Neuroscience Student Handbook
Page 1
Document Title
Neuroscience Graduate Program
Student Handbook
Neuroscience Student Handbook
Page 2
Table of Contents
Vanderbilt Neuroscience Graduate Program Handbook
Bruce Carter, Ph.D. Roz Johnson, B.B.A.
Director of Graduate Studies Graduate Educaon Program Manager
Professor of Biochemistry Oce locaon: D2220 MCN
Oce Locaon: 625 Light Hall
Contents
How to use this book
Who We Are
Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Neuroscience Graduate Program
Vanderbilt Brain Instute Leadership and Administrave Sta
Graduate School Academic Regulaons
Becoming a Neuroscience Graduate Student
Program Requirements
Length of Training
Lab Rotaon and Advisor selecon
Grades and Addional Expectaons
Responsible Conduct of Research, Ethics, and Honor Code
Financial Support
Qualifying for Ph.D. Candidacy
Dissertaon Research, Meengs and Defense
Life Aer Ph.D.
Neuroscience Student Handbook
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How to use this handbook
The purpose of this Handbook is to help trainees make opmal use of the me they will
invest in their graduate training in neuroscience. The Handbook provides informaon about
the goals and global structure of the Neuroscience Graduate Program to assist students in
ascertaining if these features of the Program are compable with their training and career
goals. Addionally, this Handbook outlines Program requirements that are currently in
place so that students have an understanding of the pivotal events and achievements
associated with successful compleon of training in Vanderbilt’s Neuroscience Graduate
Program, and it provides students with an esmate of the ming of these events.
While it is the goal of the sta to keep this Handbook as up-to-date and applicable to
Program and Graduate School requirements as possible, the student must understand that
the administraon of such a vast Program is dynamic, with changes constantly being
suggested or mandated as the academic year goes on. The Program will be modied over
me according to the evolving needs of trainees and to keep the Program at the leading
edge of training innovaon and excellence. Therefore, the Neuroscience Graduate Student
Handbook should not be used as an immutable statement of requirements and metables
for Vanderbilt’s Neuroscience Graduate Program. This Handbook makes no guarantees as to
the requirements of the program over the enre me of a student’s matriculaon. Instead,
the guidelines outlined herein are only ocial as of the date of the Handbook’s publicaon.
Because the Graduate Program Handbook will be connually updated to reect Program
modicaons, the Handbook should be used as a preliminary rst step for informaon
about the requirements of the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Students should be sure to
check over the handbook at least once a year to be sure they are aware of any Program
developments occurring in the interim. Always conrm Neuroscience Program
requirements with the Director of Graduate Studies, the Program manager, or other
Program ocials. Always conrm Graduate School requirements with the appropriate
Graduate School ocial.
Welcome to the Vanderbilt Neuroscience Graduate Program; you have made a great
decision!
Roz Johnson, B.B.A.
Program Manager
Neuroscience Student Handbook
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Who We Are
Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Welcome to the Vanderbilt Brain Instute! We are delighted that you have taken a minute
to look at our website, and to learn a bit about the exceponal neuroscience community at
Vanderbilt University. The VBI was founded in 1999 as a Trans-instuonal enty to
oversee and facilitate the extensive neuroscience-related endeavors carried out on the
Vanderbilt campuses. As such, our primary mission is to promote research, educaon and
training in the brain-related disciplines here at Vanderbilt, with the stated goal of fostering
excellence in each of these arenas. Our ranks have grown amazingly in these past eleven
years, and we are now comprised of nearly 500 faculty, students and sta who engage in
neuroscience-directed research, training and clinical service. These individuals are
distributed throughout the Vanderbilt campus, and represent 5 colleges, 24 departments
and 27 centers and instutes. One of the primary responsibilies of the VBI is to
administer the Neuroscience Graduate Program; one of the naon is leading programs in
the predoctoral training of students interested in neuroscience. The Neuroscience
Graduate Program is currently made up of 73 graduate students and 109 training faculty,
and consistently ranks at the top of naonal lisngs of neuroscience graduate programs.
The Vanderbilt Neuroscience Graduate Program oers research opportunies for our
trainees that span the breadth of contemporary neuroscience, and includes laboratories
conducng basic, translaonal and clinical research.
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Neuroscience Graduate Program
Vanderbilt’s Neuroscience Graduate Program prepares each student to make signicant
contribuons in neuroscience and fosters development from trainee to independent
research scienst and educator. This is achieved by combining sound training in the
fundamentals of neural science with more specialized training that focuses on the
integraon of this knowledge base into a study of nervous system funcon and disease.
Students have the opon of a curriculum and research program that emphasizes two
paths, one based on rst developing a strong biomedical knowledge base, and one
based on rapid integraon into neuroscience principles. The training, which combines
rigorous course work with opportunies for state-of-the-art research, is designed to
prepare graduates for a future in which neurosciensts must be able to make the
transion from molecules and cells to neural systems and behavior.
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Neuroscience Student Handbook
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Vanderbilt Brain Instute Team
Leadership
Lisa Monteggia, Ph.D.
Director, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program
Professor, Pharmacology, Psychology, and Psychiatry
Bruce Carter, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Educaon & Training, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Director of Graduate Studies – Neuroscience Graduate Program
Professor, Biochemistry
Ron Emeson, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Joel G. Hardman and Mary K. Parr Professor of Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Molecular
Physiology and Biophysics and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Chair, Instuonal Animal Care and Use Commiee
Susana Herculano-Houzel, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Communicaons, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Associate Professor, Biological Sciences and Psychology
Douglas G. McMahon, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Neuroscience Training Program
Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences
Professor, Pharmacology
Danny Winder, Ph.D.
Co- Director, Neuroscience Training Program
Director, Vanderbilt Center for Addicon Research (VCAR)
Bixler-Johnson-Mayes Professor, Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, Pharmacology, and
Psychiatry
Sta
Pammy Doss
Execuve Assistant, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Rosalind (Roz) Johnson, BBA
Graduate Educaon Program Manager
Darlene Pope, BA
Execuve Assistant, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
Amber Pursley
Administrave Manager, Vanderbilt Brain Instute
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Vanderbilt Graduate School Academic Regulaons
(excerpted from the Vanderbilt Graduate School catalog)
hps://www.vanderbilt.edu/catalogs/documents/graduate.pdf
Academic Regulaons
VANDERBILT’S students are bound by the Honor System inaugurated in 1875. Fundamental responsibility for
the preservaon of the system inevitably falls on the individual student. It is assumed that students will
demand of themselves and their fellow students complete respect for the Honor System. All work submied
as a part of course requirements is presumed to be the product of the student subming it unless credit is
given by the student in the manner prescribed by the course instructor. Cheang, plagiarizing, or otherwise
falsifying results of study are specically prohibited under the Honor System. The system applies not only to
examinaons but also to wrien work and computer programs submied to instructors. The student, by
registraon, acknowledges the authority of the Graduate Honor Council. The university’s Oce of Student
Accountability has original jurisdicon in all cases of non-academic misconduct involving graduate and
professional students. Students are expected to become familiar with the Rules Governing the Graduate
Honor Council of Vanderbilt University, available at the me of registraon. It contains the constuon and
bylaws of the Graduate Student Honor Council, Appellate Review Board, and related regulaons. Detailed
descripons of Honor System violaons and procedures are also available on the web at studentorg.
vanderbilt.edu/gsc/honor-council.
Academic Requirements
Candidates for graduate degrees must have sasfactorily completed all residency, academic course, and
thesis or dissertaon requirements, have passed all prescribed examinaons, and be free of indebtedness to
the university at the me of graduaon. The academic requirements described on the following pages have
been established by the Graduate faculty and are applicable to all graduate students at Vanderbilt. Individual
degree programs may have addional requirements. Students are advised to refer to the various program
descripons listed in this catalog and to consult their major advisers for requirements in the specialty of
interest. Students who were compleng undergraduate or advanced degrees at the me of their admission
must provide to the Graduate School, before inial registraon, an ocial nal transcript showing that the
degree has been received and the date it was granted.
Responsible Conduct in Research
Vanderbilt University has an obligaon to model, teach, and acvely promote the responsible conduct of
research in scholarship and science. Research integrity is fundamental to good research and crosses all
disciplines and areas of focus. Vanderbilt’s approach incorporates online and discussion- based content
based on the individual’s experience level and discipline. In addion to online educaon, individuals are
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expected to parcipate in discussion-based sessions to further explore the issues and challenges in
conducng ethical research and scholarship.
