German major uses language skills to help Notre Dame engineering professor unlock 93-year-old brain research

In the fields of neuroscience and neuroanatomy, scholars often cite a 93-year-old paper that examines the thickness of cortical folds.
The problem, at least for an English-reading audience, is that this knowledge has always been hiding in plain sight. The article was written in German but never fully translated — until now, thanks to a Notre Dame College of Engineering professor and a Class of 2022 graduate with a deep understanding of the language.
Maria Holland, an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, recently bought the rights to the paper, “The Influence of the Curvature Occurring in the Folds and Turns of the Cerebral Cortex on Cortical Architecture,” which is one of the signature works of the Dutch neuroanatomist Siegfried Bok.

“This is an important paper that has influenced a lot of work and could influence more work, but a lot of people weren’t able to read it,” she said.
The 1929 paper assists Holland’s ongoing research, supported by a National Science Foundation grant, to examine the brain’s cortical thickness.The effort could identify evolutionary, developmental, and pathological changes in brain morphology that could inform new ways for early diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.
The project began in 2019 when Holland asked Notre Dame’s Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures for recommendations of students who could do translation work. Andrew Fulwider ’22 was on the list, and when Holland noticed he was majoring in German and engineering, she knew he was the ideal candidate.
The translation process was extensive. Fulwider worked through about 100 pages of German text during his sophomore and junior years. The translation sessions spanned a year and more than 100 hours.
“I feel like I’m contributing to the dissemination of knowledge which would otherwise not be disseminated,” said Fulwider, who is now pursuing a master’s degree in sustainable energy supply at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. “These texts weren’t lost, per se, but people didn’t really have access to them. They just had access to what other people said about them.”

As for how he was able to complete the project, Fulwider credits his German-learning experience at Notre Dame.
“I can’t praise Notre Dame’s German program enough. It’s a really well-run department with professors who are deeply invested in the success of their students,” said Fulwider, who earned both a BA in German and BS in engineering through the Reilly dual-degree program. “Without the German program, I wouldn’t have a shot to do this. I wouldn’t have studied German past a high-school level.”
The fact that the project involves the brain and language seems fitting, given that Fulwider has a handle on language to a point that he can now think in German.
“That ability helps you open different pathways in your brain and helps you think in different ways period,” he said. “It definitely helps with mental flexibility.”
With the translation complete, the journal Brain Multiphysics published the English version in November.
“Most scientific publications focus on original research or on many papers published on a single topic. Our paper was neither of those, but I wanted to make it accessible to other researchers,” Holland said. “In the end, I’m just so pleased that we made this nontraditional publication happen.”
Originally published by al.nd.edu on November 28, 2022.
atLatest Research
- Kroc Institute hosts Colombian digital archive at Notre DameThe Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame has launched the Legacy Project, a new initiative to migrate a digital archive of more than 200,000 audiovisual and textual materials from the Colombian Truth Commission to the University’s servers and to develop a global platform.
- Papal Bull earns Notre Dame historian Margaret Meserve her second Marraro PrizeNotre Dame historian Margaret Meserve’s book Papal Bull: Print, Politics, and Propaganda in Renaissance Rome has won the American Catholic Historical Association’s Helen & Howard Marraro Prize in Italian History for being the most distinguished work in the field published in 2021. Papal Bull explores how Renaissance popes used the printing press in its early years to promote traditions, pursue alliances, excommunicate enemies, and lure pilgrims to Rome.
- ND/Purdue University Graduate SymposiumThe first annual ND/Purdue University Graduate Symposium in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology was held from October 28-29, 2022 at the Morris Inn at the University of Notre Dame. This was a two-day student-organized symposium that will rotate annually between participating schools. The graduate students from the host university organized and moderated the entire meeting. The event brought together ~150 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members in the field of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery from the two universities. This event allowed students the opportunity to present their research to both peers and experienced researchers. Friday night included dinner and a presentation by keynote speaker, Dr. Dale Boger, from The Scripps Research Institute. Friday night concluded with a poster session presented by 30 graduate students and post-doctoral from two universities. Saturday events included a continental breakfast followed by eight oral presentations from both graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Organizers from the University of Notre Dame were Hao Xu from the Blagg Lab and Amy Sorge from the Melander Lab. The event will be held next year at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Below are the poster session and oral presentation winners.…
- My South Bend Summer: Sister Maura Brannick, CSC, Health CenterNotre Dame is mission-oriented, most recently admitting a first-year class where 87% of students participated in community service in high school. Community work manifests itself not only in Notre Dame’s applicant pool, but also in its curriculum, clubs, and research. In fact, Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff clock in 93,000 hours of service in the South Bend area annually, with many more hours globally. Housed in Geddes Hall, the University’s Center for Social Concerns is an interdisciplinary institute responding to the complex demands of justice through a combination of justice education and research for the common good. Each summer, hundreds of Notre Dame students experience the Center’s Summer Service Learning Program (SSLP) all over the country, which is now rebranded as…
- Graduate Student Ornella Joseph Speaks about Lead Test Kits for Walk the Walk WeekOrnella Joseph, a fourth-year chemistry graduate student in the lab of Marya Lieberman, was a highlighted speaker at the “Research That Matters: Scholarship Advancing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” event on January 23, 2023. This event was part of Walk the Walk Week, a week-long series of events coinciding with Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.
- Going Beyond the Root Causes of Migration to Resolve the Border CrisisAt the Pulte Institute, we’re focused on identifying and resolving the systemic causes of the border crisis — versus just dealing with its effects. We believe our comprehensive approach, to provide information through rigorous research that is accessible and usable, will help policymakers implement significant and sustainable change to improve outcomes along the U.S.-Mexico border.…