U.S. News & World Report has named WashU’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences one of the top 10 psychology graduate programs in the nation — a significant milestone for the department and Arts & Sciences.
“Psychological and brain sciences has the distinct honor of being Arts & Sciences’ first PhD program to break the top 10 in the past two decades,” said Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences. “This is an incredible testament to the visionary leadership of department chairs past and present, the immense talent of our faculty, the dedication of our graduate students, and the groundbreaking research we are accomplishing together.”
The department is frequently lauded for its pioneering research on emotion regulation, human memory, clinical science, and lifespan development. From leveraging the power of cell phones for real-time monitoring to deploying sophisticated computational and imaging techniques to better understand the brain and the mind, the department’s research increasingly pushes the boundaries of scientific inquiry in and out of the lab.
That work has paid off with numerous attention-grabbing studies and impressive accolades from top professional organizations. The department’s graduate students have also received significant recognition and powered numerous brain science breakthroughs.
“I am so proud of the great science and teaching being done by our faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students,” said department chair Jeffrey M. Zacks, the Edgar James Swift Professor in Arts & Sciences.
The department ranked 8th on the U.S. News & World Report list this year, a significant jump from its prior position at No. 23. The ranking is based on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in each department.
Learn more about how the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences is unlocking the secrets of the human brain.
