Exceptional opportunities
Neuroscience Graduate Program
The NSP at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an interdisciplinary program of study and research leading to the doctoral degree.

We offer a rigorous yet flexible program designed to foster the growth of the student through research activities, close interactions with faculty, and exposure to top neuroscientists through our seminar series and attendance at professional meetings.
Graduate Admissions Faculty by Department

Neuroscience Program Events Calendar

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Neuroscience News

Paul Bogdan, PhD Candidate, Professors Florin & Sanda Dolcos
Take a look around: how emotion boosts memory for context: Researchers at the Beckman Institute demonstrated that emotion enhances memory for contextual details.
Shared from Beckman Institute News Stories Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology demonstrated that emotion enhances memory for contextual details, challenging the view that emotion impairs the...
Professor Lori Raetzman
Endocrine Society honors Raeztman and Nelson with 2025 Laureate Awards
Shared from MCB's Online News The Endocrine Society today announced it has chosen 14 leading endocrinologists as winners...
Assistant Professor Adrienne Antonson and NSP Graduate Student Ashley Otero
Fetal brain impacted when mom fights severe flu: New mouse study explains how
Article from ACES NEWS: A bad case of the flu during pregnancy can increase the risk for fetal neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum...
​​​​​​​ Keerthana Hogirala (Photo provided.)
LAS alumna receives Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans
LAS alumna receives Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans Keerthana Hogirala, who immigrated from India, prepares for a promising career Keerthana Hogirala was born in Tirupati, India. When she was 6 years old, her family moved to Michigan, and when she was 9 years old she moved to...
Octopus in tank
From 'CyberSlug' to 'CyberOctopus': New AI explores, remembers, seeks novelty, overcomes obstacles
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — By giving artificial intelligence simple associative learning rules based on the brain circuits that allow a sea slug to forage — and augmenting it with better episodic memory, like that of an octopus — scientists have built an AI that can navigate new environments, seek rewards,...

Recent Award Winners

Auerbach lab members photo

Faculty Spotlight: Benjamin D Auerbach, Assistant Professor

Benjamin D. Auerbach, Assistant Professor by Virginia Wright Benjamin D. Auerbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and he studies how experience-dependent plasticity influences perception and behavior. Auerbach comes from what he describes as “a family of scientists”. “Both my mom and my dad were academic researchers in biology, so I got exposed to science and research in a lab setting at an early age,” he shared. While he now jokes that he is “just continuing the family business,” he initially pursued an undergraduate degree in history. “...

Stephanie Matt, Research Assistant Professor, Drexel University

Alumni Spotlight: Stephanie Matt

Stephanie Matt, Class of 2018 by Virginia Wright As of July 2023, Stephanie Matt is a Research Assistant Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After five years of working as a postdoctoral researcher for Drexel, she recently won an NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) to investigate the role of antidepressants in HIV infection and inflammation in myeloid cells such as macrophages and microglia. Receiving this grant provided not only mentored support for her research career but also a place within Drexel University faculty. “It...

3D Brain Model

Recently Published: Looking for transfer in all the wrong places: How intellectual abilities can be enhanced through diverse experience among older adults

Elizabeth A.L. Stine-Morrow, Ilber E. Manavbasi, Shukhan Ng, Giavanna S. McCall, Aron K. Barbey, Daniel G. Morrow, "Looking for transfer in all the wrong places: How intellectual abilities can be enhanced through diverse experience among older adults," Intelligence, Volume 104, 2024, 101829, ISSN 0160-2896, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2024.101829. Abstract: Research with cognitive...

Land Acknowledgement

As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a responsibility to acknowledge the historical context in which it exists. We are currently on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. It is necessary for us to acknowledge these Native Nations and for us to work with them as we move forward as an institution with Native peoples at the core of our efforts.

More about the practice of land acknowledgements at the University of Illinois.