Neuroscience Director Paul Katz with his dogs.

November is a glorious month in Amherst. The leaves are in full color, the air is crisp, and research is in full swing. We have three really exciting Neuroengineering seminars this month including a Distinguished Lecture by Ed Boyden of MIT, the co-inventor of optogenetics and the Alexander Lecture by Michael Dickinson of CalTech. The renovations on the new Neuroscience wing of Morrill Science Center are now complete. Check out the pictures and story. There are many exciting new projects in the works. We received the green light from UMass to submit a proposal for a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT). Our proposal will work in the new spirit of NSF to help integrate neuroscience more closely with evolutionary biology and engineering.

RUBBERBANDance group

On Nov 19 at 6:30 in the lobby of the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, I will be participating in a disucssion prior to the performance of RUBBERBANDance Group: Ever So Slightly. The plan is to talk about the nature of time as it relates to the brain. Studying sea slugs, which are very slow has made me think about how our perception of time is determined by the processes in our brain.

Finally, to enhance communication in the neuroscience community, we started a Slack workspace. You can sign up at https://umassneuroscience.slack.com. Feel free to create channels for working together with other UMass scientists.

Enjoy the fall weather!

NSB students out apple picking