The department considers research achievement as well as course performance in selecting seniors Psychology Majors to receive these awards of distinction in scholarship. Recipients are selected by vote of the full departmental faculty.
The Arnold Gerall Prize in Neuroscience is presented to seniors for excellence in psychology and neuroscience. Professor Gerall earned the Ph.D. in 1951 from the University of Iowa, and joined the Tulane faculty in 1961. His primary research focus in physiological psychology spanned over half a century, and was seminal particularly in the areas of sexual differentiation and reproduction. Professor Gerall was the 2008 recipient of the Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. He passed away on December 11, 2013. A 2014 memorial article about Arnie's life and work may be found in Hormones and Behavior, 66, 401-408.
Concurrent with a Festschrift in 1991 to celebrate his contributions to the field of physiological psychology, Professor Gerall’s friends, colleagues, and former students established a research prize in his name. The recipient is selected after careful consideration of curricular and research activities, and requires a vote of the full faculty of the Department of Psychology. Each student receives a plaque engraved with his or her name, the date, and the name of the prize; since 2005, the plaque also carried the shield of Tulane University.
Past recipients of the award are Grahame Gould and Abby Spencer (1998), Jessica Wiegand (2000), Elizabeth Rarick (2001), Christopher May (2002), Lacey Sahuque (2003), Clayton Smith (2004), Ellen Hosemann (2005), Carrie Pauker and Vishnu Cuddupah (2006), Stephen Bright (2007), Jennifer O'Malley and Kate Frankola (2008), Kelsey Ward and Lee Kahn (2009), Lisa Keskitalo (2010), and Jillian Lauer (2011), Sara Hunt, Michael Mainguy, Michael Seay (2012), Pamela Svorinic (2014), Nicole Moody and Louis Arens (2015), Nina Baumgartner and Carly Rosen (2016), Clara Howell (2017), and Matthew Coleman (2018), Kaitlyn Tholen (2019), Julia Nauman (2020), Noah Gold and Jacob Frentzen (2021), Anh Duong (2022), and Alex Walker (2023).
The Aaron Hartman Medal in Psychology was established in 1930 by bequest of Rosa Cahn Hartman in memory of her husband. It is awarded to seniors for excellence in psychology. Prior to the establishment of Newcomb-Tulane College in 2005, it was awarded to a senior from the men's undergraduate college (Tulane College). Past recipients of the award are Stephen Garofano (2000), Loong Kwok and Adam Price (2001), Christopher May (2002), Scott Francioni and Jeffrey Getbehead (2003), Salvador Iloreta (2004), Robert Eil (2005), Charles Calderwood (2006), Leslie Frankel (2007), Jeremy Eberle (2008), Jamie Colica (2009), Andrew Bingman (2010), Max Jay-Dixon and Andrew Kim (2011), Lauren Eierman, Sara Kaplan, and Madeline Schwartz (2012), Sofia Jeanne Roggeveen (2013), Ashley Galsky and Melanie Hotz (2014), Marcy Cohen and Julia Birt (2015), James Fitzpatrick and Meagan Magaldi (2016), Gabriel Rodiguez and Lily Zmachinski (2017), Lauren deBlanc (2018), and Alexandra Bookis (2019). In 2020, the recipients were Madeline Billeaud and Lauren Fleming. Margo Nickerson received the 2021 award. The 2022 award recipients were Elizabeth Grose and Evelyn Lee. The 2023 recipient was Lily Donald. A partial list of recipients since the 1970s can be found here.
The Rosa Cahn Hartman Prize in Psychology is presented to seniors for excellence in psychology. Prior to the establishment of Newcomb-Tulane College in 2005, it was awarded to a senior from the women's undergraduate college (Newcomb College). Past recipients of the award are Shannon Fuller and Megan McFarland (2000), Lisa DeLise and Jenene Roberto (2001), Erica Tannenbaum(2002), Brooke Barbera (2003), Tara Mathews (2004), Lindsay Bell and Ashley Newton (2005), Sarah Vetter (2006), Jessica Siegel (2007), Nichole Kanopoulous (2008), Thomas Eskew and Jayda Batchelder (2009), Kelly Caravella (2010), Stephanie Molina and Cassandra Lenz (2011), Sophia Olton-Webster, Ashlei Peterson and Emma Ross (2012), Nicolette Guillou (2013), Claire Burns and Mackenzie Shade (2014), Maryann Thompson and Melanie Moulder (2015), Laura Sutherland and Sara Margolies (2016), Sidonia Compton and Annika White (2017), Brooke Bailey (2018) and Ellyn Frohberg and Samantha Perry (2019). In 2020, the recipients were Riana Gaudet and Jae Eun Park. Anna Wilson received the 2021 award. The 2022 award recipients were Annabelle Reese and Brooke Rovner. The 2023 recipient was Cecelia Stumpf. A partial list of recipients since the 1970s can be found here.
