PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR ADVISOR REQUEST SHEET
You may choose from the professors listed below. Note that some may be on sabbatical this semester/year.
List in order of preference, the professors you would prefer as advisor. Please return this sheet as soon as
possible.
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LIST YOUR FIRST CHOICE FOR ADVISOR AS NUMBER 1:
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STEVEN R. ASHER Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Asher received his B.A.
in psychology (minoring in anthropology) from Rutgers University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
psychology (minors in sociology and educational psychology) from the University of Wisconsin. Before
coming to Duke he was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1971-1999).
His other appointments have been as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles (1980)
and at the University of Maryland (1984-85). His research interests are in the area of children’s and young
adults’ social development, with a special focus on the conceptualization and assessment of peer
competence and emotional outcomes in childhood and early adulthood. This focus includes studies of
social cognition, especially the goals people pursue in response to interpersonal conflict and other
challenging social situations, and studies of the peer relationship determinants of loneliness in childhood
and college students. Dr. Asher is available to supervise independent studies in these and related areas. He
teaches PSY 49S.01 (Developmental Science and Children’s Lives), PSY 131 (Social Development) and
PSY 205S (Children’s Peer Relations). Serves as an advisor. asher@duke.edu
GARY G. BENNETT Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Member,
Duke Global Health Institute. Dr. Bennett received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from
Duke University. Following a clinical internship in clinical health psychology at the Duke University
Medical Center, Dr. Bennett pursued postdoctoral studies in social epidemiology at the Harvard School of
Public Health. Before joining Duke, he was a faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health and
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2003-2009); he maintains appointments at both institutions. Dr. Bennett’s
research program is focused on the obesity epidemic, particularly in high risk populations. He is
particularly interested in the impact of psychosocial and sociocultural factors (e.g. stress, coping, weight
status perceptions) on obesity, trajectories of weight gain, and physical activity. He also leads several
obesity intervention trials that leverage technological advances to broaden intervention reach and efficacy
in the primary care setting. Dr. Bennett is available to supervise independent studies in these and related
areas. He teaches GLHLTH 90FCS/PSY 93FCS (Social Epidemiology of Obesity). Serves as an advisor.
gary.bennett@duke.edu
STACI D. BILBO Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Bilbo received her
B.A. in Psychology (minoring in Biology) from the University of Texas at Austin and her M.A. and Ph.D.
degrees in Biological Psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. Research in her laboratory takes an
integrated approach to tracing how early life experiences (social, infectious, hormonal) impact neural and
immune system development, and ultimate consequences for adult behavior. A growing body of research
suggests that intrauterine or perinatal exposure to infectious agents or other environmental stressors may
influence susceptibility to disease later in life, as well as contribute to the development of behavioral or
neuropsychiatric disorders, a phenomenon known as “perinatal programming.” For instance, infection with
bacteria or a virus during the perinatal period has been demonstrated to change the way the body responds
to a stressful event later in life. She is interested in sponsoring independent research projects that are
focused on exploring whether infection in newborns may alter cognitive abilities later in life. Serves as an
advisor. staci.bilbo@duke.edu
ELIZABETH M. BRANNON Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Dr. Brannon received her B.A. in Anthropology from The University
of Pennsylvania, her M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from
Columbia University. Her laboratory, in The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, is focused on
investigating the development of numerical thinking in human infants and non-human primates. Numerical
cognition serves as a paradigmatic example of complex cognition that develops independently of language.
Dr. Brannon's uses behavioral techniques and various methods such as event-related-potentials and
functional imaging to examine the neural bases of numerical cognition. Her work has revealed important
similarities in the way animals, human infants and human adults make numerical computations. Dr.
Brannon is available to serve as a mentor for students wishing to do independent study in numerical
cognition or a closely related topic with human infants, monkeys, or prosimians as subjects. Teaches PSY
97 (Developmental Psychology: Introduction and Survey), and 142S (Thought Without Language). Serves
as an advisor. brannon@duke.edu
ROBERTO CABEZA Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience; Center for the
Cognitive Neurosciences Dr. Cabeza received a Licentiate degree in clinical psychology at the University
of Buenos Aires (Argentina), and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at the University of Tsukuba (Japan).
