UCLA

Graduate Student Position – Start in the Fall of the academic year

I am currently seeking to fill one or two positions for a graduate student in Psychology at UCLA in the areas of Learning and Behavior or Behavioral Neuroscience. My laboratory investigates the behavioral processes of animal learning and cognition. State of the art research facilities include a rat lab for studying associative and cognitive processes, and a pigeon lab with touchscreen equipped operant chambers and an open-field spatial search apparatus for the study of pigeon visual perception and cognition, a hermit crab lab for the study of simple learning and cognition in the Caribbean hermit crab, and computer systems with which to study human learning and cognition. As a graduate student, you will be expected to learn programming in Python and PsychoPy as well as conduct experimental studies of behavior and cognition in animals. Current projects include the relational cognition, mental imagery, and models of reinforcement learning, among others. Animal learning and behavior is well represented at UCLA, providing opportunities for collaborative projects among faculty of learning and behavior, behavioral neuroscience, and cognitive areas. UCLA also has a strong consortium of scientists studying the biological bases of Learning and Memory: http://www.bri.ucla.edu/research/integrative-center/learning-memory.

UCLA is one of the leading universities in the world, and is surrounded by beaches, mountains, and the cultural resources of a major city. The psychology department web page (http://www.psych.ucla.edu/) has detailed information about the department and the graduate program.  More information about my lab can be found at http://pigeonrat.psych.ucla.edu.  NOTE: Due to funding constraints, I am only able to make admissions to a student who is already a US resident. Non-US residents will only be eligible if they have funding from an external source (e.g., Fulbright scholarship) for the duration of their graduate career (~4 years). If interested, please contact Dr. Aaron Blaisdell at blaisdell@psych.ucla.edu. The application deadline is December 1.