Announcements

Timour Al-Khindi wins 2011 Governor General's Silver Medal

Tim Al-Khindi won the 2011 Governor General's Silver Medal for science, earning the highest marks among all science students graduating from U of T in 2011. A student in the neuroscience specialist co-op program as well as a major in psychology Al-Khindi is well known to many professors in the Department, having worked on research under their supervision and having assisted the Department at recruitment and student academic events. Tim will be attending Johns Hopkins University for their combined MD/PhD program.

The Office of the Dean Presents a Special Evening with Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky, one of America’s leading scholars, intellectuals, lecturer, and activist will be presenting a lecture titled "Academic Freedom and the Corporatization of Universities" on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Arts and Administration Building, AA112, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto. For more details visit www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~vpdean

Timour Al-Khindi wins Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award

Tim Al-Khindi, who is completing his Neuroscience Specialist and Psychology Major, is one of four UTSC students to be recognized with a Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award. Tim is presently doing his NROD98 undergraduate thesis research under the supervision of Kevin Dunbar. In the past, Tim has also been recognized for work done under Mickey Inzlicht's supervision (see two announcements below). The Cressy Awards recognize graduating students for outstanding contributions to improving the world around them and inspiring others to do the same. http://alumni.utoronto.ca

Laura-Ann Petitto's research given broad coverage in Toronto Star

The Toronto Star, which is publishing a series on the brain, provided extensive coverage of Laura-Ann Petitto's research in its Saturday July 17, 2010 edition. You can read the article here.

Social Psychology students selected for Rising Stars of Research Conference

Jennifer Khoury and Tim Al-Khindi, two senior undergraduate students who worked, respectively, under the supervision of Liz Page-Gould and of Mickey Inzlicht, have been selected for participation in the Rising Stars of Research Conference. They will present a poster at the conference, which is held at UBC, and will contend for a first-prize award in one of the seven theme areas (Psychology being under Social Sciences). http://www.risingstars.ubc.ca

Steve Joordens Receives President's Teaching Award

Steve Joordens is one of five winners of this year's President's Teaching Award. The President's Teaching Award, which is the highest teaching honour awarded by the University, recognizes sustained excellence in teaching, research on teaching, and the integration of teaching and research. provost.utoronto.ca/Awards/presidentaward.htm

Gerry Cupchik Honoured with Rudolf Arnheim Award

Gerry Cupchik has received the Rudolf Arnheim Award from Division 10 (Psychology and the Arts) for distinguished research over the years (apa.org/divisions/div10/awards.html). To mark the award, Gerry has been invited to deliver an address at APA next August in San Diego.

Mickey Inzlicht wins Ontario Government's Early Researcher Award

Mickey Inzlicht will receive $140,000 to further his research in social neuroscience, stigma and self-control. The funds will help him take his fascinating research in new and exciting directions.

Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto's pioneering fNIRS work featured in JoVE

The Petitto Brain Imaging Team describes in detail for the first time its new
fNIRS brain scanning analysis system that can be used to advance higher
cognitive experimentation in laboratories around the world. The Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a peer reviewed, PubMed indexed journal devoted to the publication of biological research in a video format. You can watch a video about this ground breaking research approach at jove.com

John Kennedy named University Professor

John Kennedy has been named University Professor. This is a prestigious honour that the University bestows on its most distinguished faculty in recognition of their exceptional scholarly achievement and pre-eminence in a particular field of knowledge.

Steve Joordens, Dwayne Paré and Ada Le honoured

Steve Joordens punctuated his promotion to Full Professor by winning, in collaboration with Dwayne Paré, a National Technology Innovation Award for the creation of peerScholar. This web-based program, now published by Pearson, allows students in large courses to engage in writing and critical analysis in the context of peer evaluation exercises.

Ada Le, an undergraduate student who has contributed to the creation of the Psychology and Neuroscience Departmental Association (PNDA) and to coordinating the webOption team in recent years, has been named UTAA Scholar.

