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Overview
Training Programs in Neuroscience
Courses: Schedules and Links
Neuroscience-related programs at NYU


Overview of the Doctoral Program

Neuroscience education at NYU has a decades-long history of excellence and strength. Historically focused in two separate doctoral programs, the Doctoral Program in Neural Science (Faculty of Arts and Science) and the Doctoral Program in Neuroscience & Physiology (Sackler Institute, School of Medicine), neuroscience education is now harmonized and engages faculty across multiple departments, inter-disciplinary centers, and campuses. There is a single application and admissions committee for the neuroscience training program at NYU that is served by both administrative units.

Details about the neuroscience curriculum and extensive pool of neuroscience faculty mentors can be found at neuroscience.nyu.edu/graduate-programs


NYU Shanghai track in Neural Science
NYU's portal campus in Shanghai is recruiting doctoral students through the Shanghai track of the Doctoral Program in Neural Science. NYU Shanghai and its partner East China Normal University jointly operate an Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science. IBCS has a broad vision, the areas of research include neural circuit mechanisms of cognitive function (such as decision-making and human language), and inter-disciplinary computational neuroscience. For more information about IBCS and its faculty, see the NYU Shanghai page.

Students in the Shanghai track will spend one and half years at NYU in New York for course work and laboratory rotations, before joining a laboratory in Shanghai for thesis research. They will maintain a close tie with New York, and they will receive an NYU Ph.D.



New Admission Process - See Below



Academic Requirements

Overall Requirements
Students in the Doctoral Program in Neural Science normally register for 9-12 credits of course work each semester; a minimum of 72 course credits is required for the Ph.D.
Core Curriculum
All students are required to take the 28-credit core curriculum, normally in the two semesters of the first year. This curriculum consists of lecture and laboratory courses taught by a team of Center faculty members who provide in-depth treatment of all major areas in neuroscience.
Laboratory
The laboratory component of the curriculum includes both hands-on experience with a variety of neurobiological methods in a weekly six-hour instructional laboratory and also two or three rotations in laboratories of members of the Center. The rotations are of particular importance for students joining the program, because they provide experience in the variety of research topics and methods used in the Center. The rotations also allow students to investigate possible laboratories for thesis work. In addition, students attend a weekly one-hour colloquium at which outside speakers discuss their research. Several journal clubs provide forums for student discussion of the current research literature.
Research
Pre- and postdoctoral trainees formally present their current research at the Center's semi-monthly Fellows' Seminar. An advisor and two other faculty members guide the student in selection of courses and laboratory rotations. Students are encouraged to interact with all other members of the Center, who are also available for advice and guidance.
Further Study
After completing the core curriculum, each student's program is individually tailored to take maximum advantage of course offerings in areas relevant to his or her selected areas of interest.
Advanced Curriculum
Extensive doctoral course offerings available in the Center for Neural Science, the Programs in Basic Medical Sciences, and the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology provide a rich and advanced curriculum in all areas of neuroscience and related sciences. In addition, members of the Center offer advanced seminars in areas of their own research.
Qualifying
In order to qualify, students must first satisfactorily complete the first-year core curriculum and courses in one area of specialization.

In addition, by the beginning of their third year they will prepare and submit a written qualifying exam to their thesis advisory committee. This was formerly called the "Second Year Paper". The qualifying exam will be written in the form of an NIH NRSA pre-doctoral fellowship. The form of the paper should be suitable for submission as a fellowship or small research grant proposal; students are encouraged to seek independent funding for their research training. It should contain a literature review, an account of research progress, and a plan for future experiments based on any preliminary data that may have been obtained up to this point in training. Although the proposal does not bind students to pursue the experiments described as their thesis work, the proposed experiments should lay out a reasonable course of action based on progress to date. Copies should be submitted to each member of the committee and one to the Director of Graduate Studies.

After submitting the written qualifying exam to their thesis committee, students must then give an oral presentation of the proposed program of research to the committee. The committee must determine that the document and oral defense are acceptable for students to qualify for doctoral research.

Annual committee meetings will, in part, be used to monitor how the thoughts and plans first outlined in the proposal are shaped, developed, and altered through further discoveries. The formal process of writing a Dissertation Proposal in the third or fourth year is made less critical by regular committee meetings.

