Graduate Alumni
Our department has a strong record of successful PhD graduates going on to positions in academia and industry.
| Graduate | Advisor | Dissertation | Year | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Schork | Terry Jernigan | 2016-17 | ||
| Wen-Hsuan Chan | Marta Kutas | Location, Location, Fixation: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Explorations of Viewing Position Asymmetry in Visual Word Recognition | 2015-16 | Staff Research Associate Dept. of Cognitive Science UC San Diego |
| Michael Datko | Jaime Pineda | Functional and structural connectivity, and the effects of neurofeedback training, in imitation-related brain networks in autism. | 2015-16 | Postdoc Neuroscience Program UC San Diego |
| Elkin Gutierrez | Ben Bergen | Computational and Cognitive Semantics: The Statistics and Structure of Meaning | 2015-16 | Postdoc IBM Research |
| Ross Metusalem | Jeff Elman | Beyond the (Linguistically) Expected: Activating Event Knowledge During Real-Time Language Comprehension. | 2015-16 | Learning & Development Facilitator Academy for Teaching & Learning Excellence Un. of So. Florida, Tampa |
| Luke Miller | Ayse Saygin | The Body in Flux: Tool Use Modulates Multisensory Body Representations. | 2015-16 | Postdoc INSERM France |
| Rachel Ostrand | Ben Bergen | Repeat After Us: Syntactic Alignment is Not Partner-Specific | 2015-16 | Postdoc Fellow in Computational Linguistics IBM Research |
| Burcu Urgen | Ayse Saygin | Spatio-temporal Neuroimaging of Visual Processing of Human and Robot Actions in Humans. | 2015-16 | Postdoc Dept. of Neuroscience University of Parma Italy |
| Esther Walker | Rafael Nunez | Place, Movement, Perspective: How space shapes and constrains our thoughts about time. | 2015-16 | |
| Patrick Gallagher | Virginia de Sa | Operator Theory for Analysis of Convex Optimization Methods in Machine Learning. | 2014-15 | Postdoc Dept. of Cognitive Science UC San Diego |
| He Huang | Doug Nitz | Decision-Making and Motor Control: Computational Models of Human Sensorimotor Processing. | 2014-15 | Postdoc Laureate Institute for Brain Research |
| Tyler Marghetis | Rafael Nunez | Every Number In Its Place: The Spatial Foundations of Calculation and Conceptualization. | 2014-15 | Postdoc Indiana University The Percepts and Concepts Laboratory |
| Tim Mullen | Virginia de Sa | The Dynamic Brain: Modeling Neural Dynamics and Interactions from Human Electrophysiological Recordings. | 2014-15 | CSO & CEO Syntrogi |
| Matthew Schalles | Jaime Pineda | Cortical Motor Rhythms: Auditory Processing and Plasticity. | 2014-15 | Postdoc Northern California VA Health System |
| Walter Talbott | Virginia de Sa | Learning to Perceive: A Developmental Robotics Approach to Vision and Object Interaction. | 2014-15 | Research Engineer Emotient |
| Jamie Alexandre | Jeff Elman | Computer Assisted Learning in a (Dis-) Connected Age: Challenges and Approaches to Digital Education and Equal Access. | 2013-14 | Software Architecture Lead Foundation of Learning Equality, Inc. |
| Benjamin Cipollini | Gary Cottrell | A unified explanation of visual asymmetries, interhemispheric communication, and their typical development in humans. | 2013-14 | Postdoc UC San Diego Dept. of Computer Science |
| Tristan Davenport | Seana Coulson | Causal Inference and Language Comprehension: Event-Related Potential Investigations. | 2013-14 | Staff Research Associate UC San Diego Dept. of Linguistics |
| Nancy Owens Renner | Ed Hutchins/Jim Hollan | Free to Explore a Museum: Embodied Inquiry and Multimodal Expression of Meaning. | 2013-14 | Director San Diego Incubator for Innovation |
| Micah Bregman | Sarah Creel | The Role of Pitch in the Recognition of Vocalizations in Songbirds and Humans. | 2012-13 | Associate McKinsey & Co. |
