IONs Director’s Channel – Jan 2019

Neuroscience is booming at UMass Amherst.  2018 was a great year and I am very excited about everything that we have coming up for 2019 including Seed Grants, Faculty Forums, a Distinguished Lecture Series and a Neuroscience conference on neuroengineering.

In this past year, we hired SIX new faculty members in neuroscience in four different departments. It is worth remarking that they are all women! Five are assistant professors: Karine Fenelon and Stephanie Padilla in Biology, Changhui Pak in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bruna Martins in Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Jennifer Mack in Communication Disorders. The latest addition to our Neurosciences faculty is a senior hire, Sarah Pallas in Biology.

We are continuing to hire with two ongoing searches. One is in the Biology department in collaboration with IALS for research on animal models of neurological disease. The other is in the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the field of Behavioral Neuroscience.

Last year we held a very successful UMass Interdisciplinary Neurosciences Conference in May of 2018. Mark your calendars, the next one will be Tues May 28th, 2018. This year the Interdisciplinary Neurosciences conference will focus on Neuroengineering. We will have keynote speakers and posters.

In preparation for the Conference, we will hold Faculty Forums focused on Neuroengineering where we bring together neuroscientists and engineers to discuss their work in an informal setting. There will be an organizational meeting on January 23rd. The Faculty Forums will be a chance to propose ideas for seed grants. Stay tuned for an announcement on the seed grant program. Faculty who attended three Faculty Forums in the fall semester are eligible to apply for a $1000 microgrant from IONs.

IONs will be hosting a Distinguished Neuroscience Lecture Series. These are high profile speakers hosted not just by members of Neuroscience and Behavior but by faculty across the campus.

There is more to talk about for 2019, so watch your mailbox for more news.