Who's Coming

UMR 7023 CNRS, France

Asaf is a researcher in the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Paris. Trained in formal linguistics and cognitive neuroscience (PhD MIT), Asaf’s research has focused over the last 10 years on dance performance and spectating, collective improvisation and group creativity. His research brings together experimental protocols from the cognitive sciences, physiological measures and experiential reports. His most recent project makes use of shared virtual reality. For Asaf, dance and improvisation are not objects of scientific investigation bur rather tools or epistemological framework for the study of cognition and intersubjectivity. He has organized a number of international transdciplinary events around dance and improvisation. Since 2018 Asaf is a member of the eur ArTec executive committee. ArTec is a new graduate program in research-creation based in Paris 8 (https://eur-artec.fr/).   

Asaf practices Contact Improvisation for over 25 years and has been teaching, performing and facilitating events internationally over 20 years. He is also a certified Rolfing practitioner.

labodanse.org

Professor of Composition and Theory, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Artistic Director, Musiqa

Anthony Brandt is a Professor of Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the new music ensemble Musiqa, winner of two national awards for adventurous programming.  Dr. Brandt’s catalogue includes three chamber operas, as well as orchestral, chamber, vocal, theater, dance, and television scores.  Dr. Brandt and neuroscientist David Eagleman have co-authored The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, which has been published in thirteen countries and inspired the Netflix documentary The Creative Brain.  Dr. Brandt writes frequently about music cognition and creativity, and is currently a co-investigator in two neuroimaging studies involving music. 

McMaster University

Steven Brown is the director of the NeuroArts Lab in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and associated with the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind and the LIVE Lab. The lab is devoted to developing a holistic understanding of the neural, cognitive and evolutionary foundations of the arts, creativity, and aesthetics, including: music, dance, the dramatic arts, the visual arts. A unique evolutionary focus of the lab is a revival of comparative musicology studies, including an exploration of the geography and cultural evolution of world musical styles.

Website

Assistant Professor, Human Development and Family Studies/Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences, Director of the BRAiN lab, Colorado State University, USA 

Aga Burzynska holds degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology from International Max Planck Research Schools in Gottingen and Berlin, Germany. She studies brain aging using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, with a focus on the mechanisms of decline and plasticity in the white matter. She investigates the potential of exercise interventions, including dance, for maintaining or improving brain health to prevent dementia. She has also studied the structural and functional brain correlates of professional dance training in young adults. Overall, her work seeks to identify modifiable risk and protective factors for brain aging, which include physical activity, sedentariness, and different occupational exposures. 

Reader in Cognitive Neuroscience. City, University of London (UK)

Beatriz Calvo-Merino is a cognitive neuroscientist trained at University College London and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Her research focuses on understanding the influence of observer’s visual and motor experience in action, emotion and aesthetic perception. Collaborations with dancers are core element of her research. In 2018 she received the Baumgarten Award for her contributions to the field, from the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. In 2020 she won the early career prize awarded by the British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience. She is currently director of the postgraduate programmes MSc Clinical Social and Cognitive Neuroscience and PhD Psychology and Social Neuroscience at City, University of London.

Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt

Julia F Christensen is a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany, and author of Tanzen Ist Die Beste Medizin (2018), or ‘Dance is the Best Medicine’, forthcoming in English in 2022.

Website

Cambridge University

Professor Nicky Clayton FRS is the Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Nanging University’s Institute of Technology, Beijing University of Language and Culture and Honorary Professor at Hangzhou Diangi University, China. She is interested in the processes of thinking with and without words, and comparisons between the cognitive abilities of corvids, cephalopods and children. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2010. She is also Scientist-in-Residence at Rambert (formerly Ballet Rambert), a position held since 2011. Her H index is 84.

