Congratulations to our recent graduate, Dr. Lior Abramson, on winning the 2023 SRCD Outstanding Dissertation Award.

8 December, 2023
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Lior has been chosen to receive the prestigious biennial award of the Society for Research in Child Development for her contribution to a comprehensive understanding of empathy as part of developing personality.

Lior received her Ph.D. in psychology and cognitive science under the auspices of the Federmann Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was advised by Center member Prof. Ariel Knafo-Noam. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Developmental Affective Neuroscience Lab at Columbia University.

Lior’s research uses behavioral, neuroscientific, and machine-learning methods to study individual differences in empathy from infancy to adulthood. Her research aims to show how temperamental, genetic, and environmental factors contribute to an individual’s ability to cognitively understand and emotionally share other persons’ emotions.

Looking back on her time at the Federmann Center for Rationality, Lior recalls gaining knowledge, new theoretical perspectives, and, most importantly, friends. For her, the Center was a place where she could interact with interesting people with genuine scientific curiosity from many different disciplines who didn’t necessarily think and do research like her. These interactions not only enriched her own research but also enabled her to discover new realms of research and areas of interest.

Congratulations, Lior!