Brain Awareness Week

Neuroscience, astronomy, statistics, and philosophy

Professor Rhiannon Blaauw, an astronomer who recently worked for NASA, stopped by the lab so we measured her EEG. She then explained that we use similar technology to measure the brain with fNIRS as astronomers use to measure the abundances of elements in the stars. How cool is that!

Dr. Darcie Delzell also stopped by to see what we were up to, and discovered that one of our techniques, fNIRS, overlapped with some research she had previously done with the Department of Defense. She had researched estimation of the HRF in order to more accurately determine brain function with the goal of discriminating between healthy and unhealthy brains.

Brain Awareness Week - 2018

Philosopher, Dr. Adam Wood challenged us to think about what we are measuring. Is it the mind? Or just the brain? Or some combination thereof? Good for us to remind ourselves of our underlying assumptions about the work we do. Thanks, Adam!

Guests wondering if they have brains!

Undergraduate student and track athlete, Paul Amstutz, as well as geneticist, Dr. Rod Scott, Dr. Stephen Moshier, and Dr. Noah Toly, Rachel Maupin, President Ryken, Dr. Shawn Okpebholo, Dr. Mike McKoy, Dr. Danilo Diedrichs, and others stopped by to have their brains scanned.