Michael Taffe (Psychology)

    Mike graduated from CC in 1990 with a degree in Psychology. He spent the majority of his extracurricular time with the Cycling team and, of course, skiing and playing intramural hockey.

    Following graduation from CC, Mike attended graduate school in Experimental Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. After defending his dissertation, Mike received postdoctoral training in the department of Psychiatry at UCSD and in the department of Neuropharmacology at The Scripps Research Institute where he is currently an Assistant Professor. Work in his laboratory focuses on neuropharmacological mechanisms which support cognition and complex behavior in the nonhuman primate. The studies contribute to ongoing efforts to understand the ways in which drugs of abuse, psychotherapeutics and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's may interfere with (or enhance) the brain's ability to learn, remember, attend, perceive and generate motor behavior. Mike returned to CC to teach a block on drugs and behavior in 2000.

    Mike believes that the Block Plan provides excellent preparation for postgraduate training and a career in experimental science. "Let's face it, this career path features one extended Block of focused effort interspersed with monthly Blocks of insanely focused effort as you complete experiments, propose and write a dissertation, write papers and (hopefully) are in the position to write grant applications." He also suggests that the Department's Skinnerian roots may seem old fashioned but "you will be amazed how many times that sort of rigorous thinking instilled by Carl Roberts and John Horner comes in handy in a scientific career- almost daily in my case". (10/31/02)