November 29th 2016
Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Lee Coates recently served as a facilitator for a Council on Undergraduate Research workshop on “Beginning a Research Program in the Natural Sciences” held in Washington, D.C. Coates also presented a talk titled “10 Habits of Highly Effective Researchers.”
December 7th 2015
Dec. 7, 2015 – The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, an organization that is part of the Society for Neuroscience, has honored Allegheny College professor E. Lee Coates with its Career Achievement Award.
The presentation took place in Chicago during the group’s annual meeting in October. Two Allegheny alumnae, Amy Jo Stavnezer, the academic organization’s incoming president, and outgoing president Lisa Gabel presented Coates with the award.
One of the organization’s highest honors, the Career Achievement Award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to undergraduate neuroscience education and research. Coates, who has been at Allegheny since 1992, teaches in the biology department and in the neuroscience and global health studies programs.
“Lee is an accomplished teacher and scholar,” said Gabel. “His former students describe him as an exceptional mentor and friend. His impact on their careers is felt long after they have left the halls of the biology and neuroscience departments at Allegheny College.”
Coates is the project director of a $1.5 million undergraduate science education grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to build a global health program at Allegheny College. The grant supports the establishment of an interdisciplinary major, creation of two tenure-track faculty positions, resources for faculty and curriculum development, collaborative research opportunities for students on and off campus, and opportunities for students to engage in health-related study experiences both abroad and in the United States.
He was also the director of a $400,000 W.M. Keck Foundation grant titled “Ways of knowing and habits of mind: Exploring the intersection between neuroscience and the humanities.” The grant funded the development of four interdisciplinary courses at Allegheny College: “Neuroscience and Dance Movement,” “Neuroscience of the Visual Arts,” “Mind and Brain” and “History of Neuroscience.”
Additionally, Coates has been awarded more than $98,000 by the National Institutes of Health and $82,000 by the National Science Foundation to fund his research on nasal CO2 receptors and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“I was surprised and honored to receive the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Career Achievement Award and humbled to be in the company of past recipients,” said Coates. “While the award was given to me, in part, for my role in the development of the neuroscience program and interdisciplinary neuroscience and humanities courses, my Allegheny neuroscience colleagues should share this recognition with me as I couldn’t have developed these programs without them.”
“I am also honored to be recognized for my teaching and mentoring of neuroscience students, although the real reward is following the careers and achievements of our neuroscience graduates,” said Coates. “I enjoy keeping in contact with the graduates and seeing many of our neuroscience alumni at the yearly Society for Neuroscience meeting. Based on the success of our graduates it appears that we have developed a first-rate undergraduate neuroscience program that prepares students well for life after Allegheny.”
December 4th 2015
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), part of the Society for Neuroscience, awarded Professor of Biology and Neuroscience Lee Coates the Career Achievement Award in October. Two Allegheny College alumnae, incoming FUN president Amy Jo Stavnezer ’94 and outgoing FUN president Lisa Gabel ’96, presented the award to Professor Coates.
September 4th 2015
Sarah Conklin, associate professor of psychology, neuroscience and global health studies and chair of the Neuroscience Program, co-authored a book chapter with Matthew Muldoon, MD, MPH, titled “Effects of Cholesterol and N-3 Fatty Acids on Cognitive Function, Decline, and Dementia” in Neuropsychology of Cardiovascular Disease, 2nd Edition, Taylor and Francis.
May 6th 2015
Associate Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Sarah Conklin presented her research at the American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting held March 18-21 in Savannah, Georgia. Two students attended the conference with her. Nicole Masters ’15 presented the results from her Senior Project conducted with Professor Conklin and Associate Professor of Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Deb Dickey. Her project was titled “Experiences of physical and emotional abuse are associated with blunted cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress.” The project, currently under peer-review, was a multi-year effort. Her coauthors also attended the meeting: Annie T. Ginty ’09, now at the University of Pittsburgh as a postdoctoral fellow in behavioral medicine; Eliza B. Nelson ’12, now at the University of Saint Andrews School of Medicine, Health Psychology, UK; and Karen Kaye ’14, now at Brandeis University, Psychology. Katelyn Nicewander ’15 also presented the results of her Senior Project, which she conducted with Professor Conklin and Assistant Professor of Psychology Lydia Jackson. Her project was titled “Lavender essential oil aromatherapy does not reduce cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress in the laboratory: results from a preliminary randomized control trial.” Katelyn’s project is currently being prepared for peer review.
May 5th 2015
After attending two AAC&U workshops on Faculty Leadership and Integrative Learning, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies Eric Boynton, Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Lee Coates, and Associate Professor of French Laura Reeck co-authored an article, “Opening the Doors for Faculty Collaboration: The Case of the Allegheny Gateway,” which appears in the current issue of AAC&U’s journal Peer Review.
May 5th 2015
Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Lee Coates recently published a chapter titled “Developing Research Skills Across the Undergraduate Curriculum” with co-authors Simon Gray (The College of Wooster), Ann Fraser (Kalamazoo College), and Pam Pierce (The College of Wooster) in New Directions in Higher Education – Enhancing and Expanding Undergraduate Research: A Systems Approach (No. 169, Spring 2015, Wiley Periodicals). In addition, Professor Coates recently served as a Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) facilitator for a workshop held at Trinity Washington University on “Integrating Research into the Curriculum” and presented a talk on “Undergraduate Research across the Curriculum.”