| Deborah Forster | Shirley C. Strum | A State-Space Approach to Social Complexity and Distributed Cognition in Olive Baboons (Papio anubis): Re-Thinking the Role of Behavioral Analysis in Socio-Cognitive Research. | 2012-13 | Assistant Project Scientist California Inst. for Telecommunications and Information UCSD |
| Adam Fouse | Jim Hollan | Navigation of Time-Coded Data. | 2012-13 | Research Scientist Aptima |
| Kensy Cooperrider | Rafael Nunez | Reference in Action: Links Between Pointing and Language. | 2011-12 | Postdoctoral Scholar University of Chicago, IL Dept. of Psychology |
| Kaya de Barbaro | Gedeon Deak | More Than Meets the Eye: From Stress to Scaffolding, A Microgenesis of Infant Attention. | 2011-12 | Research Scientist Georgia Inst. Tech. |
| Anna Holt | Gedeon Deak | A Comparison of Cue Processing and Executive Functioning in Child Task-Switching. | 2011-12 | Director of Research and Evaluation Tulsa Public Schools |
| Nathaniel Smith | Marta Kutas | Scaling up Psycholinguistics. | 2011-12 | Computational Fellow Institute for Data Science UC Berkeley |
| Nicholas Butko | Virginia de Sa | Active Perception. | 2010-11 | Staff Software Engineer |
| Gaston Cangiano | Jim Hollan | Studying Episodic Access to Personal Digital Activity: Activity Trails Prototype. | 2010-11 | |
| Jennifer Collins | Seana Coulson | The Integration of Language with Perceptual Systems. | 2010-11 | Researcher Hypothesis Group |
| Matthew Leonard | Jeff Elman | Neural Stages of Word Encoding Across Languages, Proficiency Levels, and Modalities. | 2010-11 | Postdoc UC San Francisco School of Medicine Neurological Surgery |
| Joshua Lewis | Virginia de Sa | Anthropocentric Data Analysis. | 2010-11 | Vice President Alpine Data Labs |
| Anne Marie Piper | Jim Hollan | Augmenting Collocated Interaction: The Design of Assistive Technology to Support Face-to-Face Communication. | 2010-11 | Asst. Professor Northwestern University Dept. of Communication |
| Katherine DeLong | Marta Kutas | Electrophysiological Explorations of Linguistic Pre-Activation and its Consequences During Online Sentence Processing | 2009-10 | Assistant Project Scientist UC San Diego Cognitive Science |
| Laura Kemmer | Marta Kutas | Event-related brain potential investigations of left and right hemisphere contributions to syntactic processing. | 2009-10 | Assistant Professor Pacific Lutheran University Psychology |
| Stephen McCullough | Jamie Pineda/Ursula Bellugi | Functional and Neural Organization Underlying Face and Facial Expression Perception. | 2009-10 | Research Scientist San Diego State University Laboratory for Language & Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Alan Robinson | Virginia de Sa | Mechanisms of Brightness Perception | 2009-10 | Postdoc UC San Diego Psychology |
| Adam Tierney | Sarah Creel | The Structure and Perception of Human Vocalizations | 2009-10 | Lecturer Psychological Sciences Birkbeck, UK |
| Nathan White | Marta Kutas | Quantitative Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain: Validation, Acquisition, and Analysis | 2009-10 | Asst. Project Scientist UC San Diego Radiology |
| Flavia Filimon | Martin I. Sereno | Multisensory and sensorimotor representations for action in human posterior parietal cortex investigated with functional fMRI. | 2008-09 | Research Scientist Max Planck Institute Human Development Berlin Germany |
| John Lewis | Jeff Elman | Size Always Matters: An Investigation of the Influence of Connection Length on the Organization of White-Matter in Typical Development and in Autism . | 2008-09 | Research Scientist Montreal Neurological Institute McGill University |
