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Way to go Paula,
- See more at: http://www.panoramitalia.com/en/life-people/profiles/paula-di-noto-researching-success-discovery/2760/#sthash.NqoNKazU.dpuf
Way to go Paula,
Paula Di Noto Researching her way to success and discovery
Paula Di Noto Researching her way to success and discovery
Paula Di Noto was always fascinated by psychology, but it wasn’t until university that she discovered her true interest in the discipline: the brain. “It was very mysterious and there was a lot of uncharted territory, so my curiosity motivated me to get into the field of neuroscience specifically,” says the 28-year-old. The Toronto resident is a fourth year PhD Psychology student in the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program at York University.
Di Noto already has an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto. However, her time at York has given her the ability to grow as an individual. Her studies include research at the university's psychology and biology department’s lab. The specific lab Di Noto works in received a private donation from the Irpinia Club, a Toronto-based social club representing the Irpinia region of Italy that gives Canadians the chance to celebrate the diversity of Italian culture through various events. The donation will help fund research that will investigate the potential therapeutic applications of dance for people with Parkinson’s.
Di Noto will research how dancers and extensive practice in a given craft, such as the artistic form of dance, help shape the brain. She will examine how that applies to the process and ability of visualization and motor imagery. Her research will also help discover how this visual learning can help in the rehabilitation process of both those with and without Parkinson’s.
Being a part of such an innovative study has been an exciting endeavour for Di Noto. “The fact that there’s very little information about how this type of expertise really enhances the brain, especially how we can help people with Parkinson’s, is something that is so new, so it's really exciting to be part of the cutting edge of this line of research,” she says. Di Noto will also embark on an international research collaboration this winter with Dr. David Melcher at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences at the University of Trento, where she will investigate the neural basis of dance perception. Di Noto will complete her final PhD project while in Italy. “It’s definitely accomplishing something that I’ve always wanted to do in my university career, which is living and studying abroad,” she shares.
She credits her family and husband for instilling her with the ethic of hard work. “My parents’ and grandparents’ generation were bold enough to leave their country to go to a foreign place where they didn’t speak the language to create a new life for their families. I don't think anything in my life has ever, or probably will ever be, that difficult, so that to me is always extremely inspiring," she shares. Her father is from Alessandria della Rocca, Sicily, and her mother is from Helsinki, Finland. Although she grew up with a bi-cultural identity, Di Noto was determined to maintain both her Italian and Finnish roots. Her undergraduate degree at UofT was a double major in Psychology and Finnish studies and she has travelled to Finland several times. She took Italian in high school and Italian cinema courses at UofT.
Di Noto also attended Centro Scuola’s summer program and travelled to Italy in 2003. “Seeing the history and culture and how immense these structures were not only in size but also in the message they represent really left an impression on me.”
Di Noto has also been a member of both UofT’s and York University’s Italian Student Associations. She says that it is up to the younger generation to ensure the Italian-Canadian identity continues as the years progress. “It’s really important to keep sources of Italian language and culture around to make sure that heritage doesn't die with our nonni’s generation."
Contributing to her community has also been an important factor in Di Noto’s life. She’s managed to do so by combining her personal interests with her studies by maintaining her own blog, www.paulaspieceofmind.blogspot.ca, and an active Twitter feed (@paulineddra), where she updates readers both in her academic circle and beyond about various neuroscience topics and research findings.
After graduating, Di Noto’s plans for a career include teaching and researching. “I hope to be a successful researcher and professor at a university and be able to give back to the community and institutions that have helped me get where I am now,” she says.
She’s already proven to be a role model for other young women. “I hope to promote women in science and show young women who are pursuing a career in science that it's not just a man’s world, that a lot of women are doing extremely important and interesting work and that they can persevere and make it into this field if they want to.”
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