(Chair)
Neuroengineer and pioneer in development of brain-machine interfaces for rehabilitation and restoration of movement and brain-art interfaces;
Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston;
Full Affiliate, Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute;
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sciences and Engineering, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
Director, Human-Machine Interface Systems, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR), Memorial Hermann, Houston, Texas

Dr. Pepe Contreras-Vidal is Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) at the University of Houston. He was a visiting Professor at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, France; and has been a Fellow of the City of Paris (France), the Human Frontiers Science Program (Switzerland), NATO (Trieste), and the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). Dr. Contreras-Vidal was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for significant contributions to medical and biological engineering, including contributions to brain-machine interfaces (BMI) and wearable exoskeletons to restore motor function in individuals with spinal cord injury, stroke and other movement disabilities. His work at the nexus of art and science is opening new windows to study the neural basis of aesthetic perception and creativity in children and adults, and the development of innovative brain-art interfaces. His laboratory for Non-invasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems has collaborated with professional dancers, musicians, creative writers, film directors, visual and other performing artists to understand the brain response to the arts and creativity, while developing artistic neural interfaces. In addition to the current LiveWire collaboration, Dr. Contreras-Vidal is collaborating with visual abstract artist Geraldine Interiano Wise at the intersection of artificial intelligence, art and neuroengineering.

Dr. Contreras-Vidal have edited the book Mobile Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation and Creativity to identify the challenges and opportunities for engaging the creative arts, design practices, science, engineering and technology to promote creativity and innovation leading to novel approaches to solving complex challenges in science, education and medicine. Dr. Contreras-Vidal is a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research (NABMRR) and his research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Mission Connect – A TIRR Foundation, the Houston Methodist Foundation, the Cullen Foundation, the University of Houston Technology Gap Fund, industry, and philanthropy. His research has appeared in The Economist, Nature, Der Spiegel, NPR, Scientific American, and Wall Street Journal among others.

Faculty Website
University of Houston Brain-Machine Interface Systems Team

Hanne De Jaegher is a philosopher of mind and of cognitive science. Her very first interest was in what thinking is and how it works. Early on, she realized that for understanding this, I needed to investigate how we think and play together. Now, she investigates the connections between how we interact, how we understand each other, how we understand the world (together), and how all that makes us who we are. Broadly, she is interested in studying the role of social interaction processes in subjectivity and intersubjectivity.

Website

Université de Montréal

Guillaume Dumas is an Assistant Professor of Computational Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal, and the Principle Investigator of the Precision Psychiatry and Social Physiology laboratory at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. He holds the IVADO professorship for “AI in Mental Health”, and the FRQS J1 in “AI and Digital Health”.

Website

Professor of Science & Technology Studies, and of Anthropology at the University of California Davis

Joseph Dumit is Director of the Institute for Social Sciences, Chair of Performance Studies, and Professor of Science & Technology Studies, and of Anthropology at the University of California Davis. He is co-founder of the ModLab for game studies and game development (currently making a game on fracking), working with the KeckCAVES on 3D development for science and the arts, and developing a new "data studies" program for undergraduates. His most recent book is on pharmaceutical marketing and clinical trials called Drugs for Life: How Pharmaceutical Companies Define Our Health (Duke University Press, 2012). Previously he wrote about neuroscientists making brain images, Picturing Personhood: Brain Scans and Biomedical Identity (Princeton University Press, 2004), and co-edited three books: with Gary Lee Downey, Cyborgs & Citadels: Anthropological Interventions in Emerging Sciences and Technologies; with Robbie Davis-Floyd, Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots, and with Regula Burri, Biomedicine as Culture. He was an editor of the journal Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry. He is currently writing about flowcharts, neuroscience and computers; movement and improvisation; and social science methods. More detail here: http://dumit.net/joe/ and cv here: http://dumit.net/cv/

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D., is Director of the Division of Extramural Research of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). In that capacity, she is responsible for development of scientific programs or areas of science that fulfill NCCIH’s mission as well as planning, implementation, and policy. Prior to joining NCCIH, Dr. Edwards served as Deputy Director of the Extramural Program at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 

Before coming to NIH, Dr. Edwards earned her Ph.D. in Neurochemistry from Fordham University, did postdoctoral research in behavioral pharmacology and neuroscience at the State University of New York, and was a tenured associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland. Her research there focused on the neural mechanisms of complex behaviors and characterization of a genetic model of affective disorders. She also served as chair of the Graduate Studies and Research Committee and as a member of the Dean’s Executive Council at the University of Maryland.

