Curriculum

NRSC Student Advisory Committee

Dr. Andrew Fuglevand
fuglevand@email.arizona.edu
520-621-6983

Dr. Erika Eggers
eeggers@email.arizona.edu
520-626-7137

A. Overview 

Year 1

  • Complete core curriculum, take some elective and minor courses
  • Complete three research rotations, 10 weeks each
  • By the end of the year:
    • Select a mentor
    • Select committee members

Year 2

  • Complete all course work
  • Fulfill teaching requirement 
  • Select comprehensive exam committee members, schedule first committee meeting
  • It is encouraged the student take the comprehensive exam by the end of year 2 to achieve “Advanced Candidacy” (passed both exams) before fall of year 3

Years 3-5

  • Meet at least annually with thesis committee 
  • Complete dissertation work in subsequent years 3-5
  • Write dissertation and defend thesis no later than by the end of year 5

B. Required Credits

The Graduate College requires at least 63 units of graduate work, including major and minor coursework, rotation research (NRSC 700) and dissertation research (NRSC 920). The combination of major and minor coursework must total a minimum of 36 units; at least half of these units must be taken for letter grades. 

  • 36 units are required to become eligible for taking the comprehensive exam
UNITS COURSES
8 units

Neuroscience core courses (NRSC 560 and 588)

5-6 Statistics, Writing and Ethics courses
2 Neuroscience Colloquium (NRSC 695F)
9 Research rotations (NRSC 700)
3-6 Neuroscience elective courses (see Table 3)
9 Minor courses
≥ 36 units (at least half of the units must be taken for a letter grade)
  • Another ~36 additional units are typically required to graduate (after reaching Advanced Candidacy). These can be derived from:

    • NRSC 900 Research (additional research rotation) 

    • NRSC 920 Dissertation research 

    • NRSC 599/699 Independent study 

  • A total of 72 units is required for graduation 
  • Students must take a minimum of 12 units per semester in their first year. After their first year, students must be enrolled in 6 units each semester to meet minimum enrollment requirements.

NRSC students are expected to maintain an overall grade-point average of at least 3.0 (B) and to have no more than a total of 2 grades of C; failure to achieve such a record can result in conversion to non-degree status and dismissal from the program at any time. 

C. Required Courses (Table 1) 

Students must achieve a grade of B or better in each of the core courses; failure to achieve a grade of B or better will result in probation, and possible dismissal from the Program and conversion to non-degree status.

Core curriculum courses are NRSC 588, NRSC 560, two semesters of NRSC 695F, one Statistics course, one Writing and one Ethics course, and three research rotations (see below).

At least three research rotations (NRSC 700) must be completed in three different laboratories (10 weeks each). The first rotation can start earlier during the summer.  A total of 9 units is recommended.  After rotations, students should join a lab or add a 4th rotation.

TABLE 1: CORE COURSEWORK (*  indicates required core courses)

Semester

Course

Units

Faculty coordinator

Fall core

*NRSC 588 Principles of Cell & Mol Neurobiology 

4

Zinsmaier 

*NRSC 700 Research rotation 

3-4 

NRSC faculty

*NRSC 695F Neuroscience Colloquium 

Zinsmaier 

(NRSC elective or minor course to reach total ≥ 12 units per semester) 

varies 

Faculty 

Spring core 

*NRSC 560 Systems Neuroscience 

Fuglevand 

*NRSC 700 Research rotation 

3-4 

NRSC faculty 

*NRSC 695F Neuroscience Colloquium 

Zinsmaier 

(NRSC elective or minor course to reach total ≥ 12 units per semester) 

varies 

Faculty 

*Ethics

 

SLHS 649 – Survival Skills and Ethics 

Hoit (spring

MCB 695E - Science, Society and Ethics 1 Mouneimne (spring)
*Writing/ Communications IMB 521 – Scientific Grantsmanship 2 Goodrum 2nd year PhD students only (spring)
SLHS 696a – Topics in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences 2 Plante (fall 2020)
MCB 575 – Scientific Communications 3 Kacar, Horton, Enrolled in MCB 595A (fall)

*Statistics 

See Table 2 below for options 

3-4 

-----

Statistics Courses

At least two units of statistics are required. Students may choose from the list below, or request the NRSC Graduate Advisory Committee to have an equivalent course considered for meeting the requirement.

TABLE 2: Statistic Courses (* request instructor approval for enrollment)

Courses in statistics

Faculty 

Offerings

EIS 513

Applied Biostatistics

An

4 units, fall 

EPID 576B 

Biostatistics for Research 

Roe 

3 units, spring 

MATH 509C Statistics for Research Ekstrom 3 units, spring

PSY 507A * 

Statistical Methods in Psychological Research 

Staff 

3 units, fall 

PSY 507B * 

Statistical Methods in Psychological Research 

Staff 

3 units, spring 

PSY 510 

Statistics Fundamentals 

Cowen 

3 units, fall 

Other

by approval of the NRSC Program Graduate Advisor 

 

3-4 units 

For help choosing a stats course: Learn More

Additional stats courses: Learn More

Teaching 

Because teaching is an important element in academic careers in Neuroscience, supervised experience in university-level teaching is considered essential. Each student is therefore required to serve as a Teaching Assistant for at least one semester during the first 3 years. Please contact Kirsten (kirstencg@email.arizona.edu) to arrange for teaching opportunities.

