Director
[CV]Steve is a Korean-American scientist interested in the neural mechanisms underlying complex social behaviors.
Associate Research Scientist
Amrita received her PhD from Duke University working with Michael Platt, where she examined how social status is represented in the posterior cingulate cortex. She helps oversee and manage the lab and is involved in various research projects across the lab.
Postdoctoral Associates
[website]Weikang received his PhD in Neurosciences working with Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, where he studied the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying value-guided decision-making in the orbitofrontal cortex. Weikang is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying complex social interaction. He is a Wu Tsai Institute Postdoctoral Fellow co-mentored by Chang, Nandy, and Jadi.
Guangyao received his PhD in Neurosciences working with Liping Wang, where he studied the computational and frontoparietal circuit mechanisms of causal inference in multisensory perception. Guangyao is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying social decision-making.
Soo-Ji received her PhD in Neuroscience working with Keiko Tanaka-Yamamoto, where she studied the circuit mechanisms underlying depression-like behaviors and affective processes in VTA-projecting cerebellar neurons. Soo-Ji is interested in inter-regional coordination underlying complex social interaction in the brain.
Taylor received her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience working with Rebecca Burwell at Brown University, where she studied the relationship between spatial and social processing in rodents. Taylor is a recipient of the F99/K00 Award from NINDS and is interested in social states in the brain.
Luke received his PhD in Neuroscience working with Kuan Wang and Jude Mitchell at the University of Rochester, where he used optogenetics to study neural circuits and visually guided reaching and target dynamics in marmosets. He is interested in the neural circuits underlying complex social interactions.
PhD Students
Sylvia received her BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and in Psychology from UC Berkeley, and her Master of Science in Dual Brain and Mind Sciences from University College London. She has research experience in computational modeling and neuronal data analysis. Sylvia is a Wu Tsai Institute Graduate Student Fellow.
Jamie received her BS in Psychology from UConn. She has extensive research experience investigating how catecholamine systems in the brain regulate motivated behaviors, and is interested in the neuropsychopharmacological aspects of complex social behaviors.
Prabaha received his integrated BS and MS degrees in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science. Before joining the lab, he worked on the neural mechanisms of high-level vision in the inferior temporal cortex. Prabaha is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying social behavior.
Robert received his BA in Psychology from Providence College, where he studied sociality and memory in rodents. Before beginning his graduate studies at Yale, he coordinated animal cognition research at Georgia State University. He is particularly interested in the neural underpinnings of complex social states.
Kat earned a BS in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, where she studied Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. She is interested in the computational mechanisms underlying social preference.
Brandon graduated from Northern Kentucky University and previously worked as a firefighter. His prior research used bioinformatics approaches to study prenatal opioid-related immune responses in the brain mediated by microglia. He is interested in the behavioral principles underlying natural social behavioral dynamics.
Undergraduate Students
Ashyah is an undergraduate at Yale majoring in Neuroscience and History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health (HSHM). She is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying social decision-making and inequity.
Akzel is an undergraduate majoring in Computer Science and Psychology. He is interested in using computational tools to study the neural mechanisms underlying social interaction.
Other Members
Coco (left) is a friendly, loving, and sometimes goofy Old English Sheepdog. She loves hiking and hanging out with people =) Apollo (right) is a very curious puppy who adores Coco.