This graduate program includes faculty members from several
departments including neuroscience and cell biology, cell biology and neuroscience, molecular biology and biochemistry, psychology, psychiatry, genetics, neurology, and animal sciences. Areas
of specialization include trophic factor biology, production and analysis of
mutant mice with altered neural function, regulation of neural and glial gene
expression, developmental neurobiology, autism, gliogenesis, neurogenesis, spinal
cord injury, stem cell biology, synaptic plasticity, and mechanisms and
regulatory controls of learning and memory.A
student must have an undergraduate cumulative grade-point average of at least a B
to be considered for admission with prerequisite courses normally including
biology, general and organic chemistry, calculus, and physics. The program
selects incoming students on the basis of their academic records, Graduate
Record Examination scores, personal statements, multiple letters of
recommendation, productive research experience, and impressions from personal
interviews during campus visits or via phone. We hold recruitment days beginning in early January-February,
inviting promising applicants to be interviewed by our faculty and to be hosted
by our graduate students, attend poster sessions, and be taken to dinner.
Applications are accepted throughout the year, but must be
submitted by January for admission to study for the fall semester. Financial support is provided to highly
qualified students. Support typically includes a stipend to cover living
expenses, remission of tuition, and health insurance.
To
be awarded a Ph.D. in neuroscience, the candidate must complete:
- required coursework;
- a qualifying examination and a dissertation proposal defense; and
- an original research project under the supervision of a faculty adviser.
While
course requirements vary with the area of specialization,
all students must
complete Neurobiology (16:710:555) and at least one biochemistry/cell biology
course for
a total of 72
combined credits required for the Ph.D. degree. Of the 72 credits, at least
28 course credits (at a minimum B grade average) are required, of which 24
must be at the 500 level or above, including 8 seminar credits of Advanced
Studies in Neuroscience (16:710:605,606) and 1 credit of Ethical Scientific Conduct (16:115:556). Up to 44
research credits are also required to bring the required total to 72.
The neuroscience qualifying examination is administered in two parts
that typically are taken in the second and third years of graduate study. The first part examines the ability to
think critically about several topics after a period of reading primary
publications on different topics with several faculty members. The second part
is the oral defense of a thesis proposal that will serve as the foundation for
completing dissertation research. When both written and oral parts of the qualifying examination have been judged by the student's committee to have been
completed successfully, the student will be considered to have passed the qualifying examination and will then be advanced to candidacy and proceed to
complete his/her dissertation research project.
For more information about joint Ph.D. degrees available in this program, see the Joint Programs section of the catalog.
