Congratulations to Benjamin R. Karney, Ph.D.; Jeffrey B. Wenger, Ph.D.; Melanie A. Zaber Ph.D.; and Thomas N. Bradbury, Ph.D., awardees of the 2023 Wiley Prize in Family Science: The Alexis Walker Award, recognizing the best Family Science paper published in a Wiley journal in 2021 and 2022.

NCFR presents this award every other year in acknowledgment of distinguished contributions to path-breaking new research or innovative theory development in Family Science scholarship. The winning article, State Minimum Wage Increases Delay Marriage and Reduce Divorce Among Low-wage Households, was published in NCFR's Journal of Marriage and Family in 2022 and is available to read open access. This article documents how government policies impact families through the facilitation of access to resources.

Dr. Karney (he/him) is a professor of social psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. and Bradbury are at UCLA. He is an NCFR member, a two-time recipient of the Reuben Hill Award, he has both presented his research and also featured as a plenary speaker at NCFR annual conferences. Dr. Karney's research focuses on the ways that stress external to a couple can facilitate or constrain cognitive and behavioral processes of relationship maintenance.

Dr. Wenger (he/his) is a senior policy researcher and director of the RAND Lowy Family Middle-Class Pathways Center (MCPC). His current research examines the effects of working conditions on remaining in the labor force, and helping military personnel transition into the civilian labor force.

Dr. Zaber (she/her) is an economist at RAND, codirector of the RAND Lowy Family Middle-Class Pathways Center (MCPC), and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include workforce development, postsecondary education, gender equity, and access to civil justice.

Dr. Bradbury (he/him) is a professor of clinical psychology at UCLA. His research interests include relationship science, development of relationships and families, causes of adverse relationship outcomes, interactional and emotional processes in relationships, relationships and stress, enhancement of relationship functioning.

The Alexis Walker Award, sponsored by publisher John Wiley & Sons, was created in memory of the late Alexis Walker. Dr. Walker served as NCFR president and was editor of the Journal of Marriage and Family from 2002 to 2006. She was an NCFR Fellow, eminent scholar, and pathfinder in the family field. 

A prize of $5,000 is presented biannually for the award, which recognizes the best Family Science research paper published in a Wiley journal in the preceding two years.

Award recipients were recognized at the 2023 NCFR Annual Conference.