Education

Graduate & Undergraduate Programs

• PhD in Computational Neuroscience

  The PhD in Computational Neuroscience uses quantitative approaches to studying nervous system function.   Drawing on faculty in Neurobiology and across the University of Chicago, this multidisciplinary program in neuroscience is focused on how components of animal and human nervous systems interact to produce behaviors. Using quantitative and modeling methods, the interdisciplinary approach of computational neuroscience seeks to understand the function of the nervous system, natural behaviors and cognitive processes and to design human-made devices that duplicate behaviors.  Course work in computational neuroscience prepares students for research in neurobiology, psychology, or in the mathematical or engineering sciences. Graduates from this program move to traditional academic careers, to careers in biomedical research or engineering, or to opportunities in the corporate world.  We invite you to learn more about this innovative program here.

• PhD in Neurobiology

  The PhD in Neurobiology trains future leaders in neuroscience in the rich variety of approaches and model systems for exploring fundamental questions of the nervous system. Neurobiology is the longest-established of our PhD programs in the neurosciences and offers the greatest diversity of research experiences through the over 60 faculty members including those in Neurobiology and 12 other departments. Students benefit from the broad expertise of these faculty which includes genetic, developmental, molecular and cellular neurobiology to systems neurophysiology, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, computation and imaging. We invite you to learn more about the graduate program in Neurobiology here.

• PhD Program in Integrative Neuroscience

  Our faculty within the Department of Neuobiology also teach and mentor students in the Integrative Neuroscience graduate program housed within the Social Science Division at the University of Chicago.  This program provides training and research opportunities for the next generation of behavioral, cognitive, and social neuroscientists.  Behavioral, cognitive, and social neuroscience represent three complementary and partially overlapping aspects of this integrative neuroscience of mind and behavior.  Behavioral neuroscience places an emphasis on the biological mechanisms underlying basic behavioral processes; cognitive neuroscience places an emphasis on the biological mechanisms underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes and their behavioral manifestations; and social neuroscience places an emphasis on the biological mechanisms underlying social processes and behavior, including the ability to perceive and communicate mental states including the beliefs and desires of others and to form and maintain interpersonal and group relationships.  The University of Chicago is optimally positioned to meet this challenge because its unique academic structure facilitates interactions across disciplinary perspectives. We invite you to learn more about this program here.

• Undergraduate Major in Neuroscience

  Developed and launched through the Neuroscience Institute, the undergraduate major in neuroscience offers a BA or BS in Neuroscience. This program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to incorporate coursework which spans the breadth of neuroscience, reflecting the interests of a large and diverse faculty in such research areas as neurodevelopment, synaptic physiology, cortical circuits, sensation, perception, motor function, reward and addiction, cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neural networks, machine learning, and the neurobiology of disease neuroscience into their academic experiences and careers. Students may choose electives for breadth or focus on areas such as molecular or computational neuroscience. The Honors program involves a thesis based on significant experimental research.