Inaugural Grabosky Lecture to Feature Marina Bedny on November 3
Bedny’s work in the fields of psychology and neuroscience places her among future-generation leaders in STEM.
By Sarah Steimer
The Grabosky Neuroscience and Psychology Lecture, funded by a bequeathed gift from Marylyn C. Grabosky, MAT’72, is set to highlight the impact of research by women and inspire a new, diverse generation of STEM researchers. In its inaugural year, the event will feature Marina Bedny, an associate professor from Johns Hopkins University whose research in the field of psychology and neuroscience addresses the role that experience plays in the development of the human mind and the brain.
Leslie M. Kay, professor in the Department of Psychology, says the goal of the lecture is to not only support those students who represent the future of women in science, but to also further the careers of researchers invited to speak, offering them a platform to present their work and to meet with faculty and students during their visit. The lecturers in the series will be mid-career, future-generation leaders, and the series itself aims to attract undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds and cultivate their interest in STEM and STEM-related disciplines
Bedny’s research focuses on how developmental experience affects the human mind and brain, exploring the role of experience in structuring concepts of events, objects, and mental states. She’s studied cortex changes in response to experience via language use and activity in brains, particularly in people with different types of vision. Her lab has studied people who are normal-sighted, people who have been blind since birth, and those who became blind later in life. Her research has uncovered that, in people who have been blind from birth, their visual cortex is involved in much of what would not typically be thought of as vision, but more about meaning, language, and other types of stimuli. “It’s really at the cutting edge of how we're starting to think about brains as meaning machines, rather than static computers that are simply receiving information,” Kay says.
“Professor Bedny has increasingly high-profile work, you can really see the momentum of her career as it's taking off,” Kay says. “The goal of the gift was to inspire and support women in STEM and women in neuroscience and psychology, in particular, through this lecture. I think it will accomplish all of that, and she’ll be a role model for what is great in science.”
Grabosky, the event’s namesake, was an educator and supporter of women’s rights and advocacy groups. She passed away on Dec. 4, 2021.
The lecture will be held at 3:30 PM on Thursday, November 3, at the University of Chicago’s David Rubenstein Form (1201 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637). A reception will follow. Registration will be requested, and livestreaming will be available; please revisit this page in October for the registration link and further information.