Join us for this year's first J1 Scholar B2B Mini-Lecture Series! Each event showcases the work of two amazing international faculty or researcher currently hosted by the University of Oregon. Today's event, "The Anatomy of Success: From Classroom Lessons to Neural Signals", will feature:

• Marie-Hélène Véronneau, PhD, professor of Psychology at the University of Quebec at Montreal, who will talk about "Rethinking What It Means to Succeed in School: An Educational Psychologist's Reflections from Research, Life, and Learning in Canada and the United States". More details below.
• Corey Wadsley, PhD, postdoctoral scholar of Human Physiology at the University of Oregon's Institute of Neuroscience, whose talk will be "To move or not to move: Insights into the neurophysiology of human movement preparation and cancellation". More details below

This event will take place at the Mills International Center (EMU Mezzanine Level) from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Snacks will be served.

Dr. Véronneau received her PhD in psychology from the University of Montreal and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in prevention science at the University of Oregon from 2007 to 2011. She is back in Eugene this year for an academic sabbatical. She is currently affiliated to the College of Education and the Prevention Science Institute. She is also a full professor in the Department of Psychology at the Université du Québec at Montreal, in the Educational Psychology section. She is the Past President of the Québec Society for Research in Psychology and an Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. She now holds a strategic chair at her university on the promotion of well-being during academic and post-academic transitions. Her current studies focus on educational success and mental health from a longitudinal perspective among students of all ages, with a particular focus on students in vocational training. Her experience as a student, a researcher, and parent in different educational institutions in Canada and the U.S. has nourished her reflections on what educational success truly means. While recognizing the fundamental value of formal education for individuals and society, Dr. Véronneau’s research also addresses the needs of non-college-bound youth who may find a path toward secure employment and wellbeing in their adult life by pursuing other plans, such as vocational training. Her recent work has also aimed at developing a valid measurement of individual satisfaction with education, regardless of the level of education one has achieved.

Dr. Wadsley completed his PhD training at The University of Auckland before moving to the University of Oregon's Action Control Lab where he is a postdoctoral scholar interested in the neural bases of motor control in humans when preparing, executing, and cancelling actions. He uses a multimodal research approach by combining behavioral testing with various electrophysiology, non-invasive brain stimulation, and neuroimaging techniques. Through his research, he aspires to identify robust measures that predict movement execution and cancellation in real-world contexts. His talk will focus on the ability of humans to transition from thinking about movement to initiating it, which seems effortless. His lab investigates the neural basis of this process using noninvasive brain stimulation during various behavioral tasks. In this talk, he will share research showing that the motor system prepares for action by amplifying signals to relevant muscles while suppressing activity in others, helping the brain focus on the right movement at the right time.