As finals finish and the Brown campus grows quieter, a special round of congratulations must go to those concluding their time as undergraduates in the CoPsy department. In just under two weeks, approximately 100 students will graduate from Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Behavioral Decision Sciences.

Professor Dave Sobel, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, supervises the CoPsy curriculum and supports students in selecting and navigating a CoPsy concentration. While the implications of a CoPsy degree depend on which of the four concentrations has been chosen, there are “some universals,” Sobel explained. There are many pre-med and pre-law concentrators, alongside a significant number who intend to do clinical psychology.

“What I've always been amazed by,” Sobel shared, “is the diversity of career trajectories. [Students] went into the sector, into marketing, into finance, into the military. Particularly now that there's such an overlap with data science and entrepreneurship, you're seeing a lot of people use degrees in psychology, cognitive science, and BDS as a way of navigating industry and the industry world.”

“It's not ‘what can you do [with these majors]?’,” Sobel explained. “It's ‘What can't you do?’”

Sobel hopes that graduating seniors leave with the fundamental understandings about “critical thinking, relationships between theory and evidence, understanding that psychology is a science, just what the scientific method is, how to think critically about problems, and how to apply data to kind of reasoning through hypotheses. Communicating science [is] the other thing: being able to communicate your ideas and your positions in a way that connects theory with evidence.”

Graduating seniors are eligible for a number of honors, reflecting the skills they have developed and interests they have pursued, as they prepare to leave the Brown campus.

Eight students from the class of 2025 were elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a national honors society that recognizes the top 12% of a graduating class. Within the Psychology program, Jay Amin ’25, Kayleigh Danowski ’25, Irene Kwon ’25, and Amanda Li ’25 of the ScB degree track have been highlighted, as have Giselle Goldfischer ’25, Linda Starrs ’25, and Natalie Villacres ’25, who are pursuing AB degrees. Emma Rosenthal ’25 also received recognition as a ScB recipient in Cognitive Neuroscience.

The CoPsy department has its own department awards—named Premiums—as well. The Behavioral Decision Sciences concentration has awarded Jake Wilner ’25 and Alanna Zhang ’25, and Cognitive Neuroscience has recognized Lindsay Gould ’25 and Naia Wolfenzon ’25. Furthermore, Cognitive Science has honored Camila Dangot ’25 and Aislin Baxter ’25. Finally, the Psychology Premium—named in honor of Muriel Fain Sher—has spotlighted Giselle Goldfishcher ’25 and Willian Ryan Waite ’25.

There are also two departmental awards: the Ferdinand Jones Jr. Premium in Clinical Psychology and the Kling Premium awarded to “a CoPsy student who has given outstanding service as a Teaching Assistant,” as described by Dr. Elena Festa wrote.

Megan Talikoff ’25 has received the former. A Psychology concentrator, Talikoff shared, “I appreciate how much variety there is in the major. Psych is so broad, but I feel like we cover a lot of different facets of the whole huge construct, which is nice.” Talikoff noted particularly enjoying Learning and Conditioning with Professor Ruth Colwill and Human Cognition with Professor Kathryn Spoehr.

Working in Dr. Amitai Shenhav’s lab, studying motivation and decision making, Talikoff reflected, was a welcoming and enjoyable experience. She added, “I was really excited about what they were studying in that lab.” She also expressed gratitude towards Drs. Anastacia Kudinova, Elizabeth Thompson, and Elena Festa.

Upon receiving the premium, she shared, “I am psyched. It's definitely true that I want to do clinical psych. Next, I'm going to [do a] master's program in couple and family therapy at Syracuse.” After this program culminates, she plans to get a PhD in clinical psychology.

Jessica Tuchin has been honored with the latter. Tuchin’s philosophy towards being a Teaching Assistant centers on clear communication, availability, and passion for the content.

She reflected, “Growing up, I was always interested in psychology. I sought to understand how people think and why they act in certain ways. When coming to college, I knew I wanted to study psychology formally. I had thought of either concentrating in CS or in Psychology, so I took introductory courses of both my freshman year. After taking the introduction class with Professor Festa, I pretty much decided I would continue in psychology. I ended up pursuing the Certificate in Data Fluency, so I still pursued CS education.”

Tuchin’s favorite classes included Mind, Brain, and Behavior (which she would later TA twice) with Professor Elena Festa, Psychology in Business and Economics with Professor Joachim Krueger, Social Brain in Context with Professor Oriel FeldmanHall, and Brain Damage and the Mind with Professor William Heindel. In addition to TAing for four semesters in CoPsy (across three classes), she also has worked as a Research Assistant for the Causality and Mind Lab and even studied Psychology in Spanish during a class at the University of Granada.

Tuchin added, “I am honored to have received this award. I am incredibly grateful to the wonderful professors who I have had the opportunity to TA for. I have learned a lot as a TA, and am truly grateful for the mentorship I have received from the lovely professors I have TAed for.”

As demonstrated by the diverse array of concentrations, interests, and career plans across CoPsy, there is no one path for graduates. Sobel remarked, “It's trite to say pursue what you love, but that is the big advice that I have. You need to really be committed to what you do. You need to love what it is that you do, and you know, one of the great things about Brown is the open curriculum kind of allows you to explore.”

Not all people find that immediately, Sobel qualified, and there is no pressure to rush the process. Sobel himself initially intended to study vision science and only in graduate school realized his interests lay elsewhere. He had never taken a class in developmental psychology, but “it worked out. You don't need to know what it is that you're doing, and it's okay that there are both known and unknown unknowns.”

The CoPsy ceremony will occur on May 25, following the main ceremony, at around 2:30 PM at the Madden Gymnasium of the Wheeler School, located at 216 Hope Street.