Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto named to Sin Wai-Kin Distinguished Professorship at University of Hong Kong

Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto, co-principal investigator and science director of the National Science Foundation’s Science of Learning Center, Visual Language and Visual Learning Center (VL2) and scientific director of the Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (BL2), was awarded the Sin Wai-Kin Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities at University of Hong Kong (HKU). During her month-long stay at HKU in January 2015, Dr. Petitto established partnerships with HKU faculty and served as a resource for the establishment of Science of Learning and Educational Neuroscience disciplines in China. She also delivered a series of public lectures including:

• “How babies discover language: Insights from a research journey spanning chimpanzees to children, and from co-founding the new discipline of Educational Neuroscience.”
• “Humanities and the Science of Learning: Revealing the essence of human thought.”
• “The Science of Learning – Why it matters to schools and families and all interested in the future of society.”

On January 13, in advance of her last talk, HKU held a press conference where Dr. Petitto shared her research findings about the benefits of bilingualism on cognitive development. Reporters from seven local news organizations came to the press conference including Hong Kong Economic Times, Apple Daily, Sing Tao Daily, am730, Ta Kung Pao, Ming Pao, and South China Morning Post.