Employment Opportunities
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
We have many ongoing research projects in the Lab for Affective Neuroscience and in the Waisman Lab for Brain Imaging and Behavior, providing ample opportunities for undergraduate students to gain valuable research experience. Students have the opportunity to work with staff, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, other undergraduate students and to perform a variety of duties as needed for each project.
Requirements: Students must be willing to commit to register for a minimum of two semesters (Fall & Spring) of research credit in the laboratory or have Federal Work-Study funding financial aid. Current positions may have additional requirements.
How to: Please complete this application and email it to the supervisor listed for the position you are interested in, or the student hiring coordinator,
.
Summer 2012 Undergraduate Research Opportunities
UW Students:
We only consider exceptional UW-Madison undergraduate students able to work in the labs for both Summer and beyond (who can commit to at least 2 semesters of research credit work during Fall and Spring). UW-Madison students have the option to work on a paid hourly basis during the Summer and to earn research credit during the subsequent academic year. If interested, please submit a completed application and transcript to
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Non-UW Students:
We rarely accept non-UW students. Because our laboratory is a large and complex place, it takes a significant amount of time to be trained to do meaningful tasks. We may consider accepting exceptional non-UW-Madison undergraduate students who can commit to at least 2 contiguous semesters of unpaid non-credit work with the labs on a volunteer basis only. If you are a non-UW-Madison student and wish to volunteer in the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience for 2 or more semesters, please send your CV, transcript & a cover letter explaining why you wish to work in the lab to
. Please be sure to detail any prior research experience or special skills you may have.
Project Coordinators interested in hiring students for Summer 2012:
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(strong analytic skills a plus)
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(unpaid volunteers only)
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(programming skills a plus; see more details here)
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(see more details here)
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(programming skills a plus)
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(programming skills and/or experience with running subjects, particularly children a plus)
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(research experience, background in working with children a plus; see more details here)
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(programming skills a plus)
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(see more details here)
How to: Please complete this application and email it to the supervisor listed for the position you are interested in, or the student hiring coordinator,
.
So you want to apply to graduate school and work in the Davidson lab:
If you are reading this, you likely have some interest in our work. We appreciate the interest and hope that more students get seriously involved in this kind of work since there are so many wonderful outstanding questions remaining to be studied and understood.
Our lab relies on very sophisticated neuroimaging and other related biological methods to make inferences about processes in the brain and body during emotion, in psychopathology and in response to interventions designed to change emotion and cognition, including meditation. These methods require a lot of technical background to master. Among the most important skills that are required are programming, and statistical and quantitative skills. In addition, significant course work in computer science, biology (neuroscience) and physics are extremely important and very highly recommended. It is not at all necessary that incoming students be Psychology majors. In fact, some of our most successful students have been Physics, Computer Science and Neuroscience majors as undergraduates.
In addition, it is enormously helpful to have significant research experience before applying to graduate school. This typically means spending several years post college in a laboratory as a research assistant. Dr Davidson almost never accept a student directly from college. Virtually every one of the students in our lab has spent some time (often a lot of time) following college working in a laboratory setting.
Dr. Davidson is happy to answer whatever additional questions you might have. Please email his assistant, . But if you wish to be seriously considered for a position in our lab, it is imperative that you have the kind of hard science, quantitative and programming background described above.
Graduate Research Opportunities
For information on applying to the Department of Psychology as a graduate student, please see the Psychology Department's Graduate Studies webpage.
Please see here for a description of our facilities and here for more information on our research. Who are our current graduate students, post-docs and scientists?
Students interested in pursuing graduate or post-doctoral training in our laboratory should be familiar with our research. For an overview, we suggest the following articles:
- Heller A. S., Johnstone, T., Shackman, A. J., Light, S., Peterson, M., Kolden, G., Kalin, N., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Reduced capacity to sustain positive emotion in major depression reflects diminished maintenance of fronto-striatal brain activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(52), 22445–22450.
- Lee, H., Shackman, A. J., Jackson, D. C., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Test-retest reliability of voluntary emotion regulation. Psychophysiology, 46, 874-879. PMCID: PMC2706917
- Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Nieuwenhuis, S., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Theta phase synchrony and conscious target perception: Impact of intensive mental training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(8), 1536-49. PMCID: PMC2698032
- Urry, H. L., van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., & Davidson, R. J. (2009). Individual differences in some (but not all) medial prefrontal regions reflect cognitive demand while regulating unpleasant emotion. NeuroImage, 47, 852–863. NIHMS120655
- Fox, A. S., Shelton, S. E., Oakes, T. R., Davidson, R. J., & Kalin, N. H. (2008). Trait-like brain activity during adolescence predicts anxious temperament in primates. PLoS ONE, 3(7), e2570. PMCID: PMC2430534
- Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12 (4), 163-169. NIHMS82882
- Slagter, H. A., Lutz, A., Greischar, L. L., Francis, A. D., Nieuwenhuis, S., Davis, J. M. & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Mental training affects use of limited brain resources. PLoS Biology Vol. 5, No. 6, e138.
- Dalton, K. M., Nacewicz, B. M., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Gaze-fixation, brain activation and amygdala volume in unaffected siblings of individuals with autism. Biological Psychiatry 61 (4), 512-520. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.05.019
- Johnstone, T., van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Kalin, N. H. & Davidson R. J. (2007). Failure to regulate: Counter-productive recruitment of top-down prefrontal-subcortical circuitry in major depression. Journal of Neuroscience 27: 8877-8884; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2063-07.2007
- Nacewicz, B.M., Dalton, K.M., Johnstone, T., Long, M., McAuliff, E.M., Oakes, T.R., Alexander, A.L. & Davidson, R.J. (2006) Amygdala volume and nonverbal social impairment in adolescent and adult males with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry 63:1417-1428.
