Awards

Given to an outstanding graduating Neuroscience major with a GPA above 3.7 and who performed an exceptional research project. The awardee is selected by an undergraduate program committee and will receive a $500 honorarium.

Given to a neuroscience major who has completed an exceptional research project with a focus on cellular/molecular neuroscience and who is a Neuroscience major and has a GPA of 3.2 or higher. The awardee is selected by an undergraduate program committee and will receive a $250 honorarium.

• 2026 Honoree: Zoey Aleksieva
  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Joseph Zak
  Title of Research: Building a Custom Apparatus to Assess Mice on an Olfactory-Figure-Ground Segregation Task

Given to a neuroscience major who has completed an exceptional research project with a focus on systems and behavioral neuroscience who is a Neuroscience major and who has a GPA of 3.2 or higher. The awardee is selected by an undergraduate program committee and will receive a $250 honorarium.

• 2026 Honoree: Favour Nwokoye
  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Michael Ragozzino
  Title of Research: The Effect of Tandospirone, a Partial Serotonin 1A Receptor Agonist, on Reducing Behavioral Inflexibility in the FMR1 Knockout Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome

Given to a student who crafts a 2-3 minute video reflecting on his/her time as a neuroscience major at UIC. This award honors the memory of Dr. David Featherstone, an out-of-the-box, highly creative and fun faculty member. The video needs to be creative, quirky and spirited! The student who makes the video judged to be the best will receive a $250 honorarium.

• 2026 Honoree: Zoey Aleksieva

Given to a student who is declared a neuroscience major with at least one year remaining in their studies at UIC and who plans to complete a novel, “out-of-the box” research project under the guidance of a UIC Neuroscience faculty member. Students must submit a no more than 5 minute video presentation about their proposed research. Two awardees will receive a $500 scholarship on Awards Day.

• 2026 Honoree: Ria Thomas
  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jan Kitajewski, Dr. Naiche Adler, Christie Kang
  Title of Research: Microglia Morphology in Alzheimer’s Disease with Endothelial Notch Inhibition, cellular neuroscience research

Given to a $1,000 scholarship for a continuing, full-time student majoring in Biological Sciences, Integrated Health Sciences, or Neuroscience at UIC who displays academic excellence and has a minimum GPA of 3.50.  Here is the application form.

• 2026 Honorees: Viviana Bahena & Gabriela de Salles Oliveira
  

The Richard J. Massey Endowed Scholarship Fund was established to acknowledge excellence in our undergraduate Biological Sciences, Neuroscience and Integrated Health Studies students who are pursuing their passion for the life sciences. Only continuing, full time students are eligible to apply for the award.

The winner will receive an award of $1,100 scholarship.

• 2026 Honoree: Manan Syal