Monica Rosenberg one of 5 UChicago scientists awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowships
This is an excerpt of an article originally published by UChicago News. Read the full story on their site here.
Early-career scholars honored for innovative research in economics, statistics, sciences
Five University of Chicago scholars have earned prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships, which recognize early-career scholars’ potential to make substantial contributions to their fields.
Awarded since 1955 to the brightest young scientists across the United States and Canada, the two-year Sloan Fellowships are one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early-career researchers. This year’s winners, announced Feb. 15, will receive two-year fellowships in the amount of $75,000 to further their innovative research.
Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, 204 scientists from the University of Chicago have received a Sloan Research Fellowship (including this year’s winners).
Monica Rosenberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology whose research explores how we pay attention and how insights from attention research can help improve focus.
Her work has centered on individuals’ unique patterns of brain activity, and what they tell us about the nature of the brain and mind. Her lab uses functional MRI, behavioral experiments, and machine learning methods to investigate how attention differs between individuals, changes over time, and interacts with processes including learning and memory.
The lab has found that even data collected while a person is simply resting in an MRI scanner (and not completing a task) can be used to predict aspects of their behavior, including how well they pay attention and remember information. A recent study explored how people’s attention fluctuates as they take in narratives, finding that they tend to be more engaged during emotionally intense parts of the plot.
Rosenberg joined UChicago in 2019 after completing her Ph.D. and postdoctoral work in psychology at Yale University, and her undergraduate degree in cognitive neuroscience at Brown University.
Read the full list of fellows here.