October 19, 2021
Linda Blaser
College presents award-winning Brain Awareness Week, November 1–5
Brain Awareness Week, an award-winning interdisciplinary academic outreach program that explores medical mysteries of the mind, this year will feature lectures with noted experts from Princeton University, University of Chicago, and MIT and on-campus activities November 1–5.
In addition to the three keynote lectures, the nationally recognized program will feature the Ninth Annual Robert B. Glassman Memorial Brain, Mind, and Behavior Symposium.
Highlights of Brain Awareness Week include:
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“Value or Values: How University Diversity Rationales Inform Student Preferences and Outcomes” talk delivered by Princeton University Professor of Psychology, Public Affairs, and African American Studies Stacey Sinclair at 4:15 p.m. on Monday, November 1 via Zoom.
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“From Action to Abstraction: Gesture as a Mechanism of Change” talk by Univ0ersity of Chicago Beardsley Ruml Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology Susan Goldin-Meadow at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2 via Zoom.
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“The Gut and the Brain” keynote lecture by MIT Assistant Director and Chief of Clinical Resources, Division of Comparative Medicine Susan Erdman at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 3 via Zoom.
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Robert B. Glassman Memorial Brain, Mind, and Behavior Symposium faculty and alumni talks from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, November 4 via Zoom. Topics include cognitive probabilities, the Parkinson’s disease brain, avian cognition and the Socratic method, metastatic cancer in the brain, and improving police-community relations.
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Glassman Symposium undergraduate and alumni research poster session will feature over 35 presentations by 50 students and alumni from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, November 5, on campus in Calvin Durand Hall and the Mohr Student Center.
Brain Awareness Week began at Lake Forest College in 2003. In its 18th year, this event’s longevity speaks to the increasing societal relevance of understanding how our brain works and guides all our behaviors. In fact, the 2021 annual education theme in neuroscience is “Neuroscience of Racial Bias and Identity.”
Disque D. and Carol Gram Deane Professor of Biological Sciences and Chair of Neuroscience Shubhik DebBurman shares, “I am excited that our November 1 lecture, which is also our annual Mind and Society Dialog lecture, will highlight how stereotyping and bias taints society and discuss how academic institutions like ours might develop rationales for the intellectual engagement and wellness of members of stigmatized groups. I am particularly looking forward to the collaborative art sculpture that students in our art courses are creating in consultation with our science students on this year’s theme. This sculpture will be unveiled at the Glassman Symposium.”
Kamden Kuklinski ’23, a neuroscience major and co-president of the student group Synapse, believes Brain Awareness Week provides a unique learning experience for the campus and surrounding community.
“Brain Awareness Week gives Lake Forest students a chance to give back to the communtiy and puts them in the role of being an educator, which is really nice,” he said. “When a student is in that role, it shows there’s a lot of competency and mastery of the material. We are able to make what we're learning in the clasroom, in the lab, and in outside internships start to come to life.”
All Brain Awareness Week events are free and open to the public. Request a Zoom link from Dr. Shubhik DebBurman at debburman@lakeforest.edu or 847-735-6040.
Lake Forest College is located at 555 N. Sheridan Road in Lake Forest.