Dr. Molfese's Vitae

Dr. Dennis L. Molfese is an internationally recognized expert on the use of brain electrical recording techniques to study the emerging relationship between brain development and cognitive processes. He has six active NIH and NASA research grants that fund research into the early identification and treatment of babies and young children at risk for developing reading and math disabilities, the precursors of dyslexia, the long-term impact of prenatal exposure to cocaine on child cognitive development with Dr. Linda Mayes at the Yale University Child Study Center, an investigation into the brain correlates of successful language interventions with children who have selective language impairments with Dr. Paul Yoder of the Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University, and a study of the impact of mild sleep reductions on children's neural processing with Dr. David Gozal in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville. NASA funds his research into changes in brain processing that occur during extended space travel.
Dr. Molfese received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1972. He is currently a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor in the Birth Defects Center at the University of Louisville. Dr. Molfese has served as a member and Chair of a number of NIH grant review panels on Learning Disabilities. He is co-director of one of 15 national laboratories that make up the National Institutes of Health Reading and Learning Disabilities Research Network. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society and serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the scientific journal, Developmental Neuropsychology. In addition to his collaborations and consultations with a number of laboratories in the USA, Finland, and The Netherlands, Dr. Molfese also serves as a consultant on infant and child development issues in the country of Belize.

Victoria J. Molfese is the Ashland/Nystrand Chair in Early Childhood Education and Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Louisville. She is also the Director of the Center for Research in Early Childhood. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. She has published journal articles, books, and book chapters in the area of cognitive development in infants, children and adults. She has received grants in support of research activities, including an NIH funded longitudinal research grant on electrophysiological and behavioral predictors of language and cognitive development in children from birth through age 13 years. Additional grant funding was received to study the development of reading and mathematical skills in preschool children, the development of personality in twin infants and their parents, and to study the impacts of sleep disturbances on children's behavior. Her work has been funded by grants from National Institutes of Health, March of Dimes, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Kellogg Foundation, and NASA. Research is currently underway on early predictors of reading and mathematic abilities in both infants and preschool children, home and school characteristics that influence learning in early childhood, and the development of interventions for infants and preschool children to mitigate the development of learning disabilities.

Victoria Molfese, Ph.D. Director of the Center for Research in Early Childhood
502-852-0582 FAX: 502-852-2408
tori@louisville.edu

Roscoe Dykman did his first two years of undergraduate studies in pharmacy at Idaho State University. His undergraduate work was completed at George Williams College in Chicago, partly before World War II and some after. His Army years were spent in California, Texas, and Europe, where he served in the Armies of Generals Bradley and Patton. Roscoe had a prominent physiology professor at GW who graduated from the University of Chicago, and the professor got him interested in going to Chicago. After a bit of a struggle, he was admitted to the Human Development Program. He received training in three areas, mainly psychology but also physiology and anthropology. Roscoe had some wonderful instructors- Warner, who developed the social status scales in a study called Yankee City; Halstead, who developed what is now known as the Halstead-Reitan Battery of Neurophychological Tests; Holzinger and Thurstone, pioneers in Factor Analysis (two persons disdainful of each other suggesting that two pioneers is too many); Rogers, who was Roscoe's favorite instructor and the father of non-directive counseling; Kleitman, a highly regarded physiologist who started the sleep research with his student Dement; and Redman, a cultural anthropologist who systematically studied the impact of western civilization on religion of primitive people living in the interior of the Yucatan peninsula. Roscoe's original investigation was spinal cord learning in young cats relating to their ability to recover from spinal injury. He next took a post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical School under Dr. Horsley Grant, the last living American to have worked with Pavlov. While in his lab, Roscoe became involved in some of the early studies of heart rate and blood pressure conditioning. After leaving Hopkins, he took a job as Associate Director of Research in the Association of American Medical Colleges. While there, he wrote the first handbook on the admission requirements of American Medical Schools, something that is still published each year. He did a number of research projects there, the most important being a survey of the practices of women physicians. This paper was credited as helping more women gain admission to medical school. Roscoe then joined some friends he met while at Hopkins and moved to Arkansas to help build a new program in Psychiatry. He was the chairman of the behavioral science division, and taught a course popularly referred to as "BS from 1955 to 1990." He was runner up in the Golden Apple Award three times, which is given to the most outstanding basic science teacher. In his early years at Arkansas, Roscoe studied the inheritance of fearfulness in dogs and rats. Then, in 1962, he moved into Human research as a result of a paper written by two of his friends. This was a paper suggesting that the term minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) be given to children who were hyperactive, learning disabled, or both. As a result of the research his laboratory had done in this area, he wrote a paper suggesting that the MBD term be replaced by Attention Deficit Syndrome, which later became Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). His laboratory did a number of physiological and EEG studies of these children and some of the early work on N400. During his last few years at Arkansas, he moved into the area of nutrition, studying children with a diagnosis of failure to thrive. He served with Dr. Molfese on NICHD committees for a number of years and when he left Arkansas, Dr. Molfese offered him an opportunity to come and work with him in Louisville. It has been a rewarding experience, particularly his association with graduate students.

