Cross-Cutting Disciplines: Mind, Brain, Body - From Biology to Culture
Much of what we perceive and learn depends on our personal implicit biases, cultural
background, socio-economic status, or level of education. Cross-disciplinary initiatives
that look at the relationship between biology and culture with a specific focus on
the interaction of brain, mind and body have the potential to generate research initiatives
and produce insights that could not otherwise be gained. The brainstorming process
underlying the initiatives we propose requires that STEM disciplines and the Humanities
be ready to learn from one another. The proposed cross-disciplinary interactions on
the theme “Mind—Brain—Body” will not only open new avenues of research, but also provide
our future leaders with the cultural perspective needed to address pressing social
problems. By developing a holistic view of mind, brain, and body, they will gain a
unique ability to analyze situations from various distinct yet complementary perspectives,
and thus find creative solutions to benefit us all. In navigating our social, personal and professional worlds, we depend on perception,
emotion and reason to read and react to the information given to us by our senses.
Perception, however is not a matter of the senses alone. It is shaped and colored
by our emotions, filtered through personal and cultural memory, and guided by reason
and logic. Indeed, our personal preferences, moral convictions and previous experience
give each of us a unique perspective on our common world, and strongly influence our
decisions and interactions with others. Some of these factors are physical and biological
in nature; others are founded in our beliefs, culture or objective rational principles.
How we read situations and choose to act comes from the confluence of all these factors. Here we propose three themes inspired by the relationship between Mind, Brain and
Body that in our opinion will facilitate cross-disciplinary interactions across STEM
disciplines and the Humanities. The themes build on current strengths within the College
of Arts and Science. For each theme we propose specific initiatives to be implemented
with short- medium- and long-term efforts: a) Brains in Action b) Food, Taste, and Culture c) Medical Humanities The specific initiatives within this theme are: The initiatives we propose are based on strengths already present on campus and are
designed to promote further growth and to act as incubators for intellectual development.
We choose to focus on the themes listed because we believe they are central to the
future of education and society. For example, with the rapid advances of Artificial
Intelligence, the relation between the brain and mind is no longer a topic of theoretical
interest. The very concepts of mind, intelligence, and their relation to a biological
or physical substrate demand reconsideration. The topics of food and medicine offer
more immediate payoffs. Even the apparently simple concept, “food,” is the origin
of an endless set of interwoven research projects, from the biology of nutrition and
diet, to the physiology and psychology of taste and smell, and on to food as a core
constituent of social and cultural identity. And in a world of radical economic inequality,
constant population growth and climate change, food and water will pose ever more
pressing ethical and political problems in the near future. Last, the advancement
in technology applied to medicine and the social differences in access to medical
care requires medical professionals to be educated in establishing compassionate relationships
with patients. In addition, research advancements in the medical field impose a careful
application of ethical standards to research subjects as well as to the clinical practice.
Team
| Name | Current Title | Department |
|---|---|---|
| Katheryn Twiss | Associate Professor | Anthropology |
| Karen Lloyd | Assistant Professor | Art |
| Timothy August | Assistant Professor | English |
| Arianna Maffei | Associate Professor | Neurobiology and Behavior |
| Alan Kim | Associate Professor | Philosophy |
| Ken Dill | Distinguished Professor | Physics and Astronomy |
| Christina Dahl | Associate Professor | Music |