KU Researchers Receive 2026 Hawks for Hope Awards for Addiction Studies

KU graduate student Anne Cao and undergraduate student Kendall Dickerson are this year’s recipients of the Hawks for Hope Research Awards at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment.  

The Hawks for Hope awards were established in memory of Patrick Guthrie by members of the Guthrie family. These awards provide support for research on substance use. 

Cao will use the $4,000 graduate award for dissertation research. She is using a behavioral economic framework to understand how different intensities of exercise and environmental cues interact to shift alcohol valuation. Her mentor is Jonathan Pinkston. 

Dickerson's $2,000 award will support a project investigating the long-term cognitive and behavioral effects associated with surviving fentanyl overdose. Her mentor is Zijun Wang.