305: Your Brain On Drugs

Have you ever wonder how quickly you could become addicted to a drug? Or why some drugs are addictive when others are not? Find out how drugs work in the brain by becoming a brain scientist! Like brain scientists in labs and universities, you will read real brain scans, explore real brains, test which drugs will be able to get into the brain, and even become a participant in your own research! [Same curriculum as last year]

Faculty/Instructor

Jean  Sumner,

Hometown: La Veta, Colorado
University: WSU, August 2005, MS Psychology
WSU Department: Psychology
Class topics I’ll teach in the Fall: Currently conducting research in the graduate school at WSU and working on my dissertation.
Your Research / Teaching Areas of Interest: 1. Teaching and technological strategies for improving education and learning, especially science education
2. Using knowledge of the brain and its function to improve learning in the classroom
3. Increasing interest of women and girls in math and science, leadership, and politics
Plans before CQ begins: • Collecting research for my dissertation, which I hope to complete this summer!
Interests/Hobbies: Going to the movies with friends, scrapbooking, quilting with my mom and sister, going hiking with my dogs Sadie and Shasta, cooking, eating chocolate, traveling around the world with my best friend
Favorite Summer Memory: One summer when I was about 12, we had three cats – a calico, a black-and-white cat, and a yellow cat. All three momma cats had kittens within a few weeks of one another! Each of the mother cats had kittens that were the same colors as she was, so my sisters and I could tell each litter apart. We spent the summer playing with and helping to raise SIXTEEN kittens in our suburban neighborhood, and everyone wanted to come over and play at our house. It was hard to say goodbye to all the kittens, but my sister and I eventually found homes for almost every kitten.
Your Life Goal: “One of my goals is to inspire people to be all that they can be and, hopefully, be a good example and teach some useful, interesting principles. Perhaps I can be the key that turns on the engine in their life, and then they can take their car where they want.” –by Mark Victor Hansen
Link to site or article about you or your work: www.jeaniesumner.com
Blurbie: Hi! I’m a graduate student working on my PhD in Psychology at WSU. Besides learning about the brain, I love to travel. Although I call Colorado home, I was born in Illinois, grew up in Dallas, attended college at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, worked as a nurse in hospitals in Denver and Connecticut, was married in the park under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and am now finishing up my PhD in Washington State. Before I came to WSU, I could never have imagined standing in front of a room of people teaching, and now I love it so much I can’t imagine doing anything else! Graduate school really keeps you busy, but in my spare time I like watching “Heroes” on TV. If I had my own superpower, I would want to be able to teleport to anywhere in the world anytime I wanted – instead of calling, I could have breakfast with my parents in Colorado, visit my sister in China for lunch, and still have plenty of time in Pullman to get work done for school. Here are some of my other favorite things: Cocoa Krispies, books & audiobooks, Grasshopper Pie, the color red, Scrabble, Halloween, snowball fights, homemade tortilla soup, Santa Fe, Girl Scout Cookies, and Starbucks coffee.