2026 Irene E. Harms Graduate Scholarship Award Recipient Announced

We are pleased to announce the 2026 Irene E. Harms Graduate Scholarship Award recipient: Beck Scheinberg, a Child Clinical Psychology graduate student.

Beck’s research focuses on understanding the psychological experiences and support needs of marginalized individuals and communities, specifically the trans community. His primary mentor is Martha E. Wadsworth, Ph.D. Beck attended Duke University and graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and a minor in Psychology. At Penn State, Beck has gained extensive research experience through his work in the Coping and Regulation of Environmental Stressors (CaRES) lab as well as through outreach work with Schlow Centre Region Library. His master’s thesis sought to predict response to community intervention with the goal of improving intervention access and outcomes for low-income couples with a child. As a recipient of the Irene E. Harms Award, Beck will be able to embark on the first of three projects investigating the nuances of trans adolescent risk-taking, which will lead to and support his dissertation work. His long-term goal is to achieve a research-intensive, academic career conducting strength-based, community participatory research that informs effective interventions for marginalized youth.

The Irene E. Harms Award recognizes outstanding graduate students who strive for academic excellence in one of three areas of child psychology: research supporting evidence-based practices; community-engaged research; and community outreach.  Research supporting evidence-based practices involves efforts to use basic scientific knowledge to inform the design or evaluation of practices, programs, or policies. Policy evaluation and other policy work is included. Applicants conducting community-engaged research are working in community settings or with community partners; outreach to communities can include clinical and/or educational projects. Child Clinical and Developmental graduate students in the Department of Psychology can apply for the award, which provides $5,000 to be used for a variety of research-related activities and costs for translational and/or community-engaged research, and/or for community outreach.

Please join us in congratulating Beck!