Student Spotlight
2025 Suffolk Award for Outstanding Contributions in Developmental Science
Congratulations to Bryce Van Vleet on winning this year’s Mark T. Suffolk Award for Outstanding Contributions to Developmental Science. Bryce is deserving of this award because he excels as a researcher, teacher, and practitioner of developmental science. He is enthusiastic about his own continued learning, sharing knowledge with others, and improving lives through his work.
This award is named in honor of doctoral student Mark Suffolk who passed away in 2016 before he could complete his degree, and is given annually to the advanced DS student who exemplifies traits such as intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm, compassion, and dedication to the field, similar to and in honor of the award’s namesake Mark.
Bryce is in his final year of the developmental science doctoral program and is a resourceful investigator, dedicated teacher, and passionate advocate. Bryce exemplifies qualities that make for a successful developmental scientist such as leadership, curiosity, collaboration, motivation to contribute, perseverance, and compassion. His research focuses on understanding social development and resilience within diverse contexts, particularly rural contexts, across the lifespan. His dissertation fills an important gap of understanding the developmental processes, unique experiences, and resiliency of rural LGBTQ+ individuals. Bryce is a natural collaborator, empathetic mentor to others, and a leader amongst his peers - he is reliable, thoughtful, and always ‘shows up’. He excels in the classroom, finding creative ways to make challenging topics relatable and creating a class environment where all feel truly welcome and seen. Bryce’s excellent contributions to and leadership within our program, community, and field of Developmental Science demonstrate his dedication and passion for the field.
2025 Outstanding Undergraduate Students in HDFS
Congratulations to Busra Orhan and Joci Mills on winning this year’s award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student in HDFS.
Joci’s faculty nominator wrote that she consistently received feedback from Joci’s peers about how much they enjoyed getting to interact with and learn from Joci. In addition to her classes, Joci served as a research assistant, which involved conducting qualitative phone interviews, a task she performed with deep respect for diverse populations. Joci has also worked with people experiencing mental health crises, and she has shared how humbling and impactful it has been to get to interact with members of our community in these difficult moments of life.
Busra’s faculty nominator wrote that Busra has a strong understanding of HDFS-related content, a passionate commitment to supporting people’s well-being, and a dedication to studying and conducting research. Busra is one of our few students who elected to complete a senior thesis. In her research, she explored how political polarization is associated with marital dynamics. As an immigrant from Turkey, Busra also wrote a newsletter series entitled “Cultural Mosaic: The Middle Eastern Family’s Guide in America.”