Dissertation and Final Examination
Students prepare their written dissertation based on their doctoral research and submit it to their examining committee. The final examination is the oral defense of the thesis, which includes a one-hour talk based on the written document. The examining committee usually consists of the three members of the dissertation committee plus two additional members, chosen by the student in consultation with the dissertation committee members and the Director of Graduate studies. One of the additional members is often an invited expert from outside of the University. Passage of the thesis defense is contingent on at least all but one of the examiners voting to accept the thesis and its defense.
General Requirements for the doctorate at NYU
The Graduate School of Arts and Science home page provides listings of these offerings as well as information on transfer credits and other general requirements for the doctorate at New York University. It is expected that the student will fulfill the course requirements, complete the doctoral research, and defend the thesis within five years.

Course Requirements

A minimum of 72 points is required, at least 36 of which must be taken in residence at New York University. For students who begin the program in September 2014 or later, at least 37 points must be taken in graded courses. All students will be required to complete the following core curriculum during their first year:

  • Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Neural Science, NEURL-GA 2201 (4 points)
  • Sensory and Motor Neuroscience, NEURL-GA 2202 (4 points)
  • Laboratory in Neural Science I and II, NEURL-GA 2203 and 2204 (3 points each)
  • Introduction to Research in Neural Science I and II, NEURL-GA 2210 and 2211 (3 points each).

Additional first year courses will be determined by the area of specialization selected by the student, either Systems and Computational Neuroscience or Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience.

Students in the Systems and Computational Neuroscience specialization will take:

  • Behavioral and Cognitive Neural Science, NEURL-GA 2205 (4 points)
  • Mathematical Tools for Neural Science, NEURL-GA 2207 (4 points).

Students in the Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience specialization will take:

  • Molecular Neurobiology, BMSC-GA 4485 (4 points)
  • Statistics in Biology, BIOL-GA 2030 (4 points)*.

*Students may replace this course with suitable alternative statistics courses with permission.

These are all graded courses. Thus, by the end of the first year students will have generally completed 28 of the required 37 graded points. In the second and third year, students will select three advanced elective courses in neural science or a related discipline (typically each is 3 credits), with approval from their advisory committee, to complete the remaining required number of graded points.

Non-graded credit courses: Students also attend the "Seminar in Current Topics" (3 credits) and the "Fellows' Seminar" (3 credits). The courses "Readings in Neural Science" and "Research Problems in Neural Science" are intended to provide appropriate course credits for faculty-guided readings and research necessary for preparation of the PhD thesis. These courses can be taken more than once for credit. "Dissertation Research" courses are taken only by students who are preparing the thesis document and who have completed about 66 points and the required number of points in graded courses.

Students who have earned 72 points "maintain matriculation. That is, they maintain registration as full-time students without registering for courses. CNS students may maintain matriculation without charge for six semesters.



Sample Ph.D. Curriculum

Here are couple of sample student courseworks.



Facilities

The Center for Neural Science offers state-of-the-art facilities for training and research in several areas in neuroscience. The main research facilities of the Center comprise 26,000 square feet of newly renovated laboratory and office space at 4 Washington Place, adjacent to the Departments of Physics and Psychology. Facilities include laboratories for the 16 core faculty, and shared laboratories for histology, microscopy, cell and molecular biology, digital imaging, and computing. Associates of the Center with adjacent laboratories in the Departments of Physics and Psychology have an additional 12,000 square feet of laboratory space; associates with laboratories in other departments have use of a further 19,000 square feet. The Center incorporates modern vivarium facilities operated by the University's Office of Laboratory Animal Services, which provides suitable support personnel to assist researchers and students in animal research, including work with nonhuman primates. The Center jointly operates an electronic and machine shop with the Department of Psychology; the shop provides modern facilities for the development of specialized electronic and mechanical devices.

