The International Association for Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) has selected Dr. Vessel as the 2026 recipient of the Margaret Floy Washburn Award for outstanding contributions to empirical aesthetics research by a mid-career scientist. Ed will give an award address at this year’s IAEA Congress in Jena, Germany.
Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in American psychology in 1894, and the second woman to serve as APA’s (American Psychological Association) President. Her main research interests involved animal behavior, sensation and perception. Her contributions to empirical aesthetics included studies of individual differences in the strength of aesthetic pleasure, a test of aesthetic judgment, and research on factors that influence the pleasingness of colors.
