Dear prospective graduate student,

The Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, ranked as one of the top programs of its kind in the nation, is seeking highly talented,motivated, and creative students for graduate study. You are one of a small group of potential graduate students we have selected to contact because of your excellent academic performance and declared area of interest, as provided to us by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) which administers the GRE.

Our Program:
UCI's department of Cognitive Sciences is ranked as one of the top programs of its kind in the nation, with a tradition of excellence in research. Our department offers specialized Ph.D. research training in mathematical and computational approaches to cognition, and cognitive neuroscience approaches to sensory and cognitive processes. Areas of expertise include auditory and language functions, vision, attention, action and sensorimotor control, cognitive development, cognitive robotics, memory, and brain-computer interfaces.

Our Ph.D. program leads to a degree in psychology with an optional concentration in cognitive neuroscience. Recent graduates from our program have secured postdoctoral positions at leading academic and research institutions including Yale, Wesleyan, USC, UCLA, Syracuse, UCSF, Carnegie Mellon University, NIH, and many others.

Strong Financial Support:
Our program offers competitive financial support packages to our graduate students. Admitted students are guaranteed five years of fee/tuition waivers, five years of guaranteed access to graduate student housing, and summer funding for research and living expenses during their first two-years in the program. Exceptional students may also be supported through a number of different competitive fellowships (merit based and diversity), as well as TA and RA support from faculty grants.

Faculty:
All PhD program coursework is taught by core department faculty, which includes world-renowned scientists dedicated to graduate training. The department has a strong focus on research with most of our 25 faculty holding one or more large extramural grants that support graduate student research activities. Many of our faculty have served as editors or editorial board members of leading professional journals, are members of NSF and NIH study panels, and in administrative structures of professional societies (e.g., president of the Society for Mathematical Psychology, president-elect of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology).

Research Support:
Our state-of-the-art research facilities include high-performance multicore supercomputers for neuro-computational and mathematical research, a multi-million dollar 3T fMRI magnet for brain imaging studies of cognitive function, high-density EEG and TMS systems for research on the functional organization of the brain, cortical dysfunctions and BCI (brain-computer interface), several large anechoic chambers for auditory and multisensory research, and eye/head-tracking systems for research on sensorimotor integration.

Cognitive science is an inherently multidisciplinary field, and graduate students in our program have the opportunity to be involved in several campuswide research centers including the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Engineering, Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, Center for Hearing Research, and Center for Language Science. Our faculty routinely conduct collaborative research with colleagues at other local institutions including Caltech, UCSD, UCLA, and USC, all of which are approximately an hour drive from UCI.

Living in Irvine, Orange County:
UCI is located approximately one hour south of Los Angeles and five miles from the Pacific Ocean, near Newport Beach, Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. Irvine is the Southern California center of education, business, technology, and entertainment with a recreational park system that includes 20 square miles of nature preserves, wilderness parks and regional hiking trails. The climate is beautiful and temperate throughout the year.

How to Apply to the Ph.D. Program:
The department graduate program is highly selective, admitting excellent students with diverse backgrounds in psychology, neuroscience/biology, mathematics, biomedical engineering, computer science and other related fields.

We invite you to take a closer look at our program by visiting:
http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/cs_graduateprogram

Our faculty research interests and labs include:
http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/cs_faculty
http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/files/cogsci/docs/ResearchLabs.pdf

Costs and financial/fellowship support:
http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/cs_graduateprogram

You can apply to the program online at:
http://www.grad.uci.edu/admissions/index.html

Once registered online, select the "School of Social Sciences" under degree programs, and under Major/Degree select either "Psychology - Cognitive Sciences Ph.D." or "Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D.". Training in the latter will lead to the Ph.D. degree in psychology with formal concentration in cognitive neuroscience.

Once registered online, select the "School of Social Sciences" under degree programs, and under Major/Degree select either "Psychology - Cognitive Sciences Ph.D." or "Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D.". Training in the latter will lead to the Ph.D. degree in psychology with formal concentration in cognitive neuroscience.

We are now accepting applications for fall 2014. The deadline for applying is December 15, 2013 (late applications from highly qualified candidates will be considered). Decisions for admission will be made by the end of January 2014. If you are being considered for acceptance into the program, the department will invite you for a two-day visit (paid for by the department) to meet with current students and faculty, to visit our exceptional research facilities, and to tour campus housing.