After postdoctoral training with Dr. Endel Tulving at the Rotman Research Institute (University of
Toronto), he became an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology of the University of Alberta
(Canada). He moved to Duke University in 2001. Dr. Cabeza investigates the neural correlates of memory
in young and older adults using functional brain imaging techniques such a functional MRI. He teaches
PSY 92 (Cognition: Introduction and Survey) and 226S (Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory). Serves as
an advisor, but is on Sabbatical 07/08 academic year. cabeza@duke.edu
AVSHALOM CASPI Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Caspi was born in Israel
and received his professional education in the United States (Ph.D; Cornell University). His research spans
the fields of psychology, epidemiology, and genetics. His current work is concerned with three broad
questions. (1) How do childhood experiences shape the course health inequalities across the life span? (2)
How do genetic differences between people shape the way they respond to their environments? (3) What
are the best ways to assess and measure personality differences between people? For his research, he has
received the American Psychological Association's Early Career Contribution Award, the John Hill
Memorial Award for contributions to understanding adolescent development from the Society for Research
on Adolescence, and the Mortimer D. Sackler Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental
Psychobiology. Serves as an advisor. avshalom.caspi@duke.edu
HARRIS COOPER Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr. Cooper received his
Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1975. He joined the faculty at Duke in
2003. Dr. Cooper's research interests follow two paths. The first concerns research synthesis. His book,
Synthesizing Research and Meta-Analysis: A Guide for Literature Reviews (in press), is in its 4 th edition
and he is the co-editor of the Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis (2nd edition; in press).
Dr. Cooper is also interested in the application of social psychology to educational policy issues. In
particular, he studies how the activities that children and adolescents engage in after school influence their
academic achievement. From 2003 to 2008, Dr. Cooper served as Editor for the Psychological Bulletin. He
is currently working as Editor-in-Chief of the American Psychological Association’s Handbook of
Research Methods in Psychology. Dr. Cooper is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association
Divisions 3 and 15 and the American Psychological Society. He serves on two committees of the National
Academy of Sciences relating the social science evidence and its use in public policy. Teaches 101
(Research Methods in Psychological Science), 319 (Research Design) and 369 (Research Synthesis and
Meta-Analysis). Serves as an advisor. cooperh@duke.edu
PHILIP R. COSTANZO Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Associate Director of the
Center for Child and Family Policy Dr. Costanzo has taught at Duke since 1968. He received an A.B. at
Villanova and then went to the University of Florida for his M.A. and Ph.D. Before coming to Duke he was
Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. From 1972 to 1981 he was Editor of Journal of
Personality. At present, Dr. Costanzo is Chair of the National Institute of Drug Abuse Committee on
Centers. Dr. Costanzo's research has been in the areas of personality and social and developmental
psychology. Recently his research has examined parenting styles, and acquisition of values. He is also
examining the processes involved in the emergence and prevention of multiple addictions. Teaches PSY
49S (The Psychology of Social Influence), 160AS Social Science and Policy Research I, PSY 185BS
(Research Methods in Social Psychology). Serves as an advisor. costanzo@duke.edu
RUTH S. DAY, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Day earned her Ph.D. at Stanford
University and was on the faculty at Stanford and Yale before coming to Duke. She has also been a Fellow
at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and a Visiting Scholar at
Carnegie-Mellon University. She is a Senior Fellow at the Duke Aging Center, Director of the graduate
program in Law and Psychology, and Advisor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She is also the
Faculty Advisor for Psi Chi (the national honorary society in psychology) and the Duke Psychology Majors
Union. Professor Day’s research examines basic cognitive processes (especially memory, comprehension,
and problem solving) in the laboratory setting and implications for how they work in the everyday world.
Major projects include Medical Cognition (how doctors and patients understand and use medical
information), Courtroom Cognition (how judges and jurors understand laws), Memory for Movement (how
dancers and athletes learn and remember sequences of movement), and Human-Computer Interaction (how
humans perceive and interact with virtual reality characters). She teaches PSY 92 (Cognitive Psychology),
PSY 134 (Psychology of Language), PSY 176S (Great Ideas in Psychology), PSY 238S (Everyday
Psychology), and PSY 93ES (Great Ideas Across the Disciplines). Serves as an advisor.