The Faculty Memorial Award honors the memory of our departed Psychology faculty colleagues. The inaugural award in 2016 went to Caroline Dickens. The 2017 recipients of the award were Jaelyn Edwards and Hannah Swerbenski. The 2018 recipients were Monica Holler and Taylor Kimball. In 2019, the recipients were Claudia Wittich and Maya Cohen. The 2020 recipients were Emma Bossier, Maya Childs, and Lauren Perlmutter. In 2022, the awardees were Juliet Alise and Doris Cai. The 2023 recipients were Fiona McDermut and Kaitlyn Krushefski.
The Senior Scholar is awarded annually to the most outstanding graduating Psychology major in the Honors Program. Past recipients are Leah Newkirk and Meredith Cohn (2000), Rebecca Batista and Justin Springer (2001), Katherine Shepard and Stacy Turner (2002), Ashley Babendure and Elizabeth Weeks (2003), Nicole Kaban (2004), Sara Debus and Sarah Covert (2005), Rebecca Ostrich (2006), Nicole Thieler (2007), Jenna Rosen and Lauren Ruth (2008), Gino Mortillaro (2009), William Benson and Lauren Peterson (2010), Erin Hedemann and Caroline Tipler (2011), Dhruv Gupta and Yingjia Wan (2012), Carolyn Kaufman (2013), Erin Albert (2014), Stephanie Aaron and Nicole Lentini (2015), Anneke Olson and Laura Perry (2016), M. Annelise Blanchard (2017), Abrania Marreo and Victoria Parker (2018), and Hannah Stoller (2019). In 2020, the recipients were Gregory Chauvin and James Rogers. In 2021, all three students who completed honors theses were recognized as senior scholars: Emily Nestel, Katy Patton, and Destiny Stafford. Ramal Rauf was the senior scholar in 2022. The 2023 senior scholar was Arielle Morris.
The Barbara E. Moely Award for Psychology in the Public Interest is awarded to the graduate with exceptional public service to the community. The award is named for Professor Emerita Barbara Moely, who began service learning at Tulane and remained active with the Office of Service Learning and Center for Public Service after her retirement. Nominations for the award are accepted in March. The inaugural award was presented to Kelly Holmes in 2008. Recent recipients are Susan Bursch (2009), Kerry Quinn and Christopher Dalia (2011), Taylor Adney and Lindsey Shroff (2012), Rebekah Cianci (2013), Ilana Elias (2014), Max Seidman and Johanna Kester (2015), Anna Hamilton (2016), Ashlee Beggin and Chardee Bryant (2017), and Victoria Parrilla and Ashton Friend (2018). The 2020 recipient was Ryan Herrschaft, and the 2021 recipients were Julia Bergman and Samantha Goland. The 2023 recipient was Izzy Ramras. [Nomination Information]
The Anne M. McPherson Memorial Student Award was established in 2010 by the Arlene and Gary McPherson family to honor the memory of their daughter Anne, who majored in Psychology at Tulane. The award supports superior research of juniors and seniors who conduct research with regular members of the Psychology faculty, typically by funding attendance at professional conventions. The inaugural awards were presented to Samantha Orsagh-Yentis and Sydney Smith in 2011. In 2012, we selected a rising senior and a graduating senior, Yelena Johnson and Ayesha Sujan, respectively. Rising senior Erin Albert received the 2013 award. In 2014, rising seniors Marcy Cohen and Stephanie Aaron received awards, along with graduating senior Brittany Devries. The 2015 awards went to graduating senior Camille Hardin, along with rising seniors James Fitzpatrick and Laura Perry. The 2016 awards went to seniors Rafaella Jakubovic and Anneke Olson, along with rising senior Elizabeth Jesma. The 2017 award winner was Leah Walsh. The 2018 recipient was Lauren deBlanc. The spring 2019 winners were Emma Balkind and Riley Loria; the Fall 2019 winners were Jae Eun (Janie) Park and Skylar Schaumberg; the 2020 spring winner was Conner Angelle. The Fall 2020 winner was Doris Cai. The Fall 2021 winner was Joie Meyer and the Spring 2022 winner was Ramal Rauf. The Spring 2023 winner was Taylor Alcorn. [Nomination Information]
Faculty Award for Research in Psychological Science honors students for contributions to research in the basic science of psychology. The inaugural award recipients in 2020 were Riley Loria and Leah Vaidya. The 2021 recipients were Maya Friedman and Janie Qiu. In 2022, the awardee was Joie Meyer. The 2023 recipient was Anna Wood.
Faculty Award for Applied Psychological Research honors students for applied psychological research that addresses a critical problem in society at large. The inaugural ward recipients in 2020 were Emma Balkind and Sarah Guillaume. The 2021 recipients were Emily Berlin and Anusha Rahman. In 2022, the awardee was Bailey Mirmelli.
