Graduate training at Penn consists of three main components: coursework, laboratory rotations, and dissertation research. In the first year, students take a one-year core course reflecting the diverse nature of neuroscience. They also participate in a journal club and attend weekly seminars given by outside speakers. Laboratory rotations provide practical experience in different techniques and intellectual approaches to the nervous system. At the end of the second year, students prepare and defend a research proposal and then enter their dissertation laboratory to carry out an original thesis research project. More information can be found in the NGG's Handbook.
Campus-wide Neuroscience activities are integrated by the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences (MINS) through seminars, symposia, and annual MINS, Student-led, Behavioral Neuroscience and Systems and Integrative Biology retreats. Interaction among scientists with different backgrounds is important in an interdisciplinary field such as neuroscience, and we are particularly proud of the strong collaborative environment we have built across the NGG and the Penn community.
NGG students are very active in promoting neuroscience throughout our community. Students organize and run the annual Brain Bee for high school students and local Brain Awareness Week activities through the Society for Neuroscience. With Penn's undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program, NGG students help organize and run activities in the annual Kids Judge Neuroscience! fair for elementary school students. For many years, NGG students have also organized and run neuroscience lectures for high school students through Penn's Upward Bound program during the summer and on selected Saturdays during the year. These activities and the students that make them possible are highlighted at the annual Flexner Lecture and Dinner, held in October.
The NGG is administered by the Program Chair, Rita Balice-Gordon, a Vice-Chair, Tracy Bale, and three Directors (Admissions and Recruiting - Kelly Jordan-Scuitto, Curriculum - Josh Gold, and Student Advising and Academic Review - Marc Schmidt). The NGG wouldn't function without its two dedicated administrators:
Jane Hoshi (MINS and NGG Assistant Director)
and
Angela Gilmore (MINS and NGG Coordinator).
NGG's home base, and Jane Hoshi and Angela Gilmore's offices, are in 140 John Morgan, known as the Barchi Library.
There are also several standing Committees that help the NGG in various ways: Academic Review Committee (ARC), Ph.D. Admissions, M.D./Ph.D. Admissions, Awards, Membership, and Student Lab Rotation Talks. Click here for a list of NGG faculty on these Committees for 2009-2010.