ruthday@duke.edu
TOBIAS EGNER Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, and Center for
Cognitive Neuroscience. Dr Egner received his B.S. (Hons) in Psychology from Goldsmiths College
(University of London, UK), and his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Imperial College London
(University of London, UK). He conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University in New York and
at Northwestern University in Chicago, before joining the Duke faculty in summer 2009. Dr Egner’s main
research interests revolve around investigating how the human brain supports cognitive and affective
control processes, and how visual cognition is shaped by attention and expectation. To address these
questions, his lab combines behavioral protocols derived from Cognitive Psychology with non-invasive
neuroscientific techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS). Serves as an advisor. tobias.egner@duke.edu
GARY FENG Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr. Feng received his
B.A. in Education (1990) from Beijing Normal University, China, M.S. in Statistics (1998) and Ph. D. in
Developmental Psychology (2001) from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is broadly
interested cognitive and developmental psychology and their applications in education. His research
focuses on the psychology of reading, reading development, and literacy education. Some of his current
research projects involve understanding how children in different countries learn to read, and how to
develop technologies to improve reading education. Teaches PSY 97 (Developmental Psychology), PSY
145S (Learning to Read), and PSY_270ES (Psychology of Reading). Serves as an advisor.
garyfeng@duke.edu
CHRISTINA GRIMES Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr.
Grimes received her B.A. in Psychology from Penn State and her M.A. in Special Education from West
Virginia University. After ten years as a teacher in Wake County schools, she returned to graduate school
and earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Duke University in 1996. Since that time Dr.
Grimes has been a Research Associate in Duke’s Department of Psychology. Her research interests include
the influence of family and peer relationships on children’s social development and the role that
relationships play in adjustment. Through Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy, she is also involved
in substance abuse prevention research, particularly the dynamics of adolescent social networks and the
role of peer influence processes. She teaches PSY 99 (Personality and Social Behavior: Introduction and
Survey) and 183BS (Child Observation). Serves as an advisor. cgrimes@duke.edu
JENNIFER M. GROH Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and
Neuroscience, Department of Neurobiology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Dr. Groh received her A.
B. in Biology at Princeton (1988), M.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan (1990) and Ph.D.
in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania (1993). She was a postdoctoral fellow in the
Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University. From 1997-2006, she was on the faculty in the Center
for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College.
She joined the Duke faculty in 2006. Her Multisensory and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory
engages in research concerning neural computations underlying the processing of visual and auditory
information. Dr. Groh is especially interested in how the brain combines sights and sounds into multimodal
percepts. Techniques involve neurophysiological and behavioral experiments as well as computational
tools. Teaches PSY 107 (Introduction to Perception) and PSY 182BS (Perception and the Brain) Serves as
an advisor. Jennifer.m.groh@duke.edu
AHMAD R. HARIRI Professor, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience. After completing his B.S.
(1994) and M.S. (1997) in evolutionary biology at the University of Maryland, Dr. Hariri completed his
Ph.D. (2000) in the UCLA Interdepartmental PhD Program for Neuroscience with Dr. Susan Bookheimer.
He next completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health with Dr. Daniel
Weinberger. From 2003-2009, Dr. Hariri was a faculty member of the Departments of Psychiatry &
Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Throughout his career Dr. Hariri has sought to systematically
integrate available and emerging research tools to study the biology of individual differences in complex
behaviors as well as their relationship to neuropsychiatric disease susceptibility. Using human
neuroimaging, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Dr. Hariri and his colleagues
have begun to identify how variability in brain function contributes to individual differences in complex
behavioral traits. In parallel, they have combined fMRI with drug challenge studies and positron emission
tomography (PET) to identify how variability in brain chemistry influences individual differences in brain
function. Against this background, Dr. Hariri and his team use molecular genetics to understand the origins
of variability in brain chemistry as well as to efficiently model how such emergent variability impacts
behaviorally relevant brain function. Through the integration of complementary technologies Dr. Hariri’s
research has begun to illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms mediating individual differences in
complex behavioral traits. This work represents a critical foundation for the identification of predictive risk
markers that interact with unique environmental factors to precipitate neuropsychiatric disorders as well as
for the development of more effective and individually tailored treatments for these same disorders. Dr.
Hariri is available to supervise independent studies in these and related areas. Serves as an advisor.
ahmad.hariri@duke.edu
RICK H. HOYLE Research Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Associate Director,
Center for Child and Family Policy
Dr. Hoyle received his PhD in social and quantitative psychology from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill in 1988. The primary focus of his research program is the investigation of basic cognitive,
affective, and social processes relevant to self-regulation. This research program comprises two streams.
