Hwang Lab — About

Welcome!

Research in the Hwang Lab focuses on the cognitive and neural dynamics of cognitive control. Learn more on our research and publications pages. We are affiliated with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Cognitive Control Collaborative, a super-lab initiative for researchers studying cognitive control.

We are located at 355W PBSB, 340 Iowa Ave, Iowa City, IA 52242.

Our research is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Aug. 30, 2025 — Xitong graduated this summer and is now a postdoc with Anne Collins at UC Berkeley.
Sep, 19, 2025 — Our lab has received a new 5yr R01 funding from NIMH, so we can continue our research for a few extra years.
Feb, 11, 2026 — Steph recently published our first paper on the topic of integration. Check it out here. She has more work coming out soon!
March, 30, 2026 — Continuing our strong tradition of placing postbaccalaureate trainees into top PhD programs, Shannon will be attending the University of Michigan this fall to begin a PhD in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
March, 30, 2026 — We are looking for a new postbaccalaureate researcher/lab manager to join our lab. If intrested please take a look at our positions page and reach out to Kai.

Xitong Chen, Ph.D. — Ph.D. Student, 2019 to 2025; Afterwards: postdoc at UC Berkeley
Ray Gonzalez — Scientific Programmer, 2022–2024
Mengxing Liu, Ph.D. — Postdoc collaborator from Tufts. We are actually still working togehter, he is just not physically in the lab now.
Hannah Hollow — Lab Manager, 2022–2024; Afterwards: Ph.D. student at Montclair State University
Neha Nagarkar — Undergraduate RA & ICRU Fellow, 2022–2024; Afterwards: Ph.D. student at Oregon
Juniper Hollow — Lab Manager, 2020–2022; Afterwards: Research Associate, Radiology, UIHC
Dillan Cellier — Lab Manager, 2018–2020; Afterwards: Ph.D. student at UCSD
Evan Sorenson — Scientific Programmer, 2020–2022; Afterwards: Software Engineer