Research Notes
The
neuroscience edge
Since neuroscience is such
a highly visible field of science, the program will clearly
elevate the university’s profile.”
 Marquette
is expanding its doctoral specialization in the rapidly growing
discipline of neuroscience. The broadened program, administered
as part of the biological sciences graduate program, will center
on the teaching and research scholarship of 11 faculty members
in the departments of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Sciences.
The expansion is expected to enhance the scientific environment,
enable greater research productivity, position Marquette to
attract additional grants, and provide more research apprenticeships
for undergraduate students, according to Dr. William E. Cullinan,
associate professor of biomedical sciences and director of
Marquette’s Integrative Neuroscience Research Center.
“This initiative will have a powerful
impact upon Marquette faculty, graduate students and undergraduates
alike,” Cullinan says. “Marquette will attract
more graduate students to participate in important neuroscience
research taking place on campus and accelerate the pace of
discovery in this growing field. Since neuroscience is such
a highly visible field of science, the program will clearly
elevate the university’s profile. I think there is a
tremendous amount of excitement surrounding this.”
The
first two years of the program will be primarily didactic,
with students enrolled in core lecture courses, survey seminars,
electives and laboratory rotations.
During the summer, students will participate in a comprehensive laboratory
course. Subsequent years of the doctoral program will be research
intensive with curriculum
covering cellular and molecular aspects of the field, brain development, sensory
and motor systems, and central nervous system regulation, as well as cognitive
and behavioral areas. The specialty will incorporate 12 teaching
assistantships.
Marquette’s program joins more than
130 such programs in the United States. According to the Association
of Neuroscience Departments and Programs, the number
of applicants to neuroscience graduate programs has increased more than threefold
since 1986, and the number of Ph.D. neuroscience graduate students has grown
by a similar amount. Students in the specialty typically enter multiyear postdoctoral
research training and then faculty positions as research scientist-scholars.
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