Elizabethtown College Psychology student Katie Carter’s ’21 Neuroscience Honors thesis earned the Psi Chi (National Honors Society for Psychology) Regional Research Scholarship Award. An abstract of the research was submitted to the Eastern Psychological Association and the American Psychological Sciences.
Carter’s abstract was selected from hundreds of submissions across six Psychological Regional Conferences, with only 90 awards being given each year. 
Assistant Professor of Psychology Robert Wickham served as Carter’s research mentor for her project, which took neurochemical data collected from Yale University and assessed the effects of nicotine, menthol (a common additive to tobacco products), as well as the combination of both, on dopamine release in the rat brain.
“Working with Dr. Wickham in his addiction lab has been an amazing experience and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with such a wonderful mentor,” said Carter. “My time in the lab has inspired me to continue to work with addiction research as the next phase of my career.”
A virtual Psi Chi awards ceremony took place on Saturday, March 6 where Carter was congratulated for her distinguished honor.
“Receiving this award is a major accomplishment for psychology undergraduate students and is a strong sign of future success for a career in psychology research,” said Wickham. “Katie’s energy and enthusiasm for the project has made this work in particular very enjoyable for me, and I have no doubt as she advances in her scientific training others will recognize her potential as a scientist who can make significant gains to psychology and neuroscience.”