Postdoctoral Fellows 

MindCORE Fellows are postdoctoral scholars, housed within the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, who work across disciplinary fields to improve knowledge about human intelligence and behavior. These Fellows are appointed for up to three years and have the freedom to pursue lines of research independent of specific faculty and in collaboration with members of labs filled with world-class talent. Typical Fellows have doctoral degrees in Psychology, Linguistics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, or other disciplines related to Cognitive Science. A call for applications is posted in fall with applications due in January and selections made in March.

Fellows receive a competitive salary and health insurance plus a research budget, are provided with a mentoring committee, and are an integral part of the larger MindCORE community of scholars. Up to two Fellows are appointed to MindCORE each year.

Learn more about applying to be a MindCORE Fellow here.

Each MindCORE-sponsored Research Initiative also has postdoctoral scholars.

MindCORE Fellows

Taro (Xiaozhi) Yang (January 2025 – present), MindCORE Fellow

Fabian Baumann (2024-present), MindCORE Fellow

Vlad Ayzenberg (2023-present), MindCORE Fellow; beginning summer 2025 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Temple University

Diego Reinero (2023-present), MindCORE Fellow

Emily Perkins (2022-present), MindCORE Fellow

Tyler Knowlton (2021-2024), Postdoc, University of Delaware

Linda Chang (2021-2024), Applied Behavioral Scientist in the Carbon Neutrality Department at Toyota Research Institute

Sami Yousif (2022-2024), Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Rista Plate (2020-2023), Senior Research Scientist, CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)

Sam Clarke (2021-2023), Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California

Jessie Sun (2020-2022), Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis

Andrea Beltrama (2019-2022), Temporary Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware

Julia Leonard (2018-2021), Assistant Professor of Psychology, Yale University

Colin Twomey (2018-2021), Executive Director, Data Driven Discovery Initiative, University of Pennsylvania

Other MindCORE-sponsored Postdoctoral Scholars

Emerson Arehart (2022-present), SCEW Postdoc

Martin Ho Kwan Ip (2019-2022), ILST Fellow

Rafael Ventura (2020-2023), SCEW Fellow

Kristopher Smith (2019-2021), SBSI Fellow

Daniel Yudkin (2019-2021), SBSI Fellow

Jérémy Zehr (2019-2020), ILST Fellow