Program Overview
The doctoral program in Cognitive Science was launched in 2003 with the aim of making seminal contributions to the field by training the next generation of world-class cognitive scientists. In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive science, this program trains students to integrate theories, methods, and tools from a variety of fields.
Program Outcomes
Because there are no traditional qualifiers, students become engaged in research from the beginning of their first semester in the program. Students work closely with individual faculty as well as teams of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students whose research interests include computational cognitive modeling, artificial intelligence, extreme expertise, human and machine reasoning, computational linguistics, perception and action, theoretical neuroscience, cognitive robotics, cognitive engineering, and advanced synthetic characters. There is a strong emphasis on building models of natural and artificial cognitive systems using formal, quantitative, and mathematical tools. The department has excellent research facilities, such as eye tracking equipment, an array of robotics equipment, and a large-scale immersive virtual environment lab.
Spotlight
Our graduate students are innovative, interdisciplinary and making impactful contributions to the field of cognitive science. Take a look at our current graduate student profiles to read about the variety of research interests our students pursue.
After Graduation
Graduates of the Ph.D. in Cognitive Science program have gone on to positions in academia, industry, and government. Below are some examples of the current positions of former Ph.D. students. Note that this list also includes current positions of former post-docs. These are marked with an asterisk.
Academia
Associate Professor, Center for Imaging Sciences, RIT
Associate Professor, Cognitive Science Department, RPI
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Northeastern University
Post-doctoral Fellow, Center for Perceptual Systems, UT Austin
Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
Post-doctoral Fellow, School of Medicine and School of Psychology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, NYU
* Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Purdue University
* Associate Professor, Computer Science Department, Colby College
Industry
Directory, Research and Development, Machine Learning Group, Disney Research Studios
Staff Software Developer, IBM
Government
Cognitive Systems Researcher, U.S. Army Research Lab
Research Scientist, State of Minnesota
Research Scientist, Sandia National Laboratories