Currently, Dr. Edwards is chair of Women in World Neuroscience (WWN), an independent mentoring and networking organization with the primary mission of identifying, promoting, and implementing mentoring and networking opportunities for women neuroscientists across the world.

Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences, Rice University

Working in the area of psychoneuroimmunology, Dr. Fagundes uses theories and methods from clinical, social, and developmental health psychology to examine how stress “gets under the skin” to impact diseases of older adulthood such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline. He is also interested in how the immune system regulates neuronal function in ways that influence mood and health behaviors. He has authored more than 100 articles and book chapters. His theoretical work has focused on the adoption of attachment theory to understand how attachment security can buffer the negative consequences of current and past life stressors. He is developing theoretically-based interventions to improve the negative physical health consequences of stress. As a principal investigator, his current grant portfolio consists of two longitudinal observational studies funded by the National Institute of Health, and one clinical trial funded by the National Endowment of Arts. He is a co-investigator on two additional NIH grants using mobile health sensing technology to identify when people are most at risk for poor health behaviors. He was named a “Rising Star” by the Association of Psychological Science. He was the recipient of the Robert Ader New Investigator Award from the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, the Neal E. Miller New Investigator Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the Excellence in Health Psychology Research Award by an Early Career Professional from Division 38 of the American Psychological Association, and the Herbert Weiner Early Career Award from the American Psychosomatic Society.

Forum Dança, Lisboa, Portugal

João Fiadeiro belongs to the generation of choreographers that emerged towards the end of the 1980s and, following the American post-modern movement as well as the French and Belgian Nouvelle Danse movements, gave rise to the Nova Dança Portuguesa [New Portuguese Dance]. A large part of his education and training was carried out between Lisbon, New York and Berlin. He then joined the Companhia de Dança de Lisboa [Lisbon Dance Company] (1986-88) and the Gulbenkian Ballet (1989-90).

In 1990 he founded the RE.AL Company that supported the creation and diffusion of his own shows, regularly presented all over Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and South America, and also represented and coached emerging artists, as well as transdisciplinar artists during the LAB/Projectos em movimento [LAB/Moving Projects].

In 2008 he suspended his activity as a choreographer and author, turning his focus to projects where the process – opposing to the product – becomes the central object, a shift that conditioned his activity and the program developed by Atelier Real, the structure of which he is the artistic director.

The Real Time Composition method, that was first designed to support the writing and the dramaturgical composition of his works, has in the meanwhile become a theoretical-practical tool and platform to understand and rethink decision, representation and cooperation, both in art and in life. This research develops in cooperation with many other disciplines, such as economy, neurobiology and complex systems sciences, and it has lead João Fiadeiro to coordinate workshops in Masters and PhDs in several national and international schools and universities.

https://joaofiadeiro.pt/

Center of Logic, Epistemology and History of Science, at the State University of Campinas (CLE- Unicamp), in Brazil

I'm a Brazilian philosopher working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center of Logic, Epistemology and History of Science, at the State University of Campinas (CLE- Unicamp), in Brazil.  My academic history is mainly on the Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Neuroscience, Metaphilosophy and Epistemology. My current research focus is on the Philosophy of Mind, more specifically on Enactivism and Language. I've been working on developments of Enactivism regarding its ontology, its conception of language and its consequences to epistemology, and on gender related social interactions under an enactive perspective. My work on enactivism and language is building on improvisational practices to better understand participatory sense-making and on the evolution of sign using. Previously, I've worked on the Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo - FFLCH-USP, and as a visiting researcher at the Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics - CINN, at the University of Reading, in the United Kingdom. I also take part in initiatives to promote the work of women philosophers and to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research. 

