Elisa Liu and Steven Hadad successfully defended their senior honors theses. Both passed with ‘High Honors’ and their hard work and contributions to our community were acknowledged by Outstanding Accomplishments Medals from the Department of Psychology.

Elisa’s thesis was entitled, “Understanding the Neural Underpinnings of Paranoid Ideation in Psychosis,” and supervised by Dr. Jason Smith. Elisa was also the recipient of the Department’s Gold Research Award in 2024 and 2026 for her exceptional research contributions.

Steven’s thesis was entitled, “Understanding the Relevance of Neuroticism, Stress, and Biological Sex to Momentary Irritable Negative Affect and Internalizing Symptoms,” and supervised by Shannon Grogans.

We wish Elisa and Steven the best of luck in their future professional pursuits. Elisa will be joining the Merikangas lab at NIMH as an IRTA Fellow and Steven is pursuing medical school.