Sarah M. Shuwairi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Lehman College, City University of New York, 113 Gillet Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West, Bronx, NY 10468

E-mail:  sarah.shuwairi@lehman.cuny.edu                       www.lehman.cuny.edu/deannss/psychology/fac_shuwairi.html

 

Curriculum Vitae (December 2008)

 

Education

 

Ph.D. in Psychology, 2008. 

New York University, New York, NY

 

M.A. in Psychology, 2003. 

Columbia University, New York, NY

 

M.S. Ed. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development, 1999.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

 

B.A. in Psychology with Distinction, 1998.

         Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude

Boston University, Boston, MA

 

Professional Experience

 

Assistant Professor

Lehman College, CUNY

Department of Psychology

113 Gillet Hall

250 Bedford Park Blvd West

Bronx, NY 10468

 

Research Interests and Methodologies

 

á           Development of coherent 3D object perception; Global and local processing of objects; Attentive tracking through occlusion; Eye Tracking, fMRI and ERP/VEP

 

Honors and Awards

 

á           Martin Braine Fellowship Award for Research in Cognitive Development (2006)

á           Graduate Student Research Award (Vision Sciences Annual Meeting, Sarasota, FL, 2006)

á           Honorable Mention, Student Research Award (ISIS Biennial Meeting, Kyoto, Japan, 2006)

á           Henry McCracken Graduate Research Fellowship at NYU (2003 – 2007)

á           The Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation Grant administered by the NYU Center for Brain Imaging ($10K, Neural Correlates of Detecting Structural Impossibility, 2005)

á           Merck Fellow at the John Merck Fund Summer Institute on the Biology of Developmental Disabilities at Princeton University (2004)

á           The Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation Grant administered by the NYU Center for Brain Imaging ($5K, Cortical substrates of perceiving persisting objects through occlusion, 2004)

á           Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Award at NYU (Spring, 2004 and Spring, 2007)

á           National Academy of Sciences Grant-in-Aid of Research (through Sigma Xi, $2500, 1999)

á           Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grant at Boston University (1998)

á           The Pamela Posen Endowed Memorial Scholarship at Boston University (1997)

á           Psi Chi National Honor Society, Officer (1996).

 

Professional Affiliations

 

Association for Psychological Science (APS), Vision Science Society (VSS), Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Sigma Xi

 

Publications

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (in press). Preference for impossible figures in 4-month-old infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

 

Johnson, S. P. & Shuwairi, S. M. (2009).  Learning and memory facilitate predictive tracking in 4-month-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 122-130.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Curtis, C. E., & Johnson, S. P. (2007). Neural substrates of dynamic object occlusion.  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19. 1275-1285.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Albert, M. K., & Johnson, S. P. (2007). Discrimination of possible and impossible objects in infancy. Psychological Science, 18, 303-307.

 

Johnson, S. P., Amso, D., Frank, M. C., & Shuwairi, S. M. (2007). Perceptual development in infancy as the foundation of event perception. In T. F. Shipley & J. Zacks (Eds.), Understanding events: How humans see, represent, and act on events. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Holopigian, K., Shuwairi, S. M., Greenstein, V. C., Winn, B. J., Zhang, X., Carr, R. E., & Hood, D. C. (2005). Multifocal visual evoked potentials to cone specific stimuli in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Vision Research, 45, 3244-3252.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Cronin-Golomb, A., O'Donnell, B. F., & McCarley, R. W. (2002). Color discrimination in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 55, 197-204.

 

Balcer, L. J., Baier, M. L., Pelak, V. S., Fox, R. J., Shuwairi, S. M., Galetta, S. L., Cutter, G. R., & Maguire, M. G. (2000). New low contrast vision charts:  Reliability and test characteristics in patients with MS. Multiple Sclerosis, 6, 163-171.

 

Symposia and Invited Talks

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (October, 2007). Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects in Infancy. New York Object Group Meeting, New York, NY.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (February, 2007). Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects in Infancy. National Institute of Health, Child Development Section, Bethesda, MD.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (October, 2006). Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects in Infancy. Infant Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (November, 2006). Mechanisms Supporting Successful Object Tracking through Occlusion.  Psychology Colloquium, Department of Psychology, George Mason University.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2006). Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects in Early Infancy. Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society (VSS), Sarasota, FL.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (March, 2006). Differentiating Between Possible and Impossible Objects in Early Infancy. Cognitive Science Colloquium, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (March, 2005). Cortical and Behavioral Manifestations of Dynamic Object Occlusion. MRI Users Group Meeting, Center for Neural Science and Center for Brain Imaging at NYU.

 

Conference Presentations (Talks & Posters)

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (April, 2009). Learning to perceive the impossible: Comparing infants' & adults' oculomotor activity while viewing possible and impossible cubes. Bi-Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Denver, CO.

 

Shuwairi, S. M. (March, 2008). Preference for impossible figures in early infancy. Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Vancouver.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & DeLoache, J. S. (March, 2008). InfantsÕ interpretation of impossible objects in pictures. Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Vancouver.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., DeLoache, J. S., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2007). InfantsÕ interpretation of possible and impossible objects in pictures. Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), Sarasota, FL.  Journal of Vision, 7(9), 844a, http://journalofvision.org/7/9/844/

 

Shuwairi, S. M., DeLoache, J. S., & Johnson, S. P. (March, 2007). InfantsÕ interpretation of impossible objects in pictures. Bi-Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Boston, MA.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (March, 2007). Young Infants' Learning and Memory for Occluded Objects. Bi-Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Boston, MA.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (June, 2006). Registration and interpretation of possible and impossible objects in early infancy.  Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Kyoto, Japan.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (June, 2006). Object tracking in early infancy: More experience is better. Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Kyoto, Japan.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2006). Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects in Early Infancy. Oral Presentation. Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society (VSS), Sarasota, FL.  Journal of Vision, 6(6), 810a, http://journalofvision.org/6/6/810/

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2006).  Differentiating between possible and impossible objects in early infancy. Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), New York, NY.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2006). Early learning and successful object tracking through occlusion: More experience is better. Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), New York, NY. 

