Shruthi Venkatesh and her dissertation committee

UNCG Psychology doctoral student Shruthi Venkatesh has won the 2024 Outstanding Dissertation Prize for her research on “Cultural Influences on Food Acceptance and Rejection Across Development.” This prize of $1500 is awarded annually to the best UNCG dissertation (from any discipline anywhere in the university).

Shruthi is a soon-to-be Ph.D alumna from our developmental psychology graduate program who completed her degree under the direction of Dr. Jasmine DeJesus. A publication based on her dissertation just appeared in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, so if you would like to learn more about American children’s attitudes about what kinds of lunchbox items the “cool” kids might eat, can check out the paper.

Venkatesh, S., & DeJesus, J. M. (2024). Children’s evaluations of culturally diverse lunchbox foods. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 243, 105911. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105911