Sperduto Professor Lawrence Sweet

Lots of great coverage of the Franklin College in Columns this week, including a nice front page story on new faculty member Lawrence Sweet:

A clinical neuropsychologist whose research explores the relationship between physical changes in the brain and conditions as diverse as dementia, nicotine dependence and obesity has joined UGA as the inaugural Gary R. Sperduto Professor of Psychology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Lawrence H. Sweet, who comes to UGA from Brown University, has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed research papers and has received funding from several National Institutes of Health agencies, including the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Cancer Institute. He is the co-editor of the book Brain Imaging in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience and holds a patent for a method for measuring changes in brain activity over time.

Sweet uses a technique known as functional magnetic imaging, or fMRI, to provide objective assessments of brain activity and to predict treatment outcomes. His research has examined the neural weight loss, how cardiovascular disease affects cognitive function and how the brains of smokers respond to various rewards. In 2010, he and a colleague received a patent for a new method that combines brain imaging and a common test of working memory and can be used to determine the effectiveness of drugs for conditions such as dementia or multiple sclerosis, for example.

Also in Columns are stories on NSF career awards to Krashen and Perdisci, the Quantitative Biology Consulting Group and a brief on a recital by clarinet professor D. Ray McClellan. The Franklin College is always at the center of scholarly activity, performance and recognition on campus, as this week's campus newspaper is a good reminder.