Predoctoral Training in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a revised proposal for funding of an established graduate training program in neuroscience at the Institute for Neuroscience (INS) at the University of Texas at Austin. Funding is requested for five new predoctoral trainees per year, with students obtaining support from the program for their first two years of graduate training. During this time students will do laboratory rotations and complete coursework requirements before entering thesis laboratories at the end of their second years. A critical mass of neuroscience researchers has been established in Austin, largely due to an emphasis on faculty recruitment in this area. These researchers have a wide variety of interests but share a common goal of strengthening neuroscience training on campus. Thirty-four (34) faculty in the College of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology and College of Pharmacy will participate in the training. Their research interests range from the molecular, through the biochemical, physiological and electrophysiological, to the behavioral and computational. Each of the training faculty (except for junior faculty who have just been recruited) currently holds at least one major research grant and many have several grants. Students entering this graduate program thus have a wide variety of options for training, and one of the significant strengths of our program is the opportunity for conducting cross-disciplinary research in collaborating laboratories. Incoming students will be expected to choose laboratories in which they will conduct research rotations, after which they will present seminars based on their work. Students will also take a prescribed set of core neuroscience courses as well as choose from a wide variety of elective courses. Graduate students will be highly encouraged to attend, and participate in, a plethora of seminar series offered by the INS or by the different home departments of INS investigators. The responsible conduct of science will also be taught in an ethics course. An effort will be made to 'continue our success in recruiting minority students.