Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards (OMSFA)

Elias is a junior in the Psychology Honors program at UW. Their interest in psychology first started in elementary school when they learned about Pavlov’s classical conditioning studies. Their love for the field has only continued to grow since learning about the broad applications of psychology and the diversity of therapeutic approaches available for treating psychological disorders.

Elias joined Dr. Margaret Sibley’s research lab at Seattle Children's in 2023 where they work on several projects studying psychotherapy treatment for teens with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For their honors thesis, they helped to create the US National Survey on ADHD Coaching, the first attempt to collect detailed information about the rising field of ADHD coaching. They will use the results of this survey to examine systematic differences between ADHD coaches who started their practices before versus following the COVID-19 pandemic in order to understand how the ADHD coaching field has evolved.

Elias is incredibly grateful for the guidance and support of their mentor, and for the funding provided by the Mary Gates Research Scholarship and Thomas Sedlock Icon Scholarship. These scholarships will allow them to commit more time to their project and allow them to share their research findings at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium and the 2025 American Psychological Association convention. This extra time will give them the opportunity to work on submitting their research for publication, help them prepare for graduate school and move them closer to their goal of becoming a clinical psychologist who mixes research with practice.

Outside of academics, Elias is the Assistant Resident Director of Lander Hall as part of UW residential life, where they support residents in leadership and community development. Elias is also a violinist in one of UW’s philharmonic orchestras and enjoys doing puzzles, reading, and cross-stitching in their free time.