Roscoe Dykman, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Researcher and Professor
502-852-2149 or 502-609-1882
radykm01@louisville.edu

Web Page

Joseph Dien is a cognitive neuroscientist, which is the approach of integrating the theories and paradigms of cognitive psychology with the frameworks and methods of neuroscience. His primary topic of interest is the laterality of expectancy processes, guided by his Janus model (Dien, 2008) that the left hemisphere is focused on anticipating the future and the right hemisphere is focused on responding to the (immediate) past. He is primarily investigating these issues in the context of semantic priming and oddball paradigms. He has also been examining the hypothesis that anxiety and stress differentially affect these lateralized processes. He uses both electrophysiological (event-related potentials) and regional cerebral blood flow (functional magnetic resonance imaging) methods in his studies. He also has an active line of research advancing the multivariate statistical techniques used to interpret such data.

Joseph Dien, Ph.D. Visiting Professor
502-852-2512

Jennifer Beswick graduated from Bellarmine University (Louisville, KY) in 1996 with a B.A. in Arts and Sciences with a concentration in Psychology. She worked for the Louisville Twin Study for four years as a Psychometrician, and is currently a research analyst for the Molfese Lab. In addition, she is currently working towards a M.A. in College Student Personnel.

Jennifer Beswick  Research Analyst
502-852-2512
jlwalk02@louisville.edu

Lauren Tucker graduated in 2007 from the University of Louisville with her M.A. in psychology and in 2006 she received her B.A. in psychology from Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC). While in North Carolina Lauren worked for the Orlena Hawks Puckett Institute researching evidence based practices implemented during early childhood development. She is currently a Research Analyst in the lab and has been working in the lab since 2006.

Lauren Tucker Research Analyst
502-852-2512
lggood01@louisville.edu

Krista Garrod graduated with honors from Northeastern University (Boston, MA) in 2005 with a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience and a minor in Communication Studies.
Currently in the Molfese lab, Krista is working as a research analyst for a non-invasive NASA sponsored research project measuring the effects of simulated microgravity and minor sleep loss on cognitive performance in adults
In addition, Krista is working towards completing a Master's and pursuing dental school.

Krista Garrod, M.A Research Analyst
502-852-2512
kngarr02@louisville.edu

Natalie attended Centre College and graduated magna cum laude with her B. S. in Psychology and Creative Writing (self-designed major program) in 2007. Upon graduating, Natalie completed an internship with the Developmental Neuropsychology Lab, and was hired in August as a Research Analyst for the Early Childhood Research Center. Her current projects within the lab are: Administering, Scoring, Organizing and Data-Entering behavioral assessments for the Scale Up Math Project; examining the connections between infant twin ERPs, language skills, mother's personality, infant temperament, and family stress; and assisting Jill Jacobi-Vessels with her dissertation. Natalie plans to pursue a PhD in Forensic Psychology. Her research interests include: the evaluation and validation of clinical forensic assessments; forensically assessing juveniles, criminals, and survivors of violent relationships; the interface between psychology and public policy regarding the justice system; and developing the area of forensic neuropsychology.

Natalie Armstrong Research Analyst
502-852-2512
natalie.armstrong@louisville.edu

Brittany Haines received her Master's of Arts in Psychology from the University of Louisville. Her main research interests are examining how children are affected by their home environment. Her interests also include examining various circumstances that may hinder appropriate child development.

