Stephen Maren is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign   Dr. Maren’s research seeks to understand the neural basis of anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His research on the neurobiology of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction in animals has revealed interactions between a triad of interconnected brain areas, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex, that are essential for the regulation of emotional memory. Importantly, stress yields dysfunction in these circuits that both impairs fear extinction and promotes fear relapse, a process that may contribute to the development of PTSD. Dr. Maren is a recipient of the American Psychological Association (APA) Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology (2001) and the D. O. Hebb Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award (2017). He is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science and Past-President of the Pavlovian Society. He has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1995 and was awarded a Distinguished Investigator Grant by the BBRF in 2017.