Henry Cowan, assistant professor of clinical science in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University, received a 2024 Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and was chosen to be the Frederick & Alice Coles and Thomas & Nancy Coles Investigator through their Research Partners Program. This program offers donors the opportunity to personally select and support scientists based on various criteria, including illness specialty areas or specific institutions.  

“As Michiganders, we want to support research being done in Michigan,” said donor Thomas Coles. “Research will hopefully help those ill, those who will become ill, and their families.” Coles describes the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation as one of his most important charities as 100% of donations for research go directly to research. He also appreciates that it has a prestigious Scientific Council that selects research by young investigators to be funded, he added.  

This award will fund Dr. Cowan’s research study examining the sense of personal agency in people with schizophrenia — or in other words, do they feel that they are in control of their actions and the outcomes of those actions? 

Cowan will be recruiting people from the mid-Michigan area, including Lansing and Grand Rapids, building connections with the community.