Dr. Eric Drollette, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Thomas Undergraduate Research Mentor Award in the tenure-track faculty category.
Drollette’s Exercise and Neurocognitive Health Laboratory uses neuroimaging to explore the relationship between physical activity behaviors and cognition and brain function in children and young adults.
Drollette has mentored 73 students in his lab in less than a decade. He has integrated undergraduate scholars into his research program every semester since he joined UNCG in 2017, with an average of 3 to 4 students completing projects in his lab each semester for independent research credit or as volunteers.
“I mentor a large number of undergraduate students because I believe research training should begin early, and undergraduates are capable of far more than they are often given the chance to do,” says Drollette.
“When students are invited into a lab environment with real expectations, real responsibility, and strong mentorship, they grow quickly as thinkers, professionals, and people. Mentoring undergraduates is not just about helping me move research forward; it is about creating opportunities for students to discover their potential, develop confidence, and see themselves as contributors to science.”
In Drollette’s lab, students take part in study design, data collection through devices such as the electroencephalogram and behavioral measures, data analysis, and more. Undergraduates are paired with graduate students in the lab to both enhance undergraduate training and give graduate students experience in mentorship.
One of Drollette’s former undergraduate students is a co-author of publications with him in the International Journal of Psychophysiology and the Psychology of Sport Exercise, and 16 have presented at international, national, or local conferences. Drollette is also proud to note that many of his undergraduate students have gone on to graduate school, with five choosing to attend a research graduate program at UNCG.
By Sangeetha Shivaji
Photography by Sean Norona
