Team
Robert M. G. Reinhart, PhD
Principal Investigator
Academic Appointments and Affiliations
Associate Professor, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences (primary)
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering (secondary)
Faculty Member, Center for Systems Neuroscience (CSN)
Faculty Member, Cognitive Neuroimaging Center (CNC)
Faculty Member, Center for Research in Sensory Communication and Emerging Neural Technology (CReSCENT)
Faculty Member, Center for Brain Recovery (CBR)
Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN)
Education & Training
PhD Psychology
Vanderbilt University 2016
Biography
Rob earned his PhD at Vanderbilt University, where he was mentored by Geoff Woodman, as well as Jeff Schall and Sohee Park. In 2016, he chose to bypass postdoctoral training and joined Boston University as a faculty member. At BU, he is the Director of the Cognitive & Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (Reinhart Lab) and holds faculty positions in both the Departments of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Biomedical Engineering.
Rob’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of visual perception and cognition through various computational and brain science techniques, particularly electrophysiology and noninvasive neuromodulation. He investigates these psychological and brain mechanisms in healthy younger and older adults, as well as in individuals with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. His work includes developing unique noninvasive neuromodulation approaches aimed at enhancing neurocognitive functions in people with schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and age-related memory impairments.
Rob is the recipient of federal, private, and philanthropic funding. He was honored with the 2022 Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the 2023 Innovator Award from the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF).
Lab Members
Wen Wen, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Wen is a Postdoctoral Associate, and her major research interest is aging and memory. Wen received her BS from Beijing Normal University and PhD from Peking University. Her PhD focused on the neural mechanisms of attentional control, especially how humans ignore distractors based on attentional templates in working memory and long-term memory. Her work also involved how high-level factors, such as learning and expectation, modulate the inhibition process.
Shrey Grover, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Chris Gill
PhD Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Chris received a BA in mathematics and psychology from the University of Southern New Hampshire. Before graduate school, Chris spent several years working in research labs studying visual perception, memory, and consciousness. In the Reinhart Lab, Chris is interested in studying the neural mechanisms supporting visual working memory and semantic memory. He is also interested in developing procedures for causally manipulating working memory capacity using noninvasive brain stimulation.
Frederik Baumgardt
PhD Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Frederik is a PhD student in the Brain, Behavior & Cognition program at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Before joining Boston University, he received a Master’s in Mathematical Medicine and Biology from the University of Nottingham, UK and a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leipzig, Germany. His research interests focus on representational formats in visual working memory and EEG decoding analyses. Outside of the lab, Frederik enjoys beekeeping, riding his motorcycle, and spending time with family.
Debra (Han) Huang
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
Debra received her BS and MSE from Johns Hopkins University, where she completed a master’s thesis on motor learning post-stroke. In the Reinhart lab, Debra is interested in dissecting visual working and long-term memory via behavioral and computational approaches. Outside of the lab, Debra serves on the board of GWISE at BU, a student organization focused on development of graduate students, DEI advocacy programs and volunteering.
Leo Chenyang Lin
PhD Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Bahar Babagoli
Visiting Research Assistant
Kush Patel
Research Technician II
Doug Hazel
Research Technician
Doug obtained his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from Boston University and his master’s degree in Neurobiology at Tufts University. His master’s thesis focused on understanding the interactions between Alzheimer’s Disease pathologies and glucocorticoid inhibitors. Outside of the lab, Doug enjoys reading, rock climbing and sampling great foods around the city.
Feiyang Cao
MA Student, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Feiyang is a Master’s student in the Psychological and Brain Sciences program. He graduated from UCSD with a BS in Clinical Psychology, intending to pursue a career in Clinical Neuropsychology. Feiyang’s research interests include diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, relating neuronal degeneration with cognitive decline, as well as exploring the intervention at the phase of mild cognitive impairment. In his free time, Feiyang enjoys reading, working out, and cooking.
Anna Zhang
Research Assistant
Seth Schallies
Research Assistant
Seth is an undergraduate senior at Boston University studying Psychology and Neuroscience. He is interested in valuation, probabilistic learning, and executive control and hopes to better understand decision making in both humans and other animals. He is a research assistant at the Pepperberg Avian Cognition Lab, volunteers at the Reinhart Lab, and has previously volunteered in the Decision & Cognition Lab. In his spare time, he enjoys birdwatching, running, and cooking.
Catherine Zhang
Research Assistant
Catherine is an undergraduate student at Boston University studying Neuroscience. She has a passion for memory and aging, especially in neurodegeneration and memory decline. In the lab, Catherine hopes to better understand the underlying neural mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of the lab, she enjoys working out, window shopping around the city, and playing the piano.
Sara Bissell
Research Assistant
Aaron Uotila
Research Assistant
Aaron is an undergraduate student at Boston University interested in pursuing a career in Psychiatry. Aaron has a passion towards healthcare and is looking to attend medical school after his undergraduate studies. In the lab, Aaron hopes to pursue his interests in mental illness and uncovering more about the mystery of memory. In his spare time, Aaron enjoys playing sports like basketball and soccer, and working out. He also has interests in art history.
Alumni
Bao Jiaxuan
2022-2024 (Clinical Research Coordinator, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, BIDMC)
Phillip (Xin) Cheng
2021-2023 (Research Specialist II, Sabine Kastner’s Lab, Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University)
Justine Fragetta
2021-2023 (PhD Program, Nathan Rose’s Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame)
Shruthi Sankaranarayanan
2021-2023 (PhD Program, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)
Serife Leman Runyun
2021-2022 (PhD Program, Karen Quigley’s Lab, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University)
Senthil Palanivelu
2020-2021 (Research Associate, Paola Malerba’s Lab, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio)
Hayato Nakamura
2019-2020 (MS Program, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University)
Chenlingxi (Lyncie) Xu
2019-2021 (PhD Program, Nathan Rose’s Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame)
Amanat Bansal
2019-2020 (Founder and Director of Research & Development at CoDee)
Sanjeev Rampam
2019-2021 (MD Program, Boston University Medical School)