Dr. Elizabeth Page-Gould new social psychologist at UTSC

Dr. Elizabeth Page-Gould (Berkeley Ph.D., presently on a post-doc at Harvard) will be joining the faculty at UTSC. Her innovative research takes a multi-method approach to the study of intergroup relations, incorporating social cognitive, psychophysiological, dyadic, and quantitative methods.

Laura-Ann Petitto Elected Fellow of AAAS

It is with great pride that the Deparment has learned that Laura-Ann Petitto has been elected to be a Fellow for life of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. This is a most prestigious recognition of her contributions to the understanding of human language, including bilingualism and sign language, using behavioural and neuroscience techniques.

UTSC Psychology Faculty Excels in TVO Nominations (again)

Six members of the Psychology Department, Professors Gerald Cupchik, Marc Fournier, Steve Joordens, Janelle LeBoutillier, Ted Petit and Konstantine Zakzanis, and one frequent sessional instructor, Dr. Oren Amitay, have been nominated for TVO's best lecturer competition. This exceptional representation continues a tradition of strong Departmental showing in this competition. A panel of judges will choose 10 finalists from the 126 nominees across Ontario. Television viewers who watch the Big Ideas program on TVO will have a chance to rate each of the finalists to select TVO’s Best Lecturer. The final lectures will begin airing on TVO on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009.

The Petitto team in The Star

A wonderful article on the research of Laura-Ann Petitto titled "Learning Language is Child's Play" apppeared in the Ideas section of The Toronto Star on July 12, 2008. The two-page spread includes a picture of Laura-Ann, with her lab manager Karen Lau strapped to the fNIRS machine. Click here to read more . . .

Neuroscience student Michael Misch wins Governor General's Silver Medal.

Michael Misch, a neuroscience student who worked under the supervision of Suzanne Erb in the Department has been awarded a Governor General Silver Medal. This most pretigious award was recognized at UTSC Honours & Awards Ceremony for Sciences where it was mentioned that Michael has maintained a perfect GPA of 4.0 throughout his undergraduate studies.

UTSC student Kimia Honarmand wins best presentation award.

David Nussbaum wrote the following about one of his undergraduate thesis student's, Kimia Honarmand:
"She was awarded the prize for Best Undergraduate Presentation at the Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association, 28th Annual Meeting held in London (ON) on Friday, May 9th. The poster was entitled Subclinical psychopathic traits, affective states and neuro-active hormones influence decision-making under risk. The work was conducted in my lab at UTSC and substantially involved her undergraduate thesis."

Five of our Department's instructors among finalist in TVO's best lecturer competition.

The Department of Psychology at Scarborough continues its very strong showing in TV Ontario's best lecturer competition. Three of our faculty members (Gerry Cupchik, Marc Fournier, and Mark Schmuckler) and two of our sessional instructors (Oren Amitay and Joan Forder) are among the finalists in this year's competition.

Steven Pinker's talk a sold-out success.

Steven Pinker's visit on the evening of November 5 was a resounding success. Steven is as gracious as he is brilliant and all those who came to the event were charmed, edified and titillated. Book sales after the talk were strong and the lineup for getting books signed by Steven appeared endless. There were many smiles on people's faces that evening, an evening that served as a celebration of the coming of age of the Department of Psychology at UofT Scarborough. Pictures of Event.

Steven Pinker accepts the Department of Psychology's invitation to give a talk at UTSC on Monday November 5, 2007.

Thanks to Laura-Ann Petitto's compelling invitation, Steven Pinker will be giving a talk at 7:30pm in the ARC theater on Monday November 5, 2007. Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard, is one of the most sought after contemporary authors. His latest book The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, just came out and is receiving a lot of press. The Department of Psychology at Scarborough is very proud to be hosting this event which will bring many visitors to our campus. Admission is by pre-ordered ticket. Please see Steven Pinker Talk