The University of North Dakota will host the 2009 Northern Lights Psychology Conference at the Memorial Union on Saturday, October 17. Professor Stephen Ceci from Cornell University will give the keynote address titled “What science has to say about children’s memory and testimony” at 3:30 in the Lecture Bowl.  Dr. Ceci’s talk is free and open to the public. (See conference schedule below.)

Ceci  will also serve as the discussant for an invited panel discussion on the topic “Does gender and society limit the representation of talented girls and women in math, science, and technology?” which begins at 10:30 in the Lecture Bowl. Participants on the panel will include female professors from several science disciplines. Ceci’s most recent book (with Wendy Williams), “The Mathematics of Sex: How Biology and Society Conspire to Limit Talented Women and Girls,” will be available with an author’s signing at the panel discussion. This session is free and open to the general public and should be of special relevance to parents, young women, and educators interested in the representation and training of women in the sciences.

Ceci is the recipient of the National Institute of Health’s Research Career Scientist Award. His article in Psychological Bulletin was awarded the Robert Chin Prize from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for the best article dealing with child abuse and neglect. Ceci also has received the IBM Supercomputing Prize, three Senior Mensa Foundation Research Prizes for his work on intelligence, and the Arthur Rickter Award for his work on children’s testimony.

Last year he was given the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award by the American Board of Forensic Psychology and he is the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Lifetime Contribution to Science and Society. He is the author of over 300 articles, books, and chapters. Ceci has appeared frequently in the national and international media.

2009 Conference Schedule, Saturday, October 17, 2009
9:00 am  Registration Opens, all events are in the Memorial Union, 2nd floor
9:30 – 10:30 am, Morning Paper Session, Lecture Bowl
10:30-noon—Panel Discussion, Lecture Bowl
1-2 p.m. –Afternoon Paper Session, Lecture Bowl
2-3 p.m.—Poster Session, Dakota Lounge
3:30-5 p.m.—Keynote Address, Lecture Bowl

Contact
Doug Peters, professor
UND Department of Psychology
(701) 777-3648
douglas.peters@und.edu