One primarily involves controlled laboratory experiments and focuses on the psychological resources that
allow for successful self-regulation. The other primarily involves correlational and field research and
focuses on personality and social variables associated with failures of self-regulation as they manifest in
problem behavior. Teaches PSY 367 (Applied Correlation and Regression) and PSY 368 (Applied
Structural Equation Modeling). Serves as an advisor and is available to serve as a mentor for students
wishing to do independent study in his areas of interest. rhoyle@duke.edu
SCOTT A. HUETTEL, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience; Co-Director,
Center for Neuroeconomic Studies. Dr. Huettel received his B.A. in Psychology and Plan II from the
University of Texas, Austin, in 1994, and his PhD in experimental psychology from Duke University in
1999. His research investigates the brain mechanisms underlying executive control, with particular
emphasis on systems responsible for economic and social decision making. His laboratory uses functional
magnetic resonance imaging to probe changes in brain activation associated with decision making,
integrating fMRI activation measures with behavioral and psychometric data. An underlying neural theme
throughout this work is the functioning of prefrontal cortex: in what ways do different prefrontal regions
contribute to an individual decision? Collectively, these studies fall under the emerging field of
"neuroeconomics". Teaches PSY 362 (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and Neurobiology 95S
(Focus: Neuroeconomics). Serves as an advisor. scott.huettel@duke.edu
AMY S. JOH Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Joh received her B.A.
in Psychology from Rutgers University and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Cognition and Perception (with
a Developmental Psychology concentration) from New York University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University of Virginia before joining the Duke
University faculty in 2008. Dr. Joh is interested in the role of learning in cognitive and motor development;
in particular, how children learn to plan and control their actions and how learning changes with experience
and development. Ongoing studies in her lab include the informational basis for learning to control actions
and how everyday experience affects learning. She is interested in mentoring students wishing to do
independent studies related to these topics. She teaches PSY 97 (Developmental Psychology). Serves as an
advisor. amy.joh@duke.edu
FRANCIS J. KEEFE Associate Director for Research, Duke Pain and Palliative Care Program; Professor,
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Keefe received a B.A. in Psychology from Bowdoin
College in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ohio University in 1975 and completed a Post-Doctoral
fellowship in the Psychophysiology Lab at Massachusetts Mental Health Center (Harvard Medical School)
where he conducted some of the early studies on clinical applications of EMG biofeedback. Dr. Keefe has
broad interests in behavioral and psychological aspects of pain and stress management. His current
research focuses on the effects of pain coping skills training, emotional disclosure, and communication
skills training on stress and pain in arthritis patients, and partner-assisted psychosocial interventions to
reduce symptoms such as pain, fatigue, or nausea, and emotional suffering in cancer survivors. Dr. Keefe
has developing interests in biological mechanisms related to pain coping include brain and immune-system
correlates of adaptive vs maladaptive coping styles. Dr. Keefe teaches PSY 109A (Health Psychology),
109B (Stress and Coping), PSY 170MS (Coping with Catastrophic Events) and PSY 216S (Gender, Pain,
and Coping.) Serves as an advisor. keefe003@mc.duke.edu
KEVIN S. LABAR Associate Professor, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology
and Neuroscience Dr. LaBar obtained a B.A. in Mathematics and Psychology from Lafayette College in
1990. He then attended New York University, where he received his Ph.D. in Neural Science in 1996.
After postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychology at Yale University, he was an Instructor in the
Department of Neurology at Northwestern University Medical School before joining the Duke Faculty in
1999. His research interests include the neurobiology of emotion and memory, classical conditioning
models of learning, pychophysiology, and functional brain imaging. He teaches PSY 112 (Cognitive
Neuroscience) and 141S (Emotions and the Brain). Serves as an advisor. klabar@duke.edu
MARK LEARY Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr. Leary obtained his B.A. in
Psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology (with a
minor concentration in statistics) from the University of Florida. Before coming to Duke, he taught at
Denison University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest University. Dr. Leary is currently
Director of the Duke Interdisciplinary Initiative in Social Psychology (DIISP). Dr. Leary’s research
interests focus on social motivation and emotion, particularly the processes by which people think about
and evaluate themselves, the effects of self-reflection on emotion and psychological well-being, and how
behavior and emotion are influenced by people’s concerns with how they are perceived and evaluated by
others. Teaches PSY 114 (Personality) and PSY 116 (Social Psychology). Serves as an
advisor. leary@duke.edu
LISA LINNENBRINK-GARCIA Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr.