https://sites.google.com/view/naramfigueiredo/

University of Vienna

Tecumseh Fitch is trained as a biologist and cognitive scientist, and is an expert in acoustic communication in vertebrates. He performs experimental work with species including humans, fish, birds, reptiles and mammals, and works in both the lab and the field. After a post-doc at MIT, Fitch taught at Harvard (US) and St Andrews (UK), before joining the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna as a professor in June 2009. Fitch's research has two main strands: his work in bioacoustics has focused on understanding the mechanisms of vertebrate vocal production, and on using this understanding to generate realistic synthetic vocal stimuli for field and laboratory playback experiments. His work in biolinguistics and biomusicology has focused on the evolution of human speech, music and language, using the comparative approach to determine which mechanisms underlying these human faculties are shared with other species.

Website

Program Manager, Cognitive Neuroscience Program, SBE Directorate, National Science Foundation | Visiting Scholar, Center for Neural Science, New York University

Jonathan Fritz received undergraduate degrees in Mathematics from York University (Canada) and in Physiology, Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University (England) and his PhD in Neuroscience at Brown University studying the neural basis of echolocation. His postdoctoral research at NIH was on acoustic communication and auditory memory. He joined Shihab Shamma in the Neural Systems Laboratory at the University of Maryland from 2000-2019 where his work focused on the role of neural plasticity in auditory perception, attention, learning and memory. He joined the National Science Foundation as a Program Manager in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2020. Although he has never engaged in research on the neurobiology of dance, he has always been fascinated by the expressiveness and joy of dance and creative movement, danced in two performing folkdance groups in graduate school, and has enthusiastically contributed to organization of this Workshop.

Associate Professor of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology

Research Health Scientist
Atlanta VA Health Care System, Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation

Investigator, Birmingham/Atlanta VA GRECC

Dr. Madeleine E. Hackney, Ph.D, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and Associate professor of Medicine, in the division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Hackney aims to optimize physical rehabilitative strategies, in terms of movement pattern and timing, dosage, duration, intensity and the role of a partner to enhance balance, mobility and quality of life for older adults with movement disorders. She believes better understanding of neural mechanisms underlying rehabilitative strategies will further these goals. She has received funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the NIH, the NSF, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Parkinson Foundation and the CDC. She frequently reviews grant applications for the VA and the NIH, and recently revised for the National Endowment for the Arts. Her research has received media coverage in the New York Times, Scientific American, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, National Public Radio and in Musicophilia, by Oliver Sachs. Dr. Hackney has presented her work about exercise and dance for those with PD and older adults nationally and internationally, including at the Karolinska Institute Nobel Forum, in Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, and Kyoto. Recently she presented webinars for conferences in Italy and Denmark. She was awarded the Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lectureship from the Fulbright Foundation in 2016. 

Chief, Human Motor Control Section, NINDS, NIH

Dr. Hallett is an NIH Distinguished Investigator and the Chief of the Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda. He is currently past President of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology and the President of the newly founded Functional Neurological Disorder Society.  His work mainly deals with principles of motor control and the pathophysiology of movement disorders.  He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Dance for Parkinson Disease. 

Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & University of Sydney

Kristina Höök is a professor in Interaction Design at KTH (and I used to be the director of the Mobile Life centre). Her research interests include affective interaction, somaesthetic design, internet of things and anything that makes life with technology more meaningful, enjoyable, creative and aesthetically appealing.

Website

Rebecca E. Shaw Professor and Director,
Memory Counseling Program,
Section on Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine,
Wake Forest University

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Professor, The Rockefeller University

Jarvis, PhD is the head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language and professor at The Rockefeller University. He is also a scientific investigator with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Dr. Jarvis uses song-learning birds and other species as models to study the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie vocal learning, including how humans learn spoken language. He is interested in how their brains, and ours, have evolved to produce this complex behavior. Dr. Jarvis is the recipient of key awards and honors for his achievements, including one of the highest awards given by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- the NIH Director's Pioneer Award, and one of the highest given by the National Science Foundation (NSF) -- the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award.

