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Postdoctoral Fellows and Faculty Celebrated at Graduate Education Honors Banquet

(Awardees of the Postdoctoral Awards Ceremony 2026)

On March 19th, Vanderbilt held their annual Graduate School banquet and held their Postdoctoral Awards Ceremony simultaneously, bringing the two events together for the first time. Yearly this awards ceremony is held to honor those within the Vanderbilt community that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, excellence in academics, innovation, and mentorship. This year, our lab is overjoyed to report that multiple members of our lab were given distinctions that highlight their dedication to innovation in research.

 

(Dr. Cutting accepting her award)

Dr. Laurie Cutting was awarded the Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Award; an award that the graduate school describes: “The recipient must demonstrate a willingness to share expertise and advice; services to the community at large, including other mentoring activities; and scholarship within the mentor’s own career, including publications, awards, presentations and honors.”

 

(Dr. Garon-Bissonnette accepting her award)

Dr. Julia Garon-Bissonnette was awarded the Postdoctoral Fellow of the Year award, an award established to honor a postdoctoral scholar who exemplifies excellence across research, leadership and science.

 

(Dr. Nguyen accepting his award)

Dr. Tin Nguyen was awarded the Postdoctoral Excellence in Innovation Award; an award the graduate school describes: “…honors postdoctoral scholars who demonstrate exceptional creativity, ingenuity and forward-thinking mindsets in their research.”

 

(Awardees of the Postdoctoral Awards Ceremony 2026)

Our lab is very proud of each of our awardees, and we’re glad that their continued hard work in academia is being acknowledged. If you’d like to learn more about the awards, other awardees, or the event, please check out the coverage of the event by clicking here.

 

(From left to right: Dr. Julia Garon-Bissonnette, Dr. Amanda Martinez-Lincoln, Dr. Sarah Hughes-Berheim, Dr. Laurie Cutting, Emily Harriott, Dr. Tin Nguyen)

 

 

 

Dr. Andrew Lynn Joins the Faculty of University of Louisville

EBRL post-doctoral fellow Dr. Andrew Lynn has accepted an offer to join the University of Louisville! Our loss is their gain when he becomes an Assistant Professor in cognitive neuroscience this fall. Post-doctoral fellowships help people who have just earned a doctorate gain the necessary skills and publications to begin their careers as Principal Investigators in academia. He leaves the lab with our blessing and our continued support as he begins his academic career. Good luck in Louisville Andrew!

Congrats to Dr. Tin Nguyen on a Successful Thesis Defense!

As you may or may not know, the presentation of a doctoral thesis is a massive milestone for individuals seeking to acquire a doctoral degree. It’s the final great stepping stone before becoming a doctor and we are extraordinarily pleased to announce that EBRL’s own Tin Nguyen officially defended his! Tin is now officially Dr. Nguyen and we couldn’t be happier for him. All of us here at the lab can’t wait to see where he goes from here.

You can learn a little about Dr. Nguyen’s thesis from his flyer here: (You can also send him an email. If there’s one thing we love talking about is research!)

Dr. Mercedes Spencer Accepts Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position at Northwestern University

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mercedes Spencer!
mercedes
Dr. Spencer will begin a tenure-track Assistant Professor appointment in the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University in July 2022. Her ongoing and future work aims to identify potential early indicators of reading comprehension difficulties to better predict and prevent later reading comprehension problems in children.

Dr. Aboud Receives Director’s Early Independence Award

Join us in congratulating EBRL’s Dr. Katherine Aboud in receiving the Director’s Early Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health! The award supports outstanding scientists with the intellect, scientific creativity, drive, and maturity bypass the traditional postdoctoral training period to launch independent research careers.

Check out the full release on Vanderbilt’s site here.

Three Cheers for Katherine Aboud for the Successful Defense of her Dissertation!

 

On October the 22nd, (very soon to be Doctor) Katherine Aboud successfully defended her thesis dissertation to a crowd of both EBRL members, members of the public, and her committee members alike! We couldn’t be happier for her and are more than excited to continue to see her excel! A long time member of EBRL, Katherine will be continuing her stellar work with us as a post-doctoral fellow!

 

 

 

 

(Thank you to Katie White for spotting an error on the original post of this, which has now been corrected.)