Rebecca Ames & Homa Pesarakli Named 2024 Joseph G. Sprague New Investigator Award Recipients

Rebecca Ames, M.S., and Homa Pesarakli, MArch, EDAC, have been selected as the 2024 Joseph G. Sprague New Investigator Award recipients. Both Ph.D. students, Ames attends Cornell University and Pesarakli attends Texas A&M University. The award is presented by The Center for Health Design. Both award recipients will receive $15,000 in funding to support their research.

Rebecca Ames

Ames’ study: “Healing by Design: Developing a Tool for Evaluating Intensive Mental and Behavioral Health Facilities for Adolescents” will use evidence-informed architectural theory to guide the design of intensive mental and behavioral health facilities for youth. She will develop and pilot test a questionnaire for evaluating these environments.

Homa Pesarakli

Pesarakli’s study, “Evaluate the Impact of Layout Design on Interruption Events During the Medication Process in the ICU,” aims to investigate the effect of intensive care unit layout features on the number and duration of interruptions during the medication process in the ICU.