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James Curley is a Professor and Co-Director of the Behavioral Social Data Science Major at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford in 1999 and earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Cambridge in 2003. His doctoral research focused on the effects of imprinted genes on brain and behavioral development, particularly maternal sexual behavior. Curley completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge for four years, where he researched how early life experiences shape individual differences in behavior. He then joined the Psychology Department at Columbia University, where he continued to study social maternal behavior and established a research group focusing on social dynamics and social dominance hierarchies. His lab at UT Austin investigates the neurobiological basis of social behavior in groups and the long-term changes in brain and peripheral physiology that occur as a consequence of social status. Curley has received several awards for his teaching excellence, including the Affordable Education Champion Award from the Senate College Councils at UT Libraries in 2021 and the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award in 2022.
General requirements for the Graduate School at UT Austin apply to all programs unless otherwise specified.