Eunice native LeDoux keynotes SMART 2014

Eunice native Dr. Joseph LeDoux will be keynote speaker at the 2014 SMART (Science Meets ART) Festival on Friday.
The SMART Festival is a celebration of science and art with a focus on the interdependence between art and science in our lives. This is a family-friendly event, appropriate for all ages, providing an opportunity for scientists and artists to share their fascination with the wonders of science and art with our community. There is no admission charge, registration is not required, and the event is open to the public.
LeDoux will speak at 7 p.m. Friday about the about the interconnectedness of human emotion, memory, and the brain.
He a neuroscientist, the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, and professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University.
He is also the director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety, a multi-university Center in New York City devoted to using animal research to understand pathological fear and anxiety in humans.
LeDoux is a 1967 graduate of Eunice High. He received his Ph.D. in 1977 at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a recipient of the 2005 International Prize of the Fyssen Foundation.
The SMART Festival will be held at the LITE Center in the UL Lafayette Research Park.
Symposia, workshops and demonstrations will continue from 11 a.m. Saturday until 4 p.m.
Then at 7 p.m. Saturday, LeDoux’s The Half-Full duo (LeDoux and Colin Dempsey) will perform at the Blue Moon Saloon, 215 East Convent.
Half-Full is half of The Amygdaloids, a New York City- based band composed of scientists who play songs about love and life peppered with nuggets about mind and brain and mental disorders.
The festival will close with LeDoux and Dempsey playing acoustic versions of The Amygdaloids’ songs from their studio albums.