Emeritus Director

Portrait of Dr. Kimberly Kirkpatrick

Dr. Kimberly Kirkpatrick served as Principal Investigator and Center Director from CNAP's inception in 2017 to spring 2023. While at K-State, Dr. Kirkpatrick served as a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences. Dr. Kirkpatrick developed CNAP from the ground up and catalyzed its growth threefold over five years. Dr. Kirkpatrick now serves as associate vice president for research infrastructure and interdisciplinary institutes and centers at the University of Minnesota.

Leadership

Director

Headshot of Director Dr. Bailey

CNAP Director Dr. Heather Bailey has been deeply engaged with the Center since its inception. During Phase I of the COBRE award, she served as one of CNAP’s original Research Project Leaders (RPLs), gaining firsthand insight into the transformative impact of COBRE support on early-career investigators. Through CNAP funding and mentorship, Dr. Bailey secured her department’s second-ever R01, leveraging the Cognitive Neuroscience Core for EEG data collection and the Neuroinformatics Core for large-scale fMRI analysis. Following her transition from the Center, she went on to mentor a CNAP pilot project awardee. Click to learn more about Dr. Bailey’s research interests, including her Memory and Aging Laboratory.

Associate Director

Dr. Carl Ade was appointed Associate Director of the Cognitive and NeurobiologicHeadshot of CNAP Associate Director Dr. Carl Adeal Approaches to Plasticity (CNAP) Center in 2025. He works closely with the Center Director and Administrative Core to advance CNAP’s research mission and support the development of junior investigators. Dr. Ade’s research focuses on integrative pathophysiology in cardiology and aerospace medicine, emphasizing risk identification and mitigation to prevent adverse clinical outcomes across various clinical populations, and aligns closely with CNAP’s emphasis on mechanisms of plasticity across biological systems. His expertise in translational human research broadens the Center’s scientific scope and strengthens its systems-level perspective, reinforcing CNAP’s goal of advancing mechanistic understanding of adaptive processes that promote health and resilience.

Research Core Directors

Three research cores, located on the K-State campus, support CNAP projects, pilot grants, new faculty recruitment, and programs. The core directors all have strong expertise in relevant research areas that their cores support.

Administrative Core

The Administrative Core (Admin Core) serves as the central hub for all CNAP activities and is integral in providing the overall leadership, administrative and fiscal management, and evaluation of the Center. The Admin Core's overall goal is to support the success of our junior investigators and research cores. The Admin Core consists of the Center Director, Associate Director, Research Core Directors, our internal and external advisory committees, mentors for each research project and pilot grant, and Admin Core staff.

The Admin Core is responsible for administering CNAP's mentoring program, recruiting and selecting pilot grant recipients, facilitating the Scientific Exchange Network, and managing Center events, such as our weekly brown bag seminar and training workshops. CNAP also provides increased support for research grant proposals through the Admin Core and manages the Piestar evaluation system for all CNAP programs and projects.

Advisory Committees

The CNAP External Advisory Committee (EAC) and Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) assist the Director and Associate Director with overall management of CNAP. The EAC includes scientific experts who meet semi-annually to conduct evaluations and assist with decisions such as pilot grant and replacement project selection, graduation recommendations, and other major decisions as needed.

Current EAC members include:

The IAC comprises institutional leaders at K-State who provide input on Center management, participate in Center evaluation activities, assist with faculty recruitment and program implementation, provide input on mentoring for research project and pilot grant leaders, provide input on research core developments, and contribute to training and development workshops.

  • Dr. Bradley Behnke, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Health and Human Sciences
  • Dr. Gary Brase, Professor and Associate Head, Department of Psychological Sciences
  • Dr. Hans Coetzee, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, College of Veterinary Medicine, Professor and Head, Department of Anatomy and Physiology
  • Dr. Beth Montelone, Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Director, Office of Research Development
  • Dr. Lester Loschky, Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences

Mentors

Each of our CNAP-funded research projects is assigned two mentors to support the project leader's success. Both mentors have strong expertise in the relevant research field, extensive research and grant-funding track records, and substantial mentoring experience. Pilot grant leaders generally have one mentor who is an expert in their research field and can support the junior investigator in achieving the aims of their pilot project. For a full list of mentors, please see our Projects and Pilot Grants.

Faculty Hires

With support from our COBRE award, the CNAP Admin Core has facilitated the hiring of exceptional new faculty researchers in neuroplasticity. This directly contributes to our overarching aim of developing a critical mass of researchers in cognitive/neural plasticity.