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Vanderbilt HBCD Study Team at Nashville Recovery Fest

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

Our team on the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study was proud to be a part of the 2025 RecoveryFest Nashville at East Park on September 27, 2025. We loved meeting members from the community at our booth – especially moms, babies and some special pups – and also connecting with folks from other local support agencies.
We spread the word that we’re recruiting pregnant moms to follow them and their babies from pregnancy through early childhood. Our long-term goal is to better understand how child development is affected by exposure to social and environmental experiences and conditions.

Learn more about the HBCD study (here): https://hbcdstudy.org/

Connect with RecoveryFest Nashville (here): https://www.recoveryfestnashville.org/

EBRL at Flux 2025 Dublin, Ireland

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

EBRL gives a warm wave from the often rainy land of Ireland. Earlier this month the annual Flux conference was held in the lovely Dublin, Ireland, and EBRL made the trip over the pond to attend. Flux is a society for developmental cognitive neuroscience; “dedicated to advancing the understanding for human brain development by serving as a forum for professional and student scientists, physicians, and educators.” as they say on their website. Every year the lab tries to send PhD students and Post-docs alike to present our ongoing research and connect with other scientists in the same field. If you’d like to learn more, you can find out more about the conference here.

EBRL at SSSR Conference 2025

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

It’s once again conference season here at EBRL and once again members of the lab attended the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) Conference to share our research and interact with our fellow researchers on the field of reading study. Each year representatives of the lab go to learn from fellow scientists and share our own scientific findings in the same area of study. This years conference was held in the lovely Calgary, Canada, a location that our lab members thoroughly enjoyed exploring once the conference was done. If you’d like to learn more about the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, you can go to their website here! You can even sign up to be a part of next year’s conference on July 15th – July 18th in Rotterdam, Netherlands.


Dr. Laurie Cutting Awarded SEC Faculty Achievement Award

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

Laurie Cutting in her lab.
Photo: Harrison McClary/Vanderbilt University

EBRL is proud to report that Dr. Laurie Cutting has been named the 2025 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner. The annual award honors faculty members from across all the 16 SEC universities for dedication to advancing academic excellence through teaching, innovation, and service.

Learn more about the award by clicking this link.

EBRL Welcomes Two New Lab Members!

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

Presley Smith || Research Assistant || Presley earned a B.S. in Biological Science with a concentration in Microbiology and a secondary major in Psychology from the University of Tennessee. Before joining EBRL, she worked as a Family Support Specialist, providing evidence-based home visiting services to new mothers and families. Her work focused on early childhood development, parent-child connection, and the factors that shape cognitive and emotional growth. This increased Presley’s interest in neuroscience, genetics, and the biological foundations of behavior. Outside of work, she enjoys teaching group fitness, discovering new music, and spending time with friends and family. || Contact: presley.smith@vanderbilt.edu

Robin Friesz B.A., D.C. || Research Assistant || Robin received her B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College Iowa. After a short time in practice, she moved into the neuromedical device industry, developing training programs, marketing communications, and patient education resources for a variety of neuroscience businesses. Her favorite hobby is children’s storytelling. She recently relocated to Nashville and plans to consume as much music and coffee as possible! || Contact: robin.friesz@vanderbilt.edu

This week EBRL welcomes two new full-time staff members to our roster. We welcome both Robin Friesz and Presley Smith to the team! We’re looking forward to working with them as things move forward.

Natalie Huerta Receives Peabody Special Education Department Award

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

EBRL’s Natalie Huerta is a recipient of the 2025 Robert Gaylord-Ross Award, a Peabody Special Education Department award for excellence in scholarly writing by a doctoral student. We’re happy to see her being recognized for her hard work, particularly for her scholarly writing! The award was established in 1995 in memory of Dr. Robert Gaylord-Ross an outstanding researcher in the Department of Special Education. It’s presented annually to a doctoral student in the Graduate School or Peabody College who is the sole or fist author of the most distinguished scholarly paper.

EBRL at Brain Blast 2025

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

We had a lot of fun meeting with future scientists and students at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute’s annual Brain Blast event. Every year at the Nashville Public Library, the VBI puts on a free event for students of all ages to come and learn about real brain science from scientists in the field. This year our lab participated once again and taught people about reading in the brain. We got to meet so many people and get to teach them about how different parts of the brain all work together during reading. If you stopped by our booth, you might have got a free bookmark, got to play some games with us, or have even got a little book buddy for you to read to! If you’re interested in learning more about Brain Blast and when it’ll be next year, check out the Vanderbilt Brain Institute’s website here! https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/brain-institute/brain-blast/
We might even see you there next year.

EBRL on Capital Hill

by Education Brian Generic 0 Comments

EBRL’s Dr. Sarah Hughes-Berheim was selected to attend Vanderbilt University’s Federal Stem Policy & Advocacy Workshop: An Inside the Beltway Look. This trip provided Vanderbilt graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) an opportunity to learn how federal STEM policy is made and the role of advocacy by various stakeholders in achieving policy goals. Participants heard from officials – including some VU alumni – who work in the Executive and Legislative branches of government as well as scientific societies, associations and coalitions who are actively engaged in influencing and promoting federal investments in science and engineering. Sarah learned more about how policy affects scientific research as well as how scientific research affects policy in regard to educational instruction. Find out more here.