This award-winning lecture series features scientists whose passion for their work inspires us all. Each event involves a lecture by a Yale professor and engaging science demonstrations by Yale college students. Science on Saturdays provides an opportunity for Yale scientists and residents of New Haven and beyond to come together over a shared sense of wonder. Past topics have included “Why Birds Are Dinosaurs,” “Nu Frontiers in Neutrino Physics,” and “Chaperonins: Molecular Origami Machines.”
Time: Demonstrations by Synapse of Yale Scientific Magazine from 10am - 11am; Talk from 11am - noon.
About Karen Wynn: Karen Wynn received her B.A. in Psychology from McGill University in 1985 and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from MIT in 1990. She joined the Department of Psychology at Yale in 1999 after serving as a faculty member at the University of Arizona from 1990-1999. Currently the Director of the Infant Cognition Center at Yale, Wynn studies various aspects of cognition within the first months of life, as a means of investigating the nature of the human mind prior to the influences of language, culture, education, and extensive experience. Wynn examines how the human mind is inherently structured to interpret and make sense of the world- the nature of the underlying mechanisms of thought. A Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, Wynn has also received the National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award, the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology, and James McKeen Cattell Foundation Sabbatical Award.