Graduate Program

Neuroscience Graduate Program

The Neuroscience Graduate Program is a multidisciplinary and interdepartmental program including the Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Molecular Science, Pathology, Pharmacology, and Physiology.  The Neuroscience Track provides a broad background in neuroscience and specific research training in neurochemistry, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, molecular and cellular neuroscience, developmental neurobiology, and behavioral neuroscience.  Beginning in the Fall of 2004 the Neuroscience Graduate Program will become a Track within the Integrated Program in Biomedical Sciences (IPBS).  Neuroscience graduate students must satisfy both the requirements of the Neuroscience Track and of the IPBS to qualify for the Ph.D. degree.

Organization of the Neuroscience Graduate Program

Faculty

Neuroscience Program Director

Admissions

Course of Study

Neuroscience Graduate Fellowships

Administration

Neuroscience Graduate Committee

The Neuroscience Track is composed of faculty who are actively involved in neuroscience research and who are willing to make a commitment, with approval of their departments, to participate in graduate student courses, seminars, guidance committees, and other functions necessary for the continued development of a graduate program. Faculty who hold appointments in clinical departments not offering the Ph.D. degree also participate in the program through joint appointments in one of the basic science departments.

The Program Director is responsible to the College of Graduate Health Sciences and is designated by the Dean of the College of Graduate Health Sciences. The Director's appointment is subject to periodic review. He/she also serves as the IPBS Neuroscience Track Head.

All graduate students at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center are now admitted through the Integrated Program in Biological Sciences.  Students interested in Neuroscience are encouraged to check the optional Neuroscience Track box on the electronic application form.  Please see Application Information for more specific instructions if you are applying to the Neuroscience Program.

• Application Information specific to Neuroscience
• UTHSC College of Graduate Health Sciences
• UTHSC Graduate Programs

Students are required to take Functional Neuroanatomy and a minimum of two additional semester neuroscience elective courses (Cellular Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience and Developmental and Molecular Neuroscience) as well as Seminars in Neuroscience and  Neuroscience Symposium. The balance of required and elective courses is specified by the IPBS.  A statistics course is highly recommended.

All students admitted to the IPBS that participate in the Neuroscience Track receive a stipend through the Neuroscience Institute for the first two years as well as a waiver of tuition and fees.  Stipends are currently $20,000 plus a waiver of tuition and fees.  Student mentors provide the student's stipend in subsequent years.

The Neuroscience Graduate Program is administered in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. The Neuroscience Graduate Committee, which is chaired by the Program Director, is responsible for directing and providing assistance and critical assessment of the student's dissertation research and for recommending additional course work for each department.

The Neuroscience Graduate Committee is composed of representatives from the Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Molecular Sciences, Pharmacology, and Physiology and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  The members and the chairperson of the Committee must be Neuroscience participating faculty and approved by the College of Graduate Health Sciences. In addition, each department participating in the Neuroscience Graduate Program has been approved by the Dean of the College of Graduate Health Sciences, upon the advice of the department chairman.

The Neuroscience Graduate Committee advises the Program Director on the operation of the Neuroscience Graduate Program and makes recommendations on matters pertaining to the maintenance of academic quality, student admissions, academic courses, educational policy, pre- and postdoctoral stipends, and individual faculty involvement.