Samantha Scudder, Ph.D.
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Psychology
Email: sscudder@csudh.edu
Phone: (630) 947-6043
Contact Preference: Any
Areas of Expertise
Learning, Memory, Drugs of Abuse, Brain Circuits, Synaptic Plasticity, Neurobiology
Professional Background
Dr. Scudder fell in love with the brain and its extraordinary capacity for change as an undergraduate at Brown University, where her honors thesis research focused on the ability of rats to learn complex discrimination tasks. Following a research assistantship in Istanbul, Turkey, she began her graduate research at UC San Diego, studying the molecular basis of learning and plasticity. After obtaining her PhD, she conducted postdoctoral research at New York University and UC Santa Barbara centered on evaluating the impact of drugs of abuse on brain circuits. Along the way, she has developed a strong passion for community outreach and undergraduate education and has shared her passion for the brain with everyone from 4-year-olds to retired adults.
Dr. Scudder’s work has been published in a number of high-impact neuroscience journals and has been featured on the cover of The Journal of Neuroscience three times. Her research has been funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, an NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award.
Education
Ph.D., Neurosciences, UC San Diego
B.S., Neuroscience, Brown University
Related News Stories
CSUCI PRESENTS: Samantha Scudder/UCSB, About Education, 2020
Researcher Earns Award to Investigate How Drugs of Abuse Affect the Brain’s Connections, UC Santa Barbara News, 2019
