Justin Parent, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Rhode Island, received a presidential award and high honor for his work in how stress and adversity impact childhood development.
The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers recognises outstanding scientists who show potential in their early careers, according to Parent. This honor is presented to only 100 scientists each year in the United States.
Parent received the PECAS award for his current research, which aims to study how a person’s environment changes the expression of their DNA.
Parent obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2011 and has received 9 awards since, including the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award in 2020 and the National Institute of Health Early Stage Investigator Award in 2018. Now, the accolades are from the White House.
“[I am] interested in how the positive and negative things in our environment can get under our skin and affect child development and lifelong changes,” Parent said.
His research explores these epigenetic changes, which refer to how a person’s behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way their genes work.
A person’s DNA is set at birth and can’t change, but environmental factors can change how DNA is expressed, according to Parent.
If a person experiences trauma or is maltreated, certain stress response genes could be turned on, Parent said. This is because the body needs to be able to respond to stress and threat quickly, which can cause a lot of wear and tear on the body.
Parent started teaching at URI in August 2023, but began his academic career at the University of Vermont, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Being a first-generation college student, he was eager to continue his education and immediately enrolled in UVM’s doctoral program. He studied clinical psychology and child development, and received his doctorate in 2017.
“I really like all of [my work] but the research is just always exciting to me and that’s what really drives me,” Parent said. “I get really interested in these ideas I come up with and want to do new studies.”
In the future, Parent hopes to explore whether there is an optimal time to do early intervention in children. Through his research, he wants to continue to view the family as a whole – instead of just the child or the parent.
“Childrens’ well being is interconnected with parents’ well being and their parenting and the whole family environment,” Parent said. “It’s an intergenerational approach, so instead of focusing on one, if we can help two generations, we can think of that spilling over into a third generation and beyond.”
When not in the classroom, Parent conducts research, consults for businesses and practices as a licensed psychologist.
In his free time, Parent enjoys spending time with his cats, Marmalade and Moo, and going for walks with his dog, Winnie. He also looks forward to kayaking in addition to recently becoming very invested in Rhode Island FC.