Tenth Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

Neuroscientist, Science Communicator and Author

Ben Rein, PhD, is a neuroscientist, science communicator and author. He graduate from SUNY Buffalo in 2021 with a PhD in neuroscience, earning the Dean's Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research. He is also the winner of UB's 2020 3MT competition. After leaving UB, Ben completed a postdoc at Stanford University where he studied the neuroscience of empathy. Ben has published over 20 scientific papers and his research has been honored with awards from the NIH, the Society for Neuroscience and Sigma Xi.

Outside of the lab, Ben creates educational science videos for an audience of more than one million social media followers. His videos have received over 75 million views and have been featured on Good Morning America, ABC News, and other major media outlets. Ben has been profiled by Popular Mechanics and Spectrum News, appeared on Entertainment Tonight, and joined over 100 podcasts including StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Ben's science communication efforts have been recognized with awards from the National Academies of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Neuroscience and Stanford University.

Ben currently serves as the Chief Science Office of the Mind Science Foundation, an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University where he teaches "How to Communicate Science", and a clinical assistant professor at UB. His debut book, Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection, was published in October 2025 by Penguin Random House, earning critical acclaim from The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times, Big Think and elsewhere.