Dominika Pindus is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health. Her primary affiliation is Cognition, Lifespan Engagement, Aging, and Resilience. Dominika Pindus directs a Physical Activity and Neurocognitive Health Laboratory, where she mentors graduate and undergraduate students. The laboratory provides research experience opportunities to students across campus.

Education

• M.A., psychology, Jagiellonian University, 2004

• M.S., health psychology, University of Bath, 2005

• Ph.D., philosophy, Loughborough University, 2015

2021: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2020: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2016: Travel Grant Recipient, ABI Researcher Links

2014: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

2012-2015: Doctoral Scholarship Recipient, Loughborough University

2012: First Place for a Student Poser in the category: Kinesiology and Physiology, University of Saskatchewan

2011: International Dean’s Scholarship Recipient for doctoral studies, University of Saskatchewan

2004: First Class Degree in Psychology

Research areas:

• Behavioral Brain Research 

• Psychophysiology 

• Physical Activity and Health

Research interests:

• Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology

• Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

• Developmental and Cognitive Psychology

Dominika Pindus’s research focuses on the effects of physically inactive and sedentary lifestyles on cognitive and brain health in children, adolescents and working-age adults. The overarching goal of her research program is to understand how sedentary lifestyles affect cognitive and brain functions and the underlying mechanisms. Her research combines the study of physical activity and sedentary patterns with testing the efficacy of novel intervention strategies to modify sitting patterns and improve executive functions. In her work, she integrates objective methods to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviors with cognitive and psychophysiological methods to understand the effects of physically inactive and sedentary lifestyles on executive functions and their neuroelectric correlates (event-related brain potentials). Her research further incorporates biomarkers to address mechanistic research questions.