Olivia DrakeThirteen Wesleyan faculty are rated among the top 1% most-cited researchers worldwide, according to a recent study by PLOS Biology. The study, led by Professor John Ioannidis from Stanford University, combines several different metrics to systematically rank the most influential scientists as measured by citations. More than six million scientists, who were actively working between 1996 and 2018, were analyzed for the project. The faculty include: David Beveridge, Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, emeritus Fred Cohan, Huffington Foundation Professor in the College of the Environment, professor of biology Mark Hovey, professor of mathematics, associate provost for…
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Two Wesleyan faculty received a $492,410 Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15) from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) to support their study titled “Comparing Cognitive Remediation Approaches for Schizophrenia.” R15 awards provide funding for small-scale, new, or ongoing health-related meritorious research projects, enhancing the research environment at eligible institutions and exposing students to research opportunities. The R15 principal investigator Matthew Kurtz, professor of psychology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, and R15 co-investigator Jennifer Rose, professor of the practice and director of the Center for Pedagogical Innovation, will work with a group of Wesleyan undergraduates for the duration of the…
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, traveled to Gujarat, India in March to work with The MINDS Foundation. The organization provides mental health services to rural regions of the developing world. While in India, Kurtz joined Lennox Byer ’12, director of programs, to enhance current programming and develop a social/vocational skills rehabilitation program for patients. Kurtz is developing this program using his research experience gained through social skills training programs he has developed for patients with Schizophrenia in Connecticut. Kurtz is a MINDS Foundation board member. The MINDS Foundation was founded in 2010 by…
Bill FisherIn this video, Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior, talks about his research on cognitive remediation - one of several newer psychological treatments for schizophrenia. He discusses the promising results he and his Wesleyan students have observed working with patients at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn. #THISISWHY [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7j2_94Jno[/youtube]
Lauren RubensteinMatthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, has published an article in the March 2013 issue of Scientific American Mind magazine. Kurtz, who studies schizophrenia, writes about the less-well-known symptoms of the disease, which include cognitive and social deficits. These troubles make it difficult for people with schizophrenia to maintain meaningful relationships, hold jobs and live independently. Sadly, drugs used to treat the hallucinations and delusions in schizophrenia do nothing to improve patients' quality of life in these other areas. In the article, Kurtz describes some of the new psychological interventions shown to improve cognitive…
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the co-editor of a new book, Clinical Neuropsychological Foundations of Schizophrenia. The book, co-edited by Bernice Marcopulos, was published on July 11 by Psychology Press. A resource for practicing neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and neuropsychiatrists, as well as students of these disciplines, the volume provides knowledge and tools for providing professional neuropsychological services to patients with schizophrenia. It offers an overview of developmental models of schizophrenia and associated neuropathologies, and covers contemporary evidence-based assessments and interventions, including cognitive remediation and other cognitive-oriented interventions.
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, presented the “Senior Voices” baccalaureate address on May 26. I want to start by thanking the class of 2012 for inviting me to speak at this baccalaureate celebration and permitting me to be part of these festivities. I am so happy for all of you! It’s been an honor for me to see you all mature over the past 4 years, see you become more confident in your ideas and thinking, more poised and subtle in the expression of your ideas, and more skilled in interacting with those…
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, received a $104,338 grant from the National Institute for Health on Feb. 8. The grant, titled "Cognitive Remediation for Nicotine Dependence" involves adapting cognitive training procedures developed for use in schizophrenia, for addressing the temporary deficits in memory that often accompany smoking cessation in long-term users and that also predict relapse. The project, part of a collaboration between Wesleyan and the University of Pennsylvania, is lead by Dr. Caryn Lerman, director of the Tobacco Use Research Center at Penn's School of Medicine. It will help support Kurtz's work…
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the author of “Treatment approaches with a special focus on neurocognition: overview and empirical results,” published in Understanding and Treating Neuro- and Social-Cognition in Schizophrenia Patients, in 2010 and “Compensatory Strategies; Insight: Effects on Rehabilitation; Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test,” published in Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology, New York: Springer, 2010.
Wesleyan has announced the following promotions of faculty, effective July 1, 2010: Promotion with Tenure During the academic year, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees maintains an ongoing process of tenure case consideration. During its most recent review, the Board awarded tenure to one faculty member effective July 1, 2010. Michael Singer, associate professor of biology, was appointed assistant professor at Wesleyan in 2004. Previously he was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona’s Center for Insect Science, in Tucson. Singer’s research examines the evolutionary ecology of tri-trophic interactions between plants, herbivores and carnivores. In considering (more…)
Quality-of-life for patients with Schizophrenia has been recognized as a crucial domain of outcome in schizophrenia treatment, and yet its determinants are not well understood. Arielle Tolman ’10, who studied "Neurocognitive Predictors of Objective and Subjective Quality-of-Life in Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analytic Investigation” as her senior honors thesis, will have the opportunity to share her research with other scientists interested in schizophrenia. This month, the editors of Schizophrenia Bulletin accepted Tolman’s paper for publication in an upcoming edition. “This is a real achievement, particularly at the undergraduate level,” says the paper’s co-author and Tolman’s advisor Matthew Kurtz, assistant professor…