Recruitment

If you are looking for quick & important information about how to apply, who to contact with questions, which labs are looking for students, or if you are interested in learning more about the program, you're in the right place.

Important Dates

Application deadline: December 1st (letters of recommendation are due December 8th)
Application requirements:
1. Reference letters (2+)
2. Personal statement
3. Online graduate school application (linked aboved)
Graduate school application fee
In-person recruitment event and campus visits: TBD (early 2025)

Application review by the NSB admissions committee begins November 15th. All applications submitted will be considered equally when submitted before the December 1st deadline.

Who is looking for graduate students?

Faculty actively recruiting

Heather N. Richardson

Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

The focus of the Stress and Addiction Lab is to determine the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress-related disorders using rodent models.

Paul S. Katz

Professor of Biology and Director of the Initiative on Neurosciences

Neuroethology, central pattern generators, single neuron RNA-seq, developmental neuroscience, evolution of neural circuits, molluscan systems

Jennifer N. Rauch

Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular BIology

Mechanisms of protein misfolding, aggregation, and spread in neurodegenerative disease

Ilia Karatsoreos

Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences

The general research objective in our lab is to understand the neural and physiological systems that the brain and body use to protect us from harm and adapt to changes in the environment. We focus on biological rhythms, stress, immunology, and metabolism

Cana Park

Assistant Professor

Meet Cana Park of the NSB core faculty!

Yubing Sun

Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Microengineered stem cells and neural organoids models to study human brain development and diseases

Youngbin Kwak

Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Neural bases of motor learning, reward based learning and decision making; Social influence and lifespan changes in learning and decision making behavior.

Faculty tentatively recruiting

Elena Vazey

Associate Professor, Department of Biology

Neuromodulation and Neurodegeneration

David E. Moorman

Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Cellular and network mechanisms of motivation, learning, and executive functions (e.g., decision-making). Neural function in animal models of addiction, ADHD, obesity, and depression. Neurotechnology and neural computation.

Rebecca Spencer

Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Cognition and action, most often addressing the fine line between these two dimensions.

Gerald B. Downes

Professor, Biology

Development and function of spinal cord networks

Joseph Bergan

Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

We seek to understand the principles of how social and defensive stimuli are encoded in the activity of neurons, and how this process can be modulated by behavior state, experience, and neuromodulation.

Karine Fénelon

Assistant Professor of Biology

Prof. Fenelon is a neuroscientist with extensive experience in electrophysiological recordings and Optogenetics of living tissues. She has recorded synaptic transmission in specific neuronal pathways, related to sensorimotor gating deficits in psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, such as schizophrenia.

ChangHui Pak

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Prof. Pak studies synaptic adhesion molecules and she has developed new, highly used cell-based tools targeting synaptic cell adhesion molecules that govern mental disorders (such as autism and schizophrenia).

Luke Remage–Healey

Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences

Neural basis of behavior

Margaret Stratton

Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department

Molecular level understanding of proteins that are involved in long-term memory formation

Lab & facility introduction videos:

Tour of Morrill IVN Neuroscience Facility (Opened January 2020) Part 1

Tour of Morrill IVN Neuroscience Facility (Opened January 2020) Part 2

Richardson Lab

IALS Microscopy Core

Initiative on Neurosciences (IONs)