Psychology

Psychology at Â鶹ŮÀÉ (Â鶹ŮÀÉ) is the scientific study of mind, brain, and behavior. Here, you’ll explore how people think, learn, develop, and interact—gaining insights that help you understand yourself and others. Â鶹ŮÀÉ’s psychology programs blend classroom learning with hands-on research, preparing you to solve real-world problems and build a foundation for careers in science, health, business, and beyond.

About Psychology at Â鶹ŮÀÉ

At Â鶹ŮÀÉ, you’ll learn from award-winning faculty who are leaders in their fields and conduct research in four core areas: behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and social/personality psychology. The department is research-intensive, offering opportunities to join faculty projects, participate in independent research, and connect with national and international collaborators. Â鶹ŮÀÉ’s psychology programs are among the most popular and highly ranked in the region, and the department’s close ties with the Brain Institute, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, and other partners open doors to unique research and training experiences.

Degrees Offered at Florida Atlantic

Undergraduate

  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology
  • Bachelor of Science (BS) in Neuroscience and Behavior (joint with Biological Sciences)
  • Minor in Psychology
  • Certificate in Applied Mental Health Services
  • Honors Program in Psychology
  • Combined BA/BS to MA in Psychology

Graduate

  • Master of Arts (MA) in Psychology
  • Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Experimental Psychology

Explore Degree Programs in Psychology

Educational Objectives & Student Outcomes

1. Provide a strong foundation in the core areas of psychological science and neuroscience.
2. Develop students’ ability to conduct independent and collaborative research.
3. Prepare students for advanced study or professional careers in psychology, neuroscience, and related fields.
4. Foster critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and ethical decision-making.

1. Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts, theories, and research methods in psychology.
2. Apply scientific reasoning to interpret psychological phenomena.
3. Design, conduct, and communicate research findings effectively.
4. Work collaboratively and ethically in academic and professional settings.
5. Pursue further education or careers in academia, industry, health, or human services.

FAQs

No. The Department of Psychology at Â鶹ŮÀÉ has a training emphasis in Experimental Psychology. Our program specifically concentrates on the experimental aspects of Psychology. Our masters program DOES offer training in general experimental Psychology that may be valuable in clinical training programs if a student plans on applying to a clinical Ph.D. program. Our main graduate web page has links to various clinical training programs in Florida.

No. Although an undergraduate degree in Psychology is recommended we have various students who have obtained degrees in other disciplines. If you do not have an undergraduate degree in Psychology we DO recommend that applicants take the core undergraduate courses that are required for our Psychology undergraduates. This includes General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Psychobiology, Experimental Methods and Design, and Statistics. These courses should prepare a non-major for our 1st year graduate level work.

We do not usually accept part-time students. Our training program assumes that students will have the ability to be on campus at least 40 hours per week between the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM. The reason for this is that we do not offer night courses or weekend courses. Thus, it is it would be very difficulty for part-time students to complete degree work in a timely basis. Moreover, M.A. students are expected to complete the degree work in 2 years with a 9 semester hour course load every semester. Ph.D. students are expected to complete degree work in 4-5 years with a 9 semester hour course load and a teaching assistantship workload of 20 hours per week. Course work and teaching assistantship workloads are attendant to the student's research that is performed as a part of the degree work.

This is a two-part question. First, we recommend that students who are not majors in Psychology take our cognate undergraduate course work as outlined in #2 above. Second, undergraduate courses do not usually transfer into the Masters or Ph.D. curriculum. There are sometimes exceptions, but usually not. For instance; A student who wishes to major in Psychobiology may take an advanced undergraduate chemistry course to prepare for their research. All course work used for either a M.A. or Ph.D. degree must be approved by the student's supervisory committee (see our graduate policy), and the student does not establish the committee until accepted in the program. Thus, it is wise to WAIT until accepted into our program to take courses. This applies to both undergraduate courses as well as graduate-level courses that may be taken at an NDS status (see #6 below).

