Neurobiology and Behavior

In Biological Sciences .

Course Offerings  

Neurobiology and Behavior concentration covers a range of topics, all concerned in some way with what animals do and the neural mechanisms that enable them to do it. Students are required to take the introductory courses in neurobiology and behavior. Most of the faculty members associated with this concentration participate in these courses. The student then has a choice of many different second- and third-level courses that permit further exploration of areas of special interest, including social evolution, behavioral neurobiology, animal communication, and cellular and molecular neurobiology.

Neurobiology and behavior is a synthesis of many disciplines, such as physiology and anatomy, ecology, vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, biological psychology and anthropology, genetics, developmental biology, chemistry and biochemistry, physics, and mathematics. Students in this concentration are encouraged to build broad and strong academic foundations and are urged not to specialize too heavily as undergraduates. The course requirements beyond the required introductory sequence are left unspecified, so that courses may be selected from a wide range of possibilities, including not only the required upper-level course in neurobiology and behavior but also courses in the other subject areas mentioned above. Students are encouraged to get some lab or field experience, and to try out the advanced topic seminars during their senior year. Faculty advisers will help students plan their concentration, keeping in mind the students’ interests and goals.

The variety of courses offered in this concentration in neurobiology and behavior reflects the breadth of research interests of its faculty. These interests range from field and laboratory work and modeling in behavioral ecology, ontogeny and evolution of behavior, animal communication and language acquisition, and animal orientation; through sensory physiology, developmental neurophysiology, neuroethology to cellular and molecular neurobiology.

The majority of students in the Neurobiology and Behavior concentration plan further study in graduate, medical, nursing, or veterinary school. Still others enter the work force immediately following graduation in the areas of research, business or teaching.