Department website: http://neuroscience.barnard.edu/
415P Milbank
212-851-9943
Program Administrator, Michele Miozzo
Mission
The Neuroscience and Behavior major provides a strong background in the neural underpinnings of behavior and cognition. It is intended for students who plan to pursue a research career in neuroscience or a related discipline. Students electing this major are exposed to basic courses in biology, psychology and statistics, and to advanced courses in neuroscience and behavior.
All majors engage in two semesters of independent research during the senior year while taking the Senior Research Seminar. In the junior year, majors must begin developing a plan for the senior research project.
Student Learning Goals
Students graduating with a major in Neuroscience and Behavior should be able to attain the following outcomes:
- acquire a strong intellectual foundation in neuroscience
- develop competence in the interpretation and evaluation of neuroscience research
- understand the role of experimentation in neuroscience
- learn basic methods of experimental design and hypothesis testing
- acquire effective oral presentation skills
- demonstrate a capability to write a scientific paper
- understand statistical approaches to data analysis.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successfully completing the major, students should have the ability to
- discuss neuroscience phenomena from many different levels of organization (e.g., explain how the destruction of myelin in people with multiple sclerosis leads to cognitive and motor deficits);
- describe the basic features of nervous system development, organization, signaling, integration, and higher-level processing;
- explain the neural basis of sensory-motor integration, learning and the generation of complex behaviors;
- conceive of, implement, and present an original research project;
- generate a testable hypothesis and develop a controlled experimental design;
- perform modern scientific measurement techniques;
- write an original research paper.
As an alternative to the Neuroscience and Behavior major, students may pursue an interdisciplinary program by majoring in either Biology or Psychology and taking a minor in the other discipline.
Core Faculty: Peter Balsam (Chair), Kara Pham (Departmental Representative), Elizabeth Bauer, BJ Casey, Maria de la Paz Fernandez, John Glendinning, Gabrielle Gutierrez, Russell Romeo, Rae Silver, Alex White
The new NSBV curriculum requires the completion of a minimum of 13 courses (5 core neuroscience courses; 3 introductory courses from cognate disciplines; 3 elective courses; a year-long research seminar counting as 2 courses) and a senior thesis. All NSBV majors must take 5 core neuroscience courses that provide foundational knowledge and laboratory training. No more than 2/5 core neuroscience courses can be taken outside the NSBV Department, including Columbia University or other institutions. For many courses, NSBV majors have multiple options. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of our discipline, students can select introductory and elective courses offered in other departments either at Barnard or Columbia. Furthermore, students have the option of selecting elective courses in one suggested track – cognitive/behavioral, computational, or molecular.
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Points |
| NSBV BC1001 | INTRODUCTION TO NEUROSCIENCE | |
| NSBV BC2001 | Laboratory in Neuroscience | |
| NSBV BC3001 | SYSTEMS AND BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE | |
| BIOL BC3362 | MOLECULAR ＆ CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE | |
| NSBV BC2002 | Statistics and Experimental Design | |
| |
| One course must be Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology (BIOL BC1502 + lab BIOL BC1503); the other courses (1lect; 1lect+lab) from cognate disciplines (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, or Psychology) | |
| NSBV BC3593 | Senior Research Seminar: Neuroscience and Behavior | |
| NSBV BC3594 | Senior Research Seminar: Neuroscience and Behavior | |
Approved electives are listed on the department webpage. One elective course must be a 3000-level seminar.