At least 3 major factors are taken into consideration. First, the applicant's GRE/GPA scores play an initial role in the selection of candidates that meet our departmental entrance criterion. Second, a faculty member must nominate the applicant for acceptance into our program after review of the applicant's file. Our training program is mentor-based, meaning that students must perform research in a faculty member's lab as a part of the M.A. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation. Because faculty have limitations in their ability to train students, the number of admissions into a particular lab varies from year to year. Therefore, specific faculty members do not usually accept new students every year. Finally, in terms of Ph.D. admissions, the level of state funding for Ph.D. students strictly dictates how many applicants are accepted. The department commits to 5 years of teaching assistantship support for Ph.D. students, and we expect that all Ph.D. students will receive state assistantships. The total budgetary allowance for TA support varies from year to year.

Many applicants attempt to enroll in graduate courses in the hopes of increasing their chances of acceptance in subsequent years. Although enrollment in graduate courses may allow the applicant to meet and interact with potential professors, there are several problems related to NDS enrollment. First, NDS enrollment must be approved by the professor of the graduate-level course -- many professors do not allow NDS students in their courses. Second, if NDS enrollment is approved, the student's performance will be evaluated relative to other graduate students--It is important to remember that the class cohorts may be upper division graduate students with many hours of experience in the course material. Lastly, according to Â鶹ŮÀÉ policy, only 10 hours of upper level course work taken by a NDS student may be applied to the graduate degree (if admitted).

You can find this information by following the links to the faculty pages. These pages will provide all the information you should need.

We do not require the subject area scores BUT we do evaluate these results when considering the overall applicant's strengths. REMEMBER that we are evaluating the applicant's POTENTIAL TO SUCCEED IN PSYCHOLOGY GRADUATE TRAINING. Any information that an applicant provides in support of the above will greatly assist the selection committee.

Maybe...Maybe not... All course work used for either a M.A. or Ph.D. degree must be approved by the student's supervisory committee (see our graduate policy), and the student does not establish the supervisory committee until accepted in the program. Therefore, the student must wait until accepted into our program to request that previous graduate course credit be applied to their Program of Study. The supervisory committee will then make a determination on the courses taken elsewhere. The Program of Study is the formal list of courses that will be taken to partially satisfy the requirements of the graduate degree.

Ph.D. students receive a Teaching Assistantship (T.A.) for a period of five years. There is no guaranteed support for M.A. students, although T.A. positions may sometimes be available for "graders", and faculty advisors may support either Ph.D. or M.A. students from research grant funds. University policy DOES NOT currently prohibit a student from securing outside employment while in the graduate program, however, such employment usually must be after 5:00 PM because of the graduate course schedules.

In actuality, the amount of T.A. funds provided by the State of Florida to our department for T.A. positions strictly determines how many new Ph.D. students will be admitted in any given year. Also, as Ph.D. students graduate, this creates new training positions within the constraints of T.A. funding requirements and faculty availability. In recent years we have usually admitted between 3 and 8 Ph.D. students per year. M.A. students are admitted according to the demands and capability of our faculty. Admission of M.A. students is not constrained by funding, but it is constrained by the availability of faculty members to train students. In recent years we have usually admitted between 4-6 M.A. students.

Not at the present time. We have had a long-standing departmental policy of admitting Ph.D. students at the level of state/university T.A. funding. We believe that admissions not supported by state/university funds will undermine the levels of financial support provided by the state/university.

Meet the Faculty & Staff

William Alexander

William Alexander, Ph.D

Associate Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailwalexander@fau.edu
location_on

Boca Raton Campus

Gizelle Anzures

Gizelle Anzures, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailganzures@fau.edu
call561-297-3368
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 206

Elan Barenholtz

Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailelan.barenholtz@fau.edu
call561-297-3433
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 211

David Bjorklund

David Bjorklund, Ph.D.

Associate Chair and Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

maildbjorklu@fau.edu
call561-297-3367
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 112

Kevin Darby

Kevin Darby, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

maildarbyk@fau.edu
call561-297-6033
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 211

Patty Dindial

Patty Dindial

Senior Secretary

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailddindial@fau.edu
call954-236-1120
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | ES 268

Edmund Gerstein

Edmund Gerstein, Ph.D.

Research Director

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

mailegerste1@fau.edu
call561-809-9185
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 101

Howard Hock

Howard Hock, Ph.D.

