President’s Medal for Science and Innovation
President Joanne Berger-Sweeney created the President’s Medal for Science and Innovation to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions through STEM fields.
The award honors an individual who has gained prominence internationally in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics and who represents the liberal arts ideal of empowering humanity through the sciences.
The President’s Medal for Science and Innovation Advisory Committee, which includes prominent STEM faculty at Trinity College, leads the selection process, and ultimately recommends highly qualified candidates to the president. Recipients are not necessarily graduates of Trinity but have made lasting contributions to their field.
Presentation of the President’s Medal for Science and Innovation on October 30, 2024.
The event will honor Kaja LeWinn ’98, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. The medal will be presented at a ceremony in conjunction with the Presidential Distinguished Lecture, to be delivered by LeWinn on “Achieving equity in child mental health and neurodevelopment: integrating insights from epidemiology, neuroscience, and psychology.”
The lecture and presentation will be livestreamed at 4:30 p.m. ET
A Special Conversation with Kaja LeWinn ’98, Sc.D. on Thursday, October 31
This conversation between LeWinn and President Joanne Berger-Sweeney will be livestreamed at 12:15 p.m. ET.
Coffee & Conversation with Dr. Kaja LeWinn ’98
Join us for coffee and conversation at The Underground from 1:30–2:45 p.m.
Psi Chi/Nu Ro Psi Induction Ceremony on Thursday, October 31
This will be livestreamed at 4:15 p.m.
About Kaja LeWinn ’98
Kaja LeWinn is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College with a major in behavioral neuroscience and went on to earn a doctoral degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in Social Epidemiology. She was then selected for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars program. In her work, she integrates perspectives from epidemiology, psychology and neuroscience to identify the modifiable physical and social exposures that matter most for child neurodevelopment and mental health. Driven by a strong conviction that all children should have the opportunity to realize their full potential, much of her work focuses on underrepresented and understudied populations. She is a leader of several regional and national epidemiological studies, including the National Institutes of Health funded ECHO Consortium, which follows over 30,000 U.S. children and their families. She has authored over 130 peer reviewed publications, and her work has been featured in the Atlantic, NPR, Fortune, and other news outlets.
