Course Staff
Instructors
Lucy Lai
Hi everyone, I’m incredibly excited to be your course instructor for COGS 180! I fell in love with teaching in college, and since then, have taught over 10 different undergraduate and graduate courses and developed 3 of my own. I received my Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard in May 2024, where I studied “resource-rational” decision making, or how people make decisions with limited cognitive resources. My research uses computational modeling (including information theory, Bayesian statistics, and reinforcement learning) to understand human behavior and cognition.
I am thrilled to revive this course this summer and to explore this fascinating topic with you, which is so relevant to our everyday lives. I am always happy to chat with students about anything from course feedback to career and life decisions, so please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time!
Teaching Assistant
Janet Tung
Hi! I’m Janet, your TA for COGS 180 this session. I’m currently a PhD student here at the Cognitive Science department at UCSD. I work in Professor Doug Nitz’s lab, where my research focuses in taking a systems neuroscience approach towards investigating navigation and spatial cognition using electrophysiological techniques to record single neurons and local field potentials in rats while they perform tasks and run through mazes. When I’m not doing that, I love being outdoors – climbing, hiking, biking, swimming, exploring canyons, rivers, and so on. I’m looking forward to being your TA this summer!