D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award

The D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award is Utah State’s most prestigious career research recognition for senior faculty, and it includes a $7,500 honorarium. The basis of selection for the award is the significance and quality of research or creative achievement, as distinct from service or teaching. Recognition of one’s work by experts of national and international standing is a key indicator of its importance; hence, evaluations from outside the university will be sought for each full professor nominee.

2025 Winner

Michael Twohig

Michael Twohig

Emma Eccles Jones College of Education & Human Services | Psychology

Michael P. Twohig, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Utah and a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University. He co-runs the ACT Research Group with Dr. Levin in psychology, and co-runs a research team with Dr. Muñoz in audiology. He received his B.A. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno, and completed his clinical internship at the University of British Columbia Hospital. He is past-President of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science. His research focuses on the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) across a variety of clinical presentations with an emphasis on obsessive compulsive and related disorders such as trichotillomania. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and books, with the most recent books being the Anxious Perfectionist (with Ong) and Trichotillomania: An ACT-Enhanced Behavior Therapy Approach (2nd Ed.; with Woods). He is an impactful researcher with an H-index of 61 and over 15,000 citations. His research has been funded through multiple sources including the National Institute of Health, International OCD Foundation, and the Misophonia Research Fund. In 2022 and 2024, he was rated as the most productive author on ACT in the world and that USU was the most productive institution for ACT research.

2025 Nominees