Ph.D. student Olivia Diggs receives $10,000 Brown Graduate Fellowship

March 2, 2021

Olivia Diggs, a Ph.D. student in human development and family studies, will receive a $10,000 Brown Graduate Fellowship to support strategic Iowa State University research over the coming year. Diggs studies substance use, adolescence, emerging adulthood, parenting, family dynamics, and economic diversity.

The fellowship funds will support Diggs as she examines data and disseminates findings collected from the Family Transitions Project, a 31-year ongoing longitudinal study of 559 rural Iowa focal youth and their families under the direction of Tricia Neppl, an associate professor in human development and family studies.

Diggs’ dissertation focuses on trajectories of Generation 1 and Generation 2 alcohol use across time and how different patterns of drinking during emerging adulthood impact health outcomes later in the adulthood years.

“Olivia’s passion and drive for advancing research at Iowa State regarding the impact of substance use on health, along with her academic achievement, research interests, skills, and experience have positioned her well to be awarded this fellowship,” said Kere Hughes-Belding, a professor in human development and family studies who nominated Diggs for the fellowship.

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