Registration Information 

Schedule of classes: see UAccess Website

On-line course registration: see UAccess website

D. Neuroscience Elective Courses 

Elective and required courses (Table 3) must add up to a minimum of 36 units (not including dissertation research and independent study). At least half of the 36 units must be taken for a letter grade (not pass/fail). Additional courses of interest that are not listed in Table 3 can be accepted after confirmation with the student's Advisory Committee or the Graduate Advisor. The Graduate College discourages cross-listing of classes, hence some of the courses listed in the table below do not carry the 'NRSC' prefix. Irrespective of the prefix, all these courses will be accepted as Neuroscience electives.

TABLE 3: Coursework for the Neuroscience Electives.

Specific courses selected to fulfill the core requirements cannot also be counted as electives.

Sem. 

Course # 

Title 

Units 

Instructor 

Fall CMM 518 Modern Genetics’ to Fundamental Genetic Mechanisms: from Molecules to Genomes 3 Restifo/Ellis/Maggert
Fall CMM 525A Functional Human Histology 4 Elliot, Amerongen

Spring 

CMM 565A 

Fundamentals of Light Microscope and Electronic Imaging 

Elliott 

Fall 

CMM 577 

Principles of Cell Biology 

Vercelli 

Spring 

CMM 595H 

Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases

Vercelli 

Spring CMM 695D Human Genetic Disease Colloquium 3 Restifo

Spring 

ECOL 573 

Topics Behavioral Ecology 

Papaj 

Fall 

ECOL 587L 

Animal Behavior Lab 

Papaj 

Fall 

ECOL 587R 

Animal Behavior 

Papaj 

Fall 

GENE 539 

Methods Cell Biol. & Genomics 

Galbraith

Fall/Spring

GENE 670 

Recent Advances in Genetics 

Staff

Fall 

INFO 521 

Intro to Machine learning 

Morrison
Spring MATH 571B Design of Experiments 3 An
Spring MATH 585 Mathematical Modeling 3 Wang

Spring 

MCB 546 

Genetics & Molecular Networks 

Tax, Buchan

Spring 

MCB 582

Modeling Human Disease

Zarnescu 

Fall/ Spring MCB 595 MCB Journal Club 1-3 Tax
Spring NRSC 572 Neurodevelopment in Action 3 Madhavan

Spring

NRSC 695D 

Human Genetic Disease Colloq. 

Restifo 

Fall/Spring NRSC 599-057 Neuroscience and Audiology 1 Musiek
Fall/ Spring PCOL 630 A/B Cellular Communications & Signal Transduction 3 Smith

Fall 

PHCL 530

Pain/Neuropharmacology

Vanderah 

Fall

PHCL 601A 

Pharmacology: General Principles 

Staff

Fall 

PSIO 503 

Cellular & Molecular Physiology

Eggers 

Fall 

PSIO 572 

Quant. Modeling of Biol. Systems 

Secomb 

Spring

PSIO 603A 

Human Physiology 

Staff

Spring

PSY 501A 

Princip. Psychophysiology 

Allen 

Spring

PSY 501B 

Psychophysiology Laboratory 

Allen 

Spring

PSY 506A

Neural Encoding, Memory & Comprehension of Mam Brain 

Cowen

Fall 

PSY 513  

Drugs, Brain and Behavior

Cowen 

Fall PSY 595A Cognition and Neural Systems Colloquium 1 Gomez
Fall PSY 596E Biopsychology 3 Figueredo

Students and faculty are welcome to consult with the Graduate Student Advisor to determine whether neuroscience-related courses that are not listed might be acceptable as electives.

E. Minor coursework for Neuroscience students (at least 9 units are required).

Predoctoral students can pursue a minor in any established program, as determined by the guidelines of the respective program. Alternatively, the student may choose a minor in Neuroscience option that offers a flexible curriculum tailored to the student’s interests.

The minor should be selected in consultation with the dissertation advisor and must be approved by the NRSC Graduate Advisory Committee. Contact the NRSC Program Coordinator for a “Statement of Minor” form to submit for review and approval.

Examples of established programs for consideration include but are not limited to:

  • Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology & Anatomy
  • Entomology and Insect Science
  • Immunology, Genetics
  • Molecular & Cellular Biology
  • Medical Pharmacology
  • Physiological Sciences
  • Psychology
  • Speech & Hearing Sciences

F. Minor in Neuroscience for graduate students in other programs (at least 9 units are required)

The minor in Neuroscience requires:

  • Passing one of the core course NRSC 560 OR 588 (4 units)
  • 5 additional units in courses that are cross-listed in NRSC. The NRSC Colloquium course NRSC 695f is valid for the minor.

The provided information may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the Executive Committee of the Neuroscience GIDP.