It is with great pleasure that I welcome the following eminent professionals to our board of directors and advisory board. Each new board member brings a unique skill and focus to AICS. Thus giving the Insitute a wide set of skills and experiences to draw from. You can find more information on each board member including links to their websites here http://australianinstitute.org/board-of-directors/
In the future, we believe there will be more members joining the AICS boards, particularly from within the cognitive scientific community. As well as strategic alignment with institutions working within the domain of the contemplative/science dialogue.
Peter Boord Ph.D: Brain Dynamics Center & Director of the World Happiness Forum.
Peter’s EEG research has included: development and validation of algorithms for EEG analysis. Investigation of EEG spectral changes over the lifespan associated with changes in cerebral metabolic rate. Investigation of the timing (ERP latency) and location (LORETA) of threat stimuli compared to positive and neutral stimuli. Investigation of gamma phase synchrony associated with functional connectivity in temporo-amygdala networks. Investigation of phase-gradients in the EEG. Investigation of gamma phase synchrony changes in schizophrenia. And development of an algorithm for automatic ERP component identification. The algorithm reliably identifies ERP components by matching an individuals phase coherence across decomposed ERP trials with the phase coherence across subjects in the grand average ERP using a mahalanobis distance measure.
Professor Robert A. Thurman: Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Columbia University.
Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House US, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. The New York Times recently hailed him as “the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.” He has a B.A., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard and has studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and the United States.
Professor Shaun Gallagher: Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences, University of Central Florida.
Shaun Gallagher is Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences, and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Simulation and Training, at the University of Central Florida (USA); he also has an appointment as Research Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Hertfordshire (UK). He has had numerous appointments as invited Visiting Scientist at the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge (1994), as Visiting Professor at University of Copenhagen (2005, 2006, 2007), and most recently at the Centre de Recherche en Epistémelogie Appliquée (CREA), Paris ((2009-2010), and at the Ecole Normale Supériure, Lyon (2008, 2010). In 2012 he will be Visiting Professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D: Founder and Director Upaya Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Joan Halifax Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, medical anthropologist, social activist, and author. She holds a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology and has been on the faculty of Columbia University, University of Miami School of Medicine, and the New School for Social Research in New York. She has taught at many educational institutions in the United States, including Harvard University, University of Connecticut Medical School, and the University of Virginia Medical School. She was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University in Medical Ethnobotany and one of the first NEA Fellows in Visual Anthropology.
Diego Hangartner, Pharm.D: Mind and Life Institute Chief Operating Officer and Director of Research Programs.
Diego has been associated with the Mind and Life Institute since the late 1990’s. Presently, he is Mind and Life Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Programs, Research International. He completed his studies in Pharmacology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, specializing in psychotherapeutic and psychoactive substances. Having worked with drug addiction, he became interested in understanding the workings of mind and consciousness. After encountering Buddhism, he then spent 11 years in Dharamsala, India, where he first learned Tibetan and then studied for 7 years at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. During those years, he did several retreats and worked as a translator and interpreter, translating Tibetan into English, German, French and Spanish.