The Center's research laboratories contain an unusually comprehensive array of modern research instrumentation. A centrally supported network of superminicomputers and microcomputers guarantees the availability of the most modern computing facilities for experimental work, data analysis, and modeling. Individual laboratories are fully equipped with modern instrumentation and computers and provide facilities for advanced research in neurochemistry, neurophysiology, biophysics, behavioral neuroscience, visual science, auditory science, mathematical biology, computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science. In addition, the Center stresses the shared use of advanced facilities in areas such as computer-aided neuroanatomy, molecular and cellular neurobiology, and computer graphics and image processing, thereby making available research tools of a caliber not usually encountered in individual research laboratories.

A 1,500-square-foot teaching laboratory, used for laboratory courses in both the doctoral and undergraduate programs, provides a high-quality environment for hands-on training in the techniques of modern neuroscience. The laboratory provides outstanding facilities for topical experimentation in neurophysiology and biophysics, neurochemistry, experimental neuroanatomy, and behavioral neuroscience. A separate computer laboratory provides modern facilities for laboratory instruction in computational and theoretical neuroscience.

Admissions, Financial Aid & Housing

Admissions

Neuroscience education at NYU has a decades-long history of excellence and strength. Historically focused in two separate doctoral programs, the Doctoral Program in Neural Science (Faculty of Arts and Science) and the Doctoral Program in Neuroscience & Physiology (Sackler Institute, School of Medicine), neuroscience education is now harmonized and engages faculty across multiple departments, inter-disciplinary centers, and campuses.

Details about the neuroscience curriculum and extensive pool of neuroscience faculty mentors can be found at http://neuroscience.nyu.edu There is a single application and admissions committee for the neuroscience training program at NYU that is served by both administrative units. You will be eligible for admission to either program. Our goal is to streamline the application process and give you the opportunity to find the best match for your research interests at NYU.

Admission to the Doctoral Program in Neural Science is limited to qualified students, as documented by high scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), superior undergraduate grades, and excellent letters of recommendation.

Students seeking admission should have a strong background in one or more of the academic areas involved in neuroscience, such as biology, experimental psychology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering science.

Students with foreign qualifications must demonstrate their command of written and spoken English before admission to the Center. Qualified women and minority students are especially encouraged to apply.

The department does not set minimum GPA, GRE, TOEFL, or IELTS scores or share past applicant and accepted student averages of these scores.

Applications are due by December 1 for admission the following fall.
For more information (including instructions, forms, and FAQs) and to complete an application, please visit the GSAS Application ResourceCenter.
Financial Aid
The Center provides support for students in the neural science program through fellowships, traineeships and assistantships so that students can devote themselves full time to their studies. Stipend levels equal or exceed those at other major research universities. Support for the first year is normally in the form of a University fellowship or NIH traineeship; in subsequent years, support is available in the form of traineeships, teaching assistantships and research assistantships.

Students are also actively encouraged to seek fellowship support from such outside sources as NSF and NIH, but the availability of multiple support mechanisms assures for each student in good standing the continuation of support for at least the five years normally required for completion of the doctorate.

Housing

Doctoral students in the Neural Science program are eligible to receive housing benefits while they are enrolled full time and in good standing:

1) First year students are offered the opportunity for subsidized, furnished housing, through the MacCracken program, located in Stuyvesant Town, which is approximately 1 mile from the Center and served by a free campus shuttle bus. More information on the MacCracken Housing Program can be found at gsas.nyu.edu/page/grad.financialaid.mhp

2) Students in good standing in years 2-5 of the program who live in non-University, off-campus apartments will receive an allowance specifically to help offset the cost of market-rate, New York City housing.

Students in the first year of the program who are in subsidized NYU housing receive no stipend. Students in the first year who did not elect to live in subsidized housing receive a half stipend.

The NYU Off-Campus Housing Office can assist students to find housing: http://www.nyu.edu/life/living-at-nyu/off-campus-living.html.

Handbook & Student Guide

Handbook of The Doctoral Program in Neural Science
The handbook is currently under revision. Please see Jess Holman in room 803 (jess.holman@nyu.edu) if you have any questions related to the graduate program.
The Student Guide
Prepared by the doctoral students in Neural Science.

The student guide is also under revision. Please see Jess Holman in room 803 (jess.holman@nyu.edu) if you have any questions related to the graduate program.

 

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Revised: 31-Jul-2019 8:17PM