See where former members of the Department of Neuroscience are now, including graduate students, postdocs, and faculty.
Trainees from the Department of Neuroscience go on to have distinguished careers in academia, medicine, industry and beyond. We offer unparalleled institutional resources, faculty who are dedicated to mentoring and a Department that prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion. If you are interested in joining us, check out graduate rotation opportunities and postdoctoral positions.
Profiles
Alumni directory

Matthew Thimgan, PhD
Associate Professor and Director, Laboratory of Sleep Biology, Missouri University of Science and Technology
- Email: thimgan@mst.edu

Pamela Valnegri, PhD
Research Associate, Northwestern University
Faculty advisor: Azad Bonni, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, 2013-2016
Staff scientist, 2016-2018

Cassandra Van Dunk, PhD
Assistant Dean, Biomedical Sciences PhD Program, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Faculty advisor: Paul Gray, PhD
Dissertation (2011): Suprachiasmatic nuclei development: A characterization of transcription factors and the influence of retinal innervation and VIP signaling

William Vanderheyden, PhD
Assistant Professor, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
- Email: w.vanderheyden@wsu.edu
Faculty advisor: Paul Shaw, PhD
Dissertation (2012): The role of ERK in sleep and synaptic plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster

James Voyvodic, PhD
Associate Professor, Duke University
- Email: jim.voyvodic@duke.edu
Faculty advisor: Dale Purves, MD
Dissertation (1988) Development and regulation of dendritic geometry in the rat superior cervical ganglion

Robert Waterston, MD, PhD
Professor of Genome Sciences and of Medical Genetics, University of Washington
Faculty Member, Department of Neuroscience, 1976-2002 and Department of Genetics

Aguan Wei, PhD
Research Scientist, Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Faculty Member, Department of Neuroscience, 2004-2008

Benjamin White, PhD
Chief, Section of Neural Function, National Institutes of Health
- Email: whiteb@intra.nimh.nih.gov
Faculty advisor: Jonathan Cohen, PhD
Dissertation (1991): Structural characterization of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor using the hydrophobic photoreagent 3-(trifluoromethyl)-3-m-([125I] iodophenyl) diazirine

Leonard E. White, PhD
Associate Professor, Duke University
- Email: len.white@duke.edu
Faculty advisor: Joel Price, DPhil
Dissertation (1992): The functional anatomy of limbic status epilepticus in the rat

Robert White, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Washington University School of Medicine
- Email: whiter@wustl.edu
Faculty advisor: Lawrence Snyder, MD, PhD
Dissertation (2005): Spatial memory processing in cortical oculomotor centers

Rachel Wong, PhD
Professor and Chair of Biological Structure, University of Washington
Faculty Member, Department of Neuroscience, 1994-2006

Jue Xie, PhD
Research Fellow, Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR)
Faculty advisor: Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, PhD
Dissertation (2017): Neuronal reorganization in the orbitofrontal cortex underlying economic decisions in different behavioral contexts
Postdoctoral fellow: 2017-2018

Yue Yang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
- Email: yue.yang@northwestern.edu
Faculty advisor: Azad Bonni, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, 2013-2018

Eric Yttri, PhD
Eberly Family Career Development Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Faculty advisor: Lawrence Snyder, PhD
Dissertation (2011): Specific roles of Macaque parietal regions In making saccades and reaches
Postdoctoral fellow, 2011-2012

Adam Zaidel, PhD
Principal Investigator, Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center
Faculty advisor: Dora Angelaki, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, 2010-2012