JUNE 2008

Heidi MacPherson Returns as Cognition & Aging Lab Manager Heidi MacPherson has returned to Pomona College to take over the position of Lab Manager for the Cognition & Aging Lab. Ms. MacPherson enjoyed a four-year sabbatical during which she spent time with family and developed her talent as a photographer. Visit Heidi's office in the lab to welcome her back and see some of her wonderful photos.

MAY 2008

Deborah Burke Receives 2008 Wig Award Along with six other exceptional Pomona College Faculty members, Professor Deborah Burke has received the 2008 Wig Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching. Recipients are determined by a vote of the students at the college. This is Professor Burke's fifth Wig Award; she also received the honor in 1981, 1984, 1990 and 1996. Learn more about the award and the 2008 recipients here.

Elise Rosa Awarded John Purvis Prize in Cognitive Science Cognition & Aging Lab Research Assistance Elise Rosa (Pomona Class of 2008) has been awarded the John Purvis Prize for outstanding performance in Cognitive Science, including her research on positive emotion in older adults' spoken language. Her research showed that older adults retell stories with more positive emotion words than young adults. Both young and older adults rated stories told by older adults as more positive emotionally than stories told by young adults.

APRIL 2008

Kris Skovbroten Receives NSF Graduate Fellowship

Cognition & Aging Lab alumni Kris Skovbroten (Pomona Class of 2006) has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. The NSF program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in the relevant science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees. Skovbroten is a first-year graduate student in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester where she studies language processing. In 2006, she received a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention.