Program in Neuroscience

The Graduate Program
Admission
Curriculum and Requirements
Preliminary Review and Qualifying Examination

The following list reflects the 2007/2008 faculty.

Director William D. Eldred

Co-Directors Howard Eichenbaum, Mark Moss

Faculty

Carmela Abraham Professor of Biochemistry, School of Medicine. PhD, Harvard University

Jelle Atema Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. PhD, University of Michigan

Helen Barbas Professor of Health Sciences, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. BA, Kean College; MS, Kansas State University; PhD, McGill University (Canada)

Michael J. Baum Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Carleton College; MA, PhD, McGill University (Canada)

Mark Bitensky Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. AB, Yale University; MD, Yale Medical School

Gene Blatt Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BA, Temple University; MS, Bloomsburg University; PhD, Thomas Jefferson University

Daniel Bullock Associate Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Reed College; PhD, Stanford University

Gloria V. Callard Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, Tufts University; MS, PhD, Rutgers University

Gail Carpenter Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of Colorado; MA, PhD, University of  Wisconsin, Madison

James Cherry Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, Lake Forest College; PhD, North Carolina State University

Michael Cohen Associate Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. SB, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD, Harvard University

H. Steven Colburn Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. SB, SM, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

James Collins Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BS, College of the Holy Cross; PhD, Oxford University (England)

Paul B. Cook Adjunct Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Geoffrey Cooper Chair, Department of Biology; Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD, University of Miami

M. Carter Cornwall Professor of Physiology, School of Medicine. BS, PhD, University of Utah

Alice Cronin-Golomb Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Wesleyan University; PhD, California Institute of Technology

Charles DeLisi Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. AB, City College of New York; PhD, New York University

Carlo DeLuca Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BASc, University of British Columbia (Canada); Msc, University of New Brunswick (Canada); PhD, Queens University (Canada)

Vincent Dionne Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Rochester Polytechnic Institute; MA, PhD, University of Arizona

Howard Eichenbaum Chair, Department of Psychology; University Professor, Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, PhD, University of Michigan

Soloman Eisenberg Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. ScD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

William D. Eldred Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, University of Colorado; PhD, University of Colorado Health Center

David H. Farb Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. BA, Long Island University; PhD, Brandeis University

Lindsay Farrer Professor of Genetics & Genomics; Chief, Genetics Program; Professor of Medicine. BA, University of North Carolina; PhD, Indiana University School of Medicine

Linda Fetters Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. MS, Boston University; PhD, Brandeis University

J. Fernando Garcia-Diaz Associate Professor of Physiology, School of Medicine. Licenciado en Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain); Doctor en Ciences, Universidad de Malaga (Spain); MS, Indiana University

Terrell T. Gibbs Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD, Harvard University

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L. Donald Gilmore Senior Design Engineer/Supervisor, Design Laboratory at the NeuroMuscular Research Center. ABEE, Wentworth Institute of Technology

Gerald Gottlieb Research Professor of NeuroMuscular Research Center, College of Engineering. BS, MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD, University of Illinois Medical Center

Stephen Grossberg Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Dartmouth College; MS, Stanford University; PhD, Rockefeller University

Frank Guenther Associate Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, University of Missouri, Columbia; MSE, Princeton University; PhD, Boston University

Catherine L. Harris Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Harvard University; PhD, University of California, San Diego

Michael Hasselmo Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Harvard University; DPhil, Oxford University (England)

Robert E. Hausman Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, MA, Case Western Reserve University; PhD, Northwestern University

Kenneth Holt Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Allyn Hubbard Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering. BS, PhD, University of Wisconsin

Kathleen Kantak Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, State University of New York, Potsdam; PhD, Syracuse University

Gary Kaplan Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Pharmacology. BA, University of Pennsylvania; MD, Hahnemann University School of Medicine

Thomas Kemper Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BS, Northwestern University; MD, University of Illinois

Gerald Kidd, Jr. Associate Professor of Communications Disorders. PhD, Purdue University

Dae-Shik Kim Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. MA, PhD, Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany

Mark Kon Professor of Mathematics, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Cornell University; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nancy Kopell University Professor and Professor of Mathematics, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Cornell University; MA, PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Jan Krzystof Blusztajn Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Research Professor of Psychiatry. MS, Warsaw University (Poland); PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Thomas H. Kunz Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, MS, Central Missouri State University; MA, PhD, University of Kansas