Brittany Haines Research Analyst
502-852-2544
blhain01@louisville.edu

Jamie is a Research Analyst in the Early Childhood Research Center, she graduated from the University of Louisville in May 2008 with her Master of Education in Counseling Psychology. She is currently attending the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville to receive her Ph. D. in Mental Health Counseling. Her research interest include resilience, academic achievement, temperament, social support, subjective well-being, perceptions, self-efficacy, positive interactions, and social cognitive theory.

Jamie M. White Research Analyst
502-852-2512
jamie.white@louisville.edu

Stephanie Schemke graduated from the University of Louisville in 2004 with a BA in Biology. Stephanie is currently a full-time research analyst for the Molfese lab. She contributes to the testing procedures for the Sleep Restriction study, and will become the contact person for the Institutional Review Board for all studies currently underway in the lab.

Stephanie Schemke Research Analyst
502-852-2544
slsche02@louisville.edu

After receiving her B. A. in Philosophy at Brown University, Maria Barnes enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Louisville.  She is entering her fourth year as a dual-degree student, having completed the first two years of medical school, taken the USMLE Step 1, and finished her first year of graduate school.  Her goal is to obtain her doctoral degrees and pursue a career in pediatric sleep medicine and brain sciences. 
Her involvement with the lab has included work on projects investigating sleep apnea, specific language impairment, dyslexia, and sleep in micro gravity environments.  However, she works most closely with the sleep restriction project here at the University of Louisville, studying the effect of mild sleep reduction on the neurocognition and electrophysiological activity of school-age children.

Maria Barnes, M.A.  Graduate Research Assistant
502-494-3258
mebarn02@louisville.edu

Melissa Ferguson is currently a doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Louisville.  Her dissertation is an investigation of electrophysiological and behavioral sex differences in children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Jill Jacobi-Vessels is a Doctoral Candidate seeking a Ph. D. in Early Childhood Education.  She holds a Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education from the University of Louisville.  Her interests include early literacy and language intervention and its impact on later literacy achievement, identification of children who are at risk for early reading difficulties, and the quality of home learning environments.

Chris is a second-year graduate student working toward his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology.  He is primarily interested in perceptual processes and how they relate to cognitive functioning.  Chris has also aided in research measuring the effects of sleep restriction in children and adults.

Chris Warren  Graduate Research Assistant
502-852-2512
cgwarr01@louisville.edu

Lindsay Hufford is a graduate assistant in theEarly Childhood Research Center. She holds a B.A in Communications and Rhetoric from the University of Pittsburgh. Linsday is currently working on an M.A. in Higher Education at University of Louisville.

Lindsay Hufford Research Assistant
502-852-2544
lindsay.hufford@louisiville.edu

Eric was born in Louisville, KY.  He earned his BA in Psychology at the University of Kentucky.  He is currently a 4th year Graduate Student in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.  He began his graduate studies with Dr. Stephen Edgell in the field of decision making.  His research included medical decision-making and real-time decision-making using a 3D gaming environment.  He became increasingly interested in the neural basis of decision-making and has since worked with Dr. Dennis Molfese.  As a research assistant, Eric is currently involved in research exploring the effects of sleep restriction and simulated microgravity on adult cognition.  His dissertation plan involves using ERPs to explore perceptual salience with respect to decision making.  Future employment options include joining the FBI, applying for post-docs in Cognitive Psychology, or applying for MA programs in Sports Management.

Eric Brian Research Assistant
502-852-5816
eric.brian@louisville.edu

Matt Stone is currently working as the Lab Software Developer for the Molfese lab. He is responsible for creating new applications for the researchers in order to make their research experience go smoothly and painlessly. Other duties include updating the website (unless it happens to be out of date, in which case someone else is to blame) and providing technical support to the researchers. Matt graduated from DePauw University with a B.A. in Computer Science and a minor in Geology. He has been working at the Molfese lab since July 2006. While working here, Matt is interested in furthering his Computer Science education through the University of Louisville and potentially going for his masters.

Matt Stone Lab Software Developer
502-852-2512 or 618-980-3353
matt.stone@louisville.edu