| Dan Liu | Emo Todorov | Computational and Psychophysical Studies of Goal-Directed Arm Movements. | 2008-09 | Decision Support Engineering Analyst |
| Danke Xie | Jeff Elman | A Biologically-Plausible Working memory Model for Serial Order. | 2008-09 | Software Engineer Samsung Telecommunications |
| Amaya Becvar | James D. Hollan/Edwin L. Hutchins | An Ethnographic Investigation of the Evolving Dynamics of a Learning Ecology. | 2007-08 | UX Research Manager Immersion Corporation |
| Arielle Borovsky | Jeffrey L. Elman/Marta Kutas | Word learning in context: The role of lifetime language experience and sentential context. | 2007-08 | Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Florida State University |
| David Groppe | Marta Kutas | Common Independent Components of the P3b, N400, and P600 ERP Components to Deviant Linguistic Events. | 2007-08 | Researcher Health Systems |
| Michael Kiang | Marta Kutas | Event-related Brain Potential Studies of Semantic Processing in Schizophrenia and Schizotypy Personality. | 2007-08 | Associate Professor Dept. of Psychiatry University of Toronto |
| Silvia Paparello | Joan Stiles | The Many Faces of Neurocognitive Development: Behavior and Neurocorrelates of Holistic Face processing. | 2007-08 | Project Manager UC San Diego Neuroscience |
| Hsin-Hao Yu | Virginia De Sa/Martin I. Sereno | Integration of visual information and the organization of receptive fields in V1 of the California ground squirrel. | 2007-08 | Research Fellow Monash University Dept. of Physiology |
| Morana Alac | Edwin L. Hutchins | How Brain Images Reveal Cognition: An Ethnographic Study of Meaning-Making in Brain Mapping Practice. | 2006-07 | Associate Professor UC San Diego Dept. of Communication |
| Daniel Bauer | James D. Hollan/David J. Kirsh | The Cognitive Ecology of Dynapad, A Multiscale Workspace for Managing Personal Digital Collections. | 2006-07 | |
| Ruey-song Huang | Martin I. Sereno | Multisensory Representations of Space: Multimodal Brain Imaging Aproaches. | 2006-07 | Asst. Project Scientist UC San Diego Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience |
| Ying Wu | Seana Coulson | Coordinated Minds: How Iconic Gestures Mediate Communication. | 2006-07 | Asst. Project Scientist UC San Diego Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience |
| Wendy Ark | Joan Stiles | Comparing Mental Rotation and Feature Matching Strategies in Adults and Children with Behavioral and Neuroimaging Techniques. | 2005-06 | Researcher IBM Almaden Research Center San Jose, CA |
| Christopher Cordova | Andrea A. Chiba | Attention, Prediction and Sequence Learning: Roles of the Cholinergic basal Forebrain and the Retrosplenial Cortex. | 2005-06 | Postdoc Researcher McGill University Montreal Neurological Institute |
| Ian Fasel | Jochen Triesch | Learning Real-Time Object Detectors: Probabilistic Generative Approaches. | 2005-06 | Founder, Lead Developer Emotient |
| John Hershey | Martin I. Sereno | Perceptual Inference in Generative Models. | 2005-06 | Researcher IBM Watson Research |
| Robert Liebscher | Richard K. Belew | Temporal, Categorical, and Bibliographic Context of Scientific Tests: Interactions and Applications. | 2005-06 | Senior. Business Intelligence Analyst Adobe |
| Tim Marks | James D. Hollan | Facing Uncertainty: 3D Face Tracking and Learning with Generative Models. | 2005-06 | Researcher Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories |
| Irina Merzlyak | Andrea A. Chiba | The Role of the Basolateral Amygdala in Affective Associative Learning, Arousal, and Adaptation. | 2005-06 | Research Analyst Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Jonathan Nelson | Martin I. Sereno | Optimal Experimental Design as a Theory of Perceptual and Cognitive Information Acquisition. | 2005-06 | Research Scientist Max Planck Institute Human Development Berlin |
