News Archive

7/21/08

The first complete high-resolution map of the human cerebral cortex identifies a single network core that could be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain.

Professor and associate chair Olaf Sporns recently co-authored a study that created the first complex high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex – the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level thinking – connect and communicate. This groundbreaking work identified a single network core, or hub, that may be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain.

“This is one of the first steps necessary for building large-scale computational models of the human brain to help us understand processes that are difficult to observe, such as disease states and recovery processes to injuries,” Sporns said. Until now, scientists have mostly used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to measure brain activity, but there has been little understanding of the role of the underlying anatomy in generating this activity. What is known of neural fiber connections and pathways has largely been learned from animal studies, and so far, no complete map of brain connections in the human brain exists.

In this new study, a team of neuroimaging researchers led by Hagmann used state-of-the-art diffusion MRI technology, which is a non-invasive scanning technique that estimates fiber connection trajectories based on gradient maps of the diffusion of water molecules through brain tissue. A highly sensitive variant of the method, called diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI), can depict the orientation of multiple fibers that cross a single location. The study applies this technique to the entire human cortex, resulting in maps of millions of neural fibers running throughout this highly furrowed part of the brain.

Sporns then carried out a computational analysis trying to identify regions of the brain that played a more central role in the connectivity, serving as hubs in the cortical network. Surprisingly, these analyses revealed a single highly and densely connected structural core in the brain of all participants.

"We found that the core, the most central part of the brain, is in the medial posterior portion of the cortex, and it straddles both hemispheres," he said. "This wasn't known before. Researchers have been interested in this part of the brain for other reasons. For example, when you're at rest, this area uses up a lot of metabolic energy, but until now it hasn't been clear why."

The researchers then asked whether the structural connections of the brain in fact shape its dynamic activity, Sporns said. The study examined the brains of five human participants who were imaged using both fMRI and DSI techniques to compare how closely the brain activity observed in the fMRI mapped to the underlying fiber networks.

"It turns out they're quite closely related," Sporns said. "We can measure a significant correlation between brain anatomy and brain dynamics. This means that if we know how the brain is connected we can predict what the brain will do." Sporns said he and Hagmann plan to look at more brains soon, to map brain connectivity as brains develop and age, and as they change in the course of disease and dysfunction.

The findings appeared in the journal "PLoS Biology" in June. Co-authors also include Patric Hagmann and Reto Meuli, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne; Leila Cammoun and Xavier Gigandet, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Van J. Wedeen, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical Center; and Christopher J. Honey, IU. The study was supported in part by the J.S. McDonnell Foundation, the University of Lausanne, Center for Biomedical Imaging of the Geneva-Lausanne Universities, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the National Institutes of Health.

Click here to learn more about the latest advances in brain mapping.

4/23/08

Jenelle Dorner, a graduate student in both Psychological and Brain Sciences and the IU Program in Neuroscience, recently was honored with the first annual Pari Prerana Award from the IU Graduate and Professional Student Organization.

The award strives to recognize and honor students who have overcome severe physical, cognitive or other health related challenges and have demonstrated academic excellence. Dorner and other students were honored Tuesday in a ceremony organized by the University Graduate School.

Despite being wheelchair-bound and suffering various health complications, none of these things have stopped her, according to George Rebec, lab director and director of the Program in Neuroscience.

In both psychology and neuroscience, Dorner has exhibited excellence throughout her career. In addition to this award, she also has won the McCormick Science Grant, the Gene Portteus Branigan Fellowship and a College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship this year. Last year, she won a pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health.

Other students honored at the ceremony include the following:

Byron Gipson, who also works in Rebec's lab, was named the inaugural Adam W. Herbert graduate fellow.

Undergraduate student Whitney A. Stewart, who will receive a bachelor's degree in psychology this year, was recognized for being a McNair Scholar for the class of 2008.

4/22/08

Several undergraduate students were honored at the 2008 J.R. Kantor Undergraduate Honors Banquet, hosted by the IU Bloomington Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences on Friday, April 18. In addition to departmental awards, students receiving academic honors from the department and new inductees to Psi Chi, the psychology honors society, also were recognized.

