COURSE CURRICULUM

The Neuroscience and Behavior (NSB) major is a structured interdisciplinary program designed to build a strong foundation in biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and biochemistry while developing advanced understanding of brain function and behavior. Students begin with core foundation courses such as introductory biology covering molecular, cellular, evolution, and ecology concepts, general and organic chemistry with laboratory work, biochemistry, physics, statistics or biostatistics, and genetics. These are combined with specialized neuroscience courses including introductory topics in neuroscience and behavior, laboratory-based learning, and advanced systems neuroscience, which together build a scientific understanding of how the nervous system operates at molecular, cellular, and systems levels. In addition to these required courses, students choose five electives from a wide range of subjects across biology, psychology, physiology, pharmacology, genetics, ecology, animal behavior, neurology, cognitive science, and related fields, allowing them to specialize in areas such as cognition, perception, animal behavior, neurobiology of disorders, physiology, or evolutionary neuroscience. The program emphasizes strong academic performance standards, requiring minimum grades in key chemistry and physics courses and maintaining higher grade expectations in other subjects to ensure scientific competence. A major component of the degree is the capstone experience, which allows students to integrate their learning through independent research, advanced seminars, or honors thesis work, often involving hands-on scientific investigation or faculty-guided projects. This capstone is intended to develop higher-level analytical, experimental, and problem-solving skills in a focused area of interest within neuroscience and behavior. Overall, the program combines rigorous science training with flexibility for specialization, preparing students for careers or further study in neuroscience, medicine, psychology, research, biotechnology, animal science, and other related fields, while also emphasizing critical thinking, laboratory experience, and interdisciplinary understanding of brain-behavior relationships across humans and animals.