The Cognitive Tools Lab is always on the lookout for outstanding postdocs and graduate students. This document will give you a sense for what we are looking for in a prospective lab member, and what the next steps to take are. Please read it in its entirety before contacting Dr. Fan to ask about doing research.
In addition to strong motivation and scientific curiosity, the research we do requires a variety of technical and professional skills, though the needs of each project vary. Prospective lab members should have experience with several of the skills listed below, along with a positive attitude about and willingness to quickly/independently learn about others:
It is important to emphasize that even if you don’t currently have the skills above, that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t work in the lab. If you are seriously interested in joining us, you are encouraged to invest time and energy independently acquiring some or more of these skills (e.g., through course projects), which will enable you to get more out of your research experience.
Our lab is genuinely committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in achieving and sustaining excellence in our scientific research. We aim to provide an intellectual environment that is at once welcoming, nurturing and challenging, and that respects the full spectrum of human diversity in race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. Above all, we are looking for lab members who share our commitment to actively creating and maintaining a safe environment founded on mutual respect and support.
To learn more about the expectations we have of all members of the lab, including of Dr. Fan, please feel free to read our lab manual.
Dr. Fan is actively recruiting both postdocs and graduate students to start in Fall 2023.
If you are interested in joining the lab as a PhD student or postdoc, please introduce yourself to Dr. Fan via email. It is a good idea in this email to articulate what research questions you are most excited about and some specific reasons why you believe the Cognitive Tools Lab would be an environment where you believe you could thrive, as well as how you believe you could contribute to our community.
PhD applicants: Please note that it may not always be possible for Dr. Fan to reply and discuss with you whether the lab might be a good fit, nor schedule a Zoom call prior to the application deadline. If you are interested in joining the lab as a PhD student, please submit a full application to the Stanford PhD Program in Psychology and indicate your interest in the lab on the form to ensure that Dr. Fan will receive & read it!
Current UCSD/Stanford graduate students are also welcome to work on projects in the lab, even if you are not affiliated with the Psychology department.
A good way to figure out whether the lab would be a good fit is for you to take one of Dr. Fan’s graduate courses. This gives you a chance to see how she works with students, and it lets her see your working style. If this isn’t feasible due to timing, please send Dr. Fan an email so we can arrange for an alternative way to evaluate fit.
Scientific research is unpredictable and can take up a lot of time. If this will be your first academic quarter working on a project in the lab, you should expect to spend at minimum 15 hours a week working on our research projects — so if you are swamped with other commitments, consider joining the lab another quarter.
If you think you might be a good fit after reading all of the above, send Dr. Fan an email with a current academic CV and with answers to the following questions:
Please contact Dr. Fan during the quarter before the one in which you want to do research — this gives us time to develop a project for you in advance so you can hit the ground running.
If you are a current UCSD undergraduate student and interested in being considered for potential research opportunities in the lab, your first step should be to complete the Psychology Undergraduate Research Assistant Common Application (PSYURACA) during the quarter before the one in which you want to start working in the lab. If you have an especially strong interest in working in the lab, in addition to completing the Common Application, please also feel free to reach out to Dr. Fan via email, with some brief responses to the same questions from the section above.
Special thanks to Daniel Ritchie at Brown University and Fernanda Ferreira at UC Davis for examples of how to organize the information on this page.