The $1,000 Cheryl Burnham Buhler Award for Outstanding Psychology Students was awarded to Dean Bowker. The $500 J.R. Kantor Prize in Psychology, also awarded to outstanding students, was awarded to Angie Huh. Lacey Perry received the James Dinsmoor Excellence in Research Award for $250.

The following six students also were presented with $100 Excellence in Research Awards from the department: Marla Alexander, Althea Bauernschmidt, Amanda Hyde, Melissa McManus, Melissa Troyer and Abbey White.

The new Robert Weiskopf Award for $500 to recognize excellence in an undergraduate teaching assistant was awarded to Bryan Olson, who is a teaching assistant for Phillip Summers. The award was created this year in memory of a faculty member who recently died of cancer.

Eighteen students who will earn departmental honors this year through completion of an independent laboratory research project and an honors thesis were recognized: Marla Alexander, Althea Bauernschmidt, Dean Bowker, Katherine Ely, Stacy Einikis, Ben Fischer, Angie Huh, Amanda Hyde, Morgan McCormick, Melissa McManus, Juliette McNamara, Lacy Perry, Adam Steinmetz, Charu Subramanian, Melissa Troyer, Emma Vaughn and Abbey White.

The following students were inducted into the Psi Chi Honor Society at the event:
Marissa Artman, Natsuki Atagi, Alexandra Broustovetskaia, Kelsey Buckingham, Allison Buchholz, Joshua David, Patrick Eddy, Melissa Elston, Zoe Evans, Adam Fay, Mallory Hobbs, Lisa Huang, Jessica Jackson, Anne Leipzig, Amanda Manuel, Kyle McLain, Charlotte Murphey, Sarah Meyers, Simone Nathanson, Zachary Page, Miramony Rayburn, Jennifer Rice, Gabriela Rodriguez, Taylor Ruthorford, Francie Schrank, Ryan Stadnik, BreAnn Thornburg, David Orenstein, Rottem Sagi and Ross Vanderklok.

The annual J.R. Kantor Undergraduate Honors Banquet was named in honor of Jacob Ryan Kantor, a prominent psychologist who pioneered a naturalistic system in psychology. The J.R. Kantor Memorial Fund helps provide for the recognition of distinguished students in psychological and brain sciences.

Click here for more photos.

3/26/08

Assistant Professor Chen Yu, recently was honored with the IU Bloomington Oustanding Junior Faculty Award.

This honor is designed to assist untenured, tenure-track faculty to enhance their research programs prior to tenure. Awards are given to junior faculty members who show promise of achieving great distinction as scholars or artists.

Yu, who received a doctorate in computer science from University of Rochester, also is a core faculty member in the cognitive science program and an adjunct faculty member in computer science. His research focuses on how language is grounded in sensorimotor experience and how language development depends on complex interactions among brain, body and environment.

Click here to visit Yu's lab Web site.

1/7/08

Professor J. Michael Walker, 57, was found dead at home Saturday, January 5, 2008. His death was likely due to natural causes.

Walker, a professor of both psychology and neuroscience, was director of the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at IU. In his lab research, he studied neurochemical, neurophysiological and anatomical bases of pain perception.

Memorial service information will be posted on this Web site.

12/3/07

The psychology faculty at IUB ranked first in the Top Research Universities Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, published in November by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The list examines all faculty members in Ph.D. programs and measures their productivity. They can be judged on various factors, including books published, journal publications, citations of journal articles, federal-grant dollars awarded, and honors and awards.

To view the statistics and see how our department compares with others, Click Here.

The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Indiana University School of Law will co-sponsor a conference on how to improve divorce mediation interventions to minimize the potentially negative impact of divorce on children.

The event, titled “For the Sake of Children: Advances in Family Dispute Resolution,” will take place Thursday and Friday, November 15-16, at the IU School of Law in Bloomington. Although not all of the conference is open to the public, experts will host a public forum at 3:15 p.m. Thursday in the Law School Moot Court Room (room 123).

The purpose of the conference is to host presentations and discussions about the effectiveness of divorce mediation and new, innovative methods of mediation. The conference will feature both legal and psychological experts, who will present research from both legal and social science perspectives.

