Dr. Adam Steel joined the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor in January 2025. His research investigates how the human brain represents and processes visual information, with a particular focus on scene perception, spatial memory, and the interaction between these cognitive processes using a combination of behavioral studies, neuroimaging, and computational approaches.

Dr. Steel completed his postdoctoral training at Dartmouth College, where he worked with Dr. Caroline Robertson studying the neural mechanisms of scene perception and memory. His innovative research has revealed fundamental principles about how the brain organizes visual information and has been published in leading journals including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, and Current Biology. 

Prior to his postdoctoral work, Dr. Steel earned his D.Phil. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Oxford as an NIH-Oxford/Cambridge Scholar, working with Dr. Chris Baker (NIH) and Professor Charlotte Stagg (Oxford). He received his BA with honors in Neuroscience and English composition from Vassar College.

Education

• D.Phil., Biomedical Sciences, University of Oxford, 2019
• BA, Honors in Neuroscience and English composition, Vassar College, 2012