Hartnett Prize for Undergraduate Research in Neuroscience
Established in honor of Bill and Teresa Hartnett, who were strong proponents of undergraduate education, by their daughter, Professor of Psychology Mary Ann Foley, and awarded annually to a senior who conducts neuroscience research of outstanding quality.
Criteria:
- Senior NS major.
- Has conducted at least two semesters of outstanding research in neuroscience. The research experiences fall under 300-level course designations (e.g., NS375/376). The two semesters of research need not be supervised by the same faculty member (although in most cases we expect that students will conduct their two semesters of research with the same faculty member, and that their research will more likely be judged as outstanding under such circumstances, we did not want to preclude the possibility that a student might conduct excellent research in two laboratories).
During the spring semester, the NS director will solicit nominations from NS and NS-affiliated faculty. Each faculty member will be asked to provide a brief description of the nature of the research conducted by the student, as well as a rationale for why he/she thinks that the student should be considered a candidate for the award.
The NS director will then send the list of nominees to the NS and NS-affiliated faculty to see if any faculty members (other than the one who nominated the candidate) have any additional feedback for the NS steering committee regarding the nominees' research qualifications. Once all the information is gathered from the faculty, the NS steering committee will meet to discuss all nominees and will then recommend one nominee to receive the award. Quality of research conducted will be a primary determining factor in granting the award. If the steering committee deems that none of the nominees meet the criteria outlined by the award, then the prize will not be awarded in that given year.
The director will forward the recommendation to all NS and NS-affiliated faculty and, as long as there are no objections, will then notify the Dean of Studies office of the winner (or lack thereof).
The Hartnett Prize winner often gives a featured talk at the Neuroscience session at Academic Festival. Below is a picture of recent Hartnett Prize recipient Ada Glynn with mentor Dr. Sara Lagalwar:
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Previous Hartnett Prize winners:
| Year | Student Name |
| 2024 | Ada Glynn |
| 2023 | Matthew Grega |
| 2022 | Maya Wyse |
| 2021 | Sarah Goulding |
| 2020 | Haoyang Huang |
| 2019 | Jamie Stonemetz |
| 2018 | Brianne Cook |
| 2017 | Morgan Lavoie |
| 2016 | Jenny Zhang |
| 2015 | Austin Ferro |
| 2014 | Aaron Beck |
| 2013 | Sarah Minney |
| 2012 | Samuel Brook |
| 2011 | Patricia Sheehan |
| 2010 | Katherine Zappia |
| 2009 | Benjamin Chadwick |
| 2008 | Sean Nash |
| 2007 | Maya Rosen |
| 2006 | Aaron Zigelbaum |
| 2005 | Kate Shea |
| 2004 | Kristen Near |