Faculty
Nora S. Newcombe
318 Weiss Hall
Telephone: 215-204-6944
newcombe@temple.edu
Nora S. Newcombe, Ph.D, is a Professor of Psychology at Temple University. Her research centers on cognition, development, spatial thinking, memory, and STEM education. Honors include the William James Fellow Award from APS and the George Miller Award and the G. Stanley Hall Awards from APA, the Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, also from APA, and the Women in Cognitive Science Mentor Award. She is a fellow of four divisions of the American Psychological Association (General, Experimental, Developmental, and Psychology of Women), of the American Psychological Society, of the Cognitive Science Society, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
Website: https://sites.temple.edu/newcombe/
Thomas F. Shipley
317 Weiss Hall
Telephone: 215-204-7890
tshipley@temple.edu
Thomas F. Shipley’s research focuses on spatial cognition and learning. He applies formal methods from previous research to understand the perceptual and cognitive processes subserving navigation and visualization. His recent work aims to support undergraduate geology education with a longer term goal of understanding the cognitive processes that are critical for spatial reasoning and thus support STEM education in general for both K-12 and undergraduate students.
Website: https://liberalarts.temple.edu/academics/faculty/shipleythomas
Ingrid Olson
337 Weiss Hall
Telephone: 215-204-1708
ingrid.olson@temple.edu
Ingrid Olson’s cognitive neuroscience laboratory studies memory, decision-making, social cognition, and the intersection of these processes. She is currently collaborating with Dr. Newcombe on several projects related to Memory Development, including the Temple Tour and Marvelous Moments studies.
Website: https://sites.temple.edu/cnltu/
Graduate Students
C. Rebekah Banerjee
crbanerjee@temple.edu
Rebekah is a graduate student in the Cognition and Neuroscience department working with Dr. Thomas Shipley. She received her B.S. in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Maryland and her M.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of Delaware. She is interested in the role of complex causal cognition and spatial thinking in learning in the geosciences and other STEM fields.
Kim Nguyen
kimvnguyen@temple.edu
Kim is a graduate student in the Cognition and Neuroscience department and is mentored by Dr. Nora Newcombe and Dr. Ingrid Olson. She received her B.S. in Neurobiology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2018. She is interested in the development and decline of episodic and spatial memory and using fMRI methods to link function with behavior.
Naoya Tani
naoya.tani@temple.edu
Naoya is a graduate student in the Developmental Psychology area and is mentored by Drs. Nora Newcombe and Ingrid Olson. He received his B.S. in Human Development and B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in Education, from University of California, Davis, in 2017. He is interested in episodic memory development with using both the behavioral and neuroimaging approach, such as fMRI.
Stephanie is a Cognition and Neuroscience graduate student mentored by Dr. Nora Newcombe and Dr. Ingrid Olson. She received her B.S. in Psychological Science from the University of Arizona in 2020. She is interested in investigating spatial navigation, cognition, episodic memory across development. She is interested in doing this by observing behavior in virtual environments, and linking this with cognition and memory by using fMRI techniques.
Post-Docs
Samantha Cohen
samantha.cohen0008@temple.edu
Website
Samantha S. Cohen, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr. Nora Newcombe and Dr. Ingrid Olson. She completed her PhD. in psychology at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York with Dr. Lucas Parra. During her PhD, she examined how engagement with videos is tied to memory, attention, and educational outcomes. Following her PhD, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher Baldassano. During this postdoc she studied how brain responses to movies change during child development. At Temple, she is focusing on the development of episodic memory in early childhood.
Merve is a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr. Nora Newcombe. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Business from Koç University, Istanbul in 2018. As an undergraduate, she studied the relationship among individuals’ spatial language, gesture production, and cognitive abilities across various spatial tasks. She completed her PhD in Temple University’s Cognition and Neuroscience Department. Her current research interests include spatial thinking and the role of spatial thinking in STEM fields.
Visiting Scholars
There are no current visiting scholars.
Staff
Jacob Lader
Laboratory Coordinator & Research Assistant
jacob.lader@temple.edu
Website
Jacob graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Studio art from Muhlenberg College. His undergraduate research included over two years in Dr. Matthieu de Wit’s cognitive neuroscience lab and additional college-funded independent research in cognitive psychology (investigating viewer experience of art). He is interested in human visual and spatial perception, action and cognition.
Kate Hill
Research Assistant
tuj40245@temple.edu
Kate graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in cognitive neuroscience from Temple University in 2022. During undergrad, she worked under Dr. Peter Marshall in the Developmental Science Lab, completing independent research within the lab, related to neural representations of fingers. She is interested in cognition, specifically when memory begins to fail.
Josh Litwin
Research Assistant
Josh graduated with a B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience and a minor in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. His undergrad research included working under Dr. Allyson Mackey at the Changing Brain Lab, as well as several other behavioral labs with focuses on Decision-Making and Morality. He is interested in studying memory in the context of both early development and neurodegeneration.
Undergraduate Interns
Fall 2023
Jeffery Wilson
Jessica Pan
Abigail Losey
Diuto Anyanwu
Anastasiya Dackiv
Carolyn Gnage
Dorothy Bowen
Salma Abdelgelil
Shahnaz Eva
Asha Mir-Young
Willa Mazullo
Claudine Van Arman
Olivia Delosreyes
Jade Wickham
Sara Alhaffar
Réla Asar
Summer 2023
Aleena Ataher
Interested in studying spatial cognition, join us!
The RISC Lab is hiring a full-time (post-baccalaureate) research assistant to work under the direction of Dr. Thomas Shipley. To apply:
1. Search for: 23003547 under staff positions on this website: https://careers.temple.edu/careers-temple/search-and-apply-jobs or follow this link (for external applicants): https://temple.taleo.net/careersection/tu_ex_staff/jobdetail.ftl?job=23003547&tz=GMT-05%3A00&tzname=America%2FNew_York
2. After you submit your application through the portal, please contact jacob.lader@temple.edu with your submitted CV and cover letter.
Diversity Statement:
The Research in Spatial Cognition lab is dedicated to creating a lab culture and research operations that welcome and celebrate diversity of all kinds. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and integrated environment for all students and participants, aiming to support those from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds and identities, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identification, ability, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and more. We encourage applicants of all identities to apply for volunteer and graduate student positions, as we strive to uphold a welcoming and supportive community for all students.
To learn more about diversity at Temple, visit our institutional diversity website: https://diversity.temple.edu/
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