In addition to the conference, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the School of Law will offer two new graduate level courses in the fall. One is a seminar on divorce and divorce mediation; the other is a divorce mediation therapy training practicum. These new courses may include law students and will be coordinated with an IU School of Law divorce mediation course. They also will be tied to research efforts to develop and test new interventions to improve the effectiveness of divorce mediation.

A new undergraduate award has been created to honor Bob Weiskopf, a clinical psychologist and professor at Indiana University. Weiskopf died of brain cancer at his home in Bloomington on June 25 at age 60.

As a professor, Weiskopf received several awards from his students, including the Student Choice Award for Outstanding Faculty. In recognition of his commitment to and excellence in teaching, the Weiskopf Award for the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant will be presented annually.

The Weiskopf award will be given based on reliability, attitude, and competence. The department will solicit nominations in early February.

Memorial donations in Weiskopf's name can be made to the IU Foundation, P.O. Box 500, Bloomington, IN 47402. Checks should indicate that the donation has been made in his memory.

The relationship between the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences has grown this semester. New faculty members Heather Bradshaw and Sari van Anders will be working as assistant research scientists at KI.


The Kinsey Institute, founded in 1947, promotes interdisciplinary research and scholarship in the fields of human sexuality, gender, and reproduction. KI’s position is to work toward "having an impact on advancing sexual health and knowledge worldwide,” said Julia Heiman, director of the institute and professor of psychology.

Along with ties to the department, the Kinsey Institute is expanding its affiliated faculty into areas such as biology and social sciences.

"To really understand the nature of sex and gender, one needs people from specific departments or areas of focus that represent different disciplines," Heiman said.

For this reason, KI has been heavily multi-disciplinary from the beginning, she said. Informally, the area of psychology has always been linked to their research. By employing faculty who work in both areas, the Kinsey Institute can set the stage for new and innovative research.

Amy Holtzworth-Munroe and Dale Sengelaub, both professors of psychology, also are affiliated with the Kinsey Institute as senior research fellows. For more information, visit kinseyinstitute.org.

Each semester, more than 3,000 students have struggled to find a comfortable sitting position in the 351 wooden chairs between two lecture halls on the first floor of the psychology building. This year, students in Room 101 will have some relief.

This summer, the wooden chairs, which have been in the building since it was built in the early 1960s, were torn out and replaced with all new seating. Remodeling the room will cost about $240,000.

Meredith West, Professor of Psychology and Biology and Director of Graduate Studies in the Deparment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, has been selected as the 2007 Office of Women's Affairs Distinguished Scholar Award recipient.

The award is designed to honor faculty on the Bloomington campus who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship and/or creative work, as recognized by peers at the university and in the candidate's profession. The committee also looks for evidence of involvement in efforts to enhance women's lives through research, teaching, or service.

Professor West will be honored at the 2007 OWA Award Ceremony and Reception to be held this Friday, March 23, from 4 to 6 p.m.

For more information on Professor West, click here.

For more information on the Office of Women's Affairs, click here.

Social psychology graduate student Gordon Kato died suddently of myocardial infarction at his home on Tuesday. Kato had a B.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a M.Ed. from Harvard. Prior to coming to IU, he worked in the publishing industry in New York City where he eventually started his own literary and talent agency. He was honored for his work as a literary agent in a special tribute to the 500 Most Influential Asian Americans published by Avenue Asia. Following the events of 9/11, Kato decided to return to his interests in psychology. He joined the department working with Professor Steven J. Sherman in 2003.

A memorial service will be held this Sunday (11/5) at noon in the Mathers Museum "Behind the Scenes Gallery."

UPDATE: Memorial Scholarship Established in Honor of Gordon Kato

Gordon loved living in Bloomington, and he had a great attachment to Indiana University in general and to the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in particular. Most of all, Gordon really loved being a graduate student in social psychology. He had found the ideal situation for him, and thus the last three years were especially happy and productive ones.

In many ways, Gordon was both the intellectual and emotional center of the graduate program. His knowledge seemed limitless, as was his willingness to share his insights with others. His lead role in organizing poker games, chili cooking contests, and parties was no less important to the well-being of the graduate program.

For all these reasons, it seemed clear that the best way to honor Gordon’s memory was to establish a memorial scholarship in his name to be awarded each year to a student in the Social Psychology program at Indiana University. Such a scholarship has in fact been recently established through the Indiana University Foundation, and it is now possible to make donations.

