistic Influences on Number Word Acquisition.“
2021-2022 Awardees
Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards
- Justin Grady, George Washington University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Project: “Conscientiousness Protects Visual Search Performance from the Impact of Fatigue.” - Eva McAlister López, University of Michigan, Department of Psychology
Project: “How Do a Bilingual’s Two Languages Interact? Cross-Linguistic Transfer of Morphological Awareness in Spanish-English Bilinguals.”
Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards
- Tessa Charlesworth, Harvard University, Department of Psychology
“Patterns of Long-Term Change in Implicit Social Cognition.” - Lauren Clatch, University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology
“Bargaining for Freedom: A Person-by-Situation Approach to Studying Plea-Bargain Decision-Making”.
2020-2021 Awardees
Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards
- Analia Marzoratti, The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Project: “Increased exposure to environmental risk factors alters neural oscillatory activity during language learning in children.“ - Jiani Li, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology
Project: “Neural Synchrony as a Signature for Similar Emotional Experience” - Megan Maxwell, Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Project: “Evidence that Neighborhood Threat and Brain Volume Mediate the Relationship Between Neighborhood Poverty and Children’s Psychopathology”
Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards
- Katherine Lopez, Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
“Cognitive, personality, and neural signatures of impulsivity in childhood suicide: An Adolescent, Brain, and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study“ - Colleen Frank, University of Michigan, Department of Psychology
“The Role of Working Memory for Emotion in Affective Forecasting” - Martin De Vita, Syracuse University, Department of Psychology
“The effects of cannabidiol and analgesic expectancies on experimental pain reactivity in healthy adults: A balanced placebo design trial” - Celine Cammarata, Cornell University, Department of Human Development
“The role of acetylcholine in flexible cognition across age and species”
2019-2020 Awardees
Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards
- Carly Miron, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology
Project: “Longitudinal Association between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Friendship Quality among Adjudicated Adolescents“ - Yiwen Zhong, University of Michigan, Department of Psychology
Project: “The Effect of Anecdotes on Science Evidence Evaluation“
Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards
- Kaitlin Cassady, University of Michigan, Department of Psychology
“Age-related neural dedifferentiation in the sensorimotor system and its behavioral consequences“ - Jeremy Harper, University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology
“The effect of alcohol use on brain networks of cognitive control and salience attribution in young adulthood: causal inferences from a cotwin control study“ - Stephanie Koebele, Arizona State University, Department of Psychology
“Hysterectomy and Cognition: A Novel Preclinical Assessment of the Longitudinal Cognitive Effects Resulting from Gynecological Surgery in Adulthood“ - Jacob Westerberg, Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology
“Bridging the Gap Between Cognitive Signals from Single Neurons to EEG“ - Nur Hani Zainal, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology
“A Randomized Controlled Trial of a 14-Day Mindfulness Ecological Momentary Intervention for Generalized Anxiety Disorder“
2018-2019 Awardees
Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards
- Wesley Corey, Indiana University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Project: “A Critical Evaluation of Terpenoid Signaling at Cannabinoid CB1 Receptors in a Neuronal Model” - Samantha Goldberg, University of Michigan, Department of Psychology
Project: “Hippocampal Activity in Extinction Recall Related to Stress Exposure”
Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards
- Charles Lynch, Georgetown University, Department of Psychology
“Precision Mapping and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Cortical Hubs in Individuals” - William E. Pelham, III, Arizona State University, Department of Psychology
“Depression in Mothers and Behavior Problems in Children: From Association to Causation” - Sophia Vinci-Booher, Indiana University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
“Brain Development from Sensorimotor Experiences: Handwriting and Letter Perception” - Michelle Zaso, Syracuse University, Department of Psychology
“Interplay of perceived friend environments with genetics on trajectories of alcohol use across adolescence”
2017-2018 Awardees
Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards
- Xi “Richard” Chen, Cornell University College of Human Ecology, Department of Human Development
Project: “Explaining Recollection Without Remembering“ - Justin Palmer, Arizona State University, Department of Psychology
Project: “An Evaluation of the Cognitive Effects of a Short-Term and a Long-Term Ovarian Hormone Deprivation in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease: Addressing the Critical Window“
Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards
- Nick Jacobson, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology and Psychiatry
“Differences in Neural Activation in Anxiety and Depressive Disorders: An fMRI Meta-Analysis“ - Alaina Pearce, PhD, Georgetown University, Department of Psychology
“Neurocognitive Deficits in Pediatric Obesity“ - Joseph Vitriol, PhD, University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology
“The (In)Egalitarian Self: On the Motivated Rejection of Alleged Implicit Racial Bias“