Linnenbrink-Garcia received her B.A. in Psychology (and Music), M.A. in Psychology, and Ph.D. in
Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2002. Before coming to Duke in
2005, she was an assistant professor at the University of Toledo in educational psychology. Her research is
in the area of developmental psychology with a specific focus on applications to educational settings. In
particular, she focuses on the development of achievement motivation and learning in educational contexts
(elementary through post-secondary). She studies the relation of motivation to students’ emotional wellbeing, cognitive strategy use, and achievement and is interested in the interplay among motivation,
emotion, and cognition. Much of this research is conducted in the science domain, with a specific focus on
conceptual change in science understanding and the development of interest in science. She teaches 108A
Educational Psychology and 154S Achievement Motivation. Serves as an advisor. llinnen@duke.edu
ELIZABETH J. MARSH Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr. Marsh
received her B.A. from Drew University and her A.M. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford
University. She joined Duke University in 2003 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington
University in St Louis. Her research is on human memory; her specific interests include autobiographical
memory, memory errors, and educational applications of cognitive psychology. She teaches PSY 105
(Myths and Mysteries of Memory) and PSY 123 (Human Memory). Serves as an advisor.
emarsh@psych.duke.edu
REIKO MAZUKA Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Mazuka
received her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from Nagoya University in Japan. She also spent a year at
Oberlin College, Ohio, as an exchange student. She received a M.Sc. in Linguistics from University of
Edinburgh, Scotland. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, and
joined the faculty at Duke in the Fall of 1989. Her major research interests are in the areas of language
acquisition and psycholinguistics. She teaches courses which count in both the cognitive and
developmental area. She teaches PSY 153S (Issues in Language Development). Serves as an advisor.
mazuka@duke.edu
WARREN H. MECK Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the
Undergraduate Neuroscience Program Dr. Meck received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of
California, San Diego in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Brown University in 1982. He held faculty
appointments at Brown University and Columbia University before joining the Duke faculty in 1994. Dr.
Meck's research interests are in the general area of timing and time perception in animals and humans.
These interests include the anatomical and pharmacological basis of temporal integration and associated
mechanisms of attention and memory in normal subjects and patient populations. Additional interests
include chronobiology and mode-control models of counting and timing behavior from a cross species
perspective. He is interested in sponsoring independent research projects in these areas as well as selected
topics in behavioral neuroscience and developmental psychobiology dealing with the neurobiology of
learning, memory, and attention. Mr. Meck teaches PSY 135 (Fundamentals of Neuroscience), PSY 195
(Topics in Neuroscience) and PSY 224S (Timing and Time Perception). He is the Director of the
Psychology Department's Neuroscience Concentration Program and serves as advisor for students in that
program. meck@psych.duke.edu
STEPHEN R. MITROFF Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Center for
Cognitive Neuroscience Dr. Mitroff received a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of
California, Berkeley in 1998 and a then went on to Harvard University for graduate studies in Cognitive
Psychology, receiving a M.A. in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2002. After post-doctoral training in the Psychology
department at Yale University, he joined the faculty in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the
Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University in 2005. Dr. Mitroff's main research
interests center around issues of adult and infant visual cognition and the work in his lab primarily explores
questions about the nature of adult visual representations, memory, and attention. Questions of interest
include how does the visual system keep track of visual information as representing the same objects over
time and motion, how are we able to detect that something has changed from one view of the world to the
next, and how do experiences such as video game playing alter perceptual abilities. Through
collaborations, these and other related questions are also being explored from developmental and cognitive
neuroscience perspectives. Dr. Mitroff is available to serve as a mentor for students wishing to do
independent study in topics related to such issues of adult visual cognition. Serves as an advisor.
mitroff@duke.edu.
