100% of every dollar donated for research is invested in our research grants. Our operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants.

• Since 1987, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) has awarded more than $394 million to fund more than 5,700 grants to more than 4,700 scientists around the world.

• According to the Rand Corporation, BBRF is the nation’s top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants.

• The mission of the Foundation is to alleviate the suffering caused by mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research.

• 100% of every dollar donated for research is invested in our research grants. Our operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants.

• The Foundation only funds scientists whose research is reviewed and recommended by a world-renowned Scientific Council including Nobel Prize winners and chairs of psychiatric departments.

• Learn more about the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.

Elisabeth Meyers was born in Chicago on July 20, 1989. 

From an early age, it was evident that Liz was a brave explorer. Her keen observations, curiosity, and love of learning propelled her forward. She often took the road less traveled, considered situations from multiple perspectives or even brand new ones, and wasn’t afraid of hard work. This truly inspired all that knew her. Liz was thoughtful in her words and actions, taking genuine interest in others, which is reflected in the strong relationships she had with her friends, family, colleagues, and even acquaintances. 

After earning her GED in Chicago on May 16, 2012 and moving into her first apartment in East Lakeview, Liz moved to Indianapolis where she spent much of her adult life. She loved frequenting the YMCA and Pearings Cafe in Indy. She completed general studies coursework at Ivy Tech Community College, transferring with a 4.0 GPA, and won a literature award, placing first in an annual poetry contest. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Informatics with a double minor in Computer Science and Mathematics from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) on May 12, 2018 with a 3.79 GPA. Liz worked multiple jobs while in Indy to support herself, including package handler, table busser, and desktop IT support technician. She was also entrepreneurial in nature and managed her own online retail stores to earn extra income. During her junior year, she landed a prestigious internship doing front-end web development, later working as a teaching assistant for 3 Computer Science courses: scientific programming, server-side programming, and advanced database programming. 

During her senior year, she worked on humanitarian programming research and helped create digital tools to assist with baby survival in low and middle income countries. She and her team created a mobile application in Android to help train community healthcare workers in infant health. The summer between her undergrad and grad programs, she continued working full-time on improving the mobile application and working on a biomedical device towards reducing hypothermia-related infant deaths. Her poster was awarded “Best Scientific Presentation” at the undergraduate research symposium and her capstone paper was submitted to the 2018 International Conference on Data Science and Engineering. The Mobile Helping Babies Survive paper, of which Liz was a co-author, will be published by the end of 2018. Liz helped found the Women in Computer Science group at IUPUI and served as vice president. She received a scholarship to travel to Atlanta for the 2017 Richard Tapia Diversity in Computing Conference.

Liz worked hard during her undergraduate degree and received a merit-based reduced tuition scholarship and stipend to complete a dual Master’s Degree in Embedded Systems and The Internet of Things to be completed in Sweden and Finland. She was studying in Stockholm, Sweden at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, an internationally ranked university, and living in Kista when she died on November 26, 2018. It was her dream to study abroad and she died trying to live out that dream.

She enjoyed technology, reading, writing, learning, researching, science, health informatics, nutrition, nature, bicycling, powerlifting, fashion, coffee, and whisky. She was a fan of walkable neighborhoods and public transit, as she never wanted to get a driver’s license. She was a independent thinker and questioned the status quo. 

Interested in emergent technologies (especially IoT, LiFi, and AI) and e-solutions applied to humanistic goals, she was not a fan of corporate America, but instead, had goals of starting her own health-tech company and creating non-invasive health Internet of Things devices. Liz believed technology has created a lot of problems for society, but that it can be leveraged to enhance well-being and improve people’s lives. Liz overcame many obstacles and accomplished so much in life. 

She will be remembered for her incredible kindness, uncanny wit, and beautiful free spirit.