PEN Distinguished Lecture Series

PEN Distinguished Lecture Series in Educational Neuroscience

The PEN Distinguished Lecture Series in Educational Neuroscience was created in association with the Foundations Proseminar course for graduate students in the Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience (PEN) program. Since its inception, the series has grown!

The lecture series focuses on the intersection of the Science of Learning (learning across the lifespan) and Educational Neuroscience (learning across early life). Scientists and researchers who are pioneers in the fields of Cognitive-Educational Neuroscience, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and Child Development come to Gallaudet University's campus to talk about their research.

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All lectures are open to the public and are video recorded for online distribution.

PEN DLS brochure for 2024-2025

The Biology of Feelings and Consciousness

Antonio Damasio is Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy, and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Trained as both neurologist and neuroscientist, Damasio has made seminal contributions to the understanding of brain processes underlying affect, decision-making and consciousness. His work has made a major impact in neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. He is the author of several hundred scientific articles and is considered one of the most eminent psychologists of the modern era (see Damasio, A. Feelings and Decisions. In: R. Sternberg, S. Fiske, D. Foss (Eds.), Scientists Making a Difference: One Hundred Eminent Behavioral and Brain Scientists Talk about Their Most Important Contributions, 2016).

He is one of the most cited scientists worldwide. [Google Scholar H Index is 166; with 253,836 citations and Web of Science H Index is 102; with 57,126 citations.] 

Damasio’s recent work addresses the biology of consciousness, the role of life regulation in the generation of cultures, and the problems derived from the non-biological nature of AI.

Recent articles include Sensing, Feeling and Consciousness, Damasio, H and Damasio, A. (2024), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B; Homeostatic Feelings and the Emergence of Consciousness, Damasio, H and Damasio, A. (in press) Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience; A Joint

Interview, Damasio, H. and Damasio, A. (2023) Neuron Special Issue, Vol. 111(21), 3337-3340; Sensing is a far cry from sentience, Damasio, A. and Damasio, H. (2023) Animal Sentience 33(16), DOI:10.51291/2377-7478.1805; Feelings are the Source of Consciousness, Damasio, A. and Damasio, H.

(2023) Neural Computation, Vol. 35;3; Homeostatic Feelings and the Biology of Consciousness, Damasio, A. and Damasio, H. (2022) BRAIN, Vol. 145; 2231-2235); Interoception and the Origin of Feelings: A New Synthesis, (Carvalho, G. and Damasio, A. (2021) BioEssays, 

https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202000261 ); Bittersweet: The Neuroscience of Ambivalent Affect, (Vaccaro,A.G., Kaplan, J.T. and Damasio, A. (2020) Perspectives of Psychological Science, 15(5), 1187-1199); Homeostasis and Soft Robotics in the Design of Feeling Machines (Man, K. and Damasio, A. (2019) Nature Machine Intelligence, 1, 446–452).

Damasio’s books include Descartes’ Error, The Feeling of What Happens, Looking for Spinoza, Self Comes to Mind, The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures, and Feeling and Knowing, which are translated worldwide and taught in numerous universities. 

Damasio is a member of several academies, among them the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. He has received numerous prizes, among them the Paul MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine [2019], the International Freud Medal [2017], the Grawemeyer Award [2014], the Honda Prize [2010], the Prince of Asturias Prize in Science and Technology [2005], the Nonino Prize as Master of Our Time [2003] and the Pessoa Prize [1992]. 

He holds Honorary Doctorates from leading universities, some shared with his wife Hanna, e.g. the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne [EPFL], 2011 and the Sorbonne [Université Paris Descartes], 2015. 

In 2013 the Escola Secundária Antonio Damasio was dedicated in his native Lisbon. From 2016 to February of 2024, Damasio was a member of the Council of State of Portugal.

The PEN Distinguished Lecture Series in Educational Neuroscience honors researchers who have changed the landscape of science. We invite them to share their discoveries as we forge new links across research communities within Gallaudet University, Washington D.C., and the world.

To view this year's and all previous presentations, please visit VL2's PEN Distinguished Lectures webpage.