PEN student wins NIH grant for research on ASL and spatial cognition

Melody Schwenk, a graduate student in Gallaudet's PhD Program in Educational Neuroscience (PEN), has won a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Parent F31-Diversity) was awarded for Schwenk's project, "American Sign Language and Spatial Cognition Skills: A Neurocognitive Study Using EEG and Standardized Neuropsychological Assessments."

"This training grant will support her training in new skills needed to complete her dissertation," says Dr. Lorna Quandt, Schwenk's sponsor and Co-Director of Gallaudet's Visual Language and Visual Learning Center. Dr. Karen Emmorey, Director of the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience at San Diego State University, is Schwenk's co-sponsor.

Schwenk is the third PEN student to win this prestigious award, which honors a polio vaccine researcher who was the first woman director of an NIH institute. Dr. Geo Kartheiser and Dr. Adam Stone received it in 2014 and 2016, respectively.