The Arnold Gerall Prize in Neuroscience is presented to Tulane College or Newcomb College seniors for excellence in psychology and neuroscience. Recent recipients were Jessica Wiegand (2000), Elizabeth Rarick (2001), Christopher May (2002), Lacey Sahuque (2003), Clayton Smith (2004), Ellen Hosemann (2005), Vishnu Cuddapah and Carolyn Pauker (2006), and Steven Bright (2007).
Professor Gerall earned the Ph.D. in 1951 from Iowa State University, and joined the Tulane faculty in 1961. His primary research focus in physiological psychology spanned over half a century, and was seminal particularly in the areas of sexual differentiation and reproduction. Professor Gerall is the 2008 recipient of the Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.
Concurrent with a Festschrift in 1991 to celebrate his contributions to the field of physiological psychology, Professor Gerall’s friends, colleagues, and former students established a research prize in his name. The recipient is selected after careful consideration of curricular and research activities, and requires a vote of the full faculty of the Department of Psychology. Each student receives a plaque engraved with his or her name, the date, and the name of the prize; since 2005, the plaque also carried the shield of Tulane University.
The 2005 recipient, Ellen Hosemann, conducted her honors thesis research under the direction of Dr. Paul Colombo, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program. Ms. Hosemann’s thesis was entitled Learning enhanced expression of PCREB and C-FOS in the posterior parietal cortex, and carries on the strong tradition of neuroscience research that Professor Gerall fostered at Tulane.
Two exceptional individuals, both neuroscience majors, received the award in 2006. Carrie Pauker conducted her honor's thesis under the direction of Dr. Ed Golob, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program. Ms. Pauker’s thesis was entitled Implicit learning and the auditory cortex. Her corecipient, Vishnu Cuddupah, conducted his honor's thesis under the direction of Dr. Dave Corey, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program. His thesis was entitled Sex differences in the disfluency-inducting effects of delayed auditory feedback.
The 2007 recipient, Steven Bright, conducted his honor's thesis under the direction of Dr. Ed Golob. Mr. Bright's thesis was entitled Preclinical Alzheimer's disease in young adults: A combined genetic and neurophysiological analysis. His project exemplifies the strong tradition of neuroscience research that Professor Gerall fostered at Tulane.
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