Research Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailhockhs@fau.edu
call561-297-3363
location_on

Boca Raton Campus

Erika Hoff

Erika Hoff, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailehoff@fau.edu
call954-236-1142
location_on

Davie Campus | ES 274

Emily Hokett

Emily Hokett

Assistant Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailehokett@fau.edu
location_on

Boca Raton Campus

Sang Hong

Sang Hong, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

mailshong6@fau.edu
call561-297-9505
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 209

Katherine Hughes

Katherine Hughes, Ph.D

Senior Instructor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailhughes@fau.edu
call561-799-8616
location_on

Jupiter Campus | WB-MC13 216

James Jakubow

James Jakubow, Ph.D.

University Instructor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailjjakubow@fau.edu
call561-297-2522
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 225

Nancy Jones

Nancy Jones

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailnjones@fau.edu
call561-799-8632
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | Jupiter, WB-MC13 215

Scott Kelso

Scott Kelso, Ph.D.

Eminent Scholar in Science and Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailjkelso@fau.edu
call561-297-2230
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 411

Alan Kersten

Alan Kersten, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailakersten@fau.edu
call561-297-3382
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 203

Irem Korucu

Irem Korucu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailikorucu@fau.edu
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 307

Brett Laursen

Brett Laursen, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

maillaursen@fau.edu
call954-236-1121
location_on

Davie Campus | EC-BC 52

Michael Maniaci

Michael Maniaci, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailmmaniaci@fau.edu
call561-297-3305
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 202

Donna Marion

Donna Marion, Ph.D.

Instructor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

maildmarion@fau.edu
call954-236-1007
location_on

Davie Campus | ES BC-52 240

Lori Mckee

Secretary

Psychology

mailmckeel@fau.edu
call561-297-3360
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS 101

Natalia Noboa

Natalia Noboa

Computer Coordinator

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailnnoboa@fau.edu
call561-297-3375
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS 104

Susan Norstrom

Susan Norstrom, Ph.D.

Instructor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailsegan2@fau.edu
call561-297-3360
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 228

Andrzej Nowak

Andrzej Nowak, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailnowak@fau.edu
call561-297-3377
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 230

Simon Pieraut

Simon Pieraut, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailspieraut@fau.edu
location_on

Jupiter Campus | RE-MC 19 106

Stefan Ramgulam

Stefan Ramgulam

Budget Manager

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailsramgulam2019@fau.edu
call561-297-3369
location_on

Boca Raton Campus

Monica Rosselli

Monica Rosselli, Ph.D

Professor and Associate Chair of Psychology

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mail954-236-1108
call954-236-1108
location_on

Davie Campus | Davie, ES-BC52 268

Lakmali Senanayake

Lakmali Senanayake

Academic Support Services Coordinator

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

maillsenanay@fau.edu
call561-297-3360
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS 101

Robert W. Stackman, Jr.

Robert Stackman, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President for the Jupiter Campus and Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailrstackma@fau.edu
call561-799-8052 | 561-297-4358
location_on

Jupiter Campus | MC-19(RE) 110

Robin Vallacher

Robin Vallacher, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailvallacher@fau.edu
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 101

Robert Vertes

Robert Vertes

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

mailrvertes@fau.edu
call561-297-2362
location_on

Boca Raton Campus

Gary W. Perry

Gary W. Perry, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailperryg@fau.edu
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 308

Geoffrey Wetherell

Geoffrey Wetherell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailgwetherell@fau.edu
call561-297-1278
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 212

wilcoxt

Teresa Wilcox, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Psychology

mailwilcoxt@fau.edu
call561-297-0619
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 101B

David Wolgin

David Wolgin, Ph.D.

Professor

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Biological Sciences

mailwolgindl@fau.edu
call561-297-3366
location_on

Boca Raton Campus | BS-12 231

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Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science prepares students for careers in various fields, including biology, mathematics, physics and psychology.The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science offers unparalleled experiential learning opportunities to prepare the next generation of scientists and problem solvers.The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers majors in areas of national priority such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, transportation and supply chain management.

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Â鶹ŮÀÉ
777 Glades Rd, SE-43
Boca Raton, FL 33431
call (561) 297-3035