In The News

RuCCS Affiliate contributes to Daily Beast article regarding COVID-19

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Published: Sunday, 03 May 2020 14:02

Victoria Abraira, RuCCS affiliate and professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, lends
her expertise for a story in the Daily Beast that explores the impact of the coronavirus on our sense of touch. Read this intriguing piece and learn why Abraira says that "touch should be studied in the same rigorous way as the other senses."

Abraira was featured on CBC Radio earlier this year and is also a recipient of several awards including
NIH KO1 and Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences in 2019.

View more of her work at abrairalab.org.

Rutgers Professor of Philosophy Awarded Jean Nicod Prize

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Published: Sunday, 03 May 2020 13:56

Congratulations to Frances Egan, professor of philosophy at Rutgers University and the 2020 recipient
of the Jean Nicod Prize! This prize is awarded annually in Paris to "a leading philosopher of mind or
philosophically oriented cognitive scientist." As the Jean Nicod Lecturer, Professor Egan will begin giving
her lectures in Paris, France in 2021. Egan is the fourth member of Rutgers University to receive this esteemed award, alongside Jerry Fodor, the first winner in 1993, Zenon Pylyshyn in 2004, and Stephen
Stich in 2007.

Rutgers Professor of Philosophy and CogSci Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

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Published: Sunday, 03 May 2020 13:46

Congratulations to Susanna Schellenberg, Professor of Philosophy and Cog Sci at RU, who has recently been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship! This prestigious grant is awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Currently, Schellenberg is working on a book on the neural basis of perception along with a project regarding biased algorithms in AI.

Pooja Kansagra, the new Cognitive Science Club President for 2020-2021!

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Published: Sunday, 03 May 2020 13:12

Pooja shares some words on her new position as the Cognitive Science Club President: "I’m super excited
for the Cognitive Science Club this year - our incoming executive board members are extremely brilliant
and passionate about making this club grow even more. During quarantine, we’ve had online guest-speaker meetings and we have plans to continue to be active in the summer, something we’ve never done before! This school year, we have plans to not only have guest-speaker events, but also to host more pre-professional events with career/interview advice, free headshots, corporate trips, and resume critiquing!
We are so thrilled to plan our club’s future events and we welcome all students from any major."

RuCCS Affiliate, Victoria Abraira receives a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke KO1 for 1.22 Million over 5 years

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Published: Friday, 21 February 2020 12:25

A new technological framework for uncovering the neural systems important for recovery after spinal cord injury.

Abstract: Interventions that increase plasticity and regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI) are improving, but little is known about the neural systems that would be most effective to target such interventions. Our work both identifies the neural cell types and synaptic mechanisms that would be most effective to target such interventions and establishes an artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform for fast, reliable and unbiased quantification of motor recovery. Our experimental scrutiny at both the neural and behavioral levels establishes a critical foundation for developing a prominent research program studying the spinal cord circuits important for sensorimotor function and recovery following SCI.

Abraira Lab