Evan Bianchi Receives Louis McCahill Award

Evan Bianchi discovered she had a learning disability at a young age. As a result, she said, she received the necessary accommodations and support early on, which not only enabled her to achieve academically but maintain her love of learning.

That experience influenced her research at Georgetown. 

During her first year, Bianchi attended an alternative spring break trip to Appalachia, where rural kindergarten teachers spoke about the importance of early childhood education. 

When she returned from Georgetown, she joined the university’s Context, Development & Social Policy Lab (CDSP). There, she learned that public pre-K students often outperform their Head Start peers in kindergarten. 

Bianchi wondered why, and for her psychology honors thesis, Bianchi examined whether the disruption of switching schools, which is required for Head Start students, might be a factor. She found a range of negative effects on students’ social and emotional development following a school transition. The results suggested that co-locating public pre-K classrooms in elementary schools could better support low-income children.

Bianchi, a pyschology major with a minor in disability studies, was named a 2024 Provost’s Distinguished Undergraduate Research Fellow, and her early education research won first place at the 2025 Big East Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium in New York. Outside of her research, Bianchi has worked with First-Year Orientation to Community Involvement (FOCI) through the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service. 

After graduation, Bianchi will conduct psychology research at Children’s National Hospital before pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. 

The McCahill Award was established in 1960 by Eugene McCahill and Francis McCahill in memory of their brother, Louis, who died in service during the First World War. It is given to the student who has shown perseverance and determination of a high order in pursuing educational objectives at Georgetown.