If you would like to give a memorial gift in honor of Gordon Kato, please make checks payable to “Indiana University Foundation” with “in memory of Gordon Kato” in the memo line.

Please send contributions to:
Indiana University Foundation
C/o Helene O’Leary
P.O. Box 500
Bloomington, IN 47402

For more information or to donate by credit card, please contact Helene O’Leary at 812-855-0594.

Stacey K. Jones, a 2006 Hutton Honors College graduate who earned a B.A. in psychology and sociology and a certificate in nonprofit management, is among the 76 college graduates to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Award for 2006. Jones is now a graduate student at the University of Chicago, where she is pursuing a master's degree in social service administration. The Cooke Foundation Award grants her full tuition and a stipend, renewable annually while attends she graduate school. (Click here for more information.)

Rudy Professor of Sociology, Psychology, and Statistics Dr. Stanley Wasserman along with co-editors Peter J. Carrington and John Scott were awarded the 2006 Harrison White Outstanding Book Award for MODELS AND METHODS IN SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS. Edited by Peter J. Carrington, John Scott, and Stanley Wasserman with contributions from 17 other authors. Cambridge University Press. 2005. The book was selected by a committee of five members of the Mathematical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.

Dr. Julie Stout, associate professor of cognitive, neural and clinical sciences and director of the Imaging Research Facility, received the Eleanor Cox Riggs Professorship in Social Sciences and Ethics. The title is given in recognition of exceptional teaching and research by a faculty member. Dr. Stout's research involves the use of cognitive, neuropsychological, psychophysiological, and brain imaging techniques in neurological and psychiatric groups to build models of how behavior is implemented in the nervous system. More information on her research can be found here.

The William James Fellow Award honors APS members for a lifetime of significant intellectual contributions to the basic science of psychology. Recipients must be APS members recognized internationally for their outstanding contributions to scientific psychology.

Rich Shiffrin is best known for his empirical, theoretical and computational work in the modeling of a wide variety of human cognitive phenomena such as perception, attention, learning and memory. More information on APS, the award, and Dr. Shiffrin's contributions can be found here.

The Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) has named Dr. Bill Estes as its current Featured Honoree. Honorees are selected by the FABBS Board of Directors for significant contributions and lasting impact in behavioral and brain sciences. He had been nominated to the Board by Dr. Alice Healy of the University of Colorado.

Dr. Estes, a world-reknown expert in behavioral sciences, is one of the founders of the field of mathematical psychology. He began his teaching career at Indiana University in 1946, where he stayed until 1962, when he went to Stanford University. In 1968 he moved to The Rockefeller University and in 1979, Harvard University. In 1999, he returned to Indiana University where he is now Professor of Psychology and Distinguished Scholar of Psychology and Cognitive Science.

More information on Dr. Estes' significant contributions to psychology, as well as information on donating to the FABBS Dr. William K. Estes fund can be found here.

Belle Liang, an education professor at Boston College and a national expert on youth mentoring, received the inaugural Distinguished Asian/Pacific American Alumni Award from Indiana University.

The purpose of the Distinguished Asian/Pacific American Alumni Award is to provide recognition for outstanding achievements by the Asian/Pacific American men and women alumni of IU. Liang was selected as the recipient because of her professional achievements and service to her community.

Liang is the author of numerous papers and several new measures for the study of qualities underlying growth-fostering peer, community and mentor relationships. In an upcoming book, First Do No Harm: A Call for Ethical Guidelines in Youth Mentoring (Harvard University Press), she and her colleagues synthesize the research on youth mentoring in ways that are accessible to practitioners not in academia.

Liang and her students also recently launched an award-winning Web outreach project created for and by young people called GenerationPulse -- located at www.generationpulse.com -- that has received hundreds of submissions in its first year.

More information on the IU Asian Alumni Association can be found here

Undergraduate Caitlin Taylor got a little extra help in financing her education as well as her study abroad semester in France next year - a $2000 scholarship, rewarding her for her diligence and hard work at IU.

