Kent is a James Olds Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he teaches and runs a research lab examining how dopamine and other brain systems control desire, pleasure, appetite, and addiction.  Kent is well-known in the field for being the co-creator of the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction with his colleague Terry Robinson.  Honored by the American Psychological Association for his substantial achievements, Kent was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.