President Joe Biden has named Frances Colón, PhD, a neuroscientist and senior director for international climate policy at the Center for American Progress, and Jennifer Richeson, PhD, a social psychologist at Yale University, to his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The council provides science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the White House. Richeson is one of the leading U.S. scholars on cultural diversity and social inequality, known for her research on how people navigate interactions with individuals from different racial groups. Colón leads a program to spur global action on climate change and was formerly the deputy science and technology adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State.
The American Public Health Association has presented the Carl Taube Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Field of Mental Health to Lonnie R. Snowden, PhD, for his research and expert advising to improve access to quality mental health services for underrepresented communities. Snowden is a professor of health policy and management at Berkeley Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. His work to spotlight racial and ethnic health disparities throughout his career has sparked national discussion on remedies and new policies to improve access to quality care.
The National Academy of Medicine has elected psychologists Joseph P. Gone, PhD, of Harvard University, and Jennifer J. Manly, PhD, of Columbia University, to its membership of health and medical professionals for demonstrating outstanding achievement in service and scholarship. Gone is a professor of anthropology and of global health and social medicine, faculty director of the Harvard University Native American Program, and widely known for his research on Indigenous mental health and well-being. Manly is a professor of neuropsychology known for her work to improve detection of cognitive impairment among racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse adults.
Cornell University has presented a Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Award to Alexander Ophir, PhD, for advising and guiding undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds and “willingness to serve as a lifelong mentor.” Ophir is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology who studies prairie vole field behavior and neurobiology and has inspired many of his undergraduate advisees to pursue doctorates in psychology.
Western Illinois University now offers a scholarship for experimental psychology students in honor of the late alum and psychologist Linda Spear, PhD, a 1972 graduate of the university who later joined the faculty of Binghamton University. Spear’s family worked with the school to create the scholarship after Spear died in October 2020. She founded Binghamton’s neuroscience program and was the first woman to earn the rank of distinguished professor at the school. Western Illinois also posthumously awarded Spear its Fulkerson Outstanding Alum Award.