by Jenna Somers
Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development Kathryn Humphreys, BS’05, has been recognized with the 2023 Boyd McCandless Award by the American Psychological Association’s Division 7 (Developmental Psychology). The award “recognizes a young scientist who has made a distinguished theoretical contribution to developmental psychology, has conducted programmatic research of distinction, or has made a distinguished contribution to the dissemination of developmental science.”
Humphreys has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on child development, adversity and caregiving, and directs the Vanderbilt Stress and Early Adversity (SEA) Lab, which focuses on associations between children’s experiences and their development.
“Professor Humphreys has been making remarkable research contributions for a scholar still early in her career, with implications especially for young children who suffer adverse experiences,” said Camilla P. Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development. “It’s wonderful to see her acknowledged for this work.”
“I am honored to join the list of past McCandless Award recipients, many of whom have inspired my own program of research,” Humphreys said. “As an infant mental health clinical psychologist by training, I am thrilled to see APA’s developmental psychology division acknowledge and support interdisciplinary research.”
Humphreys is the recipient of other early career honors, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the National Institute of Mental Health Biobehavioral Research Award for Innovative New Scientists, and the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, among many others.
Before beginning her tenure at Vanderbilt University in 2018, Humphreys completed postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and the Tulane University School of Medicine and received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Additionally, she earned a master of education in risk and prevention from Harvard University and a bachelor of science from Vanderbilt in child development and cognitive studies.
The APA will present the Boyd McCandless Award to Humphreys at its annual convention next August in Washington D.C.