TERRI E. MOFFITT Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Moffitt researches the
interplay between nature and nurture in the origins of problem behaviors. Her particular interest is in
antisocial and criminal behaviors. She directs the Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study ("E-risk"),
which follows a 1994 birth cohort of 1116 British families with twins. She is also Associate Director of the
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study in New Zealand, which conducts a 32-year
longitudinal study of a 1972 birth cohort of 1000 individuals and their families. For her research, she has
received the American Psychological Association's Early Career Contribution Award (1993), a
Distinguished Career Award in Developmental Psychology (2006), the Royal Society-Wolfson Merit
Award (2002-2007), the Stockholm Prize in Criminology (2007). She is a fellow of the UK Academy of
Medical Sciences (1999), the American Society of Criminology (2003), the British Academy (2004), and
Academia Europaea (2005). She has served on investigative panels for institutions such as the Nuffield
Council on Bioethics (ethics of behavioural genetic research) and the US National Academy of Sciences
(research into firearms and violence). Serves as an advisor. terri.moffitt@duke.edu
KAREN L. MURPHY Lecturer and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of
Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Murphy received her B.A. in Psychology and Biology from the
University of Colorado, Boulder in 2001 and her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Duke University in 2008.
She is interested in the changes in neuronal signaling that underlie affective disorders, drug use, and
addiction. She teaches PSY 101(Biological Basis of Behavior), 107 (Biopsychology of Affective and Mood
Disorders), 126 (Behavior and Neurochemistry), and 169S (Neurobiology of Pain). Serves as an advisor.
Karen.Murphy@duke.edu
DAVID L. RABINER Senior Research Scientist and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of
Psychology and Neuroscience; Senior Research Scientist, Sanford Institute of Public Policy; Dr. Rabiner
received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Duke
University in 1987. He completed his internship in child clinical psychology at the Duke University
Medical Center and was a faculty member in the Psychology Department at UNC-Greensboro prior to
returning to Duke in 1999. He began his research career focusing on children’s peer relations with an
emphasis on how being rejected by peers influences a child’s social and emotional development.
Currently, his work is in the areas of violence prevention and ADHD, with an emphasis on understanding
how attention difficulties influence children’s academic development and on evaluating interventions for
children with attention difficulties. Teaches PSY 114 (Personality) and PSY 119A (Abnormal
Psychology). Serves as an advisor. rabiner@pps.duke.edu
LAURA SMART RICHMAN Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Dr. Richman received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in social psychology in 1997. She
completed a NIMH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco in Health
Psychology, and prior to her arrival at Duke in 2003, she was as a Research Associate at the Harvard
School of Public Health. Her research interests focus on the psychological and social determinants of
health, such as the experience of stigma, coping mechanisms, and identity. Other interests include the
physiological mechanisms by which emotion and emotion regulation may influence health. She teaches
PSY 116 (Social Psychology) and PSY 185B (Research Methods in Social Psychology) and PSY 230S
(Stereotyping and Stigma). Serves as an advisor. lrichman@duke.edu
DAVID C. RUBIN Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Rubin received his B.S. in
Physics and Psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1968, and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D.
from Harvard in 1974. He worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA , taught psychology at Harvard and
Lawrence University, before coming to Duke in 1978. He has been an Erskine Fellow at the University of
Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, a Visiting Professor at University of Aarhus, Denmark, a visiting
scholar at the Medical Research Council; Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge, England, at the
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Berlin
and is currently Senior Fellow at the Center for the Duke Study of Aging and Human Development. His
areas of research include autobiographical memory, memory for oral traditions, and cognition in general.
He teaches PSY 92 (Introduction to Cognition), PSY 152 (Cognitive Psychology of Oral Traditions), PSY
209 (The Cognitive Psychology of Oral Traditions) and PSY 212S (Human Memory). Serves as an
advisor. rubin@psych.duke.edu
NESTOR SCHMAJUK Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Schmajuk graduated
from the University of Buenos Aires and became an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering in
Argentina. In 1986 he obtained a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts and
became a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Adaptive Systems at Boston University. From 1988 until
1993 he was an assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern University. In 1992 he obtained a
fellowship from the Royal Society to develop models of latent inhibition and the hippocampus. In 1993 he
moved to Duke University. Dr. Schmajuk developed neural network models of classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, animal communication, spatial learning, and cognitive mapping. Using these neural
networks he has described the effects of hippocampal, cortical, and cerebellar lesions, as well as the results
of the administration of dopaminergic and cholinergic drugs, in different learning and cognitive paradigms.
