Fully-Funded PhD Positions in Educational Neuroscience @ Gallaudet University

The PhD in Educational Neuroscience (PEN) Program at Gallaudet University is inviting prospective students to apply to our Ph.D. program to start in Fall 2021. The program provides four years of full funding (tuition scholarships + $25,200 annual stipend + health insurance option).

Educational Neuroscience is a growing field which focuses on vital aspects of learning in the developing child with a disciplinary commitment to communicate discoveries in ways that are meaningful for societal benefit. Students in our pioneering, bilingual American Sign Language-English program gain state-of-the-art cognitive neuroscience training in how humans learn, with a focus on the neuroplasticity of visual learning processes. PEN students become experts in at least one cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience method (e.g., fNIRS, EEG, fMRI), study neuroethics, gain strong critical analysis and reasoning skills in science, receive leadership training through the VL2 Student Network to become academic/professional leaders on the world stage, and develop their own research program under close mentorship from our faculty. While becoming experts in both neuroimaging and behavioral experimental science, students also learn powerful and principled ways that science can be translated for the benefit of education and society.

We actively encourage applications from diverse applicants, including deaf and hard of hearing students, students with disabilities, and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds.

PEN is an interdisciplinary program housed in the National Science Foundation-Gallaudet University Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) and enjoys a close relationship with its four national resource hubs: Petitto Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (BL2), Early Education and Literacy Lab (EL2), Motion Light Laboratory (ML2), and Translation in the Science of Learning Lab (TL2.)

PEN students also benefit from Gallaudet University’s local university consortium, which provides students access to courses taught in the Washington D.C. area. PEN students also have access to a national network of more than 20 cognitive neuroscience labs throughout the world, through formal Memoranda of Understanding.

PEN students can expect to receive fellowship support through a combination of University and grant funding, direct mentoring support from individual advisors, and opportunities to apply for additional resources through a fund managed by the VL2 Student Network.

The PEN program faculty and directors consist of:

• Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto (Chair, PEN Steering Committee)

  • Focus: bilingualism in the brain, biological bases of language, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, fNIRS, thermal infrared camera, and eye tracking.

  • Petitto Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (BL2)

• Dr. Thomas Allen (Program Director)

  • Focus: deaf education, statistics, psychometrics, longitudinal research. Early Education and Literacy Lab (EL2)

• Dr. Melissa Herzig (Assistant Program Director)

  • Focus: translation of science, assessment, literacy development. Translation in the Science of Learning Lab

• Dr. Lorna Quandt (Assistant Professor)

  • Focus: action, gesture, embodied cognition, visual perception, EEG, virtual reality. Action & Brain Lab

• Dr. Ilaria Berteletti (Assistant Professor)

  • Focus: math and numeracy in the brain, fMRI. Numeracy and Educational Neuroscience Laboratory

• Dr. Rachel Pizzie (Assistant Professor)

  • Focus: emotion and anxiety in academic environments, psychophysiology, fMRI. Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab

Ready to take the plunge? Start your online application TODAY!

For information on how to apply and admission criteria, visit our application requirements page. Contact us at EdNeuroscience@gallaudet.edu.

Have any questions about our application or program? Text Heidi Z. Foster, Graduate Admissions Counselor @ (202) 751-3131

The deadline to apply for the PEN program is February 15, 2021. Early applications will be considered on a rolling basis.