- President, CUNY Graduate Center
Joshua Brumberg
Joshua Brumberg began his appointment as president of the CUNY Graduate Center in June 2024. A CUNY faculty member for more than two decades, he served as dean for the sciences at the Graduate Center from 2016 to 2023. He also served twice as the acting executive director of the Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC).
In his role as dean for the sciences, Brumberg oversaw 11 STEM doctoral programs and five master of science programs, the latter created during his tenure. He also managed research operations, including the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, at the Graduate Center and at CUNY ASRC. During his tenure as dean, he secured essential external funding for diversity programs in the laboratory sciences and gender equity in mathematics, and he co-chaired subcommittees for strategic plan development and Middle States accreditation.
An active neurobiology researcher, he uses behavioral, physiological, and anatomical methods to study how environmental experience impacts the development and function of cortical circuits in the brain, the site of cognitive computations. He has published over 60 papers and has received multiple grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, he studied biology at Williams College and earned a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Pittsburgh using physiological and computational techniques in his research. He completed postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Neurobiology at Yale University and the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University before starting his own laboratory in the Department of Psychology at Queens College in 2002, with simultaneous appointments in the Biology, Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience programs at the Graduate Center.
Research Focus: Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive|Neuroscience|Development/Plasticity/Repair
The focus of the Brumberg’s lab research is to characterize the neurons of the mouse barrel cortex with an emphasis on the interactions between the sensory and motor systems that govern the animals whisking behavior.
Professional Affiliations and Memberships
- Society for Neuroscience
- New York Academy of Sciences
- Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
- American Physiological Society
- Sigma Xi