Intent to Graduate
An Intent to Graduate form must be submied during the semester in which the student expects to receive a
degree. Graduaon dates are available at the Graduate School website, vanderbilt.edu/gradschool. Students
can access the forms for the end-of-term conferral dates at the student’s landing site in YES, three weeks
aer the start of the semester. These forms are submied electronically and should be submied within
eight weeks of the start of the semester. If a student plans to graduate “IntraTerm” (January 31, February 28,
March 31, May 31, June 30, August 31, September 30, October 31), these forms can be found at the
Graduate School website and are to be submied to the Graduate School at least een days prior to the
conferral date.
Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
The degree of doctor of philosophy is awarded in recognion of high aainment in a special eld of
knowledge, as evidenced by examinaon and by a dissertaon presenng the results of independent
research. General requirements are listed below. In many programs there are addional requirements, and
students should carefully check regulaons in their parcular programs.
Admission to Candidacy
Admission to the Graduate School does not imply admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. To be
admied to candidacy the student must sasfy the language requirements, if any, in the program, and must
pass a qualifying examinaon. The examinaon must be scheduled and passed within four years of the
student being admied to the program. Upon peon to the Graduate School, a one-year extension may be
granted to complete this requirement. The examinaon will be administered by the student’s Ph.D.
commiee, which will supervise subsequent work toward the degree. Upon compleon of these
requirements the Ph.D. commiee will recommend to the Graduate School that the student be admied to
candidacy.
Residence and Course Work
The Ph.D. degree requires at least three academic years of graduate study. A student must complete 72
hours of graduate work for credit, of which a minimum of 24 hours in formal, didacc course and seminar
work in the Vanderbilt Graduate School is required. In most programs students are required to present
considerably more hours in formal course work than the 24-hour minimum. The remainder of the 72 hours,
above the program requirements in formal course hours, may be in dissertaon research hours, in special
readings, and in transfer credit if applicable. Performance in dissertaon research does not aect the grade
point average. “Formal, didacc course work” is approved courses taken for credit other than thesis and
dissertaon research courses. Students should check departmental regulaons for the number of “formal
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course” hours required for their parcular program. All students working full me toward the Ph.D. must
register each fall and spring semester. When the required 72 hours of course work have been completed,
registraon for dissertaon research without hourly credit applies; this reects full-me eort on research
and confers full-me student status. The minimum tuion of $200 is charged.
Qualifying Examinaon
The purpose of the qualifying examinaon is to test the student’s knowledge of the eld of specializaon, to
assess familiarity with the published research in the eld, and to determine whether the student possesses
those crical and analyc skills needed for a scholarly career. The examinaon is conducted by a Ph.D.
commiee appointed by the Graduate School on advice of the chair or director of graduate studies of the
program. The commiee consists of not fewer than four members of the Graduate faculty. Three of the
members must be graduate faculty from within the student’s department/program and one from outside the
program. Any variaon of the commiee makeup must be approved by the Graduate School. The commiee
must be appointed by the Graduate School no less than two weeks before the me the student expects to
take the qualifying examinaon. Graduate faculty include all full-me tenured and tenure-track Vanderbilt
University faculty members with primary appointments in departments or programs oering the M.A., M.S.,
and/or Ph.D. degrees. Those tenured or tenure- track faculty having secondary appointments in departments
oering the M.A., M.S., and/or Ph.D. degrees will also be considered Graduate faculty members.
Appointment of other faculty members to the Graduate faculty can occur upon recommendaon by the
faculty member’s department and with the approval of the Graduate School. Such appointment would
require a majority vote by the Graduate faculty of the department/program, plus the recommendaon of the
chair/director of graduate studies and approval by the Graduate School. Such appointments are restricted to
full-me faculty members with the rank of assistant professor or above, with a primary or secondary
appointment in programs oering the M.A., M.S., and/or Ph.D. degree. Faculty members appointed to the
Graduate faculty in this manner have all the privileges of Graduate faculty, including supervising graduate
students’ research Other faculty can be assigned some dues normally reserved for Graduate faculty on the
recommendaon of the chair and/or director of graduate studies of the department and with the approval of
the Graduate School. The dues assigned must be specied and me-limited, e.g. membership on a Ph.D.
