Art Kramer, emeritus professor of psychology and former director of the Beckman Institute, spent several weeks in December at the institute as a senior fellow. Learn more about his visit and the collaborations that brought him back in this Q&A.

What do you hope to accomplish during your senior fellowship at Beckman?

Monica Fabiani, Gabriele Gratton and I have been discussing our joint interests in understanding changes in brain and cognitive health during adult aging. We have already identified several issues (for example, development of novel metrics of brain aging) that we plan to discuss in a scholarly review of the literature which will include plans for future research. The composition of this review may also lead to new grants to agencies such as the National Institute on Aging that will provide a plan for examining how a number of aspects of lifestyle can shape healthy cognitive and brain aging.

What’s it like to be back at the institute?

I have missed Beckman since I left in the spring of 2016. Beckman is a special and unique place. In the 40-plus years I have been a professor and researcher, traveling extensively across the USA and the world, I have never experienced another research institute that has the interdisciplinary spirt and expertise of Beckman. The desire of Beckman scientists to learn about their colleagues’ research programs and to collaborate with them is truly unique. It has been a privilege to be back, even for a relatively brief period to time, in such a special environment.

What collaborations or expertise do you find at Beckman that don’t exist elsewhere?

A multitude of fields of study have been developed and matured at Beckman that have begun here and spread across the globe. For example, the human brain-based imaging that started with Paul Lauterbur, to the unique measures of optical imaging introduced by Professors Fabiani and Gabriele Gratton, to the novel functional imaging and EEG/ERP methods and applications pursued by Professors Caterina Gratton and Sepideh Sadaghiani. Another example is the field of self-healing materials developed by Nancy Sottos, Jeff Moore and the late Scott White and their colleagues is also a uniquely Beckman interdisciplinary field of study. Of course, a multitude of other interdisciplinary programs of research have been uniquely developed at the Beckman Institute. Ted Brown’s book, “Bridging Divides,” describes them. (Editor’s note: You can find a copy of Ted’s book in the east atrium.)

Is there anything else you’d like people to know about your time here?

For the current Beckman faculty, staff, post-docs and students, I know it’s difficult to appreciate the special nature and value of the Beckman Institute when it is a place where you spend your days. I’m not sure that I did in the 27 years that I spent at Beckman. However, I now know about the unique and important place that Beckman plays in international interdisciplinary research. As someone once said, the Beckman Institute is a wonderful candy store for scientists and researchers. I could not agree more with this statement!