And so it begins…

Obama’s second term actually began yesterday with his first second swearing in, but today is inauguration day here in Washington. We’ll see about how his second term plays out, but what I’m really excited about is the beginning of the Spring semester here at Mason, which begins tomorrow.

There are about 50 undergraduate neuroscience majors registered for my cellular neuroscience class–we’ll meet in person for the first time tomorrow, although the class blog and Facebook page are already active.

And in the meantime, the exciting research program of the Krasnow Institute goes forward. The Institute is now in its twenty-third year! Sometimes I’m shocked to think of how far its progressed over these two plus decades. We are now in the process of beginning to prepare grants for a second MRI, and planning for the process which will bring all of our research efforts into the facility–under one roof.

Foundational ideas: Dan Dennett on the Mind…

From John Brockman’s The Edge, it’s here. Dan was one of the initial intellectual founders of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies. Here is a long-piece interview with him on the very subject that is central to our research program: the human mind.

One idea that I agree with him about: the notion that our early notions of neurons as simple switching devices was vastly over-simplified. Dennett here calls them “little agents with an agenda”.

Read it all.

Odds and ends…

First, congrats to one our own, Rebekah Evans on her excellent editorial in this month’s Biological Bulletin, here.

Second, congrats to Dan Cox for his mentorship of young aspiring scientists–his high school intern Suhas Gondi from local Thomas Jefferson HS has been named both Intel and Siemens semifinalist for work conducted in his labs at Krasnow. The news was just announced yesterday and Suhas is one of only 9 from Virginia and 300 nationwide.

Third, congrats to colleague Monique Beaudoin on her new position as Associate Director at Office of Naval Research Global in London–that’s a great job, we wish her well.

Finally, I’m chairing the search for a new Vice President for Research and Economic Development at George Mason–the job announcement is here.  I’d welcome nominations or advice–just drop me a line.