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Curtis, C. E., & Johnson, S. P. (November, 2005). Cortical and behavioral manifestations of perceiving persisting objects through occlusion. Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Albert, M. K. & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2005). Discrimination of Possible and Impossible Objects in Early Infancy. Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society (VSS), Sarasota, FL.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Curtis, C. E., & Johnson, S. P. (May, 2005). Cortical and behavioral manifestations of dynamic object occlusion. Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society (VSS), Sarasota, FL.  Journal of Vision, 5(8), 34a, http://journalofvision.org/5/8/34.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (April, 2005). Cortical activity during dynamic object occlusion.  Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), New York, NY.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., & Johnson, S. P. (April, 2005). Early learning and successful object tracking: More experience is better. Bi-Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Atlanta, GA.

 

Mitroff, S., Wynn, K., Scholl, B., Johnson, S. P., & Shuwairi, S. M. (May, 2004). Bouncing vs. streaming as a measure of infants' dynamic object individuation. Bi-Annual Meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies (ISIS), Chicago, IL.

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Holopigian, K., Greenstein, V. C., Zhang, X., Hood, D. C. (May, 2002). Multifocal Visual Evoked Potentials to Cone Specific Stimuli in Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology (ARVO), Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 

 

Terhune, K. P., Liu, G. T., Shuwairi, S. M., Modestino, E. J., Miki, A., Sheth, K. N., Grossman, M., Glosser, G., & Haselgrove, J. C. (May, 2001). Recognition of objects in noncanonical views: an fMRI study. Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA. 

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Cronin-Golomb, A., McCarley, R. W., & O'Donnell, B. F. (April, 1999). Normal hue discrimination axes and abnormal contrast sensitivity in schizophrenia. Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) Symposium, Providence, RI. 

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Cronin-Golomb, A., McCarley, R. W., & O'Donnell, B. F. (April, 1998). Role of dopaminergic dysfunction in color discrimination in age-related disorders: a study of schizophrenia. Bi-Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Aging Conference (CAC), Atlanta, GA. 

 

Shuwairi, S. M., Cronin-Golomb, A., McCarley, R. W., & O'Donnell, B. F. (June, 1998). Role of dopaminergic dysfunction in color discrimination in age-related disorders: a study of schizophrenia. Annual Scientific Session of the Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society (MNS), Boston, MA.

 

Courses Taught

 

Sensation and Perception

Developmental Psychology

Cognitive Neuroscience

Psychology of Color

Experimental Lab in Perception

 

Guest Lectures

 

Neuroplasticity and Infant Cognition. (December, 2004). One-hour guest lecture on the topic of cortical plasticity and neural correlates of object permanence in Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience at New York University.

 

Neural Correlates of Object Permanence. (October, 2004). One-hour lecture in a graduate seminar in cognitive development at New York University.

 

Origins of Object Knowledge. (October, 2004). One-hour lecture in a graduate seminar in cognitive development at New York University.

 

Cognitive and Emotional Development. (April, 2004). One-hour guest lecture on the development of visual skills, object permanence, fear of heights, and cortical maturation in Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience at New York University.

 

Hidden Objects, Peek-a-boo and the Visual Cliff. (April, 2003). One-hour guest lecture on cognitive and emotional development in The Science of Psychology at Columbia University.

 

Color Perception as a Model of Visual Processing. (September, 2002). Ninety-minute guest lecture on color vision in Experimental Psychology of Perception and Attention at Columbia University.

 

Additional Training & Professional Development

 

Gender Equity Project Workshop Series (Fall, 2008).  Hunter College, CUNY.

 

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Fall Conference on Graduate Teaching. (September, 2003). New York University.

 

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Winter Teaching Conference. (December, 2002). Columbia University.

 

Teaching Portfolio Workshop Series. (Fall, 2002). Six-week course at Columbia University.

 

Graduate Teaching Practicum. (Fall, 2002). Two-credit course at Columbia University.

 

Teaching in the Midst of a Crisis in NYC. (September, 2001). Columbia University.

 

Media Coverage

 

Infants Are Able To Detect The 'Impossible' At An Early Age. (March, 2007).

         http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/afps-iaa031907.php

         http://agutie.homestead.com/files/escher/escher_illusion.html

 

Les enfants sont capables de dŽtecter l'impossible ˆ un ‰ge prŽcoce. (March, 2007). www.medicms.be/NeuroPsychiatrie.pdf (p. 31).

 

RŠtsel fŸr Babys. (Transl. Mystery for Babies). (April, 2007 by W. Willems). Frankfurter Allgemeine, Sonntag Wissenschaft. Sunday Science Section, p. 72.

 

Babies Recognize the Impossible. (April, 2007 by J. Timmer). http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2007/04/06/babies-recognize-the-impossible

 

Psychological Study Offers New Insights into Visual Ability of Infants. (September 17, 2007 by J. DeVitt).  NYU Today, 21(1), 4.  http://www.nyu.edu/nyutoday/article/778