M-CASTL is pleased to announce that Jessica Bernard has been named the 2009 M-CASTL Student of the Year. As winner of the award, Ms. Bernard will receive $1,000 and the cost of attendance at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. At TRB, Ms. Bernard will attend the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) awards banquet and will receive a certificate from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Ms. Bernard received her undergraduate degree in biological psychology from Tufts University in 2007. She is now a doctoral candidate in Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience in Psychology at the University of Michigan. She is interested in motor learning and performance, as well as both cognitive and neural plasticity, all with a lifespan perspective. Ms. Bernard is interested in better understanding how cognitive functions like memory and attention are related to motor learning and performance particularly in healthy older adults. She says "knowing how these processes change will allow us to intervene in ways that improve day-to-day life in a fun and interactive manner."

Currently, Ms. Bernard is working on a project using a cognitive training intervention that improves working memory ability. The project's goal is to improve motor learning and performance, as well as driving performance (using a driving simulator), as this is a complex cognitive-motor task. Her other lines of research include studies of interhemispheric communication and organization of the motor cortex in both younger and older adults, as well as studies looking at how different regions of the cerebellum play a role in both motor and cognitive tasks, again in both younger and older adults.