Each spring, the cognitive science faculty members choose a graduating cognitive science major with the strongest combination of academic excellence and outstanding accomplishments in research. Senior Arunima Vijay will have the honor of receiving the 2018 Excellence in Cognitive Science Award. Arunima is a steller student, an exceptional research assistant, and a remarkable student leader.
Arunima has many achievements, among which she is co-president of Omega Psi, the Cognitive Science Undergraduate Society. She also received a Mellon Arts Innovation Grant to create create Charm City Stories: an art publication of responsive pieces inspired by stories of mental and physical health in Baltimore. Her showcase was held earlier this month.
Arunima is also one of 16 students at JHU that received Fulbright grants this year. After graduation, Arunima will travel under her Fulbright award to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to conduct research in the Department of Language and Literature. She hopes that by “exploring the development of Norwegian perception verbs in autism, [she] will potentially elucidate the earliest predictor of autistic children’s understanding of other’s minds, known as Theory of Mind (ToM), and establish a language- independent link between perception verbs and ToM.”
Arunima plans to pursue medical school after her Fulbright trip.
Well done, Arunima!