Queenisha CrichlowQueenisha Crichlow, a first-year graduate student in medical psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has received the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Crichlow, of Orlando, Florida, will use the fellowship to study the impact of racial discrimination on adolescent health and psychosocial adjustment. She will also examine protective factors that may reduce the negative effects of racial discrimination on adolescent health. Crichlow works under the mentorship of Professor Sylvie Mrug, Ph.D., chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology, whose research interest is the development of behavioral and emotional problems in adolescence.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. The program helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
Crichlow graduated from Florida Memorial University with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and a minor in criminal justice. Her ultimate career goal is to become a research professor with her own research lab; she hopes to study social-cultural risk and protective factors that reduce the likelihood of poor academic achievement, substance use and delinquency among African American youth.
“As a first-generation college and Ph.D. student, I faced many challenges and setbacks on my educational journey,” Crichlow said. “Eventually, I learned that it’s OK to try and fail, but it’s never OK to not try. With the support of my Blazer family and my loved ones, I know that there is no challenge too big for me to overcome. Ultimately, I hope that my journey will serve as an inspiration to other young black women who are interested in becoming researchers.”