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The EDEN Lab is a compassionate, dedicated, and inclusive community of scholars who study development and behavior from multiple perspectives to inform interventions and treatments that improve the lives of children and families. Our exceptional and interdisciplinary team includes members of different backgrounds and experiences, from undergraduate and graduate students to post-doctoral research scholars and staff.
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Post-doctoral applicants

Students who are approaching completion of their PhD are encouraged to email Dr. Waller (rwaller@sas.upenn.edu) to inquire about specific availability for post-doctoral research positions in the EDEN Lab or at Penn, including the MindCORE Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Scholars. Typically, post-doctoral applicants who would be a good match to work in the lab study youth antisocial behavior, parenting and neighborhood context, developmental neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology. Students with a particular interest or experience in the study of callous-unemotional traits, psychopathy, personality assessment, substance use and misuse, computational linguistics and computer vision methods, criminal justice, early years' intervention, social work, or multimodal assessment methods are also encouraged to get in touch about specific projects that might intersect with ongoing research and funded grants in the EDEN Lab.

Graduate Student Applicants

Dr. Waller will likely be recruiting for the 2025/2026 academic year.

For prospective PhD students applying Fall 2024 for admission in 2025/2026: Dr. Waller is waiting on the outcomes of several pending grant submissions. Please check back in mid October for an update. Either way, we are prioritizing applicants with an interest/research experience in the following areas: (1) computational linguistics and computer vision/AI methods in psychiatry (including as relevant to externalizing psychopathology), (2) EEG in relation to externalizing psychopathology, (3) physiological/attentional systems underpinning externalizing psychopathology. If your interests/research experiences do not fall under these areas, we encourage you to seek alternative PhD supervision.

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Undergraduate Student Applications

First and second year students from the University of Pennsylvania who are interested in joining the EDEN Lab should submit an application form. Applications are considered on a rolling basis. However, third year students who are planning on a 399 or senior honors thesis should be advised that we receive many many more applications than there are places available. Thus, strong preference is given to students who have already completed at least one semester as an undergraduate research assistant in the EDEN Lab, and we only consider two semester-long projects. For more information about the honors program, please see the department website or email Dr. Caroline Connolly (cconn@sas.upenn.edu), Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies.

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