Congratulations to the
2026 CNLM Award Recipients
Undergraduate Student Awards
JAMES TAIT GOODRICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NEUROBIOLOGY
Allison Jian (Advisor: Munjal Acharya, Ph.D.)
JAMES TAIT GOODRICH AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NEUROBIOLOGY
Hannah Karowe (Advisor: Liz Chrastil, Ph.D.)
Muhanad Hilal (Advisor: Liz Chrastil, Ph.D.)
Varun Ajith (Advisor: Xiangmin Xu, Ph.D.)
Morgan Sky Lu (Advisor: Javier Diaz Alonso, Ph.D.)
Vaidehi Shah (Advisor: Bryce Mander, Ph.D.)
Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Awards
JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD
Johnny Boutros (Advisor: Vivek Swarup, Ph.D.)
Brain Drain or Brain Clog? Mapping the Amyloid Traffic Jam
JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD
Julia Lagomarsino (Advisor: Christie Fowler, Ph.D.)
More Than a Buzz: How Vapes Shape Addiction
JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD
Minh Ngo (Advisor: Kim Green, Ph.D.)
Microglial Makeover: Reprogramming the Brain for Repair and Resilience
JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD
Briana Morales (Advisor: Stephen Mahler, Ph.D.)
To Seek or Not to Seek: The Role of the Ventral Pallidum in Opioid Relapse
JOHN W. HAYCOCK MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD
Tracy Uzoigwe (Advisor: Sara Mednick, Ph.D.)
Dancers in the Dark: Do Sleep Twitches Help Us Learn New Movements?
JARED M. ROBERTS MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Selen Dirik (Advisor: Stephen Mahler, Ph.D.)
Is it "just a phase"? How adolescent THC exposure affects decision making in adulthood
JARED M. ROBERTS MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Jorge Mendoza (Advisor: Tallie Z. Baram, M.D., Ph.D.)
TRAPping the Past: How Early Life Stress is Encoded
Vaidehi Gandhi (Advisor: Aileen Anderson, Ph.D.)
Master of microglia: how C1q regulates immune activation
Kendyl Laumann (Advisor: Christie Fowler, Ph.D.)
Curbing Craving: How BDNF during abstinence regulates future cocaine seeking
ROGER W. RUSSELL AWARD IN THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY
Natalie DiProspero, Ph.D. (Advisor: Michael Yassa, Ph.D.)
Alzheimer's disease doesn't mean shrinkage everywhere in the brain
ROGER W. RUSSELL AWARD IN THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY
Johanna Extremet, Ph.D. (Advisor: Javier Diaz Alonso, Ph.D.)
Cell-type specific roles of the AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit in epilepsy and memory
ROGER W. RUSSELL AWARD IN THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY
Zaneta Navratilova, Ph.D. (Advisor: Bruce McNaughton, Ph.D.)
Mental maps rely on consistency
RENÉE HARWICK ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Nicolette McClure (Advisor: Leslie Thompson, Ph.D.)
How cell-type specific protein interactions shape the cellular response to Huntington's Disease
RENÉE HARWICK ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Erica Ramirez (Advisor: Stephen Mahler, Ph.D.)
To Hang Out or Stay Home? The Brain Behind Social Connection
Kristen Vallejo (Advisor: Vivek Swarup, Ph.D.)
Long Story Short: Decoding Isoform Dysregulation in Alzheimer's Disease
Emily Yi (Advisor: Michael Yassa, Ph.D.)
No Woman Left Behind: Understanding Female-Specific Alzheimer’s Disease Risk
Faculty Awards
Leslie Thompson, Ph.D.
Donald Bren Chancellor's Professor
Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Neurobiology and Behavior, and Biological Chemistry
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences and School of Medicine
For outstanding commitment to applying research findings to improve the human condition
Gyorgy Lur, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Neurobiology and Behavior
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences
For outstanding dedication to positively impacting the training experience of early career scientists
Eitan Schechtman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Neurobiology and Behavior
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences
For outstanding early career contributions to charting new paths in neuroscience
Andrea Tenner, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Pathology, Neurobiology and Behavior
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences & School of Medicine
For transformative contributions to the field of learning and memory
Kate Tsourmas, Ph.D.
Green Lab Graduate Alumnus
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.
Kim Green, Ph.D.
Professor
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.
Vivek Swarup, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
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.
Munjal Acharya, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Anatomy and Neurobiology
School of Medicine
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.
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.
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