Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award

Ava Reck, recent Ph.D. graduate in human development and family science from the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, conducts research on the sociocultural and neurobehavioral mechanisms of mental health in children and adolescents. Under the mentorship of professors Steve Kogan and Assaf Oshri, she has examined how poverty, neglect, and racial discrimination influence mental health through family and neurocognitive pathways. Reck has published 12 peer-reviewed articles, with six as first author. Her research on internalized racism and conduct problems in Black adolescents and food insecurity’s impact on adolescent brain development has received national attention. During her time at UGA, she was awarded a Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance grant and multiple university-wide fellowships. Now a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oregon, Reck continues to advance interdisciplinary research on developmental risk and resilience.

Trevor Tuma, recent Ph.D. graduate in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, conducts interdisciplinary research in two distinct fields—forest biotechnology and biology education—under the mentorship of professors Chung-Jui “C.J.” Tsai and Erin Dolan. His biology research is aimed at enhancing biofuel production and developing more resilient trees with higher biomass yields. Tuma combined greenhouse experiments and field studies to uncover key mechanisms in carbohydrate allocation affecting biomass yield and climate resilience in trees. His education research examined the negative aspects of mentoring relationships, including how these relationships can go awry and cause harm for students. His research contributions have been published in multiple journals and presented at national and international conferences and universities. Now an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UGA, Tuma continues to advance STEM education and is poised to make significant contributions to the field.