The Jeffrey Ma Shiu & Emily Liu Endowed ASPIRE Award (Arts and Sciences Projects, Investigations, and Research Endeavors) is designed to promote exploration among exceptional undergraduate students in the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences who are determined to pursue original research in the brain sciences. 

The annual $4,000 award will be made available for students to conduct and present ground-breaking research that goes beyond their typical focus and to facilitate collaboration. The award was created to support innovation and exploration of developmental and behavioral psychology. 

Competitive applicants will be pursuing research in brain sciences and working in areas related to developmental and behavioral psychology in children.

As one of the undergraduate research awards administered by URSCA, you can apply for the Shiu and Liu Endowed ASPIRE Award along with the other awards offered to Krieger undergraduates annually.

How to Apply
Submit a pre-application by October 28, 2024 (optional but strongly recommended), and a final application by December 9, 2024. Click here for an overview of the application process.

About Jeff Shiu and Emily Liu

Jeff Shiu graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Jeff and Emily live and work in Seattle where Jeff is the Senior Managing Director and the global head of Innovative Equity Ventures at Macquarie Group. Jeff serves on the Krieger School’s Second Decade Society and the Center for Financial Economics Advisory Council.

Jeff and Emily were motivated to create this award to inspire students to take full advantage of a Johns Hopkins University undergraduate experience.  They are also deeply passionate about creating opportunity for students to pursue research, for research to impact society, and to strengthen the university community.

Current Shiu & Liu Awardees‘ Projects

The Impact of Functional and Social Motor Imitation on the Development of Social Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Karen Linares Mendoza ’26, Cognitive Science

Toward a Clinical Trial in Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome: Designing a Cognitive Outcome Measure
Rebecca Xu ’26, Molecular and Cellular Biology and Chemistry