Faculty Awards: Outstanding Mentorship of Student Research and/or Creative Work

Terry Davidson
CAS, Neuroscience

Terry L. Davidson is the Trone Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Neuroscience and Behavior, Distinguished Professor and inaugural Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and is founding Director of American University’s Center for Neuroscience and Behavior. He earned his Ph.D. with a specialization in Learning and Memory at Purdue University and completed post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Neurological Science. After serving on the faculty of the Virginia Military Institute, Dr. Davidson returned to Purdue University where he rose to the rank of Full Professor before joining the faculty at American University in 2012. Dr. Davidson, his students, and his colleagues conduct research aimed at increasing understanding of (a) the role of learning and memory processes in control of food and drug intake; (b) the brain structures and circuits that underlie those processes; (3) the common mechanisms that enable diets high in fat and sugar and drug of abuse to disrupt the functioning of those structures and circuits), and (4) therapeutic interventions that may prevent or ameliorate these disruptions.   Dr. Davidson has served on numerous national and international science advisory groups, is past president of the Eastern Psychological Association and has been a long-term recipient of funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health.

Amaarah DeCuir
SOE

Amaarah DeCuir, EdD, educator, researcher, and Senior Inclusive Pedagogy fellow, is a Senior Professorial Lecturer at American University in the School of Education and an Executive Board member at the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World at Shenandoah University. She is deeply engaged in campus service that centers support for AU undergraduates. Dr. DeCuir is a faculty advisor for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Muslim Students Association, Students for the Advancement of Antiracist and Antibias Education, and Students for Social Justice. Her work with CTRL this semester has prioritized amplifying student voices on issues relevant to antiracist pedagogy in higher education. Dr. DeCuir’s scholarship spans the areas of antiracist pedagogy, Muslim student experiences, Prophetic pedagogy, faith erasure, equity, antiracism and social justice, education leadership, teacher education, and faculty development. Dr. DeCuir has published articles and chapters in peer-reviewed journals and books and her public scholarship appears in news and media outlets, including the Washington Post and The Conversation. A highly regarded educator and facilitator, Dr. DeCuir teaches Education Studies and Social Justice, Education Leadership, and teaches two Antiracist Research Methods course she co-designed. She brings over 20 years of teaching and leadership experiences from public and private K-12 schools to inform her current work in higher education.

Diane Singerman
SPA, Government

Diane Singerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government, School of Public Affairs at American University. Her publications include Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo and Cairo Contested: Governance, Urban Space, and Global Modernity, (ed.), Cairo Cosmopolitan: Politics, Culture, and Urban Space in the New Globalized Middle East (co-edited. with Paul Amar), Development, Change, and Gender in Cairo: A View from the Household (co-edited with Homa Hoodfar). She is currently Co-Director of TADAMUN: The Cairo Urban Solidarity Initiative, which focuses on urban issues, local governance, the built environment, and social justice in Egypt and the Middle East. TADAMUN has been supported by grants from the Ford Foundation and Oxfam/Novib. Her research interests lie within comparative politics, gender and politics in Egypt and the Middle East, informal politics, urbanism, youth, globalization, and social movements. She also directed the Andrew Carnegie Centennial Fellowships in Support of Scholars in the Social Sciences from the Arab World at American University and is a founding member of Islamic and Middle East Studies@AU. She received her B.A., M.A., and PhD from Princeton University and did graduate work at the American University in Cairo.