Keynote Lecture: Duane Watson

Duane Watson

Sunday, September 14, 2025, 1:30 – 2:30 pm, Elstad Auditorium

Speaker: Duane Watson, PhD, Vanderbilt University

About Duane Watson

Duane Watson is the Vice Provost for Special Initiatives and the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.  He received his doctorate in Cognitive Science from M.I.T.  Watson began his faculty career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and moved to the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in 2016.   Watson's research focuses on the cognitive processes that underlie human language production and comprehension. His most recent work explores the role of language experience on individual differences in language use. His research has been funded by both the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation.  Watson is a co-founder of the SPARK Society, a scholarly organization that supports historically marginalized groups in the brain and cognitive sciences.