Polly Lee O'Rourke

Polly Lee O'Rourke, PhD, is an Associate Research Scientist at the Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) at the University of Maryland, a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Her areas of expertise are cognitive neuroscience, noninvasive peripheral nerve stimulation and second language acquisition.

Since joining the University of Maryland in 2011, Dr. O'Rourke has gained extensive experience in conducting applied social science research in support of the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. O'Rourke is currently the PI of an $8M project in DARPA's Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT) program in which she is examining the impact of transcutaneous vagus and trigeminal nerve stimulation on foreign language learning.

Dr. O'Rourke's research is at the cutting edge of the development of noninvasive peripheral nerve stimulation approaches to cognitive enhancement. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Arizona.