Courtesy Skidmore College
Corinne Moss-Racusin, associate professor of psychology at Skidmore College, has been awarded the 2021 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology for her innovative research on gender-based discrimination.
Awarded to just a handful of researchers each year, the prize honors early-career scientists for exceptional work conducted in the first decade following completion of their doctorate.
Moss-Racusin leads the social cognition and intergroup dynamics lab at Skidmore.
She received the prize for her work in the area of social psychology.
“I’m honored to be recognized by the leading professional organization in my field,” Moss-Racusin said. “One of the major things I try to do in my work is to see how we can use the tools of science—the robustness of the scientific method and experimentation—to tackle really thorny social problems, including gender bias.”
Moss-Racusin completed her doctorate in social psychology at Rutgers University in 2011 and was a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University from 2011 to 2013. Since joining the Skidmore faculty in 2013, she has received grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Smithsonian Institution, among other organizations, for research focusing on the impact of gender bias in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
Her work has appeared in leading scientific journals, including Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
In addition to work with fellow faculty specializing in education, biology, organizational behavior and other branches of psychology, Moss-Racusin has collaborated extensively with undergraduate students to expand her earlier research. The research culminated in the article “Gender bias produces gender gaps in STEM engagement” published in the journal Sex Roles.
Her work is also regularly covered by the media, receiving coverage from the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corp., “ABC World News,” the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets.
The award will be announced in the scholarly organization’s publication APA Monitor in March. Moss-Racusin will also be recognized at an awards events tentatively scheduled to coincide with the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in August.
“Professor Moss-Racusin’s pathbreaking research and her strong commitment to the education of undergraduate students in the classroom and through collaborative research experiences exemplify the teacher-scholar model that is at the heart of Skidmore’s liberal arts mission,” said Michael T. Orr, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Skidmore College.