Sam Cooper PhD

Come do a postdoc at the Wu Tsai Institute!

WTI fellows have freedom to work with anyone at the institute, and preference is given to applicants who want to work on interdisciplinary projects with multiple faculty mentors.

If you’re interested to work with me, please reach out!

That's weird, your brother also designed my logo

✨ The Quant Family Collective (QFC) is a mentorship and community network aimed at providing resources and support to trainees and researchers in psychology learning advanced quantitative methods.

Leaning towards getting it, but the cure system is horrible. Biggest question: can you still change your console clock to beat the End? 😬

Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Says something about me that I saw the thumbnail and my gut reaction was "don't see error bars"

Google's Gemini AI tells a Redditor it's 'cautiously optimistic' about fixing a coding bug, fails repeatedly, calls itself an embarrassment to 'all possible and impossible universes' before repeating 'I am a disgrace' 86 times in succession

I'll admit, I was skeptical when they said Gemini was just like a bunch of PhDs. But I gotta admit they nailed it.

something I genuinely want to know bc I'm out of the loop and hopefully helpful for others: have many programs fully moved to zoom interviews, or still lots bringing people in person + requiring applicants to spend some money for travel?

Applying for graduate studies in psychology and neuroscience can be challenging and confusing. Frequently, applicants have some support from mentors at their home institutions, but sometimes applicants are looking for additional reassurance, feedback, or perspectives on the processes.

Scientists’ role in defending democracy The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...

My new @science.org editorial on the role of scientists in defending democracy is out today. As authoritarianism takes hold in the US, we must fight for the democratic principles that enable a free society and scientists have a key role. I hope you'll join us.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Potential grad applicants: I'm hoping to take 1-2 new students this cycle!

There's no need to email me in advance unless you have specific questions that aren't answered on the lab or psych department's website - everyone's applications will be considered equally.

u.osu.edu/mattlab/2025...

or i just budget grant money very very very poorly

you are far too kind...and #TwoStreamDream is trademarked for lab shirts, you'll be hearing from my legal team

Mood, Emotion & Development Laboratory The Mood, Emotion & Development Lab at Vanderbilt University is directed by Dr. Autumn Kujawa. Our research examines social and emotional development and the ways in which alterations in emotion contr...

We are looking for a clinical psych postdoc to join our team in 2025 or 2026 to help with studies of mood disorders and suicidal behavior in youth and families (using EEG 🧠 and EMA 📱 methods).

See www.moodemotionlab.com for more info on the lab and projects.

📩 Interested or have questions?
Email: samuel.cooper@austin.utexas.edu

📍 I’ll be at SRP • SPR • ACNP — happy to chat in person about the position.

Please share widely with anyone currently/soon to be on the postdoc market, and best of luck to all looking for positions.

#PsychSciSky #neuroskyence

UT is a rewarding place to work + Austin is an amazing place to live (heat aside).

The market is tough right now and folks are rightfully concerned. Due to UT’s resources + new lab grants (incl state funding), we expect a stable funding environment for postdocs + opportunities for your own funding.

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity @ UT Austin!

I’m recruiting a clinical psychologist or neuroscientist to join us in 2025/2026.

Our work: fear/threat + fMRI + EMA + HiTOP + anxiety/trauma/OC psychopathology in adults & adolescents + fancy stats!

📄 Description: tinyurl.com/2jfk8d8m
🌐 Lab: www.scoop-lab.com

I will be interviewing for a clinical psychology PhD student in the Precision Psychopathology + Dynamic Immunopsychiatry Lab this interview cycle.

Please see our website for more info about what we do + share with applicants you think might be a good fit.

share.google/uJRyS3NY9Kdo...

The impact of inherently aversive contexts on visuocortical processing of generalized threat Abstract. Adapting behavior to environmental demands is a fundamental aspect of survival. In the face of unfamiliar potential dangers, organisms display a wide range of defensive mechanisms, such as u...

🚨Our latest paper is now out in @imagingneurosci.bsky.social: We show how aversive generalization and contexts interact at electrocortical levels, demonstrating modulations of cues and contexts into different frequencies of the ssVEP. With @gamerlab.bsky.social! Check it out: doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

Restoring Gold Standard Science By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United

🚨Hiding under 6 sections of science sounding rhetoric is an edict to appoint officers at each agency that will be responsible for detecting research that isn't "Gold Standard Science" as defined by the White House🚨

Stay tuned for rapid response action!

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

If you’re open to acting as a local host for the 2026 HiTOP Conference, please get in touch with @miriforbes.bsky.social.

We’re looking for inexpensive options (e.g., university spaces, rather than hotels) so very open to ideas or suggestions if you’ve had experience organising this kind of event!

this comment wins the internet for today, thank you Tom

Fleshed out this awesome slide to share with my lab too - keen for any feedback on things I might have gotten wrong

Opinion | What Kennedy Gets Right, And Wrong, About Antidepressants (Gift Article) Harm from these drugs is real. Let’s not cede the conversation to Kennedy.

My opinion piece in today’s @nytimes.com . I discuss how clinical neglect of medication-related harms has made RFK Jr’s stance on antidepressants appealing to so many and moving the public conversation in a productive direction requires us to remedy this neglect.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/o...

I AM NOT AN ACTIVIST. I AM A SCIENTIST.

You don’t have to adjust your identity to meet the moment we find ourselves in—you simply need to engage in your civic duty as an expert in a given area by sharing your knowledge with the public and lawmakers.

This is part of our duty as scientists.

@joeydunsmoor.bsky.social @gregoryrsl.bsky.social @samcooper.bsky.social @jimmycoan.bsky.social @ucdavispsych.bsky.social @mpwpaulus.bsky.social @raupperle.bsky.social @skhalsa.bsky.social @mariaironside.bsky.social @laurenatlas.bsky.social @socialbrain.bsky.social @jasilvers.bsky.social

I HAVE LOCATED A SPINE IN THE ACADEMY!

The NIH firing plan is really a radical institute merger and an authoritarian takeover this is an Orbanization of US science: a move to exert political control over discovery, which will kill the US medical research industry and end cancer cures. The plan must be stopped. We can act.

"The consolidation/RIF plan pulls power away from scientists and puts it in the hands of political employees. It sets up Trump and Musk to kill NIH as an evidence-based science funder. We must stop this plan."

New contributed post on our blog: Please read.
It describes Orban and authoritarianism. 🧪

📣 Across the U.S., cuts to federal funding for health research are projected to cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. How will YOUR area be impacted?

Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky

scienceimpacts.org

There are days in life that shake you.

I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