David C. Rubin is Professor of Psychology at Duke University. He is known for his work on the reminiscence bump as well as other topics related to autobiographical memory. He is most recognized for his research and publications regarding memory, specifically, the reminiscence bump and long term memory. Through extensive education and academic background his career and research started to flourish in the 1970s. Rubin remains active in the field of memory today.
Academic life
Academia
Rubin attended Carnegie-Mellon University for his undergraduate studies in Physics and Psychology. He received his Bachelor of Science for these two subjects and graduated in 1968. He then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1968-1969 as a Special Student of Psychology before being accepted into graduate school at Harvard University in 1970. It was at Harvard that Rubin obtained his M.D. and his Ph.D in Psychology by 1974.
Career and honors
In 1968, Rubin worked as an Aerospace Engineer for NASA Electronics Research Center in Massachusetts. It was here that he pursued research and development in optics. From 1974-1978 he was an assistant professor of psychology at Lawrence University located in Appleton, Wisconsin. He then moved to Durham, North Carolina to continue as an assistant professor of psychology until 1981 when he became an associate professor of psychology. He remains dedicated to Duke University as he became a Professor of Psychology, Professor of Experimental Psychology, and a Professor of Neuroscience in 1987. These positions were held until 2008. In 2008, he was elected chair of the department and currently holds the position. Rubin has been awarded for his work on memory throughout the years. Some of his most notable honors are as followed: Named Chair of psychology department in 2008, Annual Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series in 2009, Honorary Doctorate at University of Aarhus in 2012, and in 2012, Rubin was elected a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Current research
Rubin currently studies in the field of autobiographical memory at Duke University. Autobiographical memory is the remembrance of events from one's own life or, as we more commonly know it as our memory. Rubin and his fellow team of researchers exam the autobiographical memory of various populations. They exam participants by the use functional magnetic resonance imaging, psychophysiological methods, as well as behavioral methods.
Selected publications
Rubin has done extensive psychological research primarily on memory. He has written and published many articles, listed below are some of these publications:
Rubin, D.C. & Berntsen, D., & Bohni, M.K..2008.A memory-based model of posttraumatic stress disorder: Evaluating basic assumptions underlying the PTSD diagnosis. Psychological Review 985-1011.
D.C. Rubin, Boals, A., & Berntsen, D..2008.Memory in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Properties of voluntary and involuntary, traumatic and non-traumatic autobiographical memories in people with and without PTSD symptoms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 591-614.