Susan Leeman Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. BA, Goucher College; PhD, Radcliffe College

Simon Levy Associate Professor of Physiology, School of Medicine. ETS, Ecole Technique Supérieure de Genève (Switzerland); MA, Université Scientifique et Médicale de Grenoble (France); PhD, Boston University

Jacqueline Liederman Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, City University of New York; PhD, University of Rochester

Jen-Wei Lin Associate Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, National Taiwan University (Taiwan); PhD, State University of New York, Buffalo

Jennifer Luebke Research Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BS, Randolph Macon College; PhD, Boston University

Hengye Man Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. PhD, University of Toronto (Canada)

Henry Marcucella Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Northeastern University; MA, PhD, Boston University

Melanie Matthies Associate Professor of Communication Disorders, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. PhD, University of Illinois

Ennio Mingolla Chair, Department of Cognitive & Neural Systems; Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Harvard University; MS, Boston University; PhD, University of Connecticut

Mark Moss Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BS, University of Massachusetts; MA, PhD, Northeastern University

David Mostofsky Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Yeshiva University; MA, PhD, Boston University

David Mountain Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; MS, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Enrico Nasi Professor of Physiology, School of Medicine. BA, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); MA, PhD, Bryn Mawr College

S. Hamid Nawab Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering/Biomedical Engineering. PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lars Oddsson Research Associate Professor of NeuroMuscular Research Center, College of Engineering. BSc, University College of Physical Education and Sports (Sweden); DrMedSc, Karolinska Institute (Sweden)

Deepak Pandya Research Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. MD, Gujarat University (India)

Christopher Passaglia Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. PhD, Syracuse University

Alan Peters Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BSc, PhD, University of Bristol (England)

R. Christopher Pierce Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. PhD, Indiana University

Douglas Rosene Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. AB, Stanford University; PhD, University of Rochester

Kenneth J. Rothschild Professor of Physics; Associate Professor of Physiology; Director, Molecular Biophysics Laboratory and Molecular Biophysics Training Program. PhD, Massachusetts Insitute of Technology

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Serge Roy Research Associate Professor of NeuroMuscular Research Center, College of Engineering. BS, New York University; MS, PhD, Boston University

Michele Rucci Assistant Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. PhD, Scuola Superiore, Pisa, Italy

Shelley Russek Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. AB, University of California, San Diego; PhD, Boston University

Julie Sandell Associate Professor in Anatomy and Neurobiology. AB, Princeton University; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Judith Schotland Associate Professor of Health Sciences, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. BS, Oklahoma State University; PhD, Northwestern University

Eric Schwartz Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, Columbia College; MS, PhD, Columbia University

Kamal Sen Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. PhD, Brandeis University

Barbara Shinn-Cunningham Associate Professor of Cognitive & Neural Systems, College of Arts & Sciences. ScB, Brown University; MS, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Donald Siwek Research Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BA, Hampshire College; PhD, Boston University

Jean-Jacques Soghomonian Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. MS, Aix-Marseille (France); PhD, University of Montreal (Canada)

David Somers Assistant Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, Harvey Mudd College; PhD, Boston University

Chantal Stern Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, McGill University; DPhil, Oxford University

Malvin Teich Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; PhD, Cornell University

James F.  A. Traniello Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Boston University; MS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; PhD, Harvard University

Susan Tsunoda Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of California, San Diego; PhD, Washington University School of Medicine

Lucia Vaina Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. MS, University of Timi and Urbino; PhD, University of Sorbornne (France)

Sandor Vajda Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. PhD, Hungarian Academy of Science

Deborah Vaughan Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. BA, University of Vermont; PhD, Boston University

Herbert F. Voigt Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BE, City College of New York; PhD, Johns Hopkins University

Matt Wachowiak Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. PhD, University of Florida

Fred Wasserman Associate Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Queens College, City University of New York; PhD, University of Maryland

Takeo Watanabe Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, PhD, University of Tokyo (Japan)

Gloria Waters Professor of Communication Disorders, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. PhD, Concordia University, Montreal (Canada)

John White Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. BS, Louisiana Tech University; PhD, Johns Hopkins University

Eric Widmaier Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, MS, Northwestern University; PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Benjamin Wolozin Professor of Phamacology. MD, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Zhigang Xie Assistant Professor of Neuro-surgery and Pharmacology. BS, Nanjing University (People’s Republic of China); MS, The Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (PR China); PhD, University of Alabama, Birmingham

Irina Zhdanova Research Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine. MD, PhD, Institute of Experimental Medicine

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The Graduate Program

The Program in Neuroscience (PIN) offers both the MA and PhD degrees. Its curriculum is designed to provide a solid foundation in the various disciplines of neuroscience and to prepare students for teaching or research positions in academia, industry, or government. Participating faculty are from the Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology (School of Medicine), Anthropology (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences), Biology (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences), Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering), Cognitive & Neural Systems (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences), Health Sciences (Sargent College), Mathematics (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences), Pharmacology (School of Medicine), Physiology (School of Medicine), and Psychology (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences). A broad range of research areas are represented, including cellular and molecular neurobiology, cellular and systems plasticity, structural neurobiology, neurophysiology, sensorimotor integration, learning and memory, cognitive sciences, computational modeling, biomolecular engineering, and neuropharmacology.

The experimental systems used by PIN faculty span the evolutionary spectrum and the full length of the neuroaxis; similarly, the approaches and questions encompass all disciplines of neuroscience, from the molecular and cellular bases of neurobiological processes to the clinical diagnosis of neurological diseases. Many of the participating faculty members have ongoing collaborations, which highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the program and of the research opportunities available at the University to PIN students.

Admission

Applications to the PIN should be submitted by December 15. Prospective students are expected to have strong undergraduate backgrounds in Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and/or Psychology and to desire neuroscience training in experimental methodologies, computational modeling, and bioinformatics. Applicants are required to submit scores of the Graduate Record Examination (General). Applicants whose native language is not English are also required to submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and a minimum score of 600 is required.

Curriculum and Requirements

The Program in Neuroscience offers the PhD (postbachelor’s and post-master’s) and MA degrees. The reader is referred to individual department listings for descriptions of the courses listed below.

Postbachelor’s PhD

For the postbachelor’s PhD degree, a total of 64 course credits is required. Of these, at least 32 of the credits must come from lecture, methods, or seminar courses as follows:

The following two courses are required and constitute a full year survey of knowledge in experimental neuroscience (8 credits):

1. GRS BI 755 Cellular and Systems Neuroscience (4 cr)
2. GRS BI 756/PS 738 Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience (4 cr)
3. The following courses constitute a survey of computational approaches to neuroscience. One of the following must be taken. Alternative courses with different modeling perspectives are offered for both the systems and cellular levels of analysis. (4 credits).
4. CAS PS 530, Neural Networks (4 cr)
5. CAS CN 510 Principles & Methods of Cognitive & Neural Modeling I (4 cr)
6. CAS CN 580 Introduction to Computational Neuroscience (4 cr)
7. ENG BE 507 Quantitative Studies of Excitable Tissues (4 cr)

It is strongly recommended that at least one of the following methods courses be taken:

1. CAS BI 575 Techniques in Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience (4 cr)
2. CAS CN 500 Computational Methods in Cognitive & Neural Systems (4 cr)

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CAS NE 500/501 Progress in Neuroscience (2 cr each)

A student is required to attend this seminar series throughout his/her graduate career, but may count only a total of 4 credits toward the degree.

Training to be determined each academic year. It has included participation in four roundtable ethics discussions. It could include web-based training.

GRS NE 800/801/802 Research in Neuroscience (2 cr each). Laboratory/tutorial rotations with participating faculty. All students must take at least two rotations (6–8 weeks), one of which must be jointly supervised by an experimental and a computational neuroscientist. A paper is due at the completion of the joint rotation.

PIN students may sit in on the first several weeks of a computational course, preferably no fewer than 4–6 weeks, in order to derive maximal benefit from this experience. They would not be required to take tests. They should consult with both the Program Director and the professor who is teaching the course to arrange the rotation and to be sure that they come away with valuable new skills. In order to attain new skills, they will typically do some sort of limited computational project or homework. Students may also opt to take a full course, in addition to the required computational course in the subject areas including neural modeling and bioinformatics, to fulfill the computational requirement.

The illustrative courses listed below are 4 credits unless otherwise noted.

