Primary Faculty: Professors GRACE, STRICKER (University Professor; Chair), SVED (Director of Graduate Studies); Associate Professors BARRIONUEVO, CARD, JOHNSON, SESACK, WOOD; Assistant Professors COLBY, KLANN, MERINEY, RINAMAN, SKAGGS; Senior Lecturer PAGANO (Associate Chair); Research Assistant Professors BULLER, FINLAY

Affiliated Faculty (Adjunct faculty and those with primary appointments in other areas): Professors DeFRANCO (Biological Sciences), LEWIS (Medicine), McCLELLAND (Adjunct), MOORE (Medicine), REYNOLDS (Medicine); Associate Professors BEHRMANN (Adjunct), OLSON (Adjunct), YATES (Medicine); Assistant Professors FIEZ (Psychology), HASTINGS (Medicine)

Neuroscience is the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. Our graduate program, instituted in 1967 as part of the Department of Psychology, was one of the first of its kind. Since then, it has been among the largest and most successful programs in the United States. In the fall of 1986 the program became autonomous from the Department of Psychology and now exists as a separate department in the University.

The overall objective of our graduate program is to help students develop into scientists with expertise in the interdisciplinary field of neuroscience.

Admission decisions take into account many factors, including the candidate's statement of interest and goals in the field of neuroscience, evidence of research experience and accomplishment, letters of recommendation, test scores, and grades. An outstanding record in one of these areas may compensate for poorer performance in another area. In general, successful applicants have a BS degree in Neuroscience, Biology, Chemistry, or Psychology with a cumulative quality point average of at least 3.30 (on a 4.00 scale), and a score of at least 1800 on the Graduate Record Exam (verbal, quantitative, and analytical). After an initial screening, applicants may be evaluated by a personal interview. Students are admitted on the assumption that they will be able to meet all requirements for the PhD degree.

The first and most important task of an entering student is to begin work toward the development of a research project; by the end of the second year, the student is expected to complete a significant piece of research and submit a report. Also, the student must confer with his/her advisor in constructing a comprehensive curriculum of lecture courses, seminars, or tutorials reflecting the student's background and projected research interests. In most cases, eight to ten such courses will be taken, although their exact number and nature are likely to be different for each student. Students typically take one or two courses per term and complete their course work within two to three years.

At the end of the second term of the first year, each student takes a preliminary examination, in which he or she is asked to critically evaluate a recently published research report on a topic that is in the student's general area of interest. At the end of the second term of the second year, each student presents a written report that summarizes his/her early research project. (That report may form the basis of an MS thesis. A student may earn an MS degree after passing the preliminary examination at the master's level, completing 24 credits with 3.00 QPA and defending a thesis. However, this option is not a departmental requirement, and some students do not earn an MS degree en route to the PhD degree.) During the third and fourth years, graduate work is focused on the comprehensive examination, a research apprenticeship, and completion of the PhD dissertation.

The comprehensive examination is the major requirement that a student must pass before being admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree. It provides an opportunity for a student to define an area of specialization in which he or she plans to do the dissertation research, and ultimately to demonstrate that the background scholarship needed for such research has been achieved.

The apprenticeship is designed to broaden the student's exposure to the various techniques and approaches used by neuroscientists, by having the student spend at least one term conducting research in a laboratory other than that of his/her primary advisor. It is common for students to use this experience to develop skills that could be later utilized in the PhD dissertation.

The PhD dissertation is an extended original investigation of a significant problem in the field of neuroscience. It is the heart of the graduate program, and virtually all other requirements are designed to assist a student in preparing for this task. The successful completion and oral defense of the dissertation is expected to take place sometime before the end of the fourth or fifth year.

Teaching
As part of their training, all students gain teaching experience by serving as Teaching Assistants to program faculty typically during each term of their first year in graduate school. Additional classroom lectures are required in subsequent years.

A major feature of the department is the extensive collaborative interactions among its faculty. The field of neuroscience attracts people from many different disciplines in the natural sciences, and this heterogeneity in background is exploited by the diverse approaches taken by the faculty to research problems of common interest. Thus, it is common for our students to work in more than one laboratory, with more than one faculty member serving as advisor, considering a research problem from multiple perspectives and employing multiple techniques in their work. Moreover, because the University of Pittsburgh has a large community of neuroscientists on campus, organized in the Center for Neuroscience, it also is common for our students to interact with students and faculty with related interests in other departments.

Departmental research is supported by numerous grants funded by the federal government and private agencies. The equipment and facilities available for anatomical, biochemical, physiological, and pharmacological studies of the nervous system and its function are excellent.

Additional information can be obtained from Graduate Admissions; Department of Neuroscience; 446 Crawford Hall; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA 15260.