Learn about the recent achievements of our wonderful PBS faculty, staff, students, and alumni:
Big congratulations to PBS Professor Andrea Hohmann, who was named IU Distinguished Professor, the highest honor given to faculty for their exceptional and internationally recognized research and creative activity.
Hearst and Provost Professor Jonathon Crystal, Provost Professor Amanda Diekman, and Eleanor Cox Riggs Professor Emerita Aina Puce were named 2025 AAAS Fellows. Election as a fellow honors members for their efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society. Crystal was also elected fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Among the PBS faculty recognized for their pedagogical excellence with the 2026 Trustees Teaching Award are: Senior Lecturer Kristi DeBoeuf, Professor Ed Hirt, Professor and Naus Family Chair Istvan Katona, and Assistant Professor Alexandra Moussa-Tooks.
PBS Assistant Professors Alexandra Moussa-Tooks and Natasha Chaku were recently named APS Rising Stars, a designation given to outstanding Association for Psychological Science members in the earliest stages of their post-Ph.D. research career.
Two PBS graduate students were named finalists in the IU Three Minute Thesis competition. Congratulations to Joshua Watkins, a student in the lab of PBS Distinguished Professor Andrea Hohmann, and Jung Hyun Park, in the lab of PBS Professor Hui-Chen Lu.
PBS graduate student Zinah George won a Student Research Grant from the IU Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society for her project, “Family Obligations among Arab American Immigrant and Refugee Families.” PBS graduate student Jasmine Bigelow won the 2025 Fall Research Award from Psi Chi for her proposal, “Contextualizing Aggression During the Middle School Transition.” Both are members of PBS Professor Natasha Chaku’s lab.
Two PBS alumni were included in IU’s list of 20 Under 40 amazing young alumni: Clara Karger (B.A. ’13) and Ronak Shah (B.S. ’12). Karger serves as press secretary to the mayor of Los Angeles. Shah is a middle-school science teacher in Indianapolis, who has published over 30 opinion columns and was featured in The Washington Post and the documentary Food First.
The College of Arts