The Epstein Lab

We are no longer posting here. You can find me on bluesky @russellepstein.bsky.social

We are very excited to welcome two new lab members: postdoc @NathanKong, who joins us from previous sojourns at Stanford and MIT, and lab manager @JidongQ_, a recent graduate of the University of Rochester. Welcome to @Penn and Philly, Nathan and Jidong!

Another awesome and highly deserved honor for our friend and collaborator @NoraNewcombe, who is not only a brilliant scientist, but also a superb colleague and mentor. It's great to see her recognized as a member of the CogSci pantheon.

@MichaelLouisPl1 @whatishealth21 Interesting commentary. Would love to jawbone about it sometime.

Why is fertility declining nearly worldwide? Here @whatishealth21 and I suggest the same despair driving the epidemic of "deaths of despair" is dampening the drive to reproduce.

@neuro_steel @markbrandonlab @UofIllinois @BeckmanInst Congrats, Adam!

Thrilled to congratulate our friend and frequent collaborator @NoraNewcombe for her election to @theNASciences. A very well-deserved honor for this inspiring leader of the fields of spatial cognition & developmental psychology. Hooray, Nora!!!!!

@LDtrx @BottiniRob @ImagingNeurosci @xuyangwen1 @n_sartorato Great work!

@BottiniRob @LDtrx Congrats! I read this article in preprint and really liked it.Elegant result that really clarifies what these brain regions are doing.

New paper from the lab, led by @LDtrx "Disentangling reference frames in the neural compass", ego- vs allo-centric. Check it out! direct.mit.edu/imag/article/d…

@urielcohenpriva My thoughts are with you.

@gershbrain I used it just last week to solve a problem in personal financial planning!

What I find truly remarkable about this is that I'm sure I haven't thought about the quadratic formula in the last 25 years, but I was able to immediately recognize its applicability. A testament to the amazing longevity of human memory.

Big news: I actually used the quadratic formula to solve a research problem this morning! I never thought this day would come. I'd like to thank all of my middle school math teachers for their unwavering support.

We are super-excited to share the news that @ainsley_bonin has accepted @Penn's offer to enter the Psychology PhD program, and will be joining the lab in the fall. Ainsley is currently a senior @ColbyCollege, majoring in Computational Psychology. Welcome Ainsley!!!!

@Nancy_Kanwisher This is awesome news!!!

A huge congratulations to the one and only Michael Cohen for receiving the 2024 VSS YIA Award! I don't know anyone who has served up more rock-solid and profoundly important empirical discoveries about visual awareness. Go, Michael! visionsciences.org/2024-yia/

Congratulations to our own @ashaferskelton, who just got the NOA for her F32 postdoc fellowship. GO ANNA!!!! (If you want to join Anna, and other brilliant and nice folks like @cgahnstrom, @LinfengHan4, and @NathanKong, we still have positions available...)

@hugospiers An inspiring paper. Well ahead of its time!

@NemaVatsala Yes.

@epstein_lab Are non-US Citizens eligible for the position?

We're looking to hire a new full-time lab manager! This would be an excellent position for a graduating senior who wishes to expand their research experience before continuing on to postgraduate study. Info and application link below (please RT!): psych.upenn.edu/epsteinlab/ann…

The Epstein Lab @Penn is looking for new postdocs!!! NIH funded project to investigate spatial and nonspatial cognitive maps in humans. Collaboration with @NoraNewcombe. More info at the link (please RT): psych.upenn.edu/epsteinlab/ann…

Ideal start date would be early summer.

Research in the lab focuses on the neural systems underlying high-level vision, spatial navigation, and memory, using fMRI and other methods. Previous holders of this position have gone on to study in top graduate programs.

How armadillos gather foliage for their nests