This year, UCLA Life Sciences welcomed eight outstanding research faculty. Click on their names to learn more about their research.

Stepfanie Aguillon
Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research question: Why do organisms look and behave the way they do, and how does this influence speciation?

Beau Alward 

Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology

Research question: How do steroid hormones generate social behaviors?

Jaime Castrellon

Assistant Professor, Psychology 

Research question: What are the basic neural systems and cognitive processes that shape motivation and decision making?

Stephanie Leal

Assistant Professor,  Integrative Biology and Physiology

Research question: How can we improve mood and memory disorders by understanding how our brains process episodic memories?

Rachel Shahan

Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology

Research question: How can plants modify their body plans in response to the environment?

Chuliang Song

Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research question: How can we develop predictive models, based on field data and ecological theory, to understand whether and how species coexist as their environments change?

Valerie Tornin

Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology, also in the Institute of Society and Genetics

Research question: What genes, molecules and evolutionary processes guide development of the brain and behavior?

Jaimie Van Normann

Associate Professor, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology

Research question:  As organs and tissues are formed, how do cells communicate to coordinate important decisions like when to grow and when to divide?