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Graduate Program
Behavioral Neuroscience
The Program in Behavioral Neuroscience reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the neurosciences. This research involves use of a wide range of modern neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neuropharmacological techniques, often combined with behavioral measures. Accordingly, faculty laboratories are equipped for localization of neurotransmitter enzymes, proteins and receptors using antibodies and radiolabeled probes, quantitative morphometrics of identified neurons, tracing the origin and distribution of neural pathways, metabolic mapping of functional activity with radioactive compounds and voltage-sensitive dyes, the control and quantification of behavior, and the modeling of neuronal systems.
If you have questions about the Behavioral Neuroscience gradauate program not answered on this site, you can contact the director:
Jeffrey B. Rosen
Email: jrosen@udel.edu
Office:
227 Wolf Hall
(302) 831-4209
Other program areas: Clinical Cognitive Social Psychology
About the graduate program
Nature and goals of the graduate program
Synopsis of the program
Nature and goals of the graduate program
The Ph.D. program in Behavioral Neuroscience is committed to training exceptional students for independent neuroscience research careers in academic, governmental, or industrial settings. Our program provides training in the biological foundations of behavior, with a particular focus on sensation, learning and memory, affect, development, and neural plasticity. Our philosophy is that students are best trained for research careers by emersion in intense research training from the very beginning of their studies. We use a mentor-based model, in which students work closely with a faculty member on empirical research. However, students are also encouraged to conduct collaborative research with more than one faculty member and with other graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Core courses required of all students are minimal. This leaves students free to design individualized curriculums to enhance general and specific knowledge of their particular field(s) of interest. Students are expected to publish their research in prominent scientific journals and to present their research at national scientific meetings. Students further develop their oral presentation skills by giving one or more research presentations per year to the behavioral neuroscience faculty and students. In addition, students develop teaching skills by serving as teaching assistants and course instructors. Advanced students are encouraged to submit grant applications to support their research training and/or dissertation research. Taken together, these training activities provide students with the expertise in research, teaching, and grant writing, that is needed for successful academic or research careers.
The research interests of the Behavioral Neuroscience Faculty can be found by clicking on the individual faculty names to the right. These links provide more detailed information concerning research training opportunities in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program.
Synopsis of the program
The Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience is designed to be completed in four to five years. Students begin a combination of research and coursework as soon as they arrive. The first year project introduces the student to the conduct and reporting of empirical research. Students are expected to complete several published projects before entering doctoral candidacy. One of these projects can later be expanded into a doctoral dissertation. A course in statistics and a series of basic neuroscience core courses in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and integrative neuroscience are taken in the first two years of study. Once these research and course requirements are met, a qualifying exam provides entrance to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The student then proposes, conducts and defends a doctoral dissertation. A description of each of these requirements is given below.
Coursework
In the first two years, a student must successfully complete the neuroscience core sequence of four courses, and one advanced course in statistics. The core sequence consists of Neuroanatomy (Neuroscience I), Neurophysiology (Neuroscience II), Neuropharmacology (Neuroscience III), and Integrative Neurobiology (Neuroscience IV) or Neurons and Networks. A student can take other graduate courses offered by the Behavioral Neuroscience Faculty or other Programs or Departments in the University related to the student’s interests.
First Year Project
The first year project is an empirical research experiment or series of experiments that is conducted under the guidance of a student’s advisor. An oral presentation of the project is given to the area faculty before the end of the second semester (usually in the Behavioral Neuroscience Brown Bag Seminar). A written report of the research project should be submitted for publication by the end of the student’s second year of study.
Qualifying Exam
In the third year of study, a student forms a committee consistent with department policy to administer the qualifying exam and serve as the student's dissertation advisory committee. The student must compose a comprehensive list of readings, in consultation with the committee members, that will consist of major review articles, relevant books, and empirical journal articles that define the major cores of behavioral neuroscience (neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and behavior) and the student's area of interest. Based on the reading list, the student develops questions for the qualifying exam that are then approved by the committee. A written and oral exam is then taken.
Dissertation
Once a student has qualified for doctoral candidacy, the student proposes a dissertation question of scientific interest and designs experiments to answer the question. Following completion of the dissertation experiments, the student writes the dissertation, defends it in a final oral exam, and receives the Ph.D.
Behavioral Neuroscience Faculty
Anna Klintsova
Experience-dependent developmental and adult brain plasticity
David P.M. Northmore
Visuomotor function and neuronal modelling
Jeffrey B. Rosen
Neurobiology of Emotion
Evelyn Satinoff
Circadian rhythms, thermoregulation, sleep and wakefulness, and aging
Leslie C. Skeen
Development and plasticity of the olfactory system
Mark E Stanton
Developmental psychobiology of learning and memory
Amy Griffin
Neural basis of learning and memory
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