| Ayse Saygin | Marty I. Sereno | Embodied Perception: Neuropsychological and Neuroimaging Studies of Language, Vision, and Attention. | 2005-06 | Associate Professor UC San Diego Dept. of Cognitive Science |
| Robert Williams | Gilles R. Fauconnier/Edwin L. Hutchins | Making Meaning from a Clock: Material Artifacts and Conceptual Blending in Time-Telling Instruction. | 2004-05 | Associate Professor of Education Lawrence University Appleton, WI |
| Michael Hayward | Edwin L. Hutchins | Reverse-Engineering Emergent Collective Behaviors in an Evolved Swarm System. | 2003-04 | |
| David Leland | Jaime A. Pineda | Effects of Motivationally Salient Stimuli on Visual Spatial Attention: Behavior and Electrophysiology. | 2003-04 | Assistant Professor Univ. Wisconsin - Eau Claire Dept. of Psychology |
| Brendan Allison | Jaime A. Pineda | P3 or not P3: Toward a Better P300BCI. | 2002-03 | |
| Frederic Dick | Elizabeth Bates | Language in a Sensorimotor Brain. | 2002-03 | Associate Professor (equivalent) University College London Birbeck College |
| Alexandra Horowitz | Jeffrey Elman | The Behaviors of Theories of Mind, and A Case Study of Dogs at Play. | 2001-02 | Associate Professor, Adjunct Barnard College Dept. of Psychology |
| Jude Mitchell | David Zipser | Unity of Action: Coordination of Movement Plans Between Oculomotor Areas. | 2001-02 | Asst. Professor University of Rochester Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| Elizabeth Torres | David Zipser | Theoretical Framework for the Study of Sensory-Motor Integration. | 2001-02 | Postdoctoral Scholar Rutgers Dept. of Psychology |
| Nicole Wicha | Elizabeth Bates | Grammatical Gender on Real-Time Language Comprehension in Spanish: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Investigations. | 2001-02 | Assistant Professor University of Texas, San Antonio Dept. of Biology |
| Carrie Joyce | Marta Kutas | Saving Faces: using Eye Movement, ERP, and SCR Measures of Face Processing and Recognition to Investigate Eyewitness Identification. | 2000-01 | |
| Kara Federmeier | Marta Kutas | Electrophysiological Investigations of Semantic Memory Organization and Use. | 1999-00 | Professor University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Psychology |
| Barbara Holder | Edwin L. Hutchins | Cognition in Flight: Understanding Cockpits as Cognitive Systems. | 1999-00 | Lead Scientist The Boeing Company Commercial Airlines Group Flight Deck Concept Center |
| Adrian Robert | Martin I. Sereno | Lamination and Within-Area Integration in the Neocortex. | 1999-00 | Software Developer Natural Designs Software Finland |
| Marissa Westerfield | Jaime A Pineda | The Role of the Cerebellum in Visual Spatial Attention: An Event-Related Potential Study | 1999-00 | Assistant Project Scientist UC San Diego Inst. for Neural Computation |
| Scott Farrar | David Zipser | Neural Network Models of the Brain Mechanisms of Bilateral Coordination. | 1998-99 | |
| Christopher Fry | John Batali | A Source-Filter Model of Birdsong Production | 1998-99 | Senior VP Engineering |
| Jay Moody | Jeffrey Elman | Visualizing Speech with a Recurrent Neural Network Trained on Human Acoustic-Articulatory Data. | 1998-99 | Independent Innovator & Entrepreneur Design Thinking Boston |
| Thomas Rebotier | David Kirsh | Vision and Imagery: The Role of Cortical Attractor Dynamics. | 1998-99 | Consultant |
| Paul Rodriguez | Jeffrey Elman | Mathematical Foundations of Recurrent Neural Networks in Language Processing. | 1998-99 | Research Programmer/Analyst UC San Diego San Diego Super Computer |
