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Rachael Seidler is a Professor in the Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida, with a joint appointment in the Department of Neurology. She joined the University of Florida in 2017 after serving as assistant, associate, and full professor in the Departments of Psychology and Movement Science at the University of Michigan. Dr. Seidler earned her Ph.D. in Motor Control from Arizona State University in 1999, an M.S. in Biomechanics from Arizona State University in 1995, and a B.S. in Exercise Science with a Biology Minor from the University of Oregon in 1992. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Brain Sciences Center at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.
Her research focuses on the neural control of movement in health and disease, with a specific emphasis on motor learning. Dr. Seidler employs neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques alongside precise measures of movement and cognitive function to examine the neurocognitive underpinnings of motor control. She has worked with populations including healthy young and older adults, patients with Parkinson’s disease, and NASA astronauts. Her work addresses spaceflight-induced neuroplasticity, cognitive contributions to skill learning across the lifespan, and co-constructive brain and behavioral changes in aging and human spaceflight. Dr. Seidler has led large-scale projects funded by the NIH, NSF, NASA, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, and private foundations, securing nearly $20 million in research support. She has authored close to 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts published in journals such as Science, Lancet Neurology, and PNAS, with her work cited more than 17,000 times. She previously served as the NSBRI Sensorimotor Adaptation Team Lead and was named a UFF Preeminence Term Professor. In 2025, she was appointed Director of the UF Astraeus Space Institute, where she facilitates faculty space research initiatives and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration.
Explore how living in space shifts astronauts' brains within the skull, per new PNAS research from University of Florida and NASA collaborators. Detailed analysis of MRI data, recovery, and implications for Mars missions.
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