About the Research Award
The Decade of Behavior Research Award recognizes high caliber research that has had a demonstrated impact on policy or society at large, has contributed to the use of social and behavioral science knowledge in policy settings, or has enhanced public understanding of behavioral or social science principles. Up to five Research Awards will be given annually in one of the Decade's major themes areas. A different theme will be selected each year; the theme for 2006 is Safety. (Themes in future years will include Education and Prosperity).
Research Award recipients for 2005:
Special thank you to the following for making the briefing a tremendous success: U.S. Representatives Tom Davis, Brian Baird, and Daniel Lipinski, Howard Silver of the Consortium of Social Sciences Association, The National Communication Association, The American Psychological Association, The Association of American Geographers, and the American Political Science Association.
Dr. Judith Torney-Purta
Professor of Human Development, University of Maryland at College Park
Nominated by the American Psychological Association
Dr. Torney-Purta has conducted psychological research for nearly forty years on young people's knowledge of democracy and the social and political attitudes necessary to maintain it. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) recognized her leadership in this field when it appointed Dr. Torney-Purta as the International Chair of the Steering Committee for their landmark IEA Civic Education Study. Over a ten-year period with colleagues from over thirty countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia, Dr. Torney-Purta led a study that is the most rigorous ever conducted of how young people are prepared for their roles as citizens in democracies and societies aspiring to democracy.
Learn more about Dr. Torney-Purta. (pdf file)
View Dr. Torney-Purta's Presentation (PowerPoint file)
Dr. William Clark
Professor of Geography and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles
Nominated by the Association of American Geographers
“[Dr. Clark’s] research over the past two decades has been concerned with the internal changes in US cities, especially in the changes that occur in response to residential mobility and migration. [He] has conducted both micro scale and individual studies of tenure choice, and large scale studies of demographic change in the neighborhoods of large metropolitan areas. The latter studies examine the nature of the population flows between cities and suburbs, white flight and the impact of legal intervention on the urban mosaic. [Dr. Clark] has also been particularly concerned about the relative roles of residential preferences and housing affordability in the way in which segregation has emerged in metropolitan areas. [He] is currently investigating the interaction of class, race and geography in metropolitan areas, as well as continuing my studies of international migration.”
View Dr. Clark's Presentation (PowerPoint file)
Dr. James Gibson
Professor of Government, Washington University in St. Louis
Nominated by the American Political Science Association
“James L. Gibson received his B.A. (with highest honors) from Emory University in 1972, and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1975. He taught at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee from 1975 until 1983, when he joined the faculty at the University of Houston. In 1996, he was named Cullen Distinguished Professor. He joined the Political Science Department at Washington University in 1999. Gibson has research interests in most areas of political science, including comparative politics (especially processes of democratization), American politics (including political parties, public opinion, and especially courts and legal processes), and all areas of quantitative research methods (especially survey research). He has published in virtually every major political journal (from the American Political Science Review to the British Journal of Political Science), has co-authored two books, and his research has received several citations for excellence. Gibson is currently working on studies of a) the consolidation of democratization in Russia, b) political tolerance, justice, and the initiation of democratic reform in South Africa, c) law, legal values, legal consciousness in Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United States, and d) the legitimacy of judicial and legal institutions throughout the world. Gibson is immediate past president of the Midwest Political Science Association.”
View Dr. Gibson's Presentation (PowerPoint file)
Dr. Sharyn O’Halloran and Dr. David Epstein
Dr. O’Halloran- Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Columbia University
Dr. Epstein-Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Nominated by the American Political Science Association
“Working from a scholarly background of formal modeling and game theory, David Epstein and Sharyn O’Halloran have fashioned a research agenda to explore some of the most vexing issues in democratic practice. Their work created a synthesis of existing emphasis and provided detailed analysis to help lead practical decision making in new directions. They have offered us important empirical and theoretical insights, including findings that percentages of blacks in an election district that are needed to assure that African –American candidates get even treatment from voters have been steadily declining. Their current research has been discussed broadly among political science and legal scholars. Moreover, it has been cited in recent Supreme Court decisions concerning the Voting Rights Act.”
Learn more about Dr. Epstein.
Learn more about Dr. O’Halloran.
View Dr. Epstein's and Dr. O'Halloran's Presentation (PowerPoint file)
Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Nominated by the National Communication Association
Dr. Jamieson’s interests include political communication, rhetorical theory and criticism. She studies various forms of campaign communication, as well as the discourse of the presidency. Dr. Jamieson has received numerous awards for her contributions in teaching from the Universities of Maryland, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In 1998, she was awarded the National Communication Association Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service to the Communication Discipline.
Learn more about Dr. Jamieson.
2004 Decade of Behavior Research Award Recipients
Dr. David Williams
"Dr. Williams' research has made seminal contributions to enhancing our understanding of why higher rates of disease, disability, and death persist for economically disadvantaged persons in general and for racial and ethnic minority populations in the US. His research also has provided theoretically informed descriptions and empirical illustrations of the ways in which multiple and dynamic dimensions of socioeconomic status can affect the incidence, prevalence, and course of disease. With clarity and great sensitivity to the complex issues related to social class, race and health, he has made classic contributions to our understanding of the complex ways in which race, racism, and socioeconomic status can affect the patterning of health over the life course."
Click here for a bio of Dr. Williams.
Dr. David Dinges
"Dr. David Dinges' three decades of seminal behavioral and medical research elucidates how lengthy periods without adequate sleep affects the brain's ability to sustain acceptable levels of attention and alertness, eventually demonstrating distinctive signs of drowsiness and fatigue, with consequent compromises or degradations in our performance that in many workplaces like the transportation industries, impact public safety. His work has had both health and safety implications. For example, Dr. Dinges has provided a significant body of superb research to demonstrate the neurobehavioral effects of chronic sleep restriction, which contributed to Congress designating a National Sleep Awareness Week to raise our consciousness to the importance of obtaining sufficient quantities of quality sleep to maintain our health and performance on the job."