Jersey City (November 22, 2005) — The National Science Foundation has awarded two Saint Peter’s College professors, Dr. Frederick Bonato and Dr. Andrea Bubka of the Psychology Department, a $252,000 grant over a three-year period to study the causes of self-motion perception and motion sickness. “This grant is indicative of the high caliber of research performed by many of our faculty, often in collaboration with their students,” said Dr. Eugene Cornacchia , provost and vice president of academic affairs at Saint Peter’s College.
The NSF grant entitled, Visual Self-Motion Perception and Motion Sickness, will examine the role vision plays in self-motion and how it varies according to environment. The pair presented their initial findings at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society at York University in Toronto , Canada earlier this month. Four Saint Peter’s College students are assisting Drs. Bonato and Bubka in the project. Most of the research and experiments will take place in laboratories at the College.
Faculty colleagues in Australia at the University of Wollongong under Dr. Stephen Palmisano are collaborating with Drs. Bonato and Bubka on the project. Drs. Bonato and Bubka have studied motion sickness since 2000 and published their findings in various scientific and academic journals. Dr. Bubka of New York , NY has taught at Saint Peter’s College since 1990. Dr. Bonato of Belleville joined SPC in 1995. Both are members of the Aerospace Medical Association, in addition to other professional societies.
Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City . The College has a branch campus for adults in Englewood Cliffs and also offers courses at various corporate sites at the Jersey City waterfront, in Newark and in South Amboy.