Preview of Neuroscience 2013
Planning is underway for Neuroscience 2013, scheduled for November 9-13th in San Diego. The SfN annual meeting is an unmatched venue for scientific exchange, networking, and learning. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to mark your calendar and plan to attend!
Dialogues Speaker Announced
One perennial highlight of the meeting is the Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society series, which opens the meeting. This year SfN President Larry Swanson selected Ed Catmull, president of the Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, to speak on “Creativity in the Movies.” As someone whose work has fostered collaborations across artistic and technological disciplines and who has overseen innovative creative endeavors for more than three decades, Catmull’s remarks on creativity and the mind will be an invaluable contribution to the neuroscience field.
The Dialogues series offers a unique chance to explore the intersection of neuroscience and the human experience with prominent individuals. Past speakers have included the Dalai Lama, actress Glenn Close, architect Frank Gehry, and the choreographer Mark Morris.
Catmull earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Utah and later was awarded an honorary PhD in engineering. He received five Academy Awards and the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the motion picture industry for his work in computer graphics.
Prior to joining Pixar, Catmull was vice president of the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he managed the development of computer graphics, video games, and editing and digital audio.
Presidential Special Lecture Series
A second highlight of the annual meeting is the Presidential Special Lecture Series. Swanson’s emphasis for 2013 is “Reinventing Systems Neuroscience: The Functional Connectome.” Lecture speakers will be:
Scott W. Emmons, professor in the department of genetics and the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience. Emmons occupies the Siegfried Ullmann Chair of Molecular Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. He studies the formation and function of complex neural circuits and will address the C. elegans functional connectome.
Jeff Lichtman, professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University. He studies the physical underpinning of long-term memory. In particular, Lichtman writes in his faculty bio, “I am interested in the way in which experience instantiates itself into the physical structure of neural circuits.” Lichtman’s topic will be “Toward the Mouse Connectome.”
Gerald M. Rubin, vice president and executive director of Janelia Farm Research Campus. His laboratory focuses on the development of new tools to study the structure and function of the nervous system of the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly. Rubin earned a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge and is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the (UK) Royal Society. Rubin’s topic at Neuroscience 2013 will be the functional connectome of Drosophila.
Doris Tsao, assistant professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology. She earned her doctoral degree from Harvard University. Tsao’s research focuses on gaining an increased understanding of how we know what we are looking at, how we identify objects, and what neural mechanism enables us to see three-dimensional space. Her presentation will address the topic “Systems Organization of the Monkey-Human Cerebral Cortex.”
Kavli Public Symposium
Another outstanding feature of Neuroscience 2013 will be the Fred Kavli Public Symposium, supported by The Kavli Foundation, an integral component of the annual meeting for the past two years. The Foundation is a private organization based in Oxnard, California that promotes an enhanced public understanding of science issues and supports scientists and their research for the benefit of humanity.
The Symposium’s theme will be “Creativity and the Brain.” Antonio Damasio, Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, will moderate the panel, which will include several noted scientists. Members of the public will join the neuroscience community in the audience for a spirited discussion and Q&A follow-up.
Start Planning Today
Start making plans now for Neuroscience 2013. These speakers are just a sampling of the hundreds of presentations, forums, and discussions being planned for Neuroscience 2013.
Neuroscience 2013 will be an extraordinary opportunity to meet and share information with others in your field, learn the latest science and research in other areas of neuroscience, explore professional development and public outreach events, and build your network of peers, colleagues, and friends. Don’t miss out! Registration opens in July. Check out Neuroscience 2013 in the Annual Meeting section of SfN.org for more information.
