Dr. Saturn is an assistant professor of Psychology at Oregon State University. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University under the mentorship of Joseph LeDoux. Her dissertation focused on molecular, cellular, and behavioral studies of the amygdala, the key brain structure for emotional processing. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, under the guidance of Robert Sapolsky, where she investigated the role of stress hormones on the brain’s emotional circuitry. At the University of California, Berkeley, Saturn was a postdoctoral fellow in Dacher Keltner’s lab and here she began her attempts to bridge neuroscience and social psychology. Her lab investigates the biology underlying prosocial emotions and behaviors.
Dr. Saturn taught the August, 2014 lecture in the Ethology and Canine Behavior lecture series: Can Dogs Love? Biological Mechanisms Underlying Social and Emotional Profiles