2024

  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh received a Google Research Award for the project titled: AI Tropes and the Human Mind: A Neuroscience Perspective
  • Aditya Jayashankar was awarded the Elizabeth June Yerxa Award for academic excellence, outstanding scholarly research and dedication towards enrichment of the profession from the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Therapy.
  • Sofronia Ringold was awarded the Mark and Semira Moshayedi Innovation Award for innovative work that enables improvement in health and wellness through technological innovation from the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Therapy.
  • Liliana Adzich and Angel Nim were awarded the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

2023

  • Nandita Raman received the Margaret S. Rood award for Professional Promise from the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Therapy.

2022

  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh received a Google Research Award for the project titled: Language Signals for Belonging, Bridging, and Othering.
  • Riley McGuire received the Political action and Advocacy award from the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Therapy.

2021

  • Dr. Emily Kilroy was awarded a Nedra Gillette Endowed Research Fellowship to support her interdisciplinary research related to the neural correlates of sensory processing in autism spectrum disorder.
  • Aditya Jayashankar was awarded the Margaret Rood Dissertation Research Award by the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Therapy.

2019

  • Aditya Jayashankar was awarded Outstanding Poster Award Recipient at the University of Southern California Dentistry Research Day.

2018

  • Dr. Aziz-Zadeh and Dr. Emeran Mayer were awarded a Department of Defense grant (W81XWH-18-1-0538) “The Relationship Between Brain Functioning, Behavior, and Microbiota in Autism Spectrum Disorder.”
  • Dr. Aziz-Zadeh selected for Bnei Brit Women of Excellence Award
  • Christiana Butera was awarded Outstanding Poster Award Recipient at the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society Annual Conference.
  • Christiana Butera was awarded Outstanding Poster Award Recipient at the University of Southern California Dentistry Research Day.

2016

  • Dr. Laura Harrison was awarded a USC Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar Research Grant by the USC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.

2015

  • Dr. Aziz-Zadeh and Dr. Mirella Dapretto were awarded an R01 grant (1R01HD079432-01A1) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), titled “The neurobiological basis of heterogeneous social and motor deficits in ASD.”

2014

  • Emily Kilroy was selected to attend The Multimodal Neuroimaging Training Program (MNTP) at the University of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University and rewarded funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to attend.

2013

  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was rewarded PopTech Science Fellows Award

2012

  • Principal Investigator Dr. Naranayan was rewarded the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) “MetaNet: A multilingual metaphor extraction, representation, and validation system.”
  • Panthea Heydari was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship.

2011 

  • Principal Investigator Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the National Institute of Health R03 Grant, entitled “The Mirror Neuron System and Action Observation After Stroke Affecting Cortical Motor Regions.”
  • Principal Investigator Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the Human Dynamics Foundation grant “Relationship Between Activity in Specific Brain Regions and Individual Differences in Personality”
  • Katie Garrison was awarded the University of Florida Neuromuscular Plasticity Scholarship.
  • Undergraduate researcher Katherine Fu was awarded the Rose Hills Fellowship for her summer research with graduate student Tong Sheng.
  • Undergraduate researcher Benjamin Heikali received the SURF scholarship (Summer Undergraduate Research Fund) for his work with graduate student Mona Sobhani.
  • Mona Sobhani was awarded the Teaching Fellow Award from USC’s CET (Center for Excellence in Teaching).
  • Sook-Lei Liew was selected to attend the UCLA Advanced Neuroimaging Training Program (NITP) and awarded a fellowship to attend the FENS-IBRO Imaging Training Center in Lausanne/Geneva, Switzerland.

2010

  • Principal Investigator Dr. Aziz-Zadeh was rewarded The American Heart Association grant “The Mirror Neuron System: A Neural Substrate for Methods in Stroke Rehabilitation”
  • Undergraduate researcher Katherine Fu was awarded the USC SOAR grant for her research in the A-Z Lab.
  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, Dr. Carolee Winstein, and Katie Garrison were awarded the American Heart Association National Scientist Development Grant.
  • Katie Garrison was awarded the NIH T32 Predoctoral Fellowship in the IPI Lab.
  • Undegraduate researchers Ashnoo Nanavati and Alicia Johnson received the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship for Fall 2010.
  • Undergraduate researchers Mark Lay and Daniel Epstein received the Rose Hills Undergraduate Summer Fellowship for Summer 2010.
  • Sook-Lei Liew was awarded a fellowship to attend the Riken Brain Science Institute Summer Program in Tokyo, Japan for Summer 2010.

2009

  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the National Institute of Health, NICHD R03 Grant, entitled “The Neural Basis of Prosody Production and Perception.”
  • Principal Investigator Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Mona Sobhani was awarded the University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2008-2009.
  • The A-Z Lab received the USC Undergraduate Research Associates Program Award.
  • Sook-Lei Liew was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship.
  • Graduate student Tong Sheng and postdoc Sam Tilsen were awarded the USC Hearing and Communication Neurosciences Graduate Fellowship.
  • Kathleen Garrison was awarded the USC Neuroscience Graduate Program Merit Fellowship.
  • Undergraduate Alicia Johnson was awarded USC Summer Undergraduate Research Funds.
  • Undergraduate Francesco Dandekar was awarded the USC McNair Scholarship.
  • Undergraduate Francesco Dandekar was awarded the Rose Hills Foundation Science and Engineering Fellowship.
  • Sook-Lei Liew was awarded 2nd place in the OS&OT Division for her poster at the USC School of Dentistry Research Day.
  • Undergraduate Erin O’Donnel was awarded the USC Discovery Scholarship.
  • Undergraduate Alicia Johnson was awarded the USC Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
  • Undergraduate Ashnoo Nanavati was awarded the Brian Philips Rakusin Neuroscience Scholarship.
  • Undergraduate Ashnoo Nanavati was awarded the USC Alumni Scholarship.

2008

  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was the Invited Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin / Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin
  • Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the Shamsi Hekmat Award
  • Sook-Lei Liew was awarded the National Science Foundation’s East Asia and Pacific Institute Research Fellowship.
  • Julie Werner and Sook-Lei Liew were awarded 1st place in the OS&OT Division for their poster at the USC School of Dentistry Research Day.
  • Sook-Lei Liew and Tong Sheng were awarded the USC Graduate Professionalism Initiative.
  • Graduate student Sook-Lei Liew was awarded the USC Provost’s PhD Fellowship.
  • Alicia Johnson, a sophomore in Neuroscience, was awarded the USC Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship for summer and fall research.
  • Sarthi Shah, a senior in Neuroscience, was awarded the Rose Hills Foundation Science and Engineering Fellowship from the University of Southern California.
  • Erin ODonnell, an undergraduate in Neuroscience, was 1 of 20 undergraduate students at USC receiving the McNair Scholarship to continue research over the coming summer months.
  • Betsy Diaz, a high school senior in the STAR (Science Technology and Research) program under the mentorship of graduate student Tong Sheng, received 1st place at the Bravo Medical Magnet School Science Fair and will be competing in the District Science Fair.
  • The A-Z lab was awarded funding through the USC Graduate Professionalism Initiative to hire undergraduate students in order to promote interdisciplinary collaborations between and to encourage undergraduates to become involved in research.

2007

  • Principal Investigator Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh was awarded the prestigious James H. Zumberge Research and Innovation Award from the University of Southern California.

Learn more about the lab