Texas A&M University junior psychology major Sanaa Stough-Lacking '25 has been named a 2024 Goldwater Scholar by the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and research potential.
Stough-Lacking and Texas A&M junior entomology major Lisa Rollinson ’25 earned selection by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation for the nation’s most prestigious award presented to undergraduates who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. Each award provides up to $7,500 per year to help students cover costs associated with tuition, fees, books, and room and board.
Stough-Lacking and Rollinson are among 437 recipients — including 23 from universities in the state of Texas — selected this year from the thousands of applicants nominated by more than 400 academic institutions across the country. A total of 59 Texas A&M students have achieved the coveted honor since the program issued its first award in 1989. To date, the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation has bestowed more than 10,000 scholarships and in excess of $40 million in funding in support of generations of Goldwater Scholars.
A native of Long Beach, Mississippi, Stough-Lacking is pursuing a minor in neuroscience along with her major in psychology. For the past two years, she has conducted undergraduate research under the mentorship of Dr. Noni Gaylord-Harden in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, where her research has focused on the underlying mechanisms of executive functioning, or the processes our brains use to select behaviors, and the influence of race and life experiences on those functions.
For six months in the spring and summer of 2023, Stough-Lacking worked on a six-month project with Gaylord-Harden to better understand how trauma and race-based stress affect processes like decision-making and planning as an American Psychological Association SUPER Fellow. She also participated in a 2023 National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Summer Institute in Neuroscience at the University of California, Irvine, working in the laboratory of Dr. Aaron Bornstein to explore the development of more sensitive and targeted measures capable of identifying cognitive dysfunction earlier in disease progression.
This summer, Stough-Lacking is continuing her work with Gaylord Harden as part of the latter’s Youth Rising Lab while also serving as a research assistant in Texas A&M neuroscientist Dr. Brian Anderson’s Learning and Attention Lab within the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, where she has worked since last August.
Stough-Lacking is a member of the Psychology Club, the Black Student Alliance Council and Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. After graduating from Texas A&M next year, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and conduct research on neurological and psychological disorders using a biopsychosocial approach while also teaching at the university level.
Stough-Lacking and Rollinson were nominated for the Goldwater Scholarship along with two additional Texas A&M students — junior computer science and mathematics dual major David Chi ’25 and junior mathematics major Jenna Plute ’25 — by a faculty-staff committee organized by LAUNCH: National Fellowships at Texas A&M University.
The Goldwater Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.
To read more about how LAUNCH helps prepare outstanding students to compete for nationally competitive awards such as the Goldwater Scholarship with the generous support of The Association of Former Students, visit https://natlfellows.tamu.edu.