The Humboldt Research Award is a highly prestigious international accolade, recognizing top scholars globally for groundbreaking work with lasting impact. It honors established researchers expected to continue shaping their fields and placing recipients among an elite network of scientists including numerous Nobel laureates.
David Trafimow, a Distinguished Achievement professor of psychology at New Mexico State University, is among those selected to receive the 2026 Humboldt Research Award. These awards, bestowed by the German government, offer collaborations with the top researchers around the world. Only 100 Humboldt’s are granted worldwide each year across all disciplines.
“These are all the top people in their fields, and each field has different ways of thinking than other fields,” Trafimow said. “That’s a huge point of education in the first place is learning how to think in different ways. Finding out how these different people think is going to be amazing.”
The award includes 80,000 euros (approximately $94,000). Trafimow is invited to spend six to 12 months in Germany conducting research on a project of his choosing and to collaborate on long-term research projects, positioning the award as a critical bridge for international scientific cooperation.
“With an academic career at NMSU of more than three decades, we are privileged to have Dr. Trafimow among our psychology faculty,” said Enrico Pontelli, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The Humboldt Research Award is one more recognition of his international contributions to social cognition and psychological methodology. He has made a lasting impact not only in psychology research but also on the research reputation and profile of NMSU."
Trafimow’s first meeting with the other 2026 award winners will be in Bamburg, Germany for a Humboldt Symposium March 19-22. The next meeting will be in June in Berlin, hosted by the president of Germany.
A fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, Trafimow has authored more than 245 publications. He serves as an executive editor for both the Journal of General Psychology and Basic and Applied Social Psychology. Trafimow is also recognized among the top 2 percent of scientists worldwide named to the list compiled by Stanford University and publishing company Elsevier. The database ranks the most cited authors across all scientific disciplines.
Trafimow has received multiple recognitions for his contributions to psychology, particularly for his work in methodological rigor and theoretical advancements. His efforts in challenging conventional statistical practices and proposing alternative inferential methods have earned him respect in the academic community.
With multifaceted perspective on cognitive and behavioral psychology, Trafimow’s research also focuses on how the beliefs and opinions people hold about themselves are structured and how they influence their actions, decisions and habits.
“I was thrilled to hear that Professor David Trafimow received the prestigious Humboldt Research Award. The Humboldt is one of the top international honors in all of psychology,” said Andrew Conway, NMSU psychology professor and department head. “This is an incredible honor for Professor Trafimow, and well deserved. His work is truly fundamental to all areas of psychology. In the wake of the “replication crisis,” Professor Trafimow became a vocal critic of traditional methodological and statistical approaches to research in psychology. His work offers new alternative approaches to improve the quality of research in our field, from theory building, to measurement, and inferential statistics. The Humboldt Research Award is a very fitting recognition of this extremely important and influential program of research.”
Trafimow and his wife will travel to Germany for several months for a research-focused stay based in Heidelburg.
Subsequent to his Humboldt year, Trafimow will join an extensive alumni network of more than 30,000 elite scientists, including more than 60 Nobel laureates. Receiving a Humboldt signifies being a world-leading scientist whose work has already made a significant mark and is poised to continue driving scientific advancement globally, making it a major career milestone.
Now that he is part of the Humboldt family, Trafimow will be invited back to Germany for other events in the future.
For Trafimow, meeting with scientists from around the world to engage in innovative new research is the most exciting part of the experience.
“I think it’ll aid my research, because I’ll have a chance to meet a lot of brilliant people,” Trafimow said. “I’m hoping that really creative ideas will come out of these discussions.”
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CUTLINE: David Trafimow, a Distinguished Achievement Professor of psychology at New Mexico State University, is among those selected to receive the prestigious 2026 Humboldt Research Award. The award comes with 80,000 euros and a year-long invitation to conduct research with top scientists in Germany. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)