Headshot of Russell Poldrack.

Russell Poldrack

Cognitive neuroscientist
Stanford University

Russell Poldrack is Albert Ray Lang Professor of Psychology at Stanford University in California and director of the Stanford Center for Open and Reproducible Science. His research uses a combination of neuroimaging, behavioral research and computational modeling to understand the brain systems underlying decision-making and cognitive control.

His lab also develops neuroinformatics tools to help improve the reproducibility and transparency of neuroscience, including the Openneuro and Neurovault data sharing projects and the fMRIPrep preprocessing workflow.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and did postdoctoral work at Stanford. He subsequently held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin before joining the Stanford faculty in 2014. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, “Statistical Thinking: Analyzing Data in an Uncertain World.”

Explore more from The Transmitter

Kevin Dunbar.

In memoriam: Kevin Dunbar, who traced the neural basis of human reasoning

Using imaging technologies, he transformed our understanding of how creativity and scientific discovery arise in the brain.

By Alissa de Chassey
24 July 2026 | 6 min read
Research image of neuronal migration.

Neurons engage in risky, DNA-breaking business during migration

The cells later repair the damage, which occurs mostly in transcriptionally silent parts of the genome.

By Sarah Thau
24 July 2026 | 4 min read
Child sitting on a trampoline.

Study questions DSM-5’s combining of autism traits

Sensory traits and restricted and repetitive behaviors are best understood as distinct but related characteristics, the new work suggests.

By Lauren Schenkman
23 July 2026 | 5 min read