For Immediate Release — Thursday, September 12, 2013 Pioneering neuroscience researcher Dr. Bryan Kolb receives Distinguished Academic Award from Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations Dr. Bryan Kolb (NeurosCienCe, Canadian Centre for Behavioural NeurosCienCe) has been Chosen to reCeive the Confederation of Alberta Faculty AssoCiations (CAFA) Distinguished ACademiC Award for 2013. CAFA is the provinCial organization representing academiC staff assoCiations at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge, and AthabasCa University. Along with Kolb, Dr. Morris Flynn, Assistant Professor in the Department of MeChaniCal Engineering at the University of Alberta, is the reCipient of this year’s CAFA Distinguished ACademiC Early Career Award. The Awards will be presented Thursday, September 12, 2013 in Edmonton, AB. The CAFA Distinguished ACademiC Awards are designed to reCognize academiC staff members at our universities who, through their researCh and/or other sCholarly, Creative or professional activities, have made outstanding Contributions to the wider Community beyond the university. “Bryan is not only a stellar researCher and eduCator but he has given freely of his time for deCades to help the Community better understand the Complexities of the brain,” said U of L President Dr. Mike Mahon. “As well, his leadership in establishing our Canadian Centre for Behavioural NeurosCienCe has meant that Bryan, his Colleagues, and the many students and researChers they have mentored, benefit from a facility whiCh attracts people from around the world to Lethbridge.” Kolb has long been Considered one of the world’s most influential neurosCientists and reCently served as the AssoCiate DireCtor of Canadian Institute for AdvanCed ResearCh’s Child & Brain Development program, among many other researCh Collaborations. Dr. Kolb has been desCribed as a ‘founding father of behavioural neurosCienCe,’ Combining neurosCienCe and psyChology to examine the important interplay between experienCes, neuron Changes, and behavior. His researCh foCuses on how neurons in the Cerebral Cortex Change in response to experienCes, drugs, hormones and injury, and how these Changes influenCe behaviour. His work has fueled new treatments to help viCtims of stroke, Alzheimer’s, drug abuse and head injury. Dr. Kolb was the first to demonstrate how new brain Cells grow to restore Cerebral funCtion and that psyChomotor stimulants produCe permanent Changes in neuronal struCture. Among numerous projeCts, he is Currently working with Colleagues at the U of L to determine the effeCts that radiation therapy delivered to one part of the body has on the brain. Kolb is also an AdjunCt Professor at both the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia. He obtained his PhD at Pennsylvania State University and is a fellow of the Royal SoCiety of Canada. With Co-author and Colleague Dr. Ian Whishaw, Kolb is the author of several books, including An Introduction to Brain and Behaviour and Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology. The latter is now in its sixth edition and is used internationally as a standard senior text. In 2008, he was awarded honorary degrees from Thompson Rivers University and UBC Okanagan. Past University of Lethbridge faculty reCipients have inCluded Dr. Trudy Govier (Philosophy; Early Career Award, 2012); Dr. Paul Hayes (Chemistry and BioChemistry; Early Career Award 2010); Dr. Reg Bibby (SoCiology; Distinguished ACademiC Award 2009); and Drs. Lisa Doolittle and Emily Luce, Fine Arts, who reCeived the Distinguished ACademiC Award and the Early Career Awards respeCtively at the inaugural event in 2007. Additional background information about CAFA follows. A photo is attached. -- 30 – Contacts: Bob Cooney, Media Relations University of Lethbridge 403-330-4609 [email protected] John Nicholls, ExeCutive DireCtor Confederation of Alberta Faculty AssoCiations 780-492-5630 [email protected] Dr. Bryan Kolb, Department of NeurosCienCe Canadian Centre for Behavioural NeurosCienCe University of Lethbridge 403-329-2405 [email protected] NOTE: Dr. Kolb is in Edmonton to reCeive his award. Please Contact him through CAFA spokesperson John Nicholls +++++ The CAFA Distinguished Academic Awards reCognize academiC staff members who, through their researCh and/or other sCholarly, Creative or professional activities, have made an outstanding Contribution to the wider Community beyond the university. The CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award reCognizes academiC staff members, at an early stage of their Careers who, through their researCh and/or other sCholarly, Creative or professional activity, have made an outstanding Contribution to the wider Community beyond the university. CAFA website: http://www.ualberta.Ca/Cafa .