Value of Segmental Kinematic Information for Learning External Locomotor Dynamics

The Shout-It-Out Award (Conference Travel Award)

Blog Post by Paneed Jalili COS ’18

Attending the 2018 Society for Neuroscience Conference was an incredibly rewarding and educational experience. My work was well received by attendees of the conference and I received useful feedback from a few.

For example, someone made a point that a particular component of our paradigm may be understood as a confounding factor. This caused us to really think about whether or not this was true, and be able to both improve and defend this component for future studies and in the manuscript for this study.

I was able to attend an incredibly informative symposium regarding current animal models used for Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease, and intellectual disabilities and neurodegenerative conditions overall. I was lucky enough to connect with neuroscientists, physicians, and students conducting research in different areas of neuroscience from all over the world. After attending this conference, I understand the importance of contributing to medical and neuroscience research more than ever.

While I plan to attend medical school, and had decided research was not a primary or significant component of the path I want to take, I realize now the importance of conducting research to advance medicine and science for future medical professionals and scientists. This conference showed me a glimpse of the vastness and diversity neuroscience and neurological research, how far we have come to learn more about the brain and nervous system and how far we still have to go. After this experience, I fully grasp the significance of research in this field, and it has influenced me to pursue and conduct research in my own future as a scientist.