Laurie Cutting in her lab.
Photo: Harrison McClary/Vanderbilt University
EBRL is proud to report that Dr. Laurie Cutting has been named the 2025 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner. The annual award honors faculty members from across all the 16 SEC universities for dedication to advancing academic excellence through teaching, innovation, and service.
Presley Smith || Research Assistant || Presley earned a B.S. in Biological Science with a concentration in Microbiology and a secondary major in Psychology from the University of Tennessee. Before joining EBRL, she worked as a Family Support Specialist, providing evidence-based home visiting services to new mothers and families. Her work focused on early childhood development, parent-child connection, and the factors that shape cognitive and emotional growth. This increased Presley’s interest in neuroscience, genetics, and the biological foundations of behavior. Outside of work, she enjoys teaching group fitness, discovering new music, and spending time with friends and family. || Contact: presley.smith@vanderbilt.edu
Robin Friesz B.A., D.C. || Research Assistant || Robin received her B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College Iowa. After a short time in practice, she moved into the neuromedical device industry, developing training programs, marketing communications, and patient education resources for a variety of neuroscience businesses. Her favorite hobby is children’s storytelling. She recently relocated to Nashville and plans to consume as much music and coffee as possible! || Contact: robin.friesz@vanderbilt.edu
This week EBRL welcomes two new full-time staff members to our roster. We welcome both Robin Friesz and Presley Smith to the team! We’re looking forward to working with them as things move forward.
EBRL’s Natalie Huerta is a recipient of the 2025 Robert Gaylord-Ross Award, a Peabody Special Education Department award for excellence in scholarly writing by a doctoral student. We’re happy to see her being recognized for her hard work, particularly for her scholarly writing! The award was established in 1995 in memory of Dr. Robert Gaylord-Ross an outstanding researcher in the Department of Special Education. It’s presented annually to a doctoral student in the Graduate School or Peabody College who is the sole or fist author of the most distinguished scholarly paper.
We had a lot of fun meeting with future scientists and students at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute’s annual Brain Blast event. Every year at the Nashville Public Library, the VBI puts on a free event for students of all ages to come and learn about real brain science from scientists in the field. This year our lab participated once again and taught people about reading in the brain. We got to meet so many people and get to teach them about how different parts of the brain all work together during reading. If you stopped by our booth, you might have got a free bookmark, got to play some games with us, or have even got a little book buddy for you to read to! If you’re interested in learning more about Brain Blast and when it’ll be next year, check out the Vanderbilt Brain Institute’s website here! https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/brain-institute/brain-blast/
We might even see you there next year.
Celebrations and joy abound as a member of EBRL welcomes a new life into the world. The lab could not be happier for them.
A Happy Holidays from the crew at EBRL. We had a lot of fun celebrating together and hope you’re looking forward to the new year. Here’s to a lovely 2025!
EBRL’s Dr. Sarah Hughes-Berheim was selected to attend Vanderbilt University’s Federal Stem Policy & Advocacy Workshop: An Inside the Beltway Look. This trip provided Vanderbilt graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) an opportunity to learn how federal STEM policy is made and the role of advocacy by various stakeholders in achieving policy goals. Participants heard from officials – including some VU alumni – who work in the Executive and Legislative branches of government as well as scientific societies, associations and coalitions who are actively engaged in influencing and promoting federal investments in science and engineering. Sarah learned more about how policy affects scientific research as well as how scientific research affects policy in regard to educational instruction. Find out more here.
Dr. Amanda Martinez-Lincoln was awarded an NIH/NICHD Research Career Development Award. Her K99/R00 will examine the role of executive function during reading and math in children. Learn more about her project at this link: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/v37q1ibXgECjrSnxEy39ag/project-details/10807195#similar-Projects
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EBRL sends a hearty hello from the scientific conference FLUX! This years conference was held in Baltimore on September 28-30th. Post-docs and PhD students from our lab got a chance to both connect with and present data from our lab to fellow scientists in the field and across disciplines. Scientific conferences like FLUX allow us to make connections with fellow researchers and learn from each other. Members of EBRL go to a variety of different conferences throughout the year and just like always we had a blast!
If you’re curious about the Flux Society, please visit their website here. An excerpt from their website about the purpose of the conference:
“The Flux Society’s purpose is to advance the understanding of human brain development by serving as a forum for professional and student scientists, physicians, and educators to: exchange information and educate the next generation of developmental cognitive neuroscience researchers; make widely available scientific research findings on brain development; encourage translational research to clinical populations; promote public information by discussing implications on the fields of education, health, juvenile law, parenting, and mental health, and encourage further progress in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience.”
At Vanderbilt, collaboration between the different colleges is a top priority. The university recognizes that some of the world’s most pressing problems won’t have a solution unless we pool our knowledge together. To that end, the graduate school offers the prestigious Lacy-Fischer Interdisciplinary Research Grants. These grants enable teams across fields to bridge the gap between the disciplines and add to their respective fields. EBRL’s own Emily Harriott has been awarded one of the grants for her and her collaborator Harrison Parent combining the fields of neuroscience and pharmacology to further examine children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
If you’d like to find out more about Vanderbilt’s push for interdisciplinary research, learn more here:
https://gradschool.vanderbilt.edu/funding/internal-funding-opportunities/