| Giorgio Ganis | Martin I. Sereno/Marta kutas | An Electrophysiological Analysis of Semantic Context Effects on Object Identification. | 1997-98 | Assistant Professor Plymouth University Harvard Medical School MA General Hospital |
| Randy Gobbel | Martin I. Sereno | The Role of the Neostriatum in the Execution of Action Sequences. | 1997-98 | Director of Engineering CollabRx, Inc |
| Michael Gray | Javier Movellan Terrence Sejnowski |
Unsupervised Statistical Methods for Processing of Image Sequences. | 1997-98 | |
| Lucy Hadden | John Batali | How to Tell your Mother from a Bush: A Model of Predispositions and Filial Imprinting in Domestic Chicks. | 1997-98 | |
| Daniel Herron | Elizabeth Bates | Context, Word-class, and Prosody in the Recognition of Open and Closed-class words. | 1997-98 | Principle Lead Software Engineer Operating Systems Group Microsoft |
| Nili Mandelblit | Gilles Fauconnier | Grammatical Blending: Creative and Schematic Aspects in Sentence Processing and Translation. | 1997-98 | Programs Director Israel Europe R&D Directorate |
| Michael Oliphant | Jeffrey Elman | Formal Approaches to Innate and Learned Communication: Laying the Foundation for Language. | 1997-98 | Chief Technology Officer DefenseWeb Technologies 4150 Mission Blvd., Suite 220 San Diego, CA 92109 |
| Seana Coulson | Gilles Fauconnier | Semantic Leaps: The Role of Conceptual Blending in Meaning Construction. | 1996-97 | Professor UC San Diego Dept. of Cognitive Science |
| Kevin Haynes | David Zipser | A Model of Motion Detection in Primate Primary Visual Cortex. | 1996-97 | Senior Information Security Engineer Premera Blue Cross |
| Sohie Lee | David Zipser | The Representation, Storage and Retrieval of Reaching Movement Information in Motor Cortex. | 1996-97 | Senior Instructor Wellesley College Computer Science |
| Hua Liu | Elizabeth Bates | Lexical Access and Differential Processing in Nouns and Verbs in a second language. | 1996-97 | |
| Monica Paolini | Martin I. Sereno | Motion Processing in the California Ground Squirrel Extrastriate Cortex . A Temporal and Spatial Analysis Using Reverse Correlation Methods. | 1996-97 | President Senza Fili Consultants Seattle, WA |
| Dan Gruen | Donald A. Norman Aaron Cicourel |
The Role of External Resources in the Management of Multiple Activities. | 1995-96 | Research Scientist IBM Watson Research Center |
| Christine Halverson | Edwin L. Hutchins | Inside the Cognitive Workplace; New Technology and Air Traffic Control. | 1995-96 | Research Staff IBM Watson Research Center |
| Paul Maglio | David Kirsh | The Computational Basis of Interactive Skill. | 1995-96 | Professor UC Merced School of Engineering |
| Kechen Zhang | Martin I. Sereno | Neural Dynamics of World - Centered Spatial Representations. | 1995-96 | Assistant Professor Johns Hopkins University Biomedical Engineering & Neuroscience |
| Nick Flor | Edwin L. Hutchins | Dynamic Organization in Multi-Agent Distributed Cognitive Systems. | 1994-95 | Faculty Chair University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management |
| Ken Baldwin | Marta Kutas | An Event-Related Brain Potential Analysis of Implicit, Structured Sequence Learning. | 1993-94 | Senior Scientist Center Space Software/Music Strands |
| Anders Dale | Martin I. Sereno | Source Localization and Spatial Discriminant Analysis of Event-Related Potentials; Linear Approaches. | 1993-94 | Professor UC San Diego Dept. of Neuroscience |
| Mike Kalish | Jeffrey Elman | Information Integration: An Ecological and Connectionist Approach. | 1993-94 | Professor Syracuse University Department of Psychology |
| Jiajie Zhang | Donald A. Norman | Distributed Representation: The Interaction Between Internal and External Information. | 1991-92 | Dr. Doris L. Ross Professor & Dean University of Texas, Houston School of Biomedical Informatics |