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| Thomas and Weldon constructing some "hats" for the rats. |
Clinton, NY-Aliscia A. Thomas, daughter of Hyacinth Brown of Linwood Street in Brooklyn and a rising senior at Hamilton College, received a stipend from the GE Fund to study the role of the superior colliculus in behavior. The GE Fund supports summer research for minority students and women in under-represented areas of the sciences and mathematics at Hamilton College. Her faculty advisor is Stone Professor of Psychology Douglas A. Weldon.
Thomas is focusing on the superior colliculus, an area of the midbrain that is involved in the process of attention. She is measuring the activity of neurons in this brain area of rats as they engage in a learned task. The data are then analyzed to determine relationships of the cellular activity with sensory processing, bodily movements, and possible cognitive activity.
Thomas, a graduate of George W. Wingate High School, is majoring in neuroscience.
