Curriculum Vitae
Personal Data
Susana Novais Ferreira dos Santos
Address:
Avenida de Sabóia, 914 - 3B
2765-579 Estoril
Portugal
Tel : +351 938659254
E-Mail: [email protected]
Date of Birth: April 15, 1975
Nationality: Portuguese
Professional Experience
08/2010–01/2011
Research Scientist (Post-Doctoral Fellow) – Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) – Department of Psychology –
Carnegie Mellon University – Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Partly sponsored by the CMU Portugal Program
09/2009–05/2010
Assistant Professor – School of Arts, Letters and Sciences –
University of Saint Joseph (formerly known as Macau InterUniversity Institute) – Macau
09/2009–01/2010
Professor of the courses: Biopsychology of Motivation and
Learning (1st year of the Psychology undergraduate degree),
Biological Psychology (2nd year of the Psychology undergraduate degree) and Bioethics (3rd year of the Psychology
undergraduate degree)
10/2009–05/2010
Co-Coordinator – Center for Research in the Health Sciences
– School of Arts, Letters and Sciences – University of Saint
Joseph – Macau
1
10/2009–05/2010
Scientific Advisor – Art Research Center for Human Expressions – School of Arts, Letters and Sciences – University of
Saint Joseph – Macau
10/2008–04/2009
Post-Doctoral Researcher – Neuroscience Group – Fundação
Champalimaud (Champalimaud Foundation) – Lisbon, Portugal
09/2007–08/2008
Assistant Professor (Professora Auxiliar) – Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Lisbon, Portugal
09/2007–02/2008
Professor and Coordinator of the courses: Programming
(“Programação”) (1st year of all engineering undergraduate degrees) and Human-Machine Interaction (“Interfaces
Homem-Máquina”) (3rd year of the Computer Science undergraduate degree)
02/2008
Collaborator in teaching of the General and Portuguese
Linguistics Module (“Módulo de Linguı́stica Geral e Portuguesa”), Master in Portuguese Sign Language and Deaf
Education (“Mestrado em Lı́ngua Gestual Portuguesa e Educação de Surdos”) – Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
02/2008–08/2008
Invited Researcher (“Investigadora Convidada”) – Grupo de
Investigação em Neurociências Cognitivas (GNC) – Instituto
de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
02/2008–07/2008
Professor and Coordinator of the Computer Graphics course
(“Computação Gráfica”) (3rd year of the Computer Science
degree); Professor of the courses: Medical Imaging (“Imagiologia”) (1st year of the MSc in Biomedical Engineering)
and Therapeutical and Diagnostics Devices II (“Equipamentos de Diagnóstico e Terapêutica II”) (1st year of the MSc
in Clinical Engineering)
04/2008
Collaborator in teaching of the Medical Digital Imaging
Module (“Módulo de Fundamentos de Imagem Médica Digital”), Post-Graduation in Health Information Systems (“PósGraduação em Sistemas de Informação para a Saúde”)
06/2008
Collaborator in teaching of the Therapeutical and Diagnostics Devices II course (”Equipamentos de Diagnóstico e
Terapêutica II”), MSc in Health Engineering (“Mestrado em
Engenharia da Saúde”)
2
Most Recent Research Areas
08/2010–01/2011
Molecular gastronomy and neuroscience: Tricking the brain
with unexpected tastes and textures – Main collaborator:
Subha Das (Department of Chemistry, CMU)
08/2010–01/2011
Neurosemantics: The neural basis of semantic representation – Main collaborators: Marcel Just (Department of
Psychology, CMU), Tom Mitchell (Department of Machine
Learning, CMU)
08/2010–01/2011
Temporal functional dynamics of neural activation in language processing – Main collaborators: Marcel Just (Department of Psychology, CMU), José Maria Fernandes (Instituto de Engenharia Electrónica e Telemática de Aveiro
(IEETA), Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal)
08/2010–01/2011
The neural basis of higher cognitive and social functions in
autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – Main collaborators: Marcel Just (Department of Psychology, CMU), Diane Williams
(Department of Psychology, CMU)
08/2010–01/2011
Emotion and decision-making – Main collaborators: Marcel
Just (Department of Psychology, CMU), George Lowenstein
(Department of Social and Decision Sciences, CMU), Karim
Kassam (Department of Social and Decision Sciences, CMU)
Education
07/2001–08/2007
PhD in Bioengineering (Neuroengineering Track) – Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied
Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Dissertation: “Resolving sentence ambiguity with strategic
planning and working memory resources: Behavioral, imaging and functional connectivity analyses”
Dissertation supervisor: Dr. James Gee
Dissertation committee: Dr. Murray Grossman, Dr. Leif
Finkel, Dr. Barry Horwitz
Collaborator in projects on: neurolinguistics; computational
neuroscience; neuroanatomy; medical imaging; vision (neuroanatomy of retina and visual cortex); diagnostic tools for
cancer and neurodegenerative, psychiatric and congenital
diseases; psychology.
Funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology)
3
10/1999–10/2000
MSc in Engineering and Physical Science in Medicine – Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, UK (the only student to graduate in both
components of the program: Medical Physics/Imaging Pathway and Bioengineering/Biomechanics Pathway)
Thesis: “Internet 2: Opening new horizons to telemedicine”
Funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology)
07/2007
Fifth European Neuro-IT and Neuroengineering School –
Cognition and Action – Delmenhorst, Germany
06/2003
First European School on Neuroengineering “Massimo Grattarola” – Venice, Italy
09/1998–06/1999
Degree in Chinese Language and Culture – Shanghai International Studies University – Shanghai, China
07/1997–08/1997
Intensive summer course on Chinese Language and Culture
– Beijing Language and Culture University – Beijing, China
10/1994–06/1998
Degree in Chinese Language, Culture and History – Levels
II, III, IV and V – Missão de Macau em Lisboa – Lisbon,
Portugal
10/1993–07/1998
Undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering
– Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Technical University of Lisbon), Portugal – graduated
top 5% of the class
Thesis: “Digital recognizer of Chinese characters strokes using fuzzy logic” (developed at Instituto de Engenharia de
Sistemas e Computadores, INESC)
Other Professional Experience
11/2009
Co-organizer of the conference “Musicognition 2009 - The
Musical Brain” – Macau Inter-University Institute – Macau
07/2009
Participation in the First Macanese Youth Meeting (Encontro da Comunidade Juvenil Macaense), as a representant of
Casa de Macau de Portugal – Macau
10/2000–02/2001
Development of a human genetics database – European
Bioinformatics Institute (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) – Cambridge, UK
10/1998–06/1999
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at an elementary school (part-time) – Shanghai, China
4
10/1997–11/1997
Development of an Oracle database (part-time) – Novabase,
Sistemas de Informação e Bases de Dados – Lisbon, Portugal
08/1997
Participation (speaking Mandarin Chinese) in a television
commercial for the Chinese national television broadcast
company (CCTV) – Beijing, China
07/1984
Participation, as a main character (speaking Portuguese and
French), in a Portuguese-French co-production film entitled
“Frontières” (Borders) – Lisbon, Portugal
Publications
05/2007
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee and Murray Grossman.
Strategic Planning and Working Memory Processes Activate
Distinct Functional Networks During Sentence Processing:
A Functional Connectivity MRI (fcMRI) Study. (submitted)
05/2007
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Maliha Shah, Vanessa
Troiani, Melissa Work and Murray Grossman. Resolving
Sentence Ambiguity with Planning and Working Memory
Resources: Evidence from fMRI. NeuroImage, Volume 37,
May 2007, Pages 361-378
10/2005
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Neural resources recruited
to disambiguate sentences with a temporary structural ambiguity: An fMRI study. Brain and Language, Volume 95,
Issue 1, October 2005, Pages 62-63
10/2004
“Compreender a Matemática” (“Understanding Mathematics”), in Métodos de Estudo (Methodologies of Study), Enciclopédia Activa Multimédia (Multimedia Active Encyclopedia), Vol. 17, Lexicultural, directed by Roberto Carneiro
(former Portuguese Minister of Education)
Conference Publications
11/2009
Susana Novais-Santos. Our Musical Brains. Musicognition
2009 - The Musical Brain – Macau (oral presentation)
07/2008
Sara Matos Fernandes, Susana Novais-Santos e Alexandre
Castro-Caldas. Potenciação neurológica: um desafio à ética
e à identidade pessoal. V Encontro Luso-Brasileiro de
Bioética 2008 (oral presentation)
5
06/2006
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Neural network modeling and information-theoretic methods reveal that sentences
with a temporary structural ambiguity recruit multiple neural resources during disambiguation: application to an fMRI
study. Human Brain Mapping 2006 (poster presentation)
04/2006
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. fMRI and neural network
modeling reveal that sentences with a temporary structural
ambiguity and high working memory load recruit additional
neural resources for disambiguation. Cognitive Neuroscience
Society 2006 (poster presentation)
04/2006
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Sentences with a temporary structural ambiguity and high working memory load
