Director’s Welcome

Welcome to the Program in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt!

The program hosts the undergraduate neuroscience major and minor within the College of Arts and Science—which focuses on the study of the brain from diverse perspectives. One of the most popular majors in the college, neuroscience courses are taught by distinguished faculty and internationally recognized researchers from across Vanderbilt, including A&S, the School of Engineering, Peabody College, and the School of Medicine. The major encompasses a comprehensive curriculum that includes foundational basic sciences combined with coursework covering the fundamentals of cellular-molecular and integrative-cognitive neuroscience. Our well-prepared and well-placed graduates usually go forward to medical school, graduate school, and science-based careers in publishing, law, health care, and policy and administration. We are committed to supporting and respecting the equal and fair treatment of all persons, regardless of their race, socioeconomic status, disability, religion, culture, gender, or sexual orientation.

A further emphasis of the program is for all students to gain immersive research experience working in neuroscience labs. Neuroscience majors have access to about 150 Vanderbilt faculty laboratories for research opportunities in a diverse array of disciplines in brain science ranging from molecular and cellular neuroscience, to cognitive neuroscience, to studies on the neural basis of disease and its treatment. Training in research is a core feature of the neuroscience major and we have a very active and large Honors Program.

The student experience is also at the heart of the Program in Neuroscience. Our faculty engage in innovative and equitable teaching practices, fosters the Neuroscience Majors Club, and sponsors major advising parties and the Neuroscience Research DataBlitz (with prizes!).

We hope you will join us as a neuro major or minor. For more information please contact me or the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience Meredyth Wegener.

Cheers,

Doug McMahon
Director, Program in Neuroscience

The Brain — is wider than the Sky —
For — put them side by side —
The one the other will contain
With ease — and You — beside —

Emily Dickinson, 1896