Megan Foxworth, a graduating senior, is the recipient of the third annual J. Steven Reznick Award, a diversity research award.
The purpose of the J. Steven Reznick Award 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.
Megan was honored with this award for her undergraduate honors thesis studying the interaction between racial socialization and exposure to race-based bias in predicting mental health in young children. She came up with the ideas, measures, and approach to her research project, entirely on her own. Her conceptualization of the problem and her approach was remarkably sophisticated, especially considering she is an undergraduate researcher and she worked independently. Her goals are to understand how racial socialization might buffer the effects of racial discrimination for young children. Megan is committed to helping under-represented minorities succeed, despite experiencing racial discrimination and other experiences of early adversity. Megan was honored at the Psychology and Neuroscience Commencement Ceremony on May 14, 2017.