Geoffrey Laforge '11, B.Sc. Honours, Psychology, Oshawa, Ontario
After determining that going away to school wasn’t for him, Geoffrey’s academic career took a turn toward home and ultimately to all that the Psychology department at Trent University Durham had to offer.Once destined for a career as a veterinary technician, Geoffrey’s passion for Psychology was ignited during his first elective on the subject. Since taking a course in Cognitive Psychology in second year he “fully grasped how amazing Psychology was.” Since then, he’s been all about the brain.
“Psychology has to be one of the most diverse and fascinating fields of study there is,” states Geoffrey. “I became fascinated with the brain, perception, and cognition – all of which I was able to study at Trent. Studying attention, perception, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and memory literally changed my life and how I think about and see the world.”
He values the extensive contact with his professors, in particular with Dr. Nancie Im-Bolter in the Language and Cognition Lab and with Dr. Ben Bauer in the Vision and Cognition Lab.
Looking back Geoffrey recalls a particularly innovative experience in Dr. Bauer’s lab. “Recently we built a contraption to measure the stimulus timing for my thesis experiment using two photodiodes attached to an oscilloscope, half of a clamp, a knife, electrical tape, and some sticky tack,” said Geoffrey. “It worked perfectly.”
Going forward Geoffrey has been accepted to the University of Western Ontario to pursue a Master of Science degree in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience. He hopes to earn a Ph. D. in Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience and would like to research consciousness, perception and cognition professionally. “For me, the hands-on experience of working in labs, doing research and designing experiments has put me in a great position for graduate school,” said Geoffrey.
“You can push yourself as hard and as far as you want at Trent,” summarizes Geoffrey.” I worked in labs, did research, coded experiments, peer mentored, marked essays and exams and sat on the Student Board of Directors in TOSA. I received scholarships for doing well, all while studying the brain. I don’t know how many other schools could offer even half of that in an undergraduate degree.”
Awards and Scholarships received at Trent University:
Extra-curricular Activities:
- Member, Board of Directors, Trent Oshawa Student Association (2013-2014)
