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Project Superhero: Science & the Superhero in You!
May 6, 2021 at 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Free
UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences is pleased to welcome award-winning author and science communicator Dr. E. Paul Zehr.
Dr. E. Paul Zehr is a Professor and is currently the Director for the Centre for Biomedical Research at the University of Victoria. He also heads the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory and authors the blog Black Belt Brain. Dr. Zehr is passionate about the popularization of science using superheroes as foils for human achievement and ability. His recent pop-sci books include: BECOMING BATMAN (2008), INVENTING IRON MAN (2011), PROJECT SUPERHERO (2014), and CHASING CAPTAIN AMERICA (2018).
Paul Zehr has a passion for sharing knowledge of moving, martial arts, and the mind. His earliest scientific studies were on martial arts, but shortly into his scientific career, he shifted to the neural control of movement and rehabilitation of walking after stroke and spinal cord injury. Now, he is working to see if martial arts training can help with balance, walking, and self-efficacy in Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and after a stroke. His passion began early in his career, when Dr. Zehr was studying “walking” like most other researchers: by focusing on the legs. It wasn’t until he drew an armless stick figure for an article that he realized how odd it was to ignore arms in a study of walking. Since all other mammals move their forelegs in a coordinated manner with their hind legs, why not humans? Thus, a simple armless stick figure propelled Dr. Zehr into his study of coordinated movement.
Dr. Zehr is well-known for his innovative work, and won the 2012 Craigdarroch Award for Research Communications at the University of Victoria and the 2015 Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. “Project Superhero” received the 2015 Silver Medal for Juvenile Fiction from the North American Independent Book Publishers.
Find the superhero in you!
EVENT PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY ISTAND
iSTAND is proud to present STEM activity videos to introduce youth to neuroscience, develop counting and math skills, and explore STEM! Each of our videos have an accompanying worksheet to support learning and deeper understanding of concepts, as well as provide adaptations to the activities.