- Shackman, A. J., Sarinopoulos, I, Maxwell, J. S., Pizzagalli, D. A., Lavric, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Anxiety selectively disrupts visuospatial working memory. Emotion, 6, 40-61.
- Urry, H. L., van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., Kalin, N. H., Thurow, M. E., Schaefer, H. S., Jackson, C. A., Frye, C. J., Greischar, L. L., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are inversely coupled during regulation of negative affect and predict the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion among older adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 4415-4425.
- Rosenkranz, M. A., Busse, W. W., Johnstone, T., Swenson, C. A., Crisafi, G. M., Jackson, M. M., Bosch, J. A., Sheridan, J. F., & Davidson, R. J. (2005). Neural circuitry underlying the interaction between emotion and asthma symptom exacerbation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 13319-13324.
- Dalton KM, Nacewicz BM, Johnstone T, Schaefer HS, Gernsbacher MA, Goldsmith HH, Alexander AL, Davidson RJ. (2005) Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism. Nature Neuroscience. 8(4):519-26.
- Fox AS, Oakes TR, Shelton SE, Converse AK, Davidson RJ, Kalin NH. (2005) Calling for help is independently modulated by brain systems underlying goal-directed behavior and threat perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 102(11):4176-9.
- Lutz A, Greischar LL, Rawlings NB, Ricard M, Davidson RJ. (2004) Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 101(46):16369-73.
- Davidson RJ, Shackman AJ, Maxwell JS. (2004) Asymmetries in face and brain related to emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 8(9):389-91.
- Salomons TV, Johnstone T, Backonja MM, Davidson RJ. (2004) Perceived controllability modulates the neural response to pain. Journal of Neuroscience. 24(32):7199-203.
- Davidson, R. J., Maxwell JS, Shackman AJ (2004). The privileged status of emotion in the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101(33):11915-6.
- Urry HL, Nitschke JB, Dolski I, Jackson DC, Dalton KM, Mueller CJ, Rosenkranz MA, Ryff CD, Singer BH, Davidson RJ. (2004) Making a life worth living: neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science. 2004 Jun;15(6):367-72.
- Davidson, R. J. (2003). Affective neuroscience and psychophysiology: Toward a synthesis. Psychophysiology, 40, 655-665.
- Davidson RJ. (2003) Seven sins in the study of emotion: correctives from affective neuroscience. Brain and Cognition. 52(1):129-32.
- Davidson, R. J., Pizzagalli, D., Nitschke, J. B., & Putnam, K. M. (2002). Depression: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 545-574.
- Davidson, R.J., Jackson D.C., & Kalin, N.H. (2000). Emotion, plasticity, context and regulation: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Psychological Bulletin, 126(6), 890-906.
- Rosenkranz, M.A., Jackson, D.C, Dalton K.M., Dolski, I., Ryff, C.D., Singer, B.H., Muller, D., Kalin, N.H., Davidson, R.J. (2003). Affective style and in vivo immune response: Neurobehavioral mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100, 11148-11152. PMCID: PMC196942
Pre- and Post-Doctoral Research Opportunities
The Training Program in Emotion Research, funded by an NIMH Institutional National Research Service Award training grant, supports 7 pre-doctoral and 3 post-doctoral trainees in emotion research each year.
Staff Opportunities
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR
The Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds invites applicants with a strong record of academic achievement and scientific leadership. Commitment to and enthusiasm for an interdisciplinary approach to affective and contemplative neuroscience including applying these methods to the study of developmental neuroscience, child development or neurodevelopmental disorders is essential as well as a compelling vision for the development and future of these fields. The successful candidate will have a successful record of serving as principal investigator on extramurally supported research projects and a solid competency in at least several of our key methodologies: structural MRI, fMRI, EEG, psychophysiology, neuroendocrine, immune, genetic, epigenetic. In addition, a demonstrated ability for strategic thinking and a methodical approach to the implementation of neuroimaging research is required.
The Scientific Director will work in partnership with Dr. Richard J. Davidson, a globally recognized leader in the fields of affective and contemplative neuroscience, and his collaborative leadership team in three key areas: strategic planning and setting research direction, ensuring the research conducted is at the highest quality level, and providing high-level project oversight so as to ensure the research is conducted as efficiently as possible. It is anticipated that the Scientific Director would become a scientific collaborator on many of the research projects for which he/she was providing oversight.
- 30% Envision that the Scientific Director will be able to pursue his/her own research interests via participation in the strategic planning process, and through writing grants to support his/her own work.
- 15% Actively participate in the conceptualization phase of new research before projects are initiated.
- 35% Participate in training the next generation of scientists by providing day-to-day supervision of scientists, postdocs & graduate students and serve as a resource and mentor for those individuals
- 15% Keep projects on track and moving forward with regard to timeliness & accountabilities (ensure the projects move forward through others and that milestones & deliverables are met e.g. progress reports and publications in the highest quality research journals).
- 5% In addition to collaborative research, the successful candidate will play a vital role in affective and contemplative neuroscience education and outreach via public and scientific presentations, participating in donor development and responding to media requests when needed.
Interested applicants see PVL 73221 for more information, and send Curriculum Vitae to agerarden@wisc.edu.