Positive Psychology Center Research
Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, the mission of the Penn Positive Psychology Center is research, education, and the dissemination of Positive Psychology, resilience and grit. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the factors that enable people to thrive. This field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives.
Sociolinguistics in the lab
How do social factors influence speech production and perception?
Language Development & Processing
My research is about language and thought, and the relation between the two. My students and I take a cognitive science approach to these topics by asking what sorts of mental computations and representations support human understanding of the world and human linguistic communication.
Biomedical Optics and Soft Matter Experimental Lab
Work on projects in either biomedical optics that employ light to measure physiological properties of tissues, or soft condensed matter physics that explore the behaviors of complex fluids such as colloids, liquid crystals, emulsions, drops and more.
Memory and Preference
Work on a project that inolves judgment and decision making, plus computational and mathematical modeling of cognition.
Gravitational lensing and the outer solar system
Professor Bernstein's research is focused on the use of gravitational lensing, the deflection of light by gravity as predicted by General Relativity. Another area of research is discovery of planets beyond Neptune in our own solar system. Student projects will typically involve analyses of sky survey images using Python or other numerical methods. Professor Bernstein will be on sabbatical (and not advising new undergraduates) until Fall 2025.
Psychology and Religion
Develop your own research project relating to psychology, religion, and/or morality.