Psychology’s Ted Schwaba Awarded Early Career Trajectory Award

September 19, 2025 - Shelly DeJong

Congratulations to Dr. Ted Schwaba, an assistant professor of social/personality psychology in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University for receiving the SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). 

The SPSP is the world’s largest organization of personality and social psychologists with more than 7500 members. They strive to advance the science, teaching, and application of personality and social psychology.  

This award recognizes the outstanding achievements by early career scholars in social and personality psychology, including contributions to teaching, research, or service to the field. This award is given in collaboration with SAGE Publications. 

“I’m very grateful to have been given this award, and I’d like to thank all my academic friends and collaborators with whom I’ve worked on research over the years – I haven’t published a single study alone, so this award is as much theirs as mine,” said Dr. Schwaba. 

Dr. Schwaba specializes in personality genomics, lifespan personality development, and life experiences and personality development. By applying modern statistical tools to large datasets, Dr. Schwaba examines how life events, genetic differences, and daily experiences make us who we are.   Dr. Schwaba is also the lead analyst for the Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium, a collaborative effort to link genetic variants to personality differences.  

“Ted is doing some really exciting work at the cutting edge of psychology and genetics,” said Zachary Neal, professor and chairperson for social/personality in the Department of Psychology. “This honor is well-deserved, and the social-personality program is lucky to have such a great colleague.” 

Schwaba will receive this award formally during the SPSP Annual Convention in February 2026.