Program in Neuroscience

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

The following list reflects the 2006/2007 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 and Sciences. PhD, University of Michigan

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

Michael J. Baum Professor of Biology, College of Arts and 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 and Neural Systems, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Reed College; PhD, Stanford University

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Geoffrey Cooper Professor of Biology, College of Arts and 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 and 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 and Sciences. BA, Rochester Polytechnic Institute; MA, PhD, University of Arizona

Howard Eichenbaum University Professor, Professor of Psychology, College of Arts and 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 and Sciences. BS, University of Colorado; PhD, University of Colorado Health Center

Mary S. Erskine Professor of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Hiram College; MS, PhD, University of Connecticut

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

Linda Fetters Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. 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

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 and Neural Systems, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Dartmouth College; MS, Stanford University; PhD, Rockefeller University

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 and Sciences. BA, Cornell University; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

Thomas H. Kunz Professor of Biology, College of Arts and 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 and Sciences. BA, City University of New York; PhD, University of Rochester

Jen-Wei Lin Associate Professor of Biology, College of Arts and 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 and Sciences. PhD, University of Toronto (Canada)

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

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

Ennio Mingolla Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, College of Arts and 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 and 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

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 in 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 Associate Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medicine. PhD, Indiana University

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

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 and Neural Systems, College of Arts and Sciences. PhD, Scuola Superiore, Pisa, Italy

Shelley Russek Assistant 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, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. BS, Oklahoma State University; PhD, Northwestern University

Eric Schwartz Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, College of Arts and 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 and Neural Systems, College of Arts and Sciences. ScB, Brown University; MS, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

David Somers Assistant Professor of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences. BS, Harvey Mudd 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)

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

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

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

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

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

Deborah Vaughan Professor in 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 and Sciences. PhD, University of Florida

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

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

Gloria Waters Professor of Communication Disorders, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. 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 and Sciences. BA, MS, Northwestern University; PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Ayako Yamaguchi Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences. PhD, University of California, Davis

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 and Sciences), Biology (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering), Cognitive and Neural Systems (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Health Sciences (Sargent College), Mathematics (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Pharmacology (School of Medicine), Physiology (School of Medicine), and Psychology (Graduate School of Arts and 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.

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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):

• GRS BI 755 Cellular and Systems Neuroscience (4 cr)
  
  
• GRS BI 756/PS 738 Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience (4 cr)

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).

• CAS PS 530, Neural Networks (4 cr)
  
  
• CAS CN 510 Principles & Methods of Cognitive & Neural Modeling I (4 cr)
  
  
• CAS CN 580 Introduction to Computational Neuroscience (4 cr)
  
• 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:

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

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:

Cognitive and Neural Systems (CAS)

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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.

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 roles of the Thesis Committee are 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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31 October 2007
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