Ph.D. in
Cognitive Sciences
Solena Mednicoff, ’21 cognitive sciences Ph.D., combined her passions at UCI to study how music affects the brain. Now she's a postdoc at UNLV studying misophonia. | Read More
about
OUR PROGRAM
Top-ranked programs. Financial aid and funding offered. Lens-worthy location. The
reasons students choose the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences for their graduate
pursuits are many.
The UCI graduate program administered by the school's cognitive sciences department offers students five years of funding.
Scholars in the department have a proven track record of earning competitive research funding from national agencies - including the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health - and from campus-level fellowships.
For 2023-24, the school brought in $8.02M in external grant funding. About 60% of those funds - approximately $4.65M - were awarded to cognitive sciences faculty. Faculty in the department publish regularly in the field's top academic journals, and graduate students have incredible opportunities to publish alongside them.
Learn more about cognitive sciences at UCI...
recent
RANKINGS
#09
public university in the U.S.
- U.S. News & World Report
#02
"coolest school" for sustainability efforts
- Sierra Club Magazine
#03
nationally for diversity
- Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2022 College Rankings
top10
best value public university in the U.S.
- Princeton Review
A top-ranked program with research strengths in computational and mathematical cognitive modeling, cognitive neuroscience, visual and auditory perception, attention, development, memory, language, and judgment and decision making.
quick
FACTS
LOCATION
Campus is located less than 10 miles from Newport Beach.
FUNDING
Admitted students receive 5 years of funding.
CENTERS & LABS
The department collaborates with 6 centers/institutes and has 22 labs dedicated to
research.
DEGREE
Ph.D.; a master's degree may be earned while in pursuit of the Ph.D.
ENROLLMENT
Full-time, on-campus with housing.
CONCENTRATION JOINT PROGRAM
Concentration in cognitive neuroscience & joint M.S. in statistics and Ph.D. in cognitive
sciences.
recent
JOB PLACEMENTS
Apple
Army Research Labs
Boston University
Carnegie Mellon University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Meta
Mind Research Network
Navy Research Labs
University of Pennsylvania
University of Zurich
Yale University
research
CONCENTRATIONS
Computational and mathematical cognitive modeling
Cognitive neuroscience (a concentration is offered in this topic)
Artificial Intelligence
Memory and decision making
Cognitive development
Learning
Social cognition
Visual and auditory perception
Attention
graduate
SPOTLIGHT
Further information on the graduate program and life as a graduate student can be found here.
what makes us
UNIQUE
UCI's campus is beautiful, with Aldrich Park, a 19-acre botanical garden with more than 11,000 trees, at its center. The campus is also less than 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean and beaches.
The cognitive sciences department at UCI uses a combination of innovative approaches with modern tools to study fundamental human abilities including attention, memory, language, decision making, and problem solving.
Students work together with faculty advisors who are highly experienced in the use of leading technologies such as EEG, fMRI, and robotics, and of modern research tools such as computational methods, big data, and Bayesian statistics.
And, students have an opportunity to earn a master's degree in cognitive sciences, cognitive neuroscience, or statistics (depending on approval) while in pursuit of their Ph.D.
Graduate students from UCI's cognitive sciences program have gone on to work in high-tech and research consultancy companies; government, science, and technology labs; and in professorial posts around the world.
The UCI campus is located less than 10 miles from Newport Beach, is ranked among the nation's top 10 public universities for the ninth year in a row (U.S. News & World Report), top 10 "cool school" in the U.S. for sustainability (Sierra Magazine), and is the #1 choice of in-state, first-generation students among all UC campuses for six consecutive years.
There's really something here for everyone!
- Tiffany Hwu, '19
So what are you waiting for?
APPLY TODAY
If full funding, opportunities to publish, and a proven track record of excellence
in the field are what you’re looking for, contact us today to learn more about UCI’s
graduate program in cognitive sciences.
Department Chair
Mark Steyvers
mark.steyvers@uci.edu
Graduate Director
Megan Peters
cogsci-graddirector@uci.edu
Graduate Advisor
Jennifer Gerson
jennifer.gerson@uci.edu
949.824.4074
connect with us