Director: Dr. Jeremy Teissére, Associate Professor of Biology and Neuroscience
Associate Professors: Gotthard, Sprayberry
Assistant Professor: Williams
Affiliate Faculty: Byrne, Edelman, Harring, Kussmaul, McCain, Meier, Morgan, Rudski, Schick, Wightman
Neuroscience is the study of the neural underpinnings and consequences of mind and behavior. Scholarship in neuroscience includes both philosophical approaches to the mind as well as empirical approaches to the brain and behavior. The neuroscience curriculum at the College has been designed to highlight those resonances and counterpoints between existing departments that yield new perspectives on the biological basis of consciousness and behavior. The major provides students the opportunity to develop strong foundational training in the natural sciences, philosophy, and psychology within the context of the liberal arts. Given the breadth of training within the major and the diversity of expertise among program faculty, the neuroscience student is especially prepared for careers in research, medicine, and industry.
Honors Program
A student may work for honors by conducting research with a faculty mentor from the Neuroscience Program for two semesters during the senior year. Acceptance into the honors program is selective and based on the following criteria:
- A minimum GPA of 3.50 in courses counting toward the neuroscience major.
- Approval of an Honors Proposal submitted to a Neuroscience Program faculty member in the Spring of the Junior year. The student should work with the faculty member to develop the proposal which will be reviewed by an Honors Committee.
- Availability of research positions within the laboratory of the faculty mentor.
Acceptance into the honors program does not mean that honors necessarily will be awarded. The Neuroscience Program will grant honors at commencement to majors who have fulfilled the following conditions:
- The candidate has met the expectations of two course units of research during the Senior year or the summer prior to the Senior year. Under rare circumstances, a highly active student may count research performed during the Junior year toward this requirement. Research counting toward honors work must occur under the NSC 970 Independent Study/Research designation. In all cases, research expectations will be clearly established by the faculty mentor.
- The candidate has actively attended Neuroscience Program seminars and/or an affiliate departmental seminar series (including Biology, Psychology, Philosophy, and/or Computer Science Department seminar programs).
- The candidate has submitted a senior thesis for review by the Honors Committee. The thesis should be a paper in standard scientific format. It should address a significant issue within neuroscience, provide substantial background on the subject, give a complete description of the experiments performed, and discuss the significance of the results. The Committee will judge the candidate’s thesis based both on the scientific merit of the work and the quality of writing.
- The candidate has presented the results of the honors research in the Neuroscience Program seminar, usually during the Spring semester of the Senior year.
The Honors Committee will evaluate both the written thesis and the seminar of the candidate and make a determination as to whether Honors or no honors (with a passing grade) will be awarded.
