Undergraduate students in the Lehigh Valley and beyond will showcase their research at the 30th annual Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC) Undergraduate Psychology Conference, held jointly as Lehigh University hosts the sixth annual Lehigh Valley Society for Neuroscience (LVSfN) Undergraduate Research conference, April 25, 2015 at Lehigh University’s Rauch Business Center.
The psychology conference will include poster sessions as well as individual talk sessions in different areas of cognitive psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology and many more, this way they will get a real range of student interest reflected in the program. The papers and posters will report the results of empirical, data-based studies designed to contribute to basic or applied research.
Students from across Pennsylvania will attend the conference. Kate Arrington, associate professor of psychology, said the communication across the different schools in the Lehigh valley is particularly exciting.
“Our talk sessions have students from multiple colleges so they can see what their fellow students at other institutions are interested in researching,” she said.
Arrington added that students will develop presentation skills in a way that will allow them to capture their excitement about the research and convey that to a boarder audience.
Dr. Jonathan Cohen, a cognitive and computational neuroscientist from Princeton University will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Cohen explores cognitive control issues, examining brain activity and how it supports control processes and decision-making. This is the first year that the speaker has served for both conferences.
“I think he will really have the ability to bridge the gap between the two different conferences in a way that is engaging for everyone who is involved,” said Arrington.
Arrington said she has been working closely with Jennifer Swann, professor of the biological sciences and coordinator of the neuroscience conference, to integrate the conferences more this year than they have been in the past.
Additionally, Arrington has provided coordination with LVSfN to combine the two efforts. This chapter has many members from schools in the area and officers at Moravian College and Cedar Crest College.
“Lehigh is very excited to be welcoming the students and faculty from our fellow institutions in the Valley to our campus and we are hoping for a very engaging and thought provoking day for our students,” said Arrington.
-Christina Holden '15
