The College of Communication Arts and Sciences has named this year’s 2026-27 Brandt Excellence Fellows, recognizing faculty members whose research projects demonstrate strong potential to advance communication science and create meaningful societal impact.
Amanda Holmstrom, professor in the Department of Communication, and Maryam Naghibolhosseini, associate professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, were selected through a competitive, multi-stage review process for the three-year fellowship supporting innovative research initiatives, and will each receive $25,000.
The Brandt Excellence Fellows program supports groundbreaking research that addresses pressing societal challenges, strengthens community impact and advances Michigan State University’s leadership in communication arts and sciences.
This year’s competition drew 10 proposals from faculty across the college. Applications were reviewed by department chairs and school directors before finalists advanced to evaluation by a committee of current and former Brandt Professors. Reviewers assessed proposals based on scientific merit, transformative impact, feasibility, strategic alignment and long-term sustainability.
Holmstrom’s project, “Addressing Loneliness in an Emerging Adult Population,” focuses on better understanding loneliness among emerging adults ages 18-24 who are not enrolled in college or university — a population reviewers described as understudied and often overlooked in loneliness research.
“My colleagues and I founded the American Friendship Project in 2022 to address a lack of high-quality data on friendship and other forms of social connection,” Holmstrom said. “While traditional efforts to address loneliness focus primarily on older adults, our research highlights an underserved, high-risk group: 18-to-24-year-olds who have not attended college. I am thrilled to receive the Brandt Excellence Fellowship, which will fund the development of a targeted social connection intervention tailored specifically for these young adults.”
Holmstrom said the project aims to develop scalable tools to address loneliness among vulnerable young adults in Michigan and beyond.
Naghibolhosseini’s project, “Voice as a Non-invasive Biomarker for Laryngeal Cancer Detection and Monitoring,” was recognized for its innovative approach to cancer detection through voice analysis. Reviewers praised the project’s use of voice as a scalable, low-cost biomarker for laryngeal cancer and highlighted Naghibolhosseini’s partnership with Henry Ford Health as a key strength that will support clinical data collection and real-world application opportunities for the research.
“My research focuses on voice disorders and the use of voice as a biomarker of health,” Naghibolhosseini said. “This fellowship will help expand my work into laryngeal cancer by exploring how AI, computational modeling and advanced image analysis can identify hidden patterns in voice that may support earlier, non-invasive detection of the disease in the future.”
Naghibolhosseini said the research comes at a critical time as early detection of laryngeal cancer remains difficult, while advances in artificial intelligence continue creating new opportunities for more accessible and accurate diagnostic tools.
For the duration of the award period (2026-2029), Holmstrom and Naghibolhosseini will hold the title of Brandt Excellence Fellow and will share outcomes of their research with the ComArtSci community through a culminating presentation at the end of the grant period.
By Claire Dippel