Kent State University alumnus Earl Miller, Ph.D., a leading cognitive neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his wife, Marlene Wicherski, were recognized last week at the university’s 10th Annual Neuroscience Symposium, for their $2 million commitment to support research programs and students in Kent State’s Brain Health Research Institute.
Valoree Vargo, vice president for philanthropy and alumni engagement, presented the Founders Award to Miller and Wicherski at the symposium, since they will not be able to attend the upcoming Founders Gala at the Kent Student Center Ballroom. The gala is held every two years to recognize the university’s most generous donors. More than 100 donors will be honored Saturday, with more than 50 expected to attend the gala.
The presentation of the Founder’s Award was one of many activities that were part of the Neuroscience Symposium, sponsored by the Brain Health Research Institute.
Miller, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Kent State in 1985, is a leading cognitive neuroscientist whose research focuses on neural mechanisms of cognitive, or executive, control, and is the Picower Professor of Neuroscience with the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. (See Kent State Magazine profile.) He was one of many speakers during the symposium, most of whom were alumni.
Allison Brager, Ph.D., '11: deputy chief science officer for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (see Kent State Magazine profile), gave a presentation on her research on sleep and sleep deprivation in the military.
The keynote speaker for the symposium was Tracy L. Bale, Ph.D., who spoke on the topic, "The biology of trauma: Understanding risk and resilience."
Bale is the Anschutz Foundation Endowed Chair in Women's Integrated Mental and Physical Health Research at the Ludeman Center and Professor and Director for InterGenerational Stress and Health and the Director for Sex Differences Research in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
The symposium hosted speakers and presenters from a wide range of neuroscience disciplines, most of whom were Kent State alumni.
Tours of the new Integrated Sciences Building were part of the symposium.
Kent State students and graduate students presented their research during a poster session, answering questions about their experiments and findings.
Student volunteers checked in guests at the 10th Annual Brain Health Research Symposium and distributed programs.
