Julia Denise Ongchoco (ICA Aeris Batch 2019, and daughter of the former Jackelyne Khonghun of Spirits Batch 1986), recently made a courtesy call to the office of ICA President Sr. Irene N. Ferrer, MIC.  As part of her visit, Julia donated the prize money that came with her winning the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Best Senior Thesis across all fields of study at the University of Pennsylvania.  Beneficiaries of her donation are the MIC Wellness Center  for the benefit of the old missionary sisters, the ICA Scholarship Foundation for the benefit of financially challenged students of ICA, and the ICA Dramatics Guild, where she was a member for 6 years.

Julia  completed her undergraduate thesis entitled “Language Shifts the Representation of Sounds in Time: From Auditory Individuals to Auditory Ensembles” with Drs. Anna Papafragou and Tyler Knowlton as her advisors, and will present her work at the annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society in Sydney, Australia in end-July.

Julia graduated summa cum laude, major in Cognitive Science and minor in Theatre Arts, from the University of Pennsylvania last May 15.  Aside from her best thesis prize, she was also the recipient of the Robert J. Glushko Outstanding Undergraduate Award in Cognitive Science, and the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation Student Grant Award for her documentary film “Grid.” that explores the gap between hallucinations and reality in a series of experiments.

To learn more about Julia and her work in the cognitive sciences and art, you can view the following feature article by the Omnia Magazine of the University of Pennsylvania:

https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/alum-Julia-Ongchoco-on-words-film-and-your-brain.