Two PBS Graduate Students - Courtney Durdle and Viki Papadakis - were awarded the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. This fellowship funds 3 years of their graduate studies, and serves as recognition of their potential to be leaders in their fields.

Courtney Durdle is a member of Mike Miller's Memory Lab, where her research focuses on the interaction between episodic memory and decision making, with implications for how we consider eyewitness testimony in the courtroom. Her proposal seeks to establish which features, if any, improve accuracy of eyewitness identifications of suspects in a photo lineup. Asked about what the award means to her, Ms. Durdle said, "This is a tremendous honor that I appreciate so much. Thanks to this opportunity, I will be better able to focus my efforts on research that I hope will have a broad and positive impact on society."

Viki Papadakis is a member of Heejung Kim's Cultural Psychology Lab, where her research examines how differences in social class backgrounds can affect the development and quality of interpersonal relationships, and the underlying mechanisms through which this occurs. Her proposal tests the hypothesis that sociocultural psychological differences underlie the difficulty in forming meaningful cross-social class relationships. When asked about what the Fellowship means to her, Ms. Papadakis said, "I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten an NSF GRFP fellowship. I'm both grateful and excited for the opportunity!"

Congratulations Courtney and Viki!

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