Degree Program Offered: Doctor of Philosophy

Director of Graduate Program: Ravi Mill, 305 Aidekman Research Center (973-353-3249)

Website: https://sasn.rutgers.edu/research/centers-institutes/center-molecular-and-behavioral-neuroscience-cmbn/behavioral-and-neural-sciences-phd

Members of the Graduate Faculty

Professors:

Elizabeth D. Abercrombie, CMBN; Ph.D., Princeton
Neurochemistry; plasticity in central monoaminergic systems; mechanism of action of psychotherapeutic drugs and drugs of abuse

April A. Benasich, CMBN; Ph.D., New York
Developmental neuropsychology; language development and disorders, including familial genetic contributions to developmental trajectories; perceptual-cognitive abilities (habituation, recognition memory, auditory temporal processing) and language development in infants at risk for developmental delays; public policy focus on early intervention programs

Wilma Friedman, Biology; Ph.D., Rockefeller
Neurotrophic factors in development and disease

Mark A. Gluck, CMBN; Ph.D., Stanford
Theories of human learning and memory; the neurobiology of learning and memory; computational neuroscience; adaptive neural networks and their applications; animal learning theory

Stephen J. Hanson, Psychology; Ph.D., Arizona State
Cognitive sciences; connectionist models; concepts and categorization

Barry R. Komisaruk, Psychology; Ph.D., Rutgers
Neurophysiological study of pain and neuropharmacological suppression mechanisms; reproductive behavior in mammals

Bart Krekelberg, CMBN; Ph.D., London
Neurophysiology; functional imaging; psychophysics; computational neuroscience; eye movements and perception; adaptation; motion perception

Joan I. Morrell, CMBN; Ph.D., Rochester
Neuroanatomy and neuroendocrinology, especially in relation to central nervous mechanisms regulating reproductive behavior in mammals

Farzam Nadim, Biology/NJIT; Ph.D., Boston
Neurophysiology and computational neuroscience

Denis Paré, CMBN; Ph.D., Quebec
Neurophysiology of emotions and memory

James M. Tepper, CMBN; Ph.D., Colorado
Anatomy and physiology of basal ganglia and dopaminergic systems

Laszlo Zaborszky, CMBN; M.D., Ph.D., Semmelweis (Hungary)
Basal forebrain anatomy with special reference to transmitter interactions and pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disorders

Associate Professors:

Mauricio Delgado, Psychology; Ph.D., Pittsburgh
Neural mechanisms of reward learning and decision making; social and affective neuroscience

Eric Fortune, Biology/NJIT; Ph.D., Chicago
Sensory-motor integration

Jorge Golowasch, Biology/NJIT; Ph.D., Brandeis
Race of ionic currents in neuronal plasticity and homeostasis

Haesun Kim, Biology; Ph.D., Cincinnati
Cellular and molecular biology of myelinating glial cells

Patrick Shafto, Mathematics and Computer Science; Ph.D., Northeastern
Human learning: social cognitive development, inductive reasoning, pedagogical reasoning, epistemic trust, category/concept learning, Bayesian methods, theory learning/change. Machine learning: social learning, pedagogical reasoning, multiview clustering, predictive databases, Bayesian nonparametrics

Elizabeth Tricomi, Psychology; Ph.D., Pittsburgh
Influences of affective information on cognitive processing

Assistant Professors:

Travis E. Baker, CMBN; Ph.D., Victoria (Canada)
Clinical and cognitive neuroscience; neural and cognitive mechanisms of goal-directed behavior and memory and their disruption in clinical populations

Michael Cole, CMBN; Ph.D., Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon
Network mechanisms of  flexible cognitive control

William Graves, Psychology; Ph.D., Iowa
Cognitive neuroscience; language

Gal Haspel, Biology, NJIT; Ph.D., Ben Gurion (Israel)
Neuroethology of locotomotion in the nematode (worm) C. elegans

Icnelia Huerta-Ocampo, CMBN; National University of Mexico
Principles of operation of subcortical networks and their interaction with neuromodulatory systems

Tibor Koos, CMBN; Ph.D., Rutgers
Optogentic studies of striatal function 

Sylvia Ortiz-Mantilla, CMBN; M.D., Bogota
Febrile seizure; traumatic brain injury in children; hypotonic child; neuromuscular diseases in children 

Vincent B. McGinty, CMBN; Ph.D., Pittsburgh
Systems and cognitive neuroscience; neuroeconomics; behavioral electrophysiology

Pierre-Olivier Polack, CMBN; D.V.M., Ph.D., France
Cellular and network mechanisms of attention and sensory perception

Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Psychology; Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon
Cognitive and neural processes in developing mathematical ability in humans

Horacio Rotstein, Mathematical Science/NJIT; Ph.D., Technion
Cortical oscillations

Juan Mena Segovia, CMBN; M.D., Ph.D., National University of Mexico
Principles of operation of subcortical networks and their interaction with neuromodulatory systems 

Michael Shiflett, Psychology; Ph.D., Cornell
Neuroscience of adaptive behavior

Tracy Tran, Biology; Ph.D., California (Los Angeles)
Molecular mechanisms governing nervous system patterning

Professor Emeriti:

Ian Creese, CMBN; Ph.D., Cambridge
Neuropsychopharmacology; dopamine receptors and the roll of antipsychotic drugs play in receptor changed, specifically looking at schizophrenia and Parkinson's

Paula Tallal, CMBN; Ph.D., Cambridge
Cognitive neuroscience; experimental psychology; developmental neuropsycology; language development and disorders; speech synthesis and perception; learning disabilities and information processing