Vanessa Volpe, a graduate student in Developmental Psychology, is the recipient of the Bernadette Gray-Little Award, a diversity research award.
The purpose of the Bernadette Gray-Little Awards for Diversity Enhancement in Psychological Research is to encourage and honor students who make a contribution to the advancement of knowledge concerning issues that face diverse populations or that are of concern to diverse populations.
Vanessa won for her work with Dr. Jean-Louis Gariepy. Her research studies the physical health consequences of racial discrimination experienced by African Americans. This research is important in identifying potential mechanisms that might lead to racial health disparities and it also has implications for intervention research aimed at reducing the incidence of racial micro-aggressions. The excellence of Vanessa’s research is evident in that she has received financial support for this work from the American Psychological Association. Vanessa has a longstanding interest in and commitment to working with groups that are under-represented in psychological research and is very active in mentoring other students in research, many of whom are students of color and/or first-generation college students. She will receive her Ph.D. degree in May and has accepted a faculty position at Ursinus College.