This week we’re seeing gorgeous spring Saint Louis weather on campus—cool, clear, plants greening out and blooming, and sparrows and cardinals singing in the morning. The last three days were alumni weekend, and I was grateful to have my son (AB ’25) and several of his friends visiting. We’re just about to turn the corner into finals and graduation and then things will get a lot quieter for the summer (though the labs will still be humming).

Speaking of alumni, on March 26 the School of Arts & Sciences hosted its annual distinguished alumni awards, and P&BS was prominently represented. Marcus Jecklin (AB ’12) received the Early Career Achievement Award. Marcus is a co-founder of Ai4, which is one of North America’s largest artificial intelligence industry conferences. James Risch (AB ’74, MSW ’76) received the Distinguished Alumni Award; James is co-founder of the consulting firm TorchFish, and a successful banker and financier. And Dr. Mark Gold (AB ’71) was awarded the Dean’s Medal. Mark is an eminent researcher in the field of addiction, former chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida, and pioneer of translating lab findings to the clinic. Mark is also a great friend to P&BS, having recently endowed the Dr. Mark Gold Lecture in Translational Neuroscience. In his recognition of our amazing alumni, Dean Hu remarked on how their success is congruent with the strength and momentum of the department.

The department’s strength continued to be recognized broadly. A few notables: Deanna Barch was awarded the Atkinson Prize from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine—a singular honor. Todd Braver was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which was founded in 1780 and whose early members included John Hancock, Sam Adams, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Ryan Bogdan was named a William R. Stuckenberg Professor. Merve Ileri-Tayar was awarded the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence. And just a few weeks ago, Tammy English was awarded the Arts & Sciences Mid-Career Research Award. (A fuller list can be found here .)

We are keeping up the momentum through great hiring. In January, we welcomed Dr. Alexandra (Lexi) Decker to the faculty. Lexi joined us after PhD training at the University of Toronto and postdoctoral training at MIT. Her research explores the intersection of memory, attention, and development using converging cognitive neuroscience methods. We will be joined in the Fall by Dr. William (Bill) Chopik, who is currently on the faculty at Michigan State University. Bill studies close relationships across the lifespan, often leveraging massive datasets. We also will welcome Juston Osborne to the faculty. Juston is currently a postdoctoral fellow; he studies the development of psychosis using cognitive, genetic, and neuroscience methods. And our new and returning faculty are continuing to publish up a storm  and to secure funding  to maintain our vibrant research program. We also say goodbye reluctantly to Jessie Sun, who is returning to her native New Zealand to take up a faculty position at the University of Auckland.

The quality of the faculty we recruit is attested by our track record in tenure and promotion. This year, we celebrated the tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Zachariah Reagh and Emily Willroth, the tenure at the Associate Professor level of Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, and the promotion to Full Professor of Tammy English and Renee Thompson.

Our fantastic staff continues to support the mission of the department in exemplary fashion. This year, Ruowen Pei joined the grants management group supporting a number of our faculty.

Finally, we welcome Nick Bashaw to the P&BS family as Assistant to the Chair. Nick replaces Cheri Casanova, who will retire in a few weeks after serving under seven different department chairs. Cheri has managed crucial processes including hiring, tenure and promotion, faculty meetings, and visiting scholars with uncommon diligence, competence, grace, and wit. She was recognized for her achievements with an Arts & Sciences Outstanding Staff Award—and by the universal acclaim of everyone in the department. We will miss her greatly, but as I write this she and Nick are in conference working out a smooth transition.

Whatever your relationship to the department, I hope you find this newsletter a useful and helpful way to catch up on doings here. Are there other things you would like to see in the newsletter? Do you know of someone who should be getting it but isn’t? If you have any thoughts about the newsletter or anything else related to Psychological & Brain Sciences, I hope you will shoot me an email.

Jeff

Jeffrey M. Zacks, PhD

Edgar James Swift Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences

Chair of Psychological & Brain Sciences

Professor of Radiology

Director, Dynamic Cognition Laboratory