Teaches PSY 111 (Learning and Adaptive Behavior), PSY 128 (The Creative Mind), and PSY 182CS
(Neural Networks and Psychology). Serves as an advisor. nestor@psych.duke.edu
MATT SERRA Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience; Director of
Academic Assessment, Trinity College Dr. Serra graduated in 1979 from Western State College in
Colorado where he majored in Biology and Chemistry. He then received a Post-Bachelor of Science
degree in Psychology from Oregon State University in 1986. Dr. Serra received his MS in Experimental
Psychology in 1990 from North Dakota State University. His Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology is from
Purdue University completed in 1993. Dr. Serra is interested in research concerning both low and high
level human memory processes. In particular, he is interested in the strategies employed during comprehension of text materials as well as metacomprehension (when do you know what you know?) of text
materials. His primary research focuses on the study of memory for temporal and serial order information
and the development of models of these processes. Teaches PSY 122 (Psychology of Thinking), PSY 123
(Introduction to Human Memory), and PSY 212S (Human Memory). Serves as an advisor.
serram@duke.edu
JAMES YATISH SHAH Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Shah
received his BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, his MA and PhD. in Social
Psychology from Columbia University. His post doctoral experience was at the University of Maryland.
He most recently has been an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While there he
was nominated for the American Psychological Association’s Early Career Award in Social Psychology.
His most recent grant applications have been on “Implicit Social Influences on Self-Regulation” and
“Exploring the Social Consequences of Regulatory Focus”. He has taught classes in the areas of Goals and
self-regulation, Current Social Psychology Topics, Introduction to Social Psychology, Intergroup and
Interpersonal Bias and Research in Psychology. Teaches PSY 185BS (Research Methods in Social
Psychology). Serves as advisor. jshah@duke.edu
KATHLEEN J. SIKKEMA Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core of the Center for
AIDS Research. Dr. Sikkema completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Tech in 1991 and
completed internship in health psychology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center. Her primary
research interests include the conduct of HIV prevention and mental health intervention trials, both
domestic and international. Dr. Sikkema's research has focused on community-level HIV prevention
interventions for a number of populations, including women and adolescents. She also conducts research on
coping and secondary prevention interventions for men and women with HIV who have experienced
stressors that include AIDS- bereavement and traumatic stress due to childhood sexual abuse. Dr. Sikkema
is currently involved in similar trials in South Africa, and is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to
HIV prevention and care. Teaches PSY 270QS (Community Intervention Research). Serves as an advisor.
kathleen.sikkema@duke.edu
VICKI STOCKING Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology and
Neuroscience; Research Professor, Program in Education; Program Coordinator,
Office of Service-Learning. Dr. Stocking received her B.S. from Duke
University in 1985 and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1990. She returned
to Duke as a post-doctoral fellow at the Talent Identification Program, an
organization that serves academically talented adolescents, and served as the
Research Director until 2002. In the Office of Service-Learning, she works
with faculty and community partners on service-learning (including research
service-learning and community-based research) courses. Her interests include
the development and nurture of academic talent, identity development in
adolescence, and self-concept, particularly academic self-concept. She is also
interested in service-learning and the ways service can enhance the
intellectual, social, and personal development of students, faculty, and the
community; she is particularly dedicated to community-based research as a
pedagogy and research paradigm. She teaches PSY 137 (Adolescence). Serves as an
advisor. vbsox@duke.edu
TIMOTHY J. STRAUMAN Department Chair and Professor, Department of Psychology and
Neuroscience Dr. Strauman received his B.A. in psychology (as well as communications) from Duquesne
University in 1978, his M.A. in human development from the University of Chicago in 1979, and his Ph.D.
in both clinical psychology and social/personality psychology from New York University in 1987. He
completed his internship in clinical psychology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, in 1987
and joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin in 1987. Dr.
