Rock-It Science Scientific Advisory Council

  

Antonio Damasio, M.D. Ph.D. University of Southern California

Antonio Damasio, M.D., Ph.D. is the David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California.  He heads USC's Brain & Creativity Institute (BCI). Damasio’s research focuses on the brain mechanisms of emotion.  He has received numerous awards, and is the author of Descartes Error, The Feeling of What Happens, and Looking for Spinoza.

Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D. University of California

Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology and Director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Gazzaniga is a leading cognitive neuroscientist, and has authored numerous books, including The Bisected Brain, The Integrated Mind, The Social Brain, Mind Matters, and Human.  He also served on the President’s Panel on Bioethics.

Paul Greengard, Ph.D. Rockefeller University

Paul Greengard, Ph.D. is the Vincent Astor Professor, head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and director of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research at Rockefeller University in New York City.  He is also a member of the National Academy of Science, and he received the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on dopamine neurotransmission in the brain. 

Daniel Levitin, Ph.D.   McGill University

Daniel Levitin, Ph.D. is an American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer.  He is currently James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and the author of two best-selling books, This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, and The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature.  As a musician, Daniel has performed with Mel Torme, Blue Oyster Cult, and David Byrne.

Bruce McEwen, Ph.D. Rockefeller University

Bruce McEwen, Ph.D. is the Alfred E. Mirsky Professor of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University Laboratory.  He is a member of the National Academy of Science, and a leading researcher on the neurobiology of stress. He is also author of several books, including The End of Stress As We Know It (with Elizabeth Lasley).

Steven Pinker, Ph.D.   Harvard University

Steven Pinker, Ph.D. is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is the best selling author of books such as The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, and The Stuff of Thought. He has been named one of Time magazine's “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.”

V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D.   University of California San Diego

V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D. is Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Professor of Neurosciences and Psychology at the University of California , San Diego.  He is the author of numerous scientific papers on mind and brain, and has written Phantoms in the Brain (with Sandra Blakeslee) and Art and the Brain.