The Graduate Program
- CONTENTS
- Our Approach
- The Ph.D. Program
- The Curriculum
Our Approach
Graduate education is a central part
of academic life in the department. All of our faculty are invested in research structured to include graduate students
as essential partners. Graduate students in the department are our junior colleagues and future peers -- people who
enrich our academic lives as much as we enrich theirs -- and we commit a great deal to their training.
The essence of our graduate program is training for research in the disciplines that constitute the brain and cognitive sciences. Initially a student's research is likely to be undertaken with close guidance from a member of the faculty, but we expect and encourage students to develop rapidly into independent researchers, and to become major contributors to the intellectual life of the department. We attach great importance to the collegiality of contact among graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty, and the department fosters this by encouraging students to work with several faculty members, concurrently or sequentially, and with one another.
We also value greatly the public discussion of our science, and through a range of research meetings, colloquia and lecture series sponsored by the Department and other centers with which it is associated, students and faculty are regularly brought together. We encourage students to discuss their work in the larger scientific community, and the department supports students' attendance at scientific meetings.
The Ph.D. Program
The explosive growth of the brain and cognitive sciences results in large part from their capacity to draw on
techniques and inspiration from a range of disciplines. The domain is quintessentially interdisciplinary,
and for this reason our Ph.D. program emphasizes training in the range of research methods that drive the field.
While our focus is always on behavior and the brain activity that underlies it, we encourage students to undertake
projects in several laboratories that use different research methods, and we provide courses that introduce students
to the range of methods we use (see below). At the same time, we do not expect students to master all domains, and
we recognize that disciplinary specialization is necessary and desirable, so we try to ensure that while all become
familiar with a range of methods, each develops real expertise in those that best serve the chosen field of
specialization.
In providing a program that is both broad and deep, we draw not only on our own resources but also on those of
associated research centers and departments, and it is not uncommon for graduate
students seeking to understand particular aspects of behavior to undertake projects with faculty and students from
outside the department; conversely, our faculty often work very closely with graduate students from other programs
and departments. This fluidity of our program is one of its greatest strengths, and we work hard to maintain it.
Although research training is paramount, we recognize that we are training future academics, many of whom will combine teaching with research. All graduate students therefore also undertake some teaching, usually as assistants to faculty in lecture or laboratory courses.
The Curriculum
Because students come to the brain and cognitive sciences with a wide range of backgrounds, the curriculum offers a broad base designed to introduce students to parts of the domain they might not previously have studied, and to prepare them for advanced work. This core curriculum covers a range of topics in perception, action, cognition, language, learning and development, each examined from the perspectives of behavioral, computational, and neural science. The methods students master for approaching their own research may vary. However, as preparation for entering a highly interdisciplinary field, all students must acquire some expertise in at least two approaches. Students also take advanced courses and seminars in one or more areas of specialization. At all stages of their graduate careers, students are heavily engaged in research. Generally students complete most of their course work during the first two years. During the third year students take a qualifying exam covering the scholarly literature surrounding their area of specialization, and thereafter typically devote themselves fully to their research. The Ph.D. is awarded upon the completion of a dissertation containing original research in the field. The Department does not offer a program leading to a Master's degree.
These requirements are summarized below:
- Core courses: four of the following, with at least one from each pair
- Experimental design and statistics
- Training in at least two research methodologies, selected from the following:
- Behavioral Science
- Computational Modeling
- Neuroscience
- Expertise in a methodology is achieved by taking BCS methods courses (see links above), or by petitioning to satisfy the requirement through research experience.
- Supervised research throughout the program
- Advanced courses as needed to achieve scholarly background and specialized expertise
- Qualifying exam in area of specialization
- Supervised experience as teachers or teaching assistants
- Doctoral dissertation
For general information about graduate studies at the University of Rochester, and for descriptions of all graduate course offerings at the University, please visit http://www.rochester.edu/GradBulletin/.