It’s What We Focus on and Remember that Lasts

Across his career, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Steven Luck has shifted his own focus multiple times, from mainly research to an intense focus on teaching and mentoring students who make the most out of every opportunity. For this work, Luck has just received the 2025 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

$900K NSF Grant to Help Researchers Probe the Cognitive Brain Mechanisms Behind Free Will

Funded by a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Distinguished Professor George R. Mangun, director of the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, is launching a project to better understand the cognitive mechanisms behind realistic voluntary attention, or attention directed by an individual’s free will. The project will be conducted in collaboration with engineering colleagues at the University of Florida.