University of Miami psychologists Lucina Uddin and Aaron Heller are rather busy this semester. Aside from their regular teaching schedules and spending hours working in their labs within the Department of Psychology, both Dr. Uddin and Dr. Heller have been scheduling symposia, arranging networking receptions, and organizing panel discussions for the annual Social & Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS) Conference.
“The leaders of the organization approached Dr. Heller and asked us to host this year’s conference, which is usually held in Los Angeles or New York,” said Dr. Uddin, associate professor and director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Division at UM. “Hosting the conference is very exciting because it shows that there is a momentum in neuroscience research happening in Miami, and it’s also the first time the conference will be held here.”
Founded in 2008, SANS is comprised of over 400 members and lab affiliates all around the globe, from North America to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The organization is committed to neuroscience research that investigates the neural basis of social and affective processes. Dr. Uddin says over 300 attendees have signed up so far, with more expected to register later this month.
“We hope to make this a memorable weekend where there is an opportunity for networking, collaboration, and exposing the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience,” says Dr. Heller. “One of our goals was to make sure that every symposium was cohesive and able to tell a story or narrative, which would allow an attendee to take information from multiple levels. We also made sure there was time for Q&A sessions to give everyone an opportunity to communicate and engage with speakers.”
The three-day event will feature keynote speakers and various sessions highlighting the latest advances and conversations on neuroscience exploration, from the controversies of oxytocin research to the neuroscience of emotion in rats, primates, and humans.
Dr. Uddin notes that within the field of neuroscience there are many emerging areas worth highlighting, and one of these themes is “network neuroscience and neuroinformatics, two fields of study taking over cognitive neuroscience research right now.” The team decided to create a symposium entitled, “Social Neuroinformatics and Big Data” to highlight recent research applying computational approaches to tackle high-dimensional neuroimaging data.
Dr. Heller says he is looking forward to an informal conversation with UM colleague Professor Charles Carver, who is also the director of the Adult Division in the Department of Psychology at UM.
“Dr. Carver’s work is extremely influential, and we wanted to recognize a researcher here in Miami who has done a lot of amazing work and has had a great impact on many different fields in psychology,” says Dr. Heller.
“The best part about putting a conference like this together is showcasing researchers who we believe are representing cutting-edge studies in neuroscience,” he adds. “We hope this conference develops new partnerships and creates new ideas that reverberate within the neuroscience community for the next year and beyond.”
The SANS 2019 conference is open to the public and welcomes students, research assistants, postdoc students, faculty, and individuals outside the academic and scientific community.
SANS 2019 will be held May 2-4, 2019 at the New World Symphony on Miami Beach. For more information and to register, click here.
