Drexel’s Pennoni Honors College recently established the Teagle Civic Impact Award to honor student researchers for groundbreaking research that significantly contributes to the public good, and two College of Arts and Sciences students are the first recipients.

The award recognizes students who have participated in the STAR Scholars (Students Tackling Advanced Research) program, which is an opportunity for highly motivated first-year students to engage in an early faculty-mentored undergraduate research, scholarship or creative experience during the summer after their freshman year.

Selected from a pool of 20 applicants, psychology major Caitlin Betson and biological sciences major Chan Chung were selected for the award based on their impactful contributions to research.

Caitlin Betson

Betson was awarded for her innovative research combining literature review and clinical observation to examine reentry models for justice-involved individuals. With a minor in law, her work, focusing on recidivism through a forensic psychology lens, highlighted the importance of supportive therapeutic approaches in fostering better outcomes for both individuals and communities. 

“Throughout my time in the STAR program I analyzed reentry models for justice-involved individuals through a literature review and observation of the Drexel Reentry Project,” Betson explained. “Reentry Programming is essential to keep people not only out of justice-based punishments, but to enhance their social and community engagements. Yet, this sub-field has seen a sharp decline in interest from researchers. To promote the Drexel Reentry Project's message and my research, I presented my findings at the STAR Summer Showcase and will present to an even larger audience at the American Psychology-Law Society conference.” 

“For me, the Teagle Civic Impact Award reinforced the importance of the Drexel Reentry project and my research within the team,” she added. “Additionally, winning the award has allowed me to bring more awareness about my research. In reaffirming the importance of reentry research to myself and the fields of psychology and law, I am confident my project can better serve the justice-involved community.”

Chan Chung

Chung, who also minors in law, conducted research on the neurochemical changes in the brain due to alcohol addiction. His work is pivotal in reframing addiction from a moral failing to a neurological issue, with far-reaching implications for policy and public health approaches to addiction treatment. 

“My research explores the dark side of addiction hypothesis which states that people initially consume alcohol for positive effects, but over time, this shifts due to a dysregulation of stress systems in such a way that they continue drinking to stave off negative consequences of abstinence,” he explained. “PACAP, a stress-related neuropeptide, is believed to play an important regulatory role in addiction, and my STAR research shows that the PAC1 receptor expression not just increases but that different variants increase based on sex. This brings us closer to understanding alcohol addiction not as a moral failing but as a natural biological consequence and presents a potential therapeutic target for personalized care based on sex and drinking history.” 

“This award helps me realize that while the day-to-day pace of research is slow, the data produced can show interesting and sometimes unexpected results,” Chung said. “These results not only further our scientific knowledge of diseases but also have the potential to reframe how science influences social aspects of our lives. This is especially true in the field of neuroscience where new scientific discoveries make us question how much of our actions and reactions are under voluntary control. After receiving the Teagle Civic Impact Award, I continued to conduct research at the Barson Lab (which also received funding through the award) and am working on expanding upon the research I did through the STAR program to see if the correlation we found is actually causation.” 

The Teagle Civic Impact Award is made possible by a grant from the Teagle Foundation, which supports and strengthens liberal arts education. STAR Scholars is one of many opportunities at Drexel for students to participate in research early in their undergraduate careers. Learn more about undergraduate research in the College of Arts and Sciences.