Ten Students Receive Fulbright Scholarships, Setting Stony Brook Record

David Vanier
Home town: Pittsburgh, PA
PhD Candidate, Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IPDAS)
Departmental advisors/research mentors: Jeroen Smaers, Chet Sherwood (GWU), Jen Green, Anne McElroy  

Vanier studies the evolution of the brain region controlling memory, the hippocampal formation. This is the first region to show signs of Alzheimer’s, and it is also the origin of adult epilepsy. His research can help to determine if primates are good models for such diseases, and it can shed light on why memory-based human cognition may be special.