Professor of Cognitive Science & Director of Research, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia

Peter Keller holds degrees in Music and Psychology from the University of New South Wales in Australia. He is Professor of Cognitive Science and Director of Research in the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development at Western Sydney University. Previously, he led a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig, Germany), held a European Institutes for Advanced Study Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and served as Editor of the interdisciplinary journal ‘Empirical Musicology Review.’ His research addresses the psychological and neurophysiological underpinnings of human interaction in musical contexts.

The Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication at the Italian Institute of Technology

Julien Laroche, PhD, is a psychologist, a researcher in cognitive sciences, and a musician. For the past 2 decades, he has been creating a circulation between his scientific experiments and his artistic experiences, whether in academia, in the industry or on stage. He works across disciplines with a core interest in the dynamics of interaction between persons and the coordination of their movements. He more particularly focused on music and dance contexts, and more especially on improvisation as a privileged window on creative processes. He currently holds a post-doc position at the Italian Institute of Technology, at the Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication in Ferrara.

Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden & University of Sydney

Lian Loke is Head of Design at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Lian teaches design thinking, interaction design and design research in the Bachelor of Design Computing and Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts, and coordinates research training for Higher Degree by Research students. She is a member of the Design Lab, the Affective Interactions Lab and the Urban Interfaces Lab.

Website

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Citlali López-Ortiz received a BS-Physics from UNAM, MA in Dance-Biomechanics, from SUNY-Brockport, and a PhD in Kinesiology-Biomechanics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her postdoc at Northwestern University (NIH-NRSA T32/F32) focused on the pathophysiology of movement disorders. She holds a Classical Ballet Teacher Certification from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She has been a Research Scientist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation/Northwestern University, Teaching Artist at the Joffrey Ballet Academy, and Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign She founded and directs the NeurDanceLab LLC.

Assistant Professor of Dance Science, Department of Music & Dance, College of Humanities & Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dr. McCullough studies human activity, especially dance, in relation to health across the lifespan. He develops, programs, and evaluates methods/signal processing algorithms for measuring human activity using sensors (cameras, wearable devices, and others). Dually, he implements qualitative research frameworks to better understand the perceived benefits of dance on health. McCullough directs Laboratory for the Scientific Study of Dance (LAB:SYNC) at UMass Amherst, and LAB:SYNC serves as an appointed Research Lab for the National Endowment for the Arts. McCullough is a contemporary/improvisational dancer and dancemaker who has performed, and created original works, live and on film in the US and abroad.

Ph.D. & M.Phil., Kinesiology, Columbia University; M.S., Applied Statistics, Columbia University Teachers College; M.A., Dance Education, New York University; B.A., Liberal Arts, Sarah Lawrence College; Diploma, Dance Studies, Laban Dance Conservatoire; NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Centre for the Science of the Creative and Performing Arts, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London

I am a cognitive neuroscientist and dancer studying human movement, applying principles from dance and choreography to study how the brain works. I studied performing dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts and Psychology at the University of Düsseldorf, both in Germany. After completion of my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience on the neural correlates of sound meaning, I joined German Dance Company NEUER TANZ/VA WÖLFL as a full-time performer. Since 2009, I have lived and worked in London, first as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL before becoming a Lecturer in Psychology at Brunel University, London. I joined the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths in 2015. Currently, I am Principal Investigator of NEUROLIVE, a 5-year EU-funded research project studying live experiences in dance and the performing arts more generally. I am also Co-Director of the MSc in Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics and Creativity at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Professor of Psychology, Tufts University

Aniruddh (Ani) Patel is a Professor of Psychology at Tufts University, where he studies the cognitive, neural, and evolutionary foundations of musicality.  His areas of emphasis include music-language relations (the topic of his 2008 book, Music, Language, and the Brain, Oxford Univ. Press) rhythmic processing, and cross-species studies of music cognition. A wide variety of methods are used in this research, including brain imaging, behavioral experiments, theoretical analyses, acoustic research, and comparative studies with nonhuman animals.  Dr. Patel is a Fellow in the Brain, Mind, and Consciousness program in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).

