Scientists from around the country will convene at Carthage on Thursday, Sept. 22, for the annual meeting of the Stress and Motivated Behavior Institute (SMBI). The SMBI is a multidisciplinary team of researchers studying problems related to stress and anxiety disorders. The group will hold its meeting at Carthage in advance of the annual Pavlovian Society meeting in Milwaukee on Friday, Sept. 23.

Carthage neuroscience professor Daniel Miller is a faculty fellow at the SMBI. He conducts research for the institute with Carthage neuroscience students. He and his students focus on human and animal based anxiety vulnerability and acquisition of avoidance learning. The human research involves Pavlovian eye blink conditioning.

"We use saliva samples to look at the activation of stress-related hormones during the conditioning process," Prof. Miller explained. "Psychometric tests categorize people by high or low anxiety vulnerability."

Prof. Miller became involved with the SMBI and Pavlovian Society after meeting SMBI director Dr. Richard Servatius. Dr. Servatius, a faculty member at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, employs faculty and graduate students at schools across the country to be a part of his research team.

"Rick has, in the past four years, sent Carthage $40,000 for neuroscience research through a subcontract with me," Prof. Miller said. "I think that is evidence that he is a strong supporter of Carthage and what we do here."

The on-campus meeting will involve professors from Michigan State University, Northern Colorado University and the New Jersey Medical School, in addition to Prof. Miller. Carthage students who are involved in the research are invited to sit in on the meeting, where they will be able to observe scientists discuss and review data, plan new studies, and develop funding plans.

"It's great exposure," Prof. Miller said. "These people run large graduate programs, and they are looking for graduate students. That's how their work gets done."

Carthage's involvement in the SMBI is special and somewhat unique, because we are a small, Midwestern liberal arts college in an institute populated by larger state schools, Prof. Miller continued. Last year, Carthage neuroscience students met Dr. Servatius when he came to campus for a Natural Sciences and Clausen Center Colloquium. Such meetings give students a valuable opportunity to network within the scientific community and see first-hand how experiments are designed and worked through, Prof. Miller said.

David Reis, '11, met his graduate program director at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by attending the Pavlovian Society conference the last two years. This year, Mr. Reis will present research on the rat avoidance conditioning that he conducted while a student at Carthage. He will participate in the conference's poster session on Friday night. Carthage students Kelsey Miller, '12, and Kayla Parsons, '12, are also attending the conference.

The Pavlovian Society is named for Ivan Pavlov, the Russian physiologist who pioneered conditioning studies and the idea that physiology and behavior have a connection. The national conference brings together some of the biggest names in neuroscience who follow this philosophy. This year’s conference will include discussions on eye blink conditioning, the role of genetics and behavior, and acquisition of memory.

— Elizabeth Reinhardt, '12