recruit additional neural resources for disambiguation: Evidence from fMRI and neural network modeling. American
Academy of Neurology 2006 (poster presentation)
02/2006
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Processing Sentences With a
Temporary Structural Ambiguity Recruits Dissociable Neural Executive Resources: An fMRI Study. International
Neuropsychological Society 2006 (poster presentation)
11/2005
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Functional MRI reveals recruitment of additional neural resources during disambiguation of sentences with a temporary structural ambiguity and
high working memory load. Society for Neuroscience 2005
(oral presentation)
10/2005
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Neural resources recruited
to disambiguate sentences with a temporary structural ambiguity: an fMRI study. Academy of Aphasia 2005 (poster
presentation)
06/2005
Susana Novais Santos, James Gee, Melissa Work, Vanessa
Troiani and Murray Grossman. Sentences with temporary
structural ambiguities recruit additional neural resources for
disambiguation: an fMRI study. Human Brain Mapping
2005 (poster presentation)
6
Invited Talks and Workshops
08/2010–12/2010
The Kitchen Chemistry Sessions: Molecular Gastronomy –
Undergraduate course – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
09/2010
Molecular Cooking – Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences (PJAS) – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA,
USA
10/2009
Introduction to Neuroscience – Colégio Santa Rosa de Lima
– Macau
06/2009
The latest brain research and implications for learning and
memory – St. Dominic’s International School, Portugal
06/2009
Emotion and learning: How brain research is informing new
attitudes towards a positive learning environment – St. Dominic’s International School, Portugal
Prizes and Awards
06/2005
Student Travel Award – award for the best student paper
submissions – Human Brain Mapping 2005 Conference –
Toronto, Canada
01/1999
3rd prize, Chinese essay writing contest for foreign students
– Shanghai International Studies University – Shanghai,
China
07/1992
Macau Governor Award – award for the best 12th grade
student of Macau
05/1990
2nd prize, Portuguese Mathematics Olympics – Marinha
Grande, Portugal
05/1988
1st prize, School photography contest – Lisbon, Portugal
Foreign Languages
English, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), French, Spanish, Greek
Italian (understanding)
7
Computer Skills
Programming languages: Basic, Assembly x86, Pascal, Modula2, SQL, SQL Windows, Prolog, Caml (ML), LISP, HTML,
JavaScript, PHP, C, C++, Java, Perl, Matlab, IDL, EPrime, SPSS, SPM, LATEX
Operating systems: UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft
Windows, MS-DOS
Volunteer Experience
09/2010–01/2011
Gourmet restaurant kitchen assistant – Pittsburgh, PA,
USA
09/2005–05/2007
Staff photographer, “The Daily Pennsylvanian” (the University of Pennsylvania’s student newspaper) – Philadelphia,
USA
03/2004
Volunteer staff, “The 2004 COOL-Idealist National Conference” – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
02/2004
Founding member and volunteer, “On Your Feet Project”,
Philadelphia chapter (a non-profit organization)
09/2002–07/2004
Vice-President, Public Relations and Graduate Student Liaison of PENNeurope, the organization for European social
and cultural affairs of the University of Pennsylvania
09/1997–01/1998
Development of a multimedia safety procedures training system (in CD-ROM) for pilots of the Portuguese airline company TAP – Lisbon, Portugal
07/1992–08/1992
Organization of Macau’s Nautical Club members database
– Macau
09/1991–present
Translation work (scientific, technical and literary): PortugueseEnglish, English-Portuguese, Spanish-English, Chinese-English,
Greek-English, French-English
09/1991–06/1992
Journalism and photojournalism work: Columnist in the
school newspaper and photographer for the school magazine
– Macau
8
Sports and Other Interests
Swimming, running, gymnastics, windsurfing, surfing, water
polo, soccer, biking, hiking, traveling, photography, cooking,
molecular gastronomy
Photography
09/2002–12/2002
“Street photography and photojournalism” course – University City Arts League – Philadelphia, USA
09/2002–12/2002
“Portraiture and lighting” course – University City Arts
League – Philadelphia, USA
09/2002–12/2002
“Darkroom photography” course – University City Arts
League – Philadelphia, USA
Lisbon, February 2011
9