"It's wonderful," said Taylor. "I'm going to be studying abroad in Paris next year, and this award will definitely help to free my time and mind to pursue what I want a little bit more. Also, I've worked very hard throughout my college career and it means a lot to me to have that recognized. To have people who care enough about education to support it financially is invaluable, and there should be more people like Dean D. and Jo Ann Aulick to make the world a more progressive place."

Ms. Taylor was honored along with other College scholarship recipients at an awards luncheon held on April 20.

Each year two students majoring in one of the Life Sciences and planning careers in a health care field are chosen to receive the Guidant Foundation Scholarship. Recipients are chosen based on high academic merits, and receive $10,000 toward their undergraduate education. This year, Jordan Raynor and Alec Sexton, both undergraduate research assistants in Dr. Joseph Farley's Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Lab, were chosen.

"Alec and Jordan have both been a pleasure to have in the lab. They’re bright, ambitious, intellectually curious about a variety of disciplines, and indefatigable when it comes to research," said Dr. Farley. "We’ve been fortunate enough to harness their energies, and to take advantage of their considerable skills and enthusiasm, in our research programs on mechanisms of persistent modulation of voltage- and ligand-dependent ion channel activities, as these relate to learning, memory, and nicotine dependence/addiction. I anticipate that both will make major contributions to the life sciences in years to come."

For both recipients, the recognition, as well as the significant award was well appreciated, if not humbling. "As great of an honor as it was to be nominated by Professor Farley, it is an even greater honor to win. This award is a blessing to my family and to myself," said Raynor. "As a psychology student, most of my peers are under the impression that I read Sigmund Freud all day. To win a scholarship in the Life Sciences is a reflection of the trend in which Psychology is moving at Indiana University."

"I feel very honored to receive this scholarship in light of how competitive it is. It's humbling to be recognized for the research that I've already done, and at the same time very motivating for all of the research that lies ahead - of which I hope there is a lot," said Sexton.

The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is thrilled for both Raynor and Sexton - and confident that it is only the start of many great things for both students. Congratulations!

 

The most prestigious academic appointment Indiana University can offer an individual is a distinguished professorship. This year, Dr. Nosofsky and Dr. Steinmetz, both faculty in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, were honored with the title. The rank of distinguished professor honors outstanding scholarship, artistic or literary distinction, or other achievements that have won significant recognition by peers.

Information on Dr. Nosofsky's research and why he was selected can be found here.

Information on Dr. Steinmetz' research and why he was selected can be found here.

Twice each year, faculty electors review the academic records of senior degree candidates and recent bachelor’s degree graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington and select those who will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in existence. Students who are chosen for induction are then honored at a banquet held at the end of the spring or fall semesters. This semester's Psychology majors selected are:

Christopher Robert Amick
Kathryn Noelle Davis
Katherine Elizabeth Freund
Sarah Ann Giauque
Misty Anne Hawkins
Lacey Lynn Huffman
Brent Travis Keckhaver
Elizabeth Anna Marklein
Abigail Rae Martin
Amy Pauline Payne
Alison Rae Phillips
Jordan Davis Raynor
Susan Kyung Roepke
Melissa Lynn Roth
Tetsuo Sato
Ann Marie Shively
Makenzi Lauren Travis
Elizabeth Ann Wiggins

Stacey Jones, a senior with a double major in psychology and sociology and a Hutton Honors College Scholar, received the Commission on Multicultural Understanding (COMU) Undergraduate Student award for 2005 - 2006. She was selected because of her active involvement in a variety of cultural diversity initiatives, including her work assisting in the recruitment of minority students to the university through the Multicultural Outreach Recruitment Educators (MORE). "I am happy to recieve this award from an organization dedicated to increasing diversity on IU's campus," said Jones. "I am hopeful that through the initiatives of my peers and mentors Indiana University can continue to strive to obtain true diversity."

Ms. Jones will be recognized at the annual COMU Awards Reception, which is being held on April 4 at the Leo R. Dowling International Center. The reception will begin at 4:30 p.m. and the awards ceremony will begin at 5:00 p.m. The event is open to the public.

Congratulations, Stacey!

Undergraduate students Alex Foss and Scott Mueller were both awarded a HHMI Capstone research award for projects they are conducting using the new fMRI technology in the Imaging Research Facility. The award, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is designed to provide valuable research experience to students who plan to pursue postgraduate education in biology, chemistry, or neuroscience.

