In late February, Debbie Yee, Amber Hampton and Catherine Mata Hidalgo received Postdoctoral Excellence Awards from the Office of University Postdoctoral Affairs.
Granted to three recipients every year, the award recognizes members of the postdoctoral community who demonstrate excellence in their scholarship and “go above and beyond to create an inclusive environment for postdoctoral trainees at Brown,” according to the OUPA website.
This year, a committee of faculty members selected the awardees from a pool of 68 nominations submitted by members of the Brown community. On March 27, Vice President for Research Greg Hirth ScM’87 PhD’91 will present the researchers with a monetary award and a plaque during the 2025 Brown Postdoctoral Research Symposium.
Debbie Yee: Championing community-building within brain science
Yee is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences and a member of the Carney Institute for Brain Science.
Yee, a cognitive neuroscientist, seeks to merge psychology and neuroscience to better understand psychological phenomena such as motivation and decision-making. “My science is interdisciplinary,” she said in an interview with The Herald.
Since arriving at Brown in 2019, Yee has focused on understanding motivational processing. Her research interests include the implications of rewards and punishments on behavior as well as the connection between motivation and disorders such as depression.
“I think that motivation is a very complex and intriguing topic,” she said. “We are all motivated by different things — you may find something very valuable that I don’t.”
Beyond her research, Yee is committed to amplifying the voices of the postdoctoral community at Brown. “I think knowledge is power,” she said. “I try to create programming and opportunities (so) that others can learn more about different ways to navigate the science career.”
In 2022, Yee co-organized the Growing Up in Aging Neuroscience Symposium. The event aimed to connect junior postdoctoral researchers considering careers in neuroscience with more experienced researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease and aging. She emphasized that one of the event’s goals was to foster the “development of future scientists.”
This fall, Yee also helped plan the Carney Institute’s first postdoctoral retreat, a two-day event that brought together 20 postdoctoral researchers spanning four academic departments, according to the institute’s website.
Yee said that she felt “very honored” and “thrilled” to receive the award. “I appreciate that Brown likes to celebrate work towards community building,” she added.
Yee emphasized the importance of aligning “passion and purpose” when taking steps toward a goal. She looks forward to a career where she can conduct innovative science, whether that’s in an academic or industry setting.
“I’m really excited for the development of technology,” she said. “I’m curious where that will lead.”
Amber Hampton: Exploring new ways to understand perinatal health
As a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Epidemiology, Hampton investigates the impact of prenatal environmental exposures on perinatal, pediatric and maternal health at Brown’s School of Public Health.
Some of Hampton’s previous work has focused on the impact of “forever chemicals” on the health of mothers and their newborn children. These chemicals, which do not break down naturally, are found in several household products, including nonstick cookware, grease-resistant food packaging and waterproof clothing.
In 2024, Hampton authored a study that found a link between mothers’ use of nail products, hair dyes and makeup and the presence of “forever chemicals” within their blood and breast milk.
Hampton has gained international recognition, with media outlets such as the Guardian, the Hill and US News & World Report covering her work. In 2025, she will appear on the podcast “Humans in Public Health.” One of her interviews will be aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, according to a University press release.
Catherine Mata Hidalgo: Merging artificial intelligence and education policy to expand student opportunities
Hidalgo studies education policy as a postdoctoral research associate at Brown’s Annenberg Institute. Since arriving at Brown in the summer of 2022, she has worked on projects dedicated to improving accessibility within higher education.
Hidalgo, who grew up in a working-class family from a small town in Costa Rica, “saw firsthand how education could serve as a tool for upward mobility,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
At Brown, Hidalgo leverages tools like artificial intelligence to provide more personalized support to students and grant faculty more time for responsibilities that require human insight and engagement. She added that her research seeks to inform policies impacting education and job accessibility to “create more equitable opportunities for all.”
Hidalgo has also taken her research abroad. At the University of Costa Rica, she investigated the effects of public policies on poverty alleviation. More recently, she collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank to create a training program for young adults in Nicaragua.
The program sought to develop participants’ technological skills and socioemotional competency, according to Hidalgo. She added that the goal of the training was to prepare youth for “a rapidly changing labor market that has left many unemployed in developing countries.”
Hidalgo wrote that the Postdoctoral Excellence Award is “motivation” to continue persisting. “I hope this award draws more attention to the need for policies that genuinely support all students,” she added.
This summer, Hidalgo will transition to the role of senior research associate at the Annenberg Institute. She looks forward to examining exclusionary discipline policies in pre K-12 institutions, exploring “their connection to the school-to-prison pipeline.”
“If my research contributes to improving policies that expand access to better opportunities and improve lives, I’ll consider it a success,” Hidalgo wrote.
