Lab News

  • Prelims passed

    Monica Duran passed her initial prelims for the PhD portion of her MD-PhD program. She submitted the grant for this work in early March. She plans to look at brain correlates of the arousal network, …

  • Dr. Emily Skaletski and Dr. Brittany Travers in front of a dark, wood-paneled wall.

    Congratulations, Dr. Skaletski!

    Emily Skaletski successfully defended her dissertation on Monday, April 14 at the Waisman Center. Following graduation, she will continue her research career at Northwestern University with a Community Living & Participation Fellowship, funded by NIDILRR, …

  • Monica and Jacqueline standing in front of a podium. Screen behind them with images and text in Spanish

    Community presentation

    MD–PhD student, Monica Duran and undergraduate, Jacqueline Cano gave a presentation on research in the Motor and Brain Development Lab to a Spanish-speaking audience at the Catholic Multicultural Center early in the Spring 2025 semester. 

  • Monica and Olivia holding award certificates

    Two recent awards

    At the 2025 Gatlinburg Conference, Monica Duran and Olivia Surgent received two of six trainee awards of excellence. Monica received the David Zeaman Graduate Student Award, and Olivia was honored with the Theodore Tjossem Postdoctoral …

  • Brittany presents a flash talk at the State Capitol!

        Brittany recently went to the Wisconsin State Capitol to do an 8-minute flash talk on the lab’s different research areas. Interested in watching her talk? Visit this page and make a free account! …

  • Brittany presents at the Alabama Autism Conference!

          Brittany recently had the opportunity to speak at the Alabama Autism Conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she did her PhD work many years ago. Her talk was on how motor skills and …

  • Lab members present at the Society for Neuroscience 2023 conference!

    Three current and former lab members presented work at the 2023 Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington D.C.! From left to right: Sonali Naik, former undergraduate research assistant, presented on postural stability. Her project found …

  • Dr. Travers presents at Scientific Symposium for the Waisman’s 50th Anniversary event!

    With the Waisman Center turning 50 years old this year, a Scientific Symposium was held that featured researchers from inside and outside of the Waisman community. Our very own Dr. Brittany Travers gave a talk …

  • Farewell, Dr. Surgent!

    Earlier this month we said farewell to our beloved Dr. Olivia Surgent, who received her PhD this past December. Olivia will be working as a T32 Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California – Davis …

  • Meet Monica, our newest PhD student!

    This fall, we are welcoming a new MD-PhD student to our lab, Monica Duran! Originally from Puerto Rico, she moved to Madison, WI in 2020 for the start of the MD-PhD program at UW. She’s …

  • Welcome back, Brittany!

    After 8 months of learning at the University of Málaga and traveling, Brittany is back! Brittany taught classes at the university and learned all about new ways to measure movement of the body. While she …

  • Emily Skaletski receives award at Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars conference

    Last week our very own Emily Skaletski was one of two winners of the best student poster at the Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars conference! The event was held in Columbus, Ohio where she presented …

  • Lab leadership rendezvous in Stockholm!

    This week our post-doctoral fellow Dr. Olivia Surgent, PhD candidate Emily Skaletski, and PI Dr. Brittany Travers met up in Stockholm, Sweden. They visited the Nobel prize museum, saw the Royal Palace, and generally took …

  • Dr. Olivia Surgent presents poster at INSAR

    Dr. Olivia Surgent presented her poster this week at the annual meeting for the International Society for Autism Research in Stockholm, Sweden! Her presentation highlighted the unique sensorimotor pathways for grip strength in the brain …

  • URS Student Presentations

        Our Undergraduate Research Scholar (URS) students had their presentations last week at Union South! Susan Lei, Lauren Salmi, Madelyn Scheid, and Roselyn Pacheco presented our Brainy Movement Study for Kids to the program …

  • Dr. Travers shares our work and visits strengths-based school for autistic individuals in Barcelona

        As a part of Dr. Travers’ Fulbright scholarship work in Malaga, Spain, she has the opportunity to travel and share our research with others. Last week she had the privilege of visiting Carrilet, …