Are you accepting students into your lab for the 2025-26 academic year?

Dr. Larson is NOT recruiting a new clinical or neuroscience doctoral student for Fall 2025.

If you are interested in joining the Affective Neuroscience Lab, either through the clinical psychology or neuroscience area, be sure to review the ongoing areas of research in the lab to see if you are a good match. We are currently conducting two new NIH R01 projects. The first is aimed at identifying predictors of PTSD among youth who’ve recently been victims of violence, and the second is aimed at understanding predictors of PTSD and factors affecting recovery following a trauma among Black adults. Please explain why you think you are a good match for our lab in your research statement.

Also, effective February 2020 we voted as a department to no longer require the GRE for admissions for any of our programs. So save your money and do not send us your scores! Good luck!

What are you looking for in a graduate student?

Our lab is dedicated to developing affective neuroscientists who wish to pursue a career in science. Ideally, applicants would have a strong interest in one of my main areas of research. Students in the lab work in one of these areas and contribute to ongoing projects in the lab. All students also develop their own independent lines of research to build their identities as a scientist. Applicants with a less obvious match of interests may certainly apply – I am open to new ideas – however, it must be clear to me that as your advisor I could truly train you in your desired area of research.

If you’re curious about my mentorship style and expectations for trainees in the lab and the mentor-trainee relationship, checkout our lab Mentoring Agreement.

How can I apply?

Forms for applying to the UWM Graduate School and the Psychology PhD programs can be found here.