About

The Stibel Dennett Consortium for Brain and Cognitive Science at Tufts University was created in Academic Year 2019-2020, representing a diverse collective of research and teaching initiatives across the university. Through undergraduate and graduate level programs, endowed faculty positions, and academic research centers, the Consortium aims to deepen the scholarship and understanding of brain and cognitive science within the Tufts community and beyond.

Under the umbrella of the Consortium, two new endowed professorships were created at the School of Arts and Sciences in 2019. Generous gifts from Tufts alumnus Jeff Stibel, A95, established both the Dennett Stibel Professor of Cognitive Science and the Stibel Family Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science. These professorships were inspired by Stibel’s positive undergraduate experience at Tufts, his own extensive expertise in the field of human cognition, and his mentorship by the late University Professor Daniel Dennett.

The Dennett Stibel Professor of Cognitive Science aids the university in the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty whose teaching and research is within the cognitive and brain sciences disciplines. Dr. Gina Kuperberg is the inaugural Dennett Stibel Professor of Cognitive Science, a position she was appointed to in November of 2019.

The Stibel Family Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science seeks to recruit and nurture the career development of outstanding junior faculty members. Stephanie Badde has been appointed as the inaugural Stibel Family Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science. She will start at Tufts in September 2020. The goal of both professorships is to strengthen the portfolio of cognitive and brain science related scholarship at Tufts.

In academic year 2019-2020, the university also received the gift of the BrainGate Company, thanks to the generosity of the company’s shareholders. BrainGate is focused on developing brain-computer interface technologies to restore the communication, mobility, and independence of people with neurologic disease, injury, or limb loss.

Through these new endowed faculty positions, access to the cutting-edge technologies of BrainGate, and Tufts’ existing research centers and programs, the Stibel Dennett Consortium for Brain and Cognitive Science provides an overarching narrative for the interdisciplinary research taking place in this arena across the university.