Psychology Student Samuel Acuff Wins National Fellowship for Addiction Research
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has awarded Clinical Psychology
doctoral student Samuel Acuff an NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship award. The grant will
provide Acuff with $70,000 over two years to support his research titled Integration of Electrophysiological and Behavioral Economic Models of Reward Among
Heavy Drinking Emerging Adults. This is the fourth NIAAA F31 grant awarded to U of M Clinical Psychology students
over the past four years. Dr. James Murphy is the sponsor of this project and his
other mentors will be Drs. Frank Andrasik, and Kris Berlin from Psychology, Dr. James
MacKillop from McMaster University, and Dr. Bruce Bartholow from the University of
Missouri. When asked how the fellowship will impact his future, Acuff said, “The NRSA
fellowship will give me dedicated time to pursue research on alcohol misuse, in addition
to opportunities to network with prominent scientists who will help provide training
in unique domains, such as electroencephalography. The fellowship also represents
an achievement that will bolster my chance of success when applying for internships
and when on the academic job market.”