KINGSTON, R.I. — Jan. 17, 2025 — University of Rhode Island psychology Assistant Professor Justin Parent has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the White House announced this week, placing him among just 400 researchers nationwide to earn the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers.

Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for the future.

Parent, whose research program focuses on child development, family stress and epigenetics, was nominated by the National Institutes of Health, one of 14 federal agencies included in the award, which recognizes “the important role that science and technology plays in creating a better society,” President Joe Biden said in a release.

“I am thrilled with the announcement that Dr. Justin Parent has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers,” said Patrick Vivier, dean of the URI College of Health Sciences. “Dr. Parent’s cutting-edge research addressing mental health needs of children is highly deserving of this honor. He is an outstanding member of the faculty of the College of Health Sciences, and I am pleased that his work is being recognized with this national honor.”

As a professor and director of the Kids Development and Stress (KiDS) Lab at URI, Parent explores how families influence child adaptive and maladaptive development with the goal of optimizing intervention and prevention outcomes. “We are particularly interested in understanding how enhancing family well-being alters stress-related physiological systems among at-risk youth, and potentially ameliorates the biological embedding of stress and adversity,” Parent’s website reads. “The goal of this research is to develop biological-informed, personalized approaches for risk identification and prevention or intervention.”

Parent’s research has been funded by such organizations as the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The PECASE is just the latest early-career award Parent has received. He has also been honored with the NIH Early Stage Investigator Award, and the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star award.

One of his more recent studies focused on epigenetic aging among children, who tend to undergo faster biological aging if they experience adversity in their early years. Parent’s study has found that enhancing positive parenting through a family-centered program resulted in lower levels of accelerated biological aging and lower levels of epigenetic aging for children who had experienced high levels of adversity. The findings suggest that positive parenting programs can help children exposed to hardships turn back the clock and build biologically based resilience. 

Parent’s lab is also researching children with developmental delays, who are at a heightened risk of experiencing mental health challenges, a risk exacerbated among racially minoritized children who face disproportionate adversity. Parent is working to understand the impact of parenting interventions on biological markers associated with these risks, which is crucial for mitigating long-term health disparities.