The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) is pleased to announce the establishment of a new Interdisciplinary Training Program for Graduate Study in Cognitive Neuroscience. Students enrolled in this program will gain a thorough understanding of the intellectual issues that drive this rapidly growing field, as well as expertise in the major methods for cognitive brain research. The overarching aim of the program is to train students in innovative approaches to research on higher human brain functions, including, but not limited to, perception, attention, memory, language, emotion, motor control, executive functions, consciousness and the evolution of mental processes. A variety of disciplines and techniques are poised to make significant progress in understanding these aspects of brain function; training a new generation of thinkers capable of applying the breadth of the relevant conceptual and technical approaches will illuminate higher human brain functions in both normal individuals and those afflicted by neurological or mental diseases.

A Truly Interdisciplinary Program

Duke began to develop cognitive neuroscience rather recently but has done so with significant resources, as indicated by the creation of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC), and the Center for Neuroengineering. The Interdisciplinary Training Program for Graduate Study in Cognitive Neuroscience will draw from each of these new entities, as well as from faculty in the Department of Neurobiology in the Medical Center, and the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience (P&N) in the Division of Natural Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. By its nature, the training program cuts across departmental boundaries, with additional faculty from Radiology, Psychiatry, Biomedical Engineering, Evolutionary Anthropology, Neurology, Biology, and Philosophy. Thus, the program explicitly involves collaboration between multiple departments of the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, offering a combined degree in collaboration with the participating departments that would ultimately grant the Ph.D. For example, students in the program would receive a Ph.D. in Neurobiology with specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience; a Ph.D. in Philosophy with specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience, and so on for the other departments involved.

A Wealth of Resources

In addition to the breadth and depth of the faculty, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience has an unusually rich environment for training and research with new EEG laboratories and extensive facilities for psychophysical studies in humans, as well as behavioral and physiological studies in non-human primates and rodents. Trainees will also have access to the nearby neuroimaging facilities in the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, which houses a new 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner and a 4 Tesla MRI scanner, both fully dedicated to research. Finally, students will have access to the facilities of all the other participating departments noted earlier.

The Course of Study

The Interdisciplinary Training Program for Graduate Study in Cognitive Neuroscience is an intensive sequence of courses, lab work, and teaching intended to prepare each student for the research in cognitive neuroscience they will carry on in their thesis work. From the outset, each student will be guided by a faculty member selected by the Steering/Admissions Committee. The advisor will help the student in crafting an optimal training path based on probable interests and expected departmental affiliation, and will be charged with assisting the student in making appropriate choices in the first two years (after which this function will be taken over by the student's thesis committee).

During the first year all students will take a core curriculum that includes a year-long course in cognitive neuroscience, an intensive one-month class on neuroanatomy, and 1 or 2 electives. The first year will also include three laboratory rotations (fall, spring, summer) that by design will be in two different subdisciplines of the field and If needed, students can do a fourth rotation in the fall of their second year to help them settle on the area and lab on which they want to focus.

By the end of the fall semester of their second year each student will be asked to declare a departmental affiliation and to identify a primary and a secondary mentor for thesis work. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the training program, the mentors will typically be in two different subdisciplines, with the further expectation that at least one mentor have an explicit focus on brain science. For example, a student might have a primary mentor in cognition and perception, and a secondary in neuroscience; a primary in computational-theoretical/philosophy of mind and a secondary in brain imaging; and so on. Intrinsic to this multidisciplinary training program is the expectation that students have two mentors using different research perspectives. Once this selection has been made, the student will proceed to form a thesis committee, prepare a thesis proposal, and pass a preliminary exam according to the rules and expectations of the department with which they have chosen to affiliate. Therefore, even though the core curriculum will be completed in the first two years, the entire program will take the usual five years, as students complete the thesis and continue to take any additional coursework deemed appropriate and/or necessary by the department in which the work is being carried out.

Teaching

Each student in the program will be expected to gain experience in teaching by serving as a teacher assistant. Although the number required may vary some as a function of the department with which the student is affiliated for the thesis phase of their tenure, the policy of the program is that the student will generally be required to TA at least two courses but no more than four. One or more of the classes for which a trainee will serve as a teaching assistant will be selected from the undergraduate courses that dovetail with the graduate program. Thus the basic teaching roles will be as section leaders and/or laboratory instructors in courses such as "Fundamentals of Neuroscience" (PSY135/NBI154/BIO154), "Biological Basis of Behavior" (PSY91), and "Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain" (PSY170AS). Other TA opportunities include "Neurobiology of Mind" (NBI93S), "Cognitive Neuroscience" (PSY112), "Developmental Mind and Brain: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience" (PSY170BS), "Event-Related Potentials: Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience" (PSY181CS), and "Functional Neuroimaging" (PSY181FS).

In short, a variety of teaching options tailored to the interests of the student and the needs and requirements of the participating department or unit will be possible.

Preparation for the future

Our resolve is to prepare students both for academic careers as well as for areas of the private sector in which individuals with training in cognitive neuroscience are sought out: for example, the computer industry, research and development in the areas of pattern recognition, the broad domains of public policy, decision making and game theory, journalism, and public education about how the human brain operates just to name a few.

Graduates from this or any program must acquit themselves well in scientific presentation and in the job market. Trainees will therefore be encouraged to write and submit NSF or NIH/NRSA grant proposals as a means of becoming familiar with the major granting agencies for work in cognitive science. Students who write fellowship proposals during training, whether they receive them or not, are more likely to write successful grants later. Students will also gain valuable experience in the classroom through the many teaching options available to teaching assistants in cognitive neuroscience (see above). Finally, students will be mentored in the protocol for submitting papers for publication, in how to present papers at conferences, and in what type of conferences it makes most sense to attend.

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