Nicole C. Rust is an American neuroscientist, psychologist, and a Professor of Psychology at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. She is the author of ''Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders and How We Can Change That''. She studies

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

, visual

recognition memory Recognition memory, a subcategory of explicit memory, is the ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people.Medina, J. J. (2008)The biology of recognition memory. ''Psychiatric Times''. When the previously experienced event ...

, and

mood (psychology) In psychology, a mood is an affective state. In contrast to emotions or feelings, moods are less specific, less intense and less likely to be provoked or instantiated by a particular stimulus or event. Moods are typically described as having ...

. She is recognized for significant advancements in experimental psychology and neuroscience. Rust was the recipient of the 2021 Troland Research Award from the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

for her fundamental contributions to understanding how the cortex makes use of complex visual information to guide intelligent behavior. She was named a Simons Pivot Fellow in 2025, a

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation is an American Minnesota-based family foundation. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation maintains a $2.5 billion endowment, which it distributes in grants. In 2022, the foundation issued $120 million, supporting Min ...

Scholar (2013), received an

NSF CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

(2013) and was named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2010).

Education and early career

Rust received her bachelor's degree in from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

in 1997. She then went on to receive her PhD in

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 2004 under the mentorship of J. Anthony Movshon, and

Eero Simoncelli Eero Simoncelli is an American computational neuroscientist and Silver Professor at New York University. He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 2000 to 2020. In 2020, he became the inaugural director of the Center for Computat ...

. There, her work focused on how the primate brain processes information about visual motion, including in the

primary visual cortex The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus ...

and area MT.

Career and research

Rust completed

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

between 2004 and 2006. There she worked under the mentorship of James DiCarlo, studying how the brain identifies the objects that are present in a visual scene. Rust joined the faculty in the Department of Psychology at the

in 2009. Her lab has focused on understanding how the brain uses visual information to solve different tasks, including finding sought objects and remembering the images that have been encountered. Rust's group also creates machine learning algorithms that mimic neural circuits of memory.

Science communication

Rust is the author of the book ''Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders and How We Can Change That.'' In it, she describes her personal journey to understand why brain research has been accelerating rapidly for decades, but the translation of discoveries into treatments and cures has not happened as many expected.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rust, Nicole C. Living people University of Idaho alumni New York University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty American science writers American neuroscientists American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 21st-century American women