I am involved in many creative and community efforts associated with my role as a professor and scholar. See some of my community efforts are described below and see Art Science Collaborative for a description of some of my projects that have an art component.
To the left is a picture of me riding with Susan Heard in the Five Boro ride in NYC as part of a team called David’s Warriors that raises money for St. Baldrick’s fight again childhood cancer. Susan’s son David died at age 10 of neuroblastoma
Aging Studies
Aging Studies is a minor program at Lafayette with community engagement at its heart. All the courses associated with the minor are community based learning courses. Students in my aging class spend time at local organizations that engage with aging members of community such as Gracedale nursing home, our Easton Lifestyle Center or Moravian Hall Square. We have a long-standing collaboration with the Village on College Hill-a local aging in place community. We are just beginning some work with Meals on Wheels. The students work with the older adults as a way of enhancing their studies on aging in the classroom. Students also do service or research at these facilities through the Preminger Scholars Program at Lafayette.
Zombies! Easton PechaKucha
Pechakucha is a community lecture format where presenters talk about an idea using 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. It’s a wild ride since you don’t control your slides. I spoke about zombies, from a societal and neuroscience prespective. Here is a link to my talk
Community Garden
I have been a gardener at LaFarm since its inception. Every summer I grown my own food there on a 40×20 plot and talk about the impact of proper nutrition in my classes.