We are excited to welcome Dr. Adam Steel to the Department of Psychology faculty as an Assistant Professor as of Spring 2025! Dr. Steel is primarily affiliated with the Cognitive Neuroscience area.
Can you briefly share your academic and professional background that led you to the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign?
Before coming to University of Illinois, I was a Neukom Fellow in Computational Science at Dartmouth College, where I combined Virtual Reality and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the interaction between memory and perceptual systems in the human brain.
I am originally from Medford, NJ, and completed my undergraduate degree at Vassar College with a major in Neuroscience and a minor in English. From there, I went to the National Institutes of Health as a Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellow to work with Dr. Eric Wassermann, using transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI to study how reward and punishment impact learning. I then pursued my PhD as an NIH-Oxford/Cambridge Scholar with Dr. Chris Baker (NIH) and Professor Charlotte Stagg (University of Oxford), studying functional and neurochemical plasticity in the human brain using fMRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Looking ahead, what do you hope to achieve during your time at UIUC's Department of Psychology? Are there any long-term goals you're aiming for?
At the University of Illinois, I'm embarking on an exciting journey to unravel the mysteries of the human brain. Using cutting-edge technology at the Beckman Institute's Biomedical Imaging Center, we're exploring how our brains combine what we see and hear with what we remember. Imagine your brain as a complex network of highways - we're mapping these routes to understand how information travels between different brain regions.
Our research aims to answer fascinating questions: How does your brain organize visual information and memories? How do these different parts of the brain talk to each other? What are the underlying principles that allow this communication to happen so seamlessly?
The state-of-the-art facilities at the Beckman Institute, including an ultra-powerful 7 Tesla MRI scanner, give us a unique opportunity to peer into the brain like never before. For students joining our team, this means hands-on experience with advanced technology and the chance to make groundbreaking discoveries about how our minds work.
On a personal note, what do you enjoy doing outside of your academic and professional life? Any hobbies, interests, or experiences you'd like to share?
Outside of work, I love outdoor activities like running, cycling, and hiking. I also have two kids and a high-energy dog that keep me busy!
