Glenn I. Hatton, Ph.D., Director
Program Office, 1208 Spieth Hall
(909) 787-5913; http://cnas.ucr.edu/~neuro/gtrain.htm

Professors
Michael E. Adams, Ph.D. (Neuroscience and Entomology)
G. John Anderson, Ph.D. (Psychology)
John H. Ashe, Ph.D. (Neuroscience and Psychology)
Christine Chiarello, Ph.D. (Psychology)
Glenn I. Hatton, Ph.D. (Neuroscience)
Werner G. Kuhr, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
Thomas H. Morton, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
B. Glenn Stanley, Ph.D. (Neuroscience and Psychology)
Raphael Zidovetzki, Ph.D. (Neuroscience)

Associate Professors
Curt Burgess, Ph.D. (Psychology)
Richard A. Cardullo, Ph.D. (Biology)
Scott N. Currie, Ph.D. (Neuroscience)
Walter H. Metzner, Ph.D. (Biology)

Assistant Professors
Bruce N. Cohen, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences)
Margarita C. Currás-Collazo, Ph.D. (Neuroscience)
Peter W. Hickmott, Ph.D. (Psychology)
Manuela Martins-Green, Ph.D. (Neuroscience)

The goal of this program is to prepare students for careers in research, teaching and scientific administration. The program is aimed at providing high-quality graduate training for students who come from a variety of undergraduate backgrounds but share a commitment and an intense interest in nervous system research. Students will be expected to learn the fundamentals of neuroscience, starting with a required core sequence, become knowledgeable concerning a range of research methods as taught in neuroscience laboratories, and demonstrate capability in original research. Graduate student training will reflect the research competence and specialties of the faculty. That is, the specific research training received by a graduate student will be the responsibility of the major professor/mentor in whose laboratory the student carries out the research projects leading to the degree. Students will benefit from an interdisciplinary training approach, tailored by the major advisor but enriched by the readily available expertise and laboratory facilities of program faculty with backgrounds ranging from chemistry to psychology.

Current UCR Neuroscience faculty have their major appointments in several different departments, but there is a considerable degree of common interest in research problems and techniques. Furthermore, the three chief levels of analysis at which nervous systems are currently studied (molecular/cellular, systems, and behavioral) are more or less evenly represented by the interests and expertise of the faculty. Some faculty, as may be expected, carry out research programs that combine two or more of these levels of analysis. These levels of analysis, which characterize the faculty's research, indicate the breadth of integrated neuroscience at UCR, but do not represent "fields of emphasis" in which students are to be trained. Areas of expertise of the current faculty are as follows.

•  physiological actions of ion channel toxins
•  modulation of ion channels by neurotransmitters and hormones
•  synaptic transmission and neural plasticity in mammalian nervous systems
•  signal transduction in excitable cells
•  ionic interrelationships and the process of exocytosis
•  molecular biology of ion channel structure and function
•  receptor-channel interactions
•  function of ligand-gated ion channels in neurons
•  influence of specific receptor proteins on function
•  synaptic and non-synaptic mechanisms in neuroendocrine systems
•  plasticity in adult CNS
•  molecular mechanisms of neuronal development
•  development of chemical sensors for real-time measurement of chemical dynamics in brain
•  synaptic and cellular mechanisms of sensory-motor processing in the spinal cord
•  sensory-motor control in mammalian auditory and vocal systems and in related systems
•  neural control of eating behaviors
•  neural basis of language and reading
•  cerebral hemisphere asymmetries and hemispheric interaction
•  neurolinguistics
•  computational models of high-dimensional memory

Applicants must meet the general admissions requirements of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate and the UCR Graduate Council as set forth in the UC Riverside General Catalog, including completion of an undergraduate degree (B.S. or B.A.). Applicants should have an adequate background in biological and physical sciences, ideally including courses in the following or equivalent areas: General Biology, Genetics, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and Statistics. Additionally, at least 20 quarter-units of courses distributed among the following areas are required, although applicants may be admitted with limited coursework deficiencies and required to make up deficiencies as specified by the Admissions Committee: Biochemistry; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology; Physiology; Behavioral Biology; Learning and Memory; Perception; Computer Science; and Neuroscience, Neurobiology, or Physiological Psychology, with laboratory.

DOCTORAL DEGREE

Core requirements include:

1.  NRSC 200A-NRSC 200B-NRSC 200C/PSYC 200A-PSYC 200B-PSYC 200C

2.  One Research Methods course selected from BCH 222, BIOL 211, CHEM 125, CHEM 221A, CHEM 221B, CHEM 221C, CHEM 221D, PSYC 211, PHYS 139L

3.  Two courses or one course sequence selected from the following: BCH 110A-BCH 110B-BCH 110C, BCH 241/CHEM 241, BIOL 177, BIOL 200A-BIOL 200B, BIOL 203, BMSC 210A-BMSC 210B, BMSC 220, BMSC 230, ENTM 206 and ENTM 206L, PSYC 203A, PSYC 203B, PSYC 203C

Which of these course options are most appropriate to the student's career goals will be determined by the student in consultation with his/her guidance committee.

4.  During each quarter in academic residence every student will enroll and participate in the Colloquium in Neuroscience (NRSC 257 or NRSC 287), and, until passing the oral qualifying examination, every student will take at least two seminars, Special Topics in Neuroscience (NRSC 289, 2 units), during each year of academic residence. One seminar per year will be required after the qualifying examination is passed.

5.  After completing the course requirements and no later than the ninth quarter in residence, the student will be given a two-part qualifying examination, one written and one oral.

6.  Regardless of whether financial support comes from Fellowships or Research Assistantships, etc., each student will be required to be a Teaching Assistant for at least two quarters in Neuroscience or related-area courses, such as those taught by their mentors.

7.  Within three months of advancement to candidacy, the student will be required to submit a written dissertation proposal to the Dissertation Committee for comments and approval. Before the dissertation is given final approval, the student must present a public lecture on the dissertation research to faculty and students in the program. Following the public lecture, the student will meet with the Dissertation Committee for an oral defense in accordance with the regulations of the Graduate Division.

The normative time to the Ph.D. degree is 16 quarters.