President Obama’s call for a federal brain-mapping program might be new, but for brain researchers at Rutgers University in Newark, developing new research strategies and increasing understanding of brain processes is a way of life.

Through its nationally renowned Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN), its Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center (RUBIC), and its Department of Psychology, Rutgers University in Newark is leading the way in research into areas such as human development, learning and memory, perceptual dynamics, neuroeconomics, and computational neuroimaging as well as developmental problems, mental illness, and addiction.  (See “Inside the Brain,” http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/inside-brain .)

Several Rutgers-Newark brain experts are available to discuss the President’s proposal to invest an initial $100 million to support brain research and the ways that universities such as Rutgers-Newark could contribute their invaluable research to this effort; here are two of them.

Dr. Stephen Jose Hanson, director of RUBIC (http://rubic.rutgers.edu), professor of psychology, and a leading researcher on memory, learning and brain function.  http://nwkpsych.rutgers.edu/~jose/  Contacts: office, 973/353-5440 x3952; cell, 609-731-6839, or   jose@psychology.rutgers.edu .

Dr. Mauricio Delgado, Department of Psychology and RUBIC;  2010 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama. http://nwkpsych.rutgers.edu/~delgado/  Contacts: 973/353-5440, ext. 3949; lab: (973)353-5440, ext. 1827; cell (to come); or delgado@psychology.rutgers.edu .