Alex will be researching the perception of syntax in expert systems; comparing syntax perception in music and language in musicians and non-musicians to investigate under what circumstances music and language recruit common brain regions.

Scott's project involves the effects of motor experience on object recognition, focusing on the neural substrates of perceptual-motor learning. Using the fMRI, he plans to investigate how the perceptual motor systems interact during learning and subsequent recognition - or, how our motor systems interact with perceptual systems during learning, and how this multi-modal experience carries over into recognition memory tests.

Both Alex and Scott will be conducting their projects under the mentorship of Dr. Karin Harman James.

More information about the IU Imaging Research Facility can be found here.

Undergraduate Academic Advisor Cindy Moore was named the 2006 recipient of the Bloomington Advisors' Council (BAC) Terri Nation Outstanding Academic Advisor award. The award, named in memory of Terri Nation, a long-time advisor in the Department of Mathematics and Kelley School of Business, recognizes the exeptional achievements of a member of BAC. Potential recipients are nominated by one or more of their colleagues for domonstrated exceptional service in at least one of the following categories:

• Academic Advising
• Service to the IUB campus
• Service to BAC

Cindy Moore is currently an advisor, President of the BAC, as well as an adjunct faculty member within the Department. Some of the comments indicated in her nomination include the following:

"Cindy has been an outstanding advisor ... as well as a very dynamic and productive president of the Bloomington Advisors' Council. Cindy excelled this year not only as an advisor but as adjuct faculty for her department ..."

"She is a team player, unselfish, and always working towards the larger goal of excellence in undergraduate education."

More information about BAC can be found  here.

Professor Rob Goldstone became the seventh Psychology professor since 1986 to win the prestigious Chancellor's Professor award. These professorships are meant to bring significant honor to those members of the faculty who have achieved local, national, and international distinction in both teaching and research/creative activity and their interaction.

Faculty selected for Chancellor’s Professorships will carry the title for the remainder of their careers at Indiana University. The successful candidate(s) also will be given a $2,500 award for each of the first three years and a $5,000 grant to be used on a project of their choice to demonstrate the ways in which teaching and research are mutually reinforcing.

Dr. Goldstone's research involves the application of complex adaptive system models to the study of how individual people learn and perceive, and how groups of people organize themselves into emergent structures which none of the individuals in the group may understand or even perceive. His laboratory is currently exploring interactions between perceptual and conceptual learning, methods for learning abstract concepts using computer simulations, the perception of similarity and analogy, and group behavior from a complex systems perspective.

More information on Dr. Goldstone's work can be found here.

Indianapolis businessman Jesse Cox and his late wife Beulah have established a new scholarship program with a $15 million dollar donation to the university. This year is the first for the scholarship, which provides $12,000 a year for students at IUB and $13,500 for IUPUI students. Recipients must be students of at least a sophomore standing, from Indiana, employed part time and pay at least 25 percent of their college costs. Twenty-one scholarships were awarded this year, including two to Psychology majors at IUB.

Adam Bero, a Psychology major from Crowne Point, is also involved in a variety of honor's societies, including Psi Chi Psychology Honors Society, Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society and Alpha Epsilon Delta Honor Society. "Growing up in an environment in which nothing was just given to me, and in which I was perpetually told about the importance of working hard for what one has, has afforded me the ability to think and function independently," said Bero.

Stephanie Bruckman is a sophomore majoring in Psychology and Sociology who serves as vice president of the Occupational Therapy Club and is a member of Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta honor societies. She is the oldest of five children raised by a single mother. In addition to her coursework and club involvement, she worked part time at Children's Corner nursery and often worried about affording college. "This scholarship is truly a miracle for me," Bruckman said.

Congratulations Adam and Stephanie!

Dr. Sharon Stephens Brehm, Professor of Psychology, has been elected President of the American Psychological Association. She will serve as President Elect in 2006, President in 2007, and Past President in 2008. For more information on Brehm and what she hopes to accomplish, click here.

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences professor Olaf Sporns, a leader in the field of neurorobotics, is building robots with "brains" created to simulate human brain circuitry. Then he gets them addicted to the color red ...