Headshot of Nicole Rust

Nicole Rust

Professor of psychology, University of Pennsylvania;
Contributing editor, The Transmitter

Nicole Rust is professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her research focuses on understanding the brain’s remarkable ability to remember the things we’ve seen and using that knowledge to develop new therapies to treat memory dysfunction. She is also writing a book on the types of understanding of the brain that will ultimately be required to treat neurological and psychiatric conditions. In it, she argues that effective progress in brain research will require ambitious and unprecedented multidisciplinary conversations of the type that will appear in The Transmitter.

Rust received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University and completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been recognized by the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the McKnight Scholar Award, a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the Charles Ludwig Distinguished Teaching Award, and election to the Memory Disorders Research Society.

Get alerts for essays by Nicole Rust in your inbox.

Subscribe to get notified every time a new essay is published.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim

The debate highlights opposing views on how the cortex transmits information.

By Claudia López Lloreda
12 December 2025 | 5 min read

Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies

Synchronized signals in non-neuronal retinal cells draw the tiny compartments of a fruit fly’s compound eye into alignment during pupal development.

By Lauren Schneider
12 December 2025 | 0 min watch

Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex

The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.

By Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.