Strauman became Director of Psychology Training in the Department of Psychiatry at Wisconsin in 1992,
as well as co-director of the Wisconsin Depression Treatment Program. He came to Duke in September
2000. His research interests include psychological theories of depression, the development of selfregulation, cognitive and motivational perspectives on the self, and the application of behavioral science
principles to treatment of emotional disorders and health problems. He teaches PSY 185DS (Research
Methods in Psychopathology and Psychotherapy). Serves as an advisor. tjstraum@duke.edu
ROBERT J. THOMPSON, Jr. Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Division of
Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Thompson received his B.A.
from LaSalle College in 1967 and his M.A. in 1968 and Ph.D. in 1971 from the University of North
Dakota. He served on the faculties of Georgetown University Medical School and Catholic University of
America prior to coming to Duke University in 1975. Dr. Thompson has served as Head of the Division of
Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, from 1977-1997; Director
of Clinical Training, Department of Psychology: Social and Health Sciences, from 1994-1997; and as Dean
of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, from 1999-2008. Dr. Thompson's clinical
interests are in the areas of Pediatric Psychology and Clinical Child Psychology. His research interests
include: how biological and psychosocial processes act together in human development and enhancing
coping with chronic childhood illnesses and developmental problems. He also has research interests in
enhancing undergraduate teaching and learning.
Dr. Thompson teaches PSY 159S (Biological Psychology of Human Development). Serves as an advisor.
robert.thompson@duke.edu
KEITH E. WHITFIELD, Research Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience He earned a
Bachelors degree in Psychology from the College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM and a MA and Ph.D. in LifeSpan Developmental Psychology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas. He also received post
doctoral training in quantitative genetics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. His first position
was at McNeese State University and came to Duke from Penn State University. His research on individual
differences in minority aging employs a two prong approach that includes studying individual people as
well as members of twin pairs. Dr. Whitfield’s research examines the individual variation in health and
individual differences in cognition due to health conditions. Dr. Whitfield has worked with researchers
from Sweden, Russia, and the United States to examine how social, psychological, and cultural factors of
cognition and healthy aging. He has completed a study that involves examining health and psycho-social
factors related to health among adult African American twins from North Carolina. His current research
project is a longitudinal study of cognition and health among older African Americans. Serves as an
advisor. Keith.whitfield@duke.edu
MAKEBA PARRAMORE WILBOURN, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and
Neuroscience; Dr. Wilbourn received her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from California State University,
Fullerton and completed her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Cornell University in 2008. She will be
continuing her research studying the relations between gesture, thought, and language throughout
development in the Wilbourn Infant Laboratory @ Duke (W.I.L.D). Her research is focused primarily on
infants’ cognitive, perceptual, and language development as a function of the modality of input (e.g.,
auditory, manual, or both). This research provides insights into not only the mechanisms driving early
language acquisition, but also the ways in which the modality of input can facilitate the language
development of both typical and atypical populations (e.g., preverbal infants, deaf children, languagedelayed, African American toddlers). Specific topics of inquiry include early word and symbol learning,
categorization and naming, perception and discrimination of spoken and signed languages, and the
influence of multimodal input (words + gestures) on early linguistic milestones. Serves as an advisor.
makeba.wilbourn@duke.edu
CHRISTINA L. WILLIAMS Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dr. Williams
received her B.A. from Williams College and her Ph.D in behavioral neuroendocrinology from the Institute
of Animal Behavior at Rutgers University in 1980. She did postdoctoral research in psychiatry,
neurochemistry and psychology at the Johns Hopkins University and was Associate Professor and Chair of
the Department of Psychology at Barnard College, Columbia University before joining the Duke faculty in
1994. Dr. Williams is interested in perinatal programming of the brain’s cognitive and emotional systems
by neurochemical and neurohormonal systems in the maturation of brain and behavior with special interest
in the development of sexually dimorphic behaviors and long-term effects of hormones and nutrients
administered perinatally on cognitive functions throughout the lifetime. She is interested in sponsoring
independent research projects that are focused on how nutrients like choline or folate, and hormones like
estrogen or testosterone modulate memory function of rats and mice that are genetically altered to mimic
certain human clinical conditions. Dr. Williams teaches PSY 91 (Biological Bases of Behavior), PSY 150S
(Hormones and Behavior), and PSY 250S (Brain, Hormones and Cognition). Serves as an advisor.
williams@psych.duke.edu
HENRY YIN Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Dr.Yin received his Ph.D.
in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. He is interested in understanding how goal-directed actions are
learned, expressed, and extinguished. Ultimately, he hopes to characterize goal-directed actions at multiple
levels of analysis--from molecules to neural networks. This knowledge will provide us with insight into
various pathological conditions characterized by impaired goal-directed behaviors, such as drug addiction,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease. Teaches PSY 195S (Topics
in Neuroscience). Serve as an advisor. hy43@duke.edu