The Pushing The Boundaries of Achievement Series is presented by Elite Performance Solutions Inc (USA) in a global partnership with LearnFast (Australia), BrainMaps (China), BrainFit (Singapore), and Stronger Brains (USA). The weekly discussions aim to provide educators, performance coaches, executives, parents and researchers with some of the latest thought leadership and developments in neuroscience for learning and performance.
Resources
The Pushing The Boundaries of Achievement Series is presented by Elite Performance Solutions Inc (USA) in a global partnership with LearnFast (Australia), BrainMaps (China), BrainFit (Singapore), and Stronger Brains (USA). The weekly discussions aim to provide educators, performance coaches, executives, parents and researchers with some of the latest thought leadership and developments in neuroscience for learning and performance.
Session 1
David Rabiner, PhD
The Relationship Between Attention & Learning
David received his PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University in 1987 and is a Research Professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. Currently, he is a Senior Associate Dean and Director of Academic Advising for Trinity College at Duke University. Dr. Rabiner has published over 50 peer reviewed articles on ADHD, attention problems, and children's social development; his research in these areas has been supported by nearly $10M in federal grants. He has served as a grant reviewer for the Institute of Education Sciences and on the editorial board for the Journal of Attention Disorders. In addition to his work at Duke, Dr. Rabiner publishes an online newsletter called Attention Research Update that helps over 30,000 subscribers stay informed about important new research on ADHD. Free subscriptions are available at www.helpforadd.com.
Articles provided courtesy of David Rabiner, PhD:
- Early Attention Problems and Children's Reading Achievement: A Longitudinal Investigation
- The Impact of Tutoring on Early Reading Achievement for Children With and Without Attention Problems
- Predicting Academic Achievement and Attainment: The Contribution of Early Academic Skills, Attention Difficulties, and Social Competence
Session 2
Ed Hamlin, PhD
The Basics of Electroencephalogram (EEG), Neurofeedback Practice & Science
Ed is the founder and clinical director of the Center for the Advancement of Human Potential. He obtained his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina and taught at UNC and Duke University before moving to Asheville. He is certified in EEG biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance and a member of the American Psychological Association and the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. He is the lead instructor for EEG Education and Research and is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina Medical School and the Department of Psychology at Western Carolina University. He conducts research on neurofeedback outcomes and serves as a mentor and supervisor for a number of neurofeedback providers around the world.
Session 3
Mike Merzenich, PhD
Neuroscience: The Importance of Understanding the Brain
Michael is a serial entrepreneur, author and world-class neuroscientist. For nearly five decades, he has been a leading pioneer in brain plasticity research. Dr. Merzenich has published more than 150 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals (such as Science and Nature), and received numerous awards and prizes (including the Russ Prize, Ipsen Prize, Zülch Prize, Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award and Purkinje Medal). He has been granted nearly 100 patents, and he and his work have been highlighted in hundreds of books about the brain, learning, rehabilitation, and plasticity. In 2016, Dr. Merzenich was awarded one of the world’s top neuroscience prizes, the Kavli Prize, for his achievements in the field of brain plasticity.
Session 4
Steve Miller, PhD
Elite Learning – Some Best Practices in Attention and Memory
Steve works as an applied neuroscientist and technology executive with more than 25 years of industry experience. Dr. Miller authored or co-authored more than 100 publications including numerous multi-site research studies, commercial software programs and U.S. Patents. A majority of his patents have been licensed, brought to commercial practice and in 2000 he was a co-recipient of the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award in Medicine for this work. As a business executive, he is a passionate collaborator with broad business experience in technology transfer, translational research, business incorporation, venture funding for the start-up phases of several companies including a successful IPO with Scientific Learning Corporation.
Other Resources from Steve:
Session 5
Tom Nugent III
Elite Performance Outside of the Classroom
Tom has over 20 years of experience in neuroscience research and program management working with elite organizations ranging from professional sports teams, special operator communities in the U.S. military and abroad, as well as e-sports athletes and teams. Tom’s career experience spans from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to private sector companies supporting the Department of Defense and applied neuroscience applications. Tom has been involved in well over $250 million worth of research and development efforts in applied neuroscience and learning domains and has served as a strategic advisor to several startups. Tom received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and his graduate degree from Duke University School of Medicine.
Session 6
Paula Tallal, PhD
Improving Educational Outcomes by Enhancing the Perceptual, Cognitive & Language Skills of Students
Paula Tallal, PhD is a research scientist, professor, board certified clinical psychologist and entrepreneur. She received her B.A from New York University and Ph.D from Cambridge University. Over the past 40 years she has held academic positions at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey and The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and received continuous funding from NIH and NSF for her scientific research. She is a Board of Governor’s Professor of Neuroscience Emeritus at Rutgers, where she Co-Founded the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. Tallal holds dozens of U.S. patents and won the Thomas Edison Inventor of the Year Award for her research leading to the invention of Fast ForWord®, the first individually adaptive (“smart”), neuroplasticity-based software, designed to remediate language-based learning disorders. In 1996 Tallal Co-Founded Scientific Learning Corporation, the company that has brought Fast ForWord® to over 3 million struggling learners around the world. She is a sought -after international authority and keynote speaker on language and literacy development and disorders with over 200 academic publications. She was honored to be invited to present testimony to the U.S. Congress on Dyslexia.
Session 7
Henry Mahncke, PhD
Building Better Brains
Dr. Henry Mahncke is the CEO of Posit Science. He joined Posit Science at its inception in 2003 as Vice President of Research & Outcomes, where he led the first large-scale clinical trials of a publicly available cognitive training program. He became CEO of Posit Science in 2011. Previously, he served as consultant at McKinsey focused on health care and video games, and then as a science and technology advisor to the British government. Dr. Mahncke earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco.
Session 8
Brandon Larson
Team Building and the Impact on Resilience
Brandon Larson is a mechanical engineer and systems theorist turned human performance researcher. His career has spanned research and development roles at NASA and The Boeing Company, several excursions into the startup world, and innovation work to build better performance outcomes for some of the world's most elite athletes as part of a “skunk works” sport science team at Red Bull. Across these roles Brandon has deployed team productivity/coaching tools to a 176,000 employee cohort, brought six consumer products to life from napkin to market, advised successfully funded startups in the wellbeing space, as well as advised the C-Suite of a $7.98B revenue company on innovation. In his time at Red Bull, Brandon led efforts to support over 900 elite athletes across 142 disciplines in chasing dreams to 26 Olympic medals, 201 X-Games medals, 219 World Championship medals, 245 National Titles, one jump from the edge of space, and many other achievements that don’t have typical mainstream labels. Today, Brandon is passionately obsessed with understanding human nature - helping parents apply the science of human development to inform their parenting and early education practices.