Official Story
In 2002, Jay Van Bavel received his B.A. in psychology from the University of Alberta. In 2008, Jay received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Toronto, working with Wil Cunningham. He studied as a postdoctoral fellow with Julian Thayer at The Ohio State University. In 2010, Jay began work as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at NYU. Jay has received a number of awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Social Neuroscience, the SAGE Young Scholars Award, and the Janet Taylor Spence Early Career Award from the Association for Psychological Science.
Unofficial Story
After giving up on his dream to become a professional hockey player, Jay became the first person in his family to graduate from college. He even didn't realize until his third year of his B.A. that research was conducted at universities (despite attending the third largest research university in the country). After his first year of graduate school in Toronto, Jay's advisor tragically passed away and he was orphaned until Wil Cunningham adopted him. A year later, Wil was poached by Ohio State University and Jay moved to Columbus as a visiting scholar. Jay completed most of his Ph.D. requirements (orals, proposal, etc) in the hotel lobby during the annual SPSP convention. In his first year as a faculty member, Jay had ten papers and three grants rejected, and zero publications.