February 22nd 2015
By Tyler Stigall, Contributing Writer
February 19, 2015
The Campus
The laboratory of Dr. Lauren French, associate professor and department chair of biology at Allegheny, has a conspicuous lack of lab mice. French’s model organism of choice is a slightly less common test subject: the crayfish. Fortunately, she approaches her work with a sense of humor.
“This is the crunchy and squishy biology, as opposed to the warm and fuzzy,” she described.
What had been taken as biological gospel ten years ago is now being reexamined by Aydin Alikaya, ’15, and Gianni Vinci, ’15, two neuroscience students at Allegheny. The duo, former students and advisees of French, are exploring the process and mechanisms of neurogenesis, the growth of new brain cells, in crayfish—hence her reference to the lack of lab mice.
February 2nd 2015
Professor of Psychology Patricia Rutledge, Assistant Director of Admissions Kelsy Reisinger ’12 and Associate Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience and Global Health Studies Sarah Conklin presented “Study drugs and academic integrity: Association between beliefs about an academic honor code and non-medical prescription drug use for academic reasons” at the recent annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA).
December 5th 2014
It was 2007 – the first semester of Carlos Blandino-Lopez’s freshman year.
Thinking that he someday wanted to be a doctor, he walked into the David V. Wise Sport & Fitness Center preparing to register only for neuroscience classes.
At that time, the course registration process “was like a school fair,” Blandino-Lopez says, with students walking from table to table learning about the different classes available.
That’s when Tom Erdos, a former dance and movement studies faculty member, motioned Blandino-Lopez over to his table. He said he needed more men in his ballroom class.
“I thought sure, why not?” Blandino-Lopez says as he jotted down his name on the Introduction to Ballroom roster.
Unbeknownst to him, the moment changed his life.
“We learned the six major dances in that course, and I found out that I had a knack for dance,” says Blandino-Lopez, who originally is from Anchorage, Alaska, but now lives in Pittsburgh. “I was hooked.”
A (Dance) Step in the Right Direction
With his new passion ignited, Blandino-Lopez filled his schedule with dance classes each semester at Allegheny. During his collegiate career, he also completed independent studies focusing on dance, worked as a teacher’s assistant for ballroom classes, and choreographed performances for the College and community.
In addition, Blandino-Lopez worked with other classmates to produce a surprise performance for Professor Erdos. “The entire production was student-run. We worked on it for a full semester,” he says. “We performed 16 pieces with all different types of dance. Professor Erdos had no idea.”
Blandino-Lopez’s love for dance continued to grow – and he began thinking about how he could continue his passion after graduation. That’s when a coach from Arthur Murray Dance Centers in Miami visited his class.
“She took me aside and told me I could do this as a career,” says Blandino-Lopez, who also was involved in the Bonner program, the Association of Black Collegians/Association for the Advancement of Black Culture, Union Latina, and Orchesis at Allegheny. “That really piqued my interest.”
The following year, the Allegheny senior found himself traveling to Pittsburgh for a job interview with Arthur Murray Dance Centers. Shortly after, he landed a position there as a dance instructor – a job he still enjoys today.
“As a teacher, I love seeing how confidence builds in people,” he says. “Even in college, there were people in my classes who were awkward and really didn’t interact with others. Then they would dance and develop confidence. My passion for dance is fueled by the excitement of seeing people learn.”
Story through Dance
One of the best parts about teaching, Blandino-Lopez says, is being a part of people’s stories. He cites one of his students, an 88-year-old man named Howard, as an example.
“Howard has Alzheimer’s, and the studio is the only place where he gets a sense of normalcy,” he says. “He’s deteriorating in every other aspect of his life, but on some level, he’s progressing here.”
Another student, 74-year-old Judy, was a teacher at Arthur Murray when she was 18.
“It’s so great to talk with her about how things have changed,” he says. “She met her husband through dancing, and now she does it for her own self-confidence and exercise. She told me this is her reason for getting dressed up and leaving the house.
“Over the years, I’ve learned that very few people come here to learn to dance,” he continues. “They come here for something deeper.”
Dance also has affected Blandino-Lopez’s personal life. He met his wife, Elizabeth, while salsa dancing.
“I asked her to dance and she said no,” he says. “Luckily I had the confidence to eventually get her to say yes.”
Although dance was a major focus for Blandino-Lopez at Allegheny – even becoming his minor during his senior year – he continued studying neuroscience, graduating in 2011 with a double major in neuroscience and psychology. He believes this foundation is still applicable to his current profession.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the brain. The reason I came to Allegheny was because I knew it was one of the best in the country for neuroscience,” he says. “It’s really helped me now because I understand the physiological process of how learning works. As a teacher, that foundation helps me to have more patience and understanding with my students.”
Eventually, Blandino-Lopez would like to revisit the connections among neuroscience, psychology, and ballroom dance.
“My senior comp was on ballroom dance and psychological androgyny. I’d like to do more research around ballroom dancing in general,” he says. “A study I read said dancing frequently can reduce your risk for dementia by 76 percent. I’d like to dig into that someday.”