Professor in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University and a founding member of the Montreal Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound (BRAMS)

Dr. Penhune received her BA degree in Philosophy from Wellesley College in 1981.  Upon realizing that the brain could be more fruitfully studied from the laboratory than from an armchair, she completed a PhD in Psychology at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Michael Petrides.  Her doctoral research examined interhemispheric differences in the anatomy of auditory cortex and the neural basis of rhythm perception and production.  She then pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Laval University with Dr. Julien Doyon focused on the neural basis of motor sequence learning.  Dr. Penhune joined the Department of Psychology at Concordia University in 2000.

The research in Dr. Penhune’s laboratory explores the neural basis of human motor skill learning and performance, with an emphasis on the impact of development and expertise.  She uses structural and functional neuroimaging techniques to examine the brain networks involved in learning, and to explore auditory-motor integration in the context of the perception and production of rhythm and melody.  This research program takes a broad developmental perspective, including studies in children and older adults, as well as individuals with musical training.  Important current lines of research include investigating the neural basis of auditory-motor interactions, the impact of early musical training on behaviour and brain structure, and transfer from music training to language skills. Her research on dance has focused on the impact of long-term dance training on brain structure and connectivity.

Work in Dr. Penhune’s lab is funded by both national and provincial agencies, including the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Fonds de recherche du Québec and the Grammy Foundation.

Website: http://www-psychology.concordia.ca/fac/penhune/Index.html

New York University & Ernst Struengmann Institute for Neuroscience

 David Poeppel is the Scientific Director of the Ernst Struengmann Institute for Neuroscience Frankfurt, Germany and a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU. Trained at MIT in cognitive science, linguistics, and neuroscience, Poeppel did his post-doctoral training at the University of California San Francisco, where he focused on functional brain imaging. Until 2008, he was a professor at the University of Maryland College Park, where he ran the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language laboratory. He has been a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Studies Berlin), the American Academy Berlin, and a guest professor at numerous institutions. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland College Park, MD, USA, and Département d'études cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL, Paris, France

Shihab Shamma has been conducting research in auditory perception and cognition, cortical physiology, role of attention and behavior in learning and plasticity, computational neuroscience, and neuromorphic engineering. One focus has been on studying the neurophysiology and computational principles underlying the processing and recognition of complex sounds such as speech and music in the auditory system, and the way sensorimotor interactions facilitate learning and development of complex behaviors. He has also been developing and applying signal processing algorithms inspired by neural processing in systems ranging from music and speech representation, to diagnostics in industrial manufacturing, to aVLSI neuromorphic implementations.

Associate Provost for the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives; Associate Professor of Dance, Wake Forest University

Since 2012, Christina has regularly taught a community dance class in Winston-Salem, NC to people living with Parkinson’s Disease and their carepartners, and has been involved in three scientific studies that look at the ways improvisational dance can help the mobility and balance of people living with neurodegenerative disease. She has received funding from the National Parkinson Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, and most recently the NIH to conduct a randomized clinical trial, testing her improvisational dance method in a community of adults living with Mild Cognitive Impairment and their care partners. Her published work has appeared in the Journal of Dance Education, Research in Dance Education, Dance Magazine, Theatre Journal, the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, The Journal of Physical and Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics and Frontiers in Neurology. In her role as an associate provost, she is working with colleagues across the university to enhance the visibility of the arts at and beyond Wake Forest, and help forge interdisciplinary connections with many community partners. She is also very involved in an annual, interdisciplinary symposium: Wake Forest’s Aging Re-Imagined, which brings together the work of artists and scientists around the topic of Healthy Aging.

Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil

Pós-Doutorado em Psiquiatria e Psicologia Médica, pela Universidade Federal de São Paulo (2018). Doutora e Mestre em Ciências da Saúde pela Universidade Federal de Sergipe (2014-2010). Especialista em Biomecânica e Cinesioterapia Funcional (2006) e graduação em Fisioterapia pela Universidade Tiradentes (2004). Técnica em Locução e Radiodifusão pela Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (UFESBA) (2000). Bailarina Profissional e coreógrafa pelo Sindicato dos Artistas e Técnicos em Espetáculos de Diversões do Estado de Sergipe (SATED/SE) (1992). Atualmente é professora adjunta do Departamento de Educação em Saúde da Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Rede Nacional para o Ensino de Ciências Ambientais (PROFCIAMB). Chefe da Divisão Acadêmica do Campus de Lagarto (UFS). Coordenadora da unidade receptora do Programa de Doutorado Interinstitucional em Artes Cênicas entre UFS e USP. É pesquisadora e colaboradora nos seguintes grupos de pesquisa: Dor e Motricidade (LAPENE - Laboratório de Pesquisa em Neurociência) e Núcleo de Pesquisa de Atenção Primária em Saúde. É membro da Associação Brasileira de Fisioterapia Neurofuncional (ABRAFIN) e da American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). Tem experiência nas áreas de educação neurofuncional e dança, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: consciência e educação corporal, dança, fisioterapia e pessoas com deficiência.

Website

McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Tech
Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy, Emory University
Co-Director, GaTech and Emory Neural Engineering Centers

Lena Ting directs the Neuromechanical Laboratory at Emory University, focusing on complex, whole body movements such as walking and balance in healthy and neurologically impaired individuals, as well as skilled movements involved in dance and sport. Her work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from neuroscience, biomechanics, rehabilitation, computation, robotics, and physiology. Her lab has developed several computational methods to characterize and understand individual differences in movement and movement control, and how these change in neurological disorders, as well as with rehabilitation and training.

Program Director, National Science Foundation

Betty Tuller is Director of the Perception, Action, and Cognition Program at the National Science Foundation. Previously, she was a Professor at Florida Atlantic University. Her major research interests lie in understanding the dynamics of language, movement, and cognitive systems. Tuller is an elected fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Psychonomic Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received a Professorial Excellence Award from the State of Florida. She is also a long-time patron of dance and always dances when no one is watching.

Harvard Medical School

Peter Wayne, PhD is the Bernard Osher Associate Professor of Medicine in the Field of Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and serves as the Director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a researcher and practitioner in the field of integrative medicine. The primary focus of Dr. Wayne’s research is evaluating how mind-body and related integrative medicine practices clinically impact aging and chronic health conditions, and understanding the physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying observed therapeutic effects. He has served as a principal or co-investigator on more than 25 NIH-funded studies. His research has evaluated the impact of therapies such as Tai Chi, acupuncture and chiropractic on diverse medical issues including balance disorders, Parkinson’s disease, heart failure, cancer, back and neck pain, migraine headaches and healthy aging. Dr. Wayne has more than 40 years of training experience in Tai Chi and Qigong, and is an internationally recognized teacher of these practices. He is author of the Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, which received an Award of Excellence in Medical Communication by the American Medical Writers Association.

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The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, PhD, MFA connects health science to the creative arts at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Seeking to make sensorimotor recovery following central nervous system injury more engaging, data-driven, and evidence-based, Worthen-Chaudhari applies principles from dance, biomechanics, and motor learning to improve human neurorecovery. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and has been commercialized by Columbus-based start-up, Rekovo.

A former professional contemporary dancer, Worthen-Chaudhari is an Assistant Professor in OSU’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Director of Dodd Hall's Motion Analysis and Recovery Biomechanics Laboratory (MARBL). She is a faculty affiliate of OSU's Neurological Institute and Chronic Brain Injury Discovery Themes Initiative. Worthen-Chaudhari has served in leadership roles for the American Society of Biomechanics (Program Committee) and The American College of Rehabilitation Medicine (founding member of the Arts & Neuroscience Networking group) and teaches within the OSU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.