专业描述

The BBB Program has established a new cross-school, inter-disciplinary Minor in Computational Neuroscience, which is an emerging field involving the application of quantitative methods to the analysis of neural circuits and the brain. In brief, the Minor requires eight courses, four core classes and four electives, the latter encouraging breadth. No more than five of these courses can also be used to fulfill requirements for another major or minors. We view this Minor as an effective method of bringing together and rounding out the education of students from BBB, Cognitive Science and Bioengineering, Physics, Math, and Computer Science. The minor provides quantitative skills to those already studying the brain, and teaches neuroscience to those already immersed in quantitative methodologies. More broadly, the Minor is also designed to address the challenges and opportunities for teaching quantitative methods to undergraduates preparing for careers in the life/health sciences. Many recent articles stress that future breakthroughs in medicine will come from researchers with strong quantitative backgrounds and with experience at systems-level analysis. For example, the AAMC has recently published a call to action stating that "scientific preparation for medical school should include exposure to multidisciplinary approaches to science, and quantitative approaches to biology." The new Minor in Computational Neuroscience takes such a quantitative, multi-disciplinary approach to the training of future leaders in the sciences of the brain. Regular advising will be provided by Dr. Johannes Burge for students within the BBB program who have a life-sciences background, and by Dr. Vijay Balasubramanian (Physics Department) for students from other backgrounds (physics, engineering, math). Students interested in the minor should contact the appropriate advisor before declaring the minor with the BBB Office.