Congratulations to the 2025 CNLM Award Recipients

Award recipients will be celebrated on May 27, 2025 at the Award Ceremony. Invitations will be sent via email.

Undergraduate Student Awards

Amanda Fang

JAMES TAIT GOODRICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NEUROBIOLOGY

Amanda Fang (Advisor: Dr. Kevin Beier)

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JAMES TAIT GOODRICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NEUROBIOLOGY

Déja Lee (Advisor: Dr. Michael Yassa)

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JAMES TAIT GOODRICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NEUROBIOLOGY

Donya Mohammadi (Advisor: Dr. Gyorgy Lur)

Alexis Madrid

FRIENDS OF THE CNLM AWARD

Alexis Madrid (Advisor: Dr. Javier Diaz Alonso)

Athena Nguyen

FRIENDS OF THE CNLM AWARD

Athena Nguyen (Advisor: Dr. Bryce Mander)

Freddy Gonzalez CAROL BECKER award

CAROL BECKER MCGAUGH AWARD

Freddy Gonzalez (Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth Head)

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CAROL BECKER MCGAUGH AWARD

Nicholas Lew (Advisor: Dr. Eitan Schechtman)

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CAROL BECKER MCGAUGH AWARD

Lauren Nishitani (Advisor: Dr. Lisa Flanagan)

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CAROL AND JAMES MCGAUGH AWARD

Alan Mai (Advisor: Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones)

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CAROL AND JAMES MCGAUGH AWARD

Cindy Pham (Advisor: Dr. Shahrdad Loftipour)

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CAROL AND JAMES MCGAUGH AWARD

Hannah Vu (Advisor: Dr. Stephen Mahler)

Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Awards

Asakura, Paula

JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD

Paula Assakura Miyazaki (Advisor: Dr. Norbert Fortin)

Teamwork makes the brain work: How hippocampal and prefrontal regions interact to temporally organize our memories

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JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD

Mia Brantley (Advisor: Dr. Katherine Thompson-Peer)

Dendrite repair: more than just the neuron's job

Ifejeokwu, Onwodi

JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD

Onwodi Ifejeokwu (Advisor: Dr. Munjal Acharya)

Mind Over Chemo: Preventing Brain Injury in Cancer Survivors

Allison Morehouse

JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD

Allison Morehouse (Advisor: Dr. Sara Mednick)

Sleep, Hormones, and Memory: The Often Overlooked Impact of the Menstrual Cycle

Abigail Flores

JARED M. ROBERTS MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

Abigail Flores (Advisor: Dr. Gyorgy Lur)

What happens in adolescence, doesn't stay in adolescence 

Sandoval, Matthew

JARED M. ROBERTS MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

Matthew Sandoval (Advisor: Dr. Javier Diaz Alonso)

Synaptic Do's and Don'ts: How adhesion molecules make meaningful brain connections

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NORMAN WEINBERGER AWARD

Jasmine Chavez (Advisor: Dr. Gary Lynch)

Oxytocin: More than Love

Lara Taniguchi

NORMAN WEINBERGER AWARD

Lara Taniguchi (Advisor: Dr. Tallie Z. Baram)

Cereal Drama: How Early Life Stress Messes with Reward Circuits

Alina Tu

NORMAN WEINBERGER AWARD

Alina Tu (Advisor: Dr. Liz Chrastil)

The brain's internal GPS: Navigating with map (or getting lost trying)

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ROGER W. RUSSELL AWARD IN THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY

Hyeijung Yoo (Advisor: Dr. Gyorgy Lur)

Chronic Stress Impairs Sensory Discrimination and Working Memory

 

Winny Ning

RENÉE HARWICK ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

Wing Ning (Advisor: Dr. Bruce McNaughton)

Mapping memory: how the brain encodes what and where 

Parker, Dana

RENÉE HARWICK ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

Dana Parker (Advisor: Dr. Michael Yassa)

Ghost Signals: Imaging the Brain's Silent Watchers

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DIRECTOR'S EXCELLENCE AWARD

Rachael Elizabeth Hokenson (Advisor: Dr. Tallie Z. Baram)

You're not OVARY-acting: The role of estrogen in traumatic stress 

Faculty Awards

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PUBLIC IMPACT AWARD

Dr. James McGaugh
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Neurobiology and Behavior
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences 

For outstanding commitment to applying research findings to improve the human condition

Dr. Sara Mednick

EXCEPTIONAL MENTOR AWARD

Dr. Sara Mednick
Professor, Cognitive Science
School of Social Sciences

For outstanding dedication to positively impacting the training experience of early career scientists

Katharine Simon, Ph.D.

RISING STAR AWARD

Dr. Katharine Simon 
Assistant Professor in Residence
Department of Pediatrics
School of Medicine

For outstanding early career contributions to charting new paths in neuroscience

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DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR AWARD

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus 
Distinguished Professor
Psychological Science
School of Social Ecology
For transformative contributions to the field of learning and memory

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TEAM SCIENCE AWARD

Dr. Elizabeth Chrastil
Associate Professor
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences

For an outstanding interdisciplinary CNLM research team's innovative and meritorious science that has advanced or is well positioned to advance our fundamental understanding of learning and memory.

Jeffrey Krichmar, Ph.D.

TEAM SCIENCE AWARD

Dr. Jeffrey Krichmar
Professor
Cognitive Sciences
School of Social Sciences

For an outstanding interdisciplinary CNLM research team's innovative and meritorious science that has advanced or is well-positioned to advance our fundamental understanding of learning and memory.

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TEAM SCIENCE AWARD

Dr. Douglas Nitz
Professor and Chair
Department of Cognitive Sciences
University of California, San Diego

For an outstanding interdisciplinary CNLM research team's innovative and meritorious science that has advanced or is well-positioned to advance our fundamental understanding of learning and memory.

Alumni Award

Leila Allen

ENGAGED ALUMNI AWARD

Dr. Leila M. Allen
Associate Teaching Professor
Psychology
Florida International University

For exceptional dedication and continued engagement with the CNLM following the degree completion or training at the Center

The annual awards of the CNLM are possible thanks to the generosity of our wonderful community of supporters including Dr. James McGaugh, Mrs. Janice McGaugh Morrow and Mr. William Morrow, Mrs. Judy Goodrich and the late Dr. James Tait Goodrich, Dr. Renée Harwick, the friends, family and colleagues of Dr. John Haycock, the friends, family and colleagues of Mr. Jared Roberts, the friends, family and colleagues of Dr. Roger Russell, the friends, family and Colleagues of Dr. Norman Weinberger, and the Friends of the CNLM. Thank you for making a difference in the careers of our young scholars.