Rate My Professor Steven St. John

Steven St. John is a physiological psychologist serving as Professor of Psychology in the Psychology department at Rollins College, where he also holds the position of Faculty Director of Neuroscience. He received his B.S. in Neurobiological Sciences with highest honors from the University of Florida in 1993, followed by an M.S. in Psychobiology in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Psychobiology in 1997 from the same institution. After earning his doctorate, St. John completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine from 1997 to 2001, focusing on neurophysiological correlates of gustatory discrimination. He then joined Reed College as Assistant Professor of Psychology from 2001 to 2005, advancing to Associate Professor from 2005 to 2006. In July 2006, he became Associate Professor of Psychology at Rollins College and has since been promoted to full Professor. Throughout his career, he has taught courses including Physiological Psychology, Brain and Behavior, Statistics and Research Methods, Introduction to Psychology, Neuropsychology, and The Mind-Body Problem.

St. John's research centers on the neural representation of chemosensory perceptual experiences, particularly the gustatory system, and the behavioral and neural regulation of feeding and drinking behavior. His broader interests encompass the relationship between brain function and behavior, consciousness, and the plasticity of the nervous system with age and experience. He has published extensively on these topics, with key works including the book chapter 'The Gustatory System' in Neuroscience in Medicine (2008, with J.D. Boughter), 'Behavioral Analysis of Taste in Rodent Models' in The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference (2008, with A.C. Spector), and the peer-reviewed article 'Orosensory Responsiveness to and Preference for Hydroxide-Containing Salts in Mice' in Chemical Senses (2009, with J.D. Boughter). Earlier publications feature 'Neural representation of salts in the rat solitary nucleus' in Journal of Neurophysiology (2000) and 'Neural representation of the taste of NaCl and KCl' in the same journal (1999, with J.D. Boughter and D.V. Smith). St. John has secured major funding, such as the National Institutes of Health Academic Research Enhancement Award for 'Taste Quality Coding of Salts' (2004-2008) and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1994-1997). He coordinates the Neuroscience Minor program at Rollins College and mentors student research.