Courses with an experimental emphasis:

Anatomy and Neurobiology (MED)

Behavioral Neuroscience (MED)

Biology (CAS)

Health Sciences (SAR)

Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (MED)

Psychology (CAS)

Courses with a computational emphasis:

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Cognitive & Neural Systems (CAS)

Mathematics (CAS)

Courses with an experimental and computational emphasis:

Biomedical Engineering (ENG)

Post-master’s PhD

For the post-master’s PhD, 32 credits of coursework are required. The required courses are the same as described above for the postbachelor’s PhD. However, depending on the student’s background, one or more of the required courses may be waived in consultation with the course instructors of those courses and subject to approval by the Program in Neuroscience Steering Committee.

MA

For the MA, 32 credits of coursework are required, including the required courses listed above for the PhD degree. For a non-research MA, a library review paper covering a topic agreed upon with the student’s advisor is required. The paper must be approved by the student’s MA committee. For a research MA, the student must submit and orally defend a thesis describing original research performed by the student. The thesis and oral presentation must be approved by the student’s MA committee.

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Preliminary Review and Qualifying Examination

For the PhD degree, preliminary reviews and qualifying examinations must be passed. Once the student has passed these exams, she/he is formally a candidate for the PhD in PIN.

Preliminary Review

It is required that students take both survey courses, GRS BI 755 and GRS BI 756/PS 738 to ensure they have a base knowledge of general neuroscience. In certain circumstances, a student may test out of one or more of the survey courses. Students will be monitored in their rotations with evaluations of progress from the cooperating faculty, and through communication with the Program Administrator and Director. A grade of less than a B in either survey course and/or unsatisfactory progress in a rotation will lead to immediate probation of the student. Continued unsatisfactory progress will lead to dismissal from the program. Any problems in the rotation must be reported to the Program Administrator and the Program Director for immediate consultation.

Qualifying Exam

The qualifying examination consists of two parts; one, a written research proposal and two, the oral defense of this research proposal. This exam must be completed prior to September of the third year.

The student, in consultation with the major professor and other parties, submits a WRITTEN proposal of the intended thesis research. The academic code of conduct applies, and the written document should be from the student’s own hand, not just cutting and pasting old grant proposals, papers, etc. The major professor may have some input in the form of suggestions on content and organization but should not directly edit the document. This proposal should be written in the form of an NRSA grant proposal, and it should include an extensive introduction complete with appropriately cited literature, a list of specific aims, and an outline of the intended experiments. The written proposal must be given to and approved by the qualifying examination committee at least two weeks prior to the scheduled examination.

At the examination, the student gives an oral presentation of the proposal. The committee then poses questions related to the intended research, background information, and the field of the work. The committee may also question areas perceived as the student’s weaknesses during the preliminary exam, but only as they pertain to the research proposal. The committee chairman ensures that the questions are relevant and that each committee member has a more-or-less equal opportunity to question the student.

The student’s Qualifying Examination Committee is responsible for grading the exam. More than one failing vote, or a failing vote by the major professor, on the Qualifying Examination constitutes a failure.  Any student failing this examination has the opportunity to take it again; at least one month must elapse before a student is allowed to retake the exam. Failure of the second examination is grounds for automatic dismissal from the PhD program and the loss of any further financial aid, although the student may still be eligible for the MA degree provided that those degree requirements are met.

If at least four members of the Qualifying Examination Committee, including at least three of the PIN faculty, vote that the student’s performance on the examination was at a level appropriate for an MA, the student may apply for the degree. In addition, this student must have completed at least 32 credits of graduate level coursework and passed the language examination.

Thesis

For the PhD degree, a dissertation involving original research of publication quality is required. The first reader of the thesis must be a member of the PIN. The Thesis Committee will be composed of at least five members, three of whom must be members of the PIN. The student must submit a written research proposal, which must be approved by the committee after an oral presentation, shortly after taking his/her qualifying examination. The role of the Thesis Committee is to: 1) meet with the student at least once a year to monitor adequate progress on the dissertation; 2) provide advice and guidance on the thesis research; and 3) read the dissertation and serve on the examination committee of the thesis defense. The thesis defense will be composed of a public seminar by the student, and a defense of the dissertation research with the Thesis Committee.

For the research MA, a thesis describing original research is also required. For the nonresearch MA degree, a review paper is required as described earlier. The MA evaluation committee in either case consists of at least three faculty members, of whom at least two must be members of the PIN. The thesis/paper must be approved by the committee.

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9 January 2009
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