Degree Requirements

Major Requirements

All courses counted towards the Neuroscience major requirements must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a grade of C or better. (**For Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Summer 2020, and Fall 2020 “P” grades are accepted).

The total number of credits is 103-106 (depending on whether majors complete the General Biology Sequence or the Biology Honors Sequence).

Foundation courses in natural sciences (46-49 credits)

General Biology Sequence: BI 211, 212, and 214 (12 cr) OR Biology Honors Sequence: BI 281H, 282H, 283H (15 cr)

General Chemistry Sequence: CH 221, 222, 223 OR Chemistry Honors Sequence: CH 224H, 225H, 226H (12 cr)

Introductory Physics Sequence: PHYS 201, 202, 203 OR Foundations of Physics Sequence: PHYS 251, 252, 253 (12 cr)

General Chemistry Laboratory: CH 227, 228, 229 OR General Physics Laboratory: PHYS 204, 205, 206 (6 cr)

Mind & Brain: PSY 201 (4 cr)

Math and statistics courses (8 credits)

MATH 246 Calculus for the Biological Sciences I OR MATH 251 Calculus I (4 cr)

PSY 302 Statistical Methods in Psychology OR MATH 425 Statistical Methods I OR ANTH 470 Statistical Analysis of Biological Anthropology (4 cr)

Life science fundamentals (7 credits)

HPHY 211 Medical Terminology (3 cr)

HPHY 212 Scientific Investigations in Physiology (4 cr)

Core neuroscience sequence (18 credits; recommended, but not required, to be taken in this order)

HPHY 321 Human Anatomy I & HPHY 322 Human Physiology I (Fall; 10 cr)

PSY 304 Biopsychology (Winter; 4 cr)

BI 360 Neurobiology (Spring; 4 cr)

Upper-division elective courses (16 credits with at least 12 credits from 400-level courses; at least one course from each of the three areas)

Molecular/Cellular/Developmental

BI 320 Molecular Genetics
BI 322 Cell Biology
BI 328 Developmental Biology
BI 356 Animal Physiology
BI 410 Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders
BI 410 Neurogenetics
BI 422 Protein Toxins in Cell Biology
BI 427 Molecular Genetics of Human Disease
BI 463 Cellular Neuroscience
BI 466 Developmental Neurobiology
HPHY 337 Clinical Pharmacology
HPHY 432 Neural Development

Systems

BI 353 Sensory Physiology
BI 399 Visual System
BI 410 Auditory Systems
BI 410 Neurobiology of Motivation & Addiction
BI 461 Systems Neuroscience
HPHY 333 Motor Control
HPHY 412 Sleep Physiology
HPHY 433 Neurophysiology of Concussion
HPHY 434 Movement Disorders
HPHY 436 Clinical Neuroscience
PSY 445 Brain Mechanisms of Behavior
PSY 450 Hormones & Behavior

Cognitive

BI 410 Neural Basis of Cognition
PSY 305 Cognition
PSY 348 Music & the Brain
PSY 383 Psychoactive Drugs
PSY 399 The Science & Culture of Sleep
PSY 433 Learning & Memory
PSY 436 Human Performance
PSY 438 Perception
PSY 440 Psycholinguistics
PSY 449 Cognitive Neuroscience
PSY 458 Decision Making
PSY 475 Cognitive Development

Advanced skills courses and/or research experience (8 credits combined from any of the following)

BI 401 Research, BI 403 Thesis, BI 407 Neuroscience Seminar, BI 410 Introduction to Programming for Biologists, BI 410 Matlab for Biologists, BI 410 Analysis of Neural Data, BI 410 Data Visualization, BI 485 Techniques in Computational Neuroscience, BIOE 410 Synthetic Biology, CIS 372M Machine Learning for Data Science, CIS 472 Machine Learning, HPHY 401 Research, HPHY 403 Thesis, MATH 410 Machine Learning Statistics, PSY 401 Research, PSY 403 Thesis, PSY 412 Applied Data Analysis

Criteria for Honors

To graduate with Honors in Neuroscience, the following requirements must be met:

A completed Neuroscience Honors application with signature of a faculty research advisor from BI, HPHY or PSY
Completion of all Neuroscience major requirements
A minimum 3.5 GPA in all courses applied to the major
At least three credits in BI 403, HPHY 403, or PSY 403 Thesis (These credits may be applied to the advanced skills courses and research experience requirement).
Completion of an honors thesis under supervision of a committee, consisting of one BI, HPHY, or PSY faculty member and at least one other committee member from BI, HPHY, or PSY.