August 28, 2025

Three of the honorees of this year’s Research and Creative Works Leadership Awards will be featured during the inaugural Faculty Lightning Lounge talks for the 2025-26 academic year on Sept. 10.

Lightning Lounge will be held 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Honors College Forum and will feature the following faculty:

• Melvatha Chee, associate professor of linguistics. Topic: “Eleven Hours Per Minute: Developing Indigenous Child Language Research.”
• James F. Cavanaugh, professor of psychology. Topic: “What’s Dopamine Got to do With It?”
• Peter Gilbert, professor of music. Topic: “If It Never Ends, Does It Mean Anything?”

Lightning Lounge, which is hosted collaboratively by Advance at UNM, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Office of the Vice President for Research, is offered several times each semester. Faculty are invited to give short talks on their research and scholarship, with time available at the end for questions.

All members of the UNM community are invited to attend. No RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served.

The full list of Research and Creative Works Leadership Awards recipients will be announced in September and will be recognized later that month in a ceremony featuring University leaders.

Future Lightning Lounge events will be Oct. 15 and Nov. 19 at the same time and location. Speakers will be announced for those sessions closer to the dates.