Vanderbilt psychologist wins national neuroscience award

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Jon H. Kaas, Vanderbilt University Centennial Professor of Psychology, has received the 2006 Karl Spencer Lashley Award from the American Philosophical Society in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of neurobiology.

The award will be presented Nov. 10 at the society‘s autumn meeting in

San Francisco

. A live webcast of the meeting will be available on the APS website: http://www.amphilsoc.org.

Benjamin Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society in 1743 for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.”

Kaas is a member of the National Academy of Science, the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and several other brain research centers at Vanderbilt.

Two of his former post-doctoral researchers, Kenneth C. Catania, assistant professor of biological sciences, Vanderbilt University, and Leah Krubitzer, professor of psychology, University of California, Davis, have gone on to win MacArthur “genius grants.” Kaas nominated both Catania and Krubitzer for the awards.

Kaas is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association‘s Distinguished Scientist Award, Vanderbilt‘s Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research, the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award and the Kreig Cortical Discoverer Award. He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1972.

According to the APS website, the Karl Spencer Lashley Award was established in 1957 by Lashley, a member of the society and a distinguished neuroscientist and neuropsychologist who studied behavior and its neural basis. The award is made in recognition of work on the integrative neuroscience of behavior.

Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu