Professors: Lom, Ramirez, Smith
Associate Professor: El Bejjani
Assistant Professor: Barsoum
Adjunct Assistant Professor: Icard
Life scientists have come to recognize that an understanding of how the brain, the “organ of consciousness,” functions and endows human beings with the capacity to know, to feel, and to value, requires a multidisciplinary research effort. The Neuroscience interdisciplinary minor and major introduce students to a field of science that has experienced an explosion of information and technological innovation. Neuroscience provides students with a model for understanding how the conventional boundaries separating disciplines appearing to be incompatible can evaporate when new intellectual challenges confront us. In keeping with the liberal arts tradition, the interdisciplinary minor and major provide students with opportunities to explore another dimension of our humanity-the biological substrate of all our moral and mental faculties.
Neuroscience Major
To major in Neuroscience, students must apply for the major through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) prior to spring break of their sophomore year. Identifying a faculty member’s research lab in which to conduct the thesis research is a critical first step of the application process that must start well in advance of the application deadline. Students interested in the neuroscience major are strongly encouraged to enroll in PSY 303/BIO 331 in the fall of their sophomore year to ensure that majors have access to the subsequent required courses in the neuroscience major that are typically offered biennially (i.e. every other year). Students should initiate conversations with faculty members doing neuroscience research as early as possible to begin to develop a thesis research topic well before the CIS application deadline. Application information can be found on the CIS website.
Three Psychology Courses
Select three from the following list, including one 200-level and one 300-level course.
*Signifies topics must be approved by the Neuroscience Director.
The Neuroscience interdisciplinary minor is administered by the Neuroscience Advisory Committee. The faculty liaison is Dr. Julio Ramirez, Director of the Neuroscience Program. Students shall submit a written proposal to the Advisory Committee by the last day of the spring semester of the junior year. The proposal should specify the courses that will be used to satisfy the interdisciplinary minor requirements. If any of the courses are to be independent studies, research courses, or seminars, the student must provide the Advisory Committee with a complete description of that course before the semester of enrollment. Certification of completion of all requirements for the interdisciplinary minor is made by the Registrar upon recommendation of the Neuroscience Advisory Committee.
Requirements
The Neuroscience Interdisciplinary minor requires a minimum of six courses and involves two components:
Students must take at least one of the following two courses. Taking both is highly recommended. If both are taken, one may be counted as an elective toward the interdisciplinary minor.
At least three electives chosen from a list periodically reviewed and approved by the Neuroscience Advisory Committee (one from outside the student’s major and one - and only one - must be independent study/research).
*Signifies topics must be approved by the Neuroscience Director.
No more than two courses in the interdisciplinary minor may also be counted toward the major. A grade of “C” or higher is required in all courses applied toward the interdisciplinary minor.
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