Kate Sweeny, professor and chair of psychological and brain sciences at UC Riverside, has received the 2026 Career Trajectory Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.
The international organization of more than 1,000 elected members is dedicated to advancing research on human social behavior. The award recognizes early- and mid-career researchers for creative and influential contributions to the field.
“Winning this award is truly the biggest honor of my career thus far,” said Sweeny, who is also the associate dean for graduate academic affairs. “Each year, I’ve seen the winner and thought, ‘What a rock star! That will never be me.’ To know that my colleagues and my field see my research accomplishments as in that league is incredibly humbling and makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
Sweeny accepted the award at the society’s annual conference, which ran Oct. 1-3 in Montreal.
In nominating Sweeny for the award, Jennifer Howell, associate professor of psychological sciences at UC Merced, described her as “the world’s foremost expert in the everyday experience of awaiting uncertain news.”
“Across her career, she has transformed this once-overlooked phenomenon into a vibrant area of inquiry,” Howell continued. “Kate’s work emphasizes the unique emotional and cognitive toll caused by waiting for everything from life-altering news (e.g., licensing exam results, cancer biopsy results) to everyday feedback (e.g., on intelligence, attractiveness). Her research identifies the individual and contextual factors that shape these experiences and uncovers the strategies people use — often imperfectly — to manage the worry and uncertainty they face.”
Sweeny earned a Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Florida. She runs the Life Events Lab at UCR.
(Photo: Stan Lim/UCR)