commiee or teaching a graduate-level class/ seminar in a parcular semester. On occasion, these dues
within a program or department may be specied without a specic me limit, e.g. standard graduate
teaching dues or membership on any Ph.D. commiee in the program. Faculty with limited responsibilies
will not be permied to direct theses or dissertaons. Faculty members, or others carrying out research or
scholarship from outside universies, may also be appointed to serve on a specic student’s Ph.D. commiee
without being considered for Graduate faculty status, e.g., a faculty member from outside of Vanderbilt, a
faculty member from a professional school such as law or medicine, or a scienst working in a naonal
laboratory, with the approvals of the director of graduate studies or chair of the student’s department and of
the Graduate School. The request to appoint someone in this manner must be accompanied by a short leer
of juscaon explaining what experse this person brings to the student’s commiee along with a copy of
the faculty member’s curriculum vitae.
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The funcons of the Ph.D. commiee are (a) to administer the qualifying examinaon, (b) to approve the
dissertaon subject, (c) to aid the student and monitor the progress of the dissertaon, and (d) to read and
approve the dissertaon and administer the nal oral examinaon. The qualifying examinaon may be
administered at any me during the school year and shall be completed within a period of four weeks.
Before a qualifying examinaon can be scheduled, the student must have completed at least 24 hours of
graduate work (to include all course work required for the degree) and the language requirement, if any. In
some programs the student may be required to demonstrate basic competence in the discipline through a
wrien preliminary examinaon prior to the actual qualifying examinaon. All departments and other units
oering Ph.D. programs must set a maximum me limit within which a student, under normal circumstances,
is required to take the qualifying examinaon. That maximum me limit must not exceed four years. The
qualifying examinaon may be wrien or oral, or both. The Graduate School must be noed of the me and
place of the qualifying examinaon at least two weeks in advance. The qualifying examinaon is not a public
examinaon, and voice recordings of it are not permied. A student is allowed only two opportunies to
pass the qualifying examinaon. The qualifying examinaon results form, signed by the commiee members
and the director of graduate studies for the program, shall be forwarded to the Graduate School immediately
aer the examinaon. When the student has passed the qualifying examinaon, the Ph.D. commiee shall
recommend to the Graduate School that the student be admied to candidacy for the degree.
Dissertaon
A candidate for the Ph.D. degree must present an acceptable dissertaon. The dissertaon demonstrates
that the candidate has technical competence in the eld and has done research of an independent character.
It must add to or modify what was previously known, or present a signicant interpretaon of the subject
based upon original invesgaon. The subject of the dissertaon must be approved by the student’s faculty
adviser and Ph.D. commiee. The dissertaon must be completed within four years aer a student has been
admied to candidacy for the degree. Upon peon to the Graduate School, a one-year extension of
candidacy may be granted. If such a period has expired without successful compleon of the dissertaon, the
student may be dismissed from the Graduate School. Readmission to the Graduate School, and to candidacy,
requires applicaon to the Graduate School, with approval of the program faculty. In such cases the student
may be required, by the Graduate School or by the Ph.D. commiee, to demonstrate competence for
readmission by taking a qualifying examinaon or addional course work. The candidate should submit a
copy of the completed dissertaon to the Ph.D. commiee at least two weeks prior to the dissertaon
defense. The commiee reviews the dissertaon and conducts the nal examinaon. Final copies of the
approved dissertaon should be submied to the Graduate School. Electronic submission is required. Style
specicaons, fees, and further details are listed at vanderbilt.edu/gradschool. One copy of the tle page,
with the original signatures of not less than a majority of the Ph.D. commiee, and one copy of an abstract of
not more than three hundred y words, signed by the student’s adviser, must be turned in to the Graduate
School by the date specied in the calendar secon of this catalog. To submit their dissertaons
electronically, students should revise the tle page, convert the documents to a PDF le, and upload the
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document on the Electronic Theses and Dissertaons (ETD) website, vireo.library.vanderbilt.edu.
Dissertaons are intended to be of benet to the academic community and to society in general, and thus
are required to be publicly available. This is accomplished by placing a copy in the Vanderbilt Instuonal
Repository. In some instances, students may request a delay in the release or posng of their dissertaons
for a limited me period. This can be done, for example, to protect intellectual property, to allow me to le
a patent applicaon, or to coordinate with the ming of publicaon in another form. In no circumstance will
the release of the dissertaon be delayed for more than two years. Unless requested for a shorter period of
me, any request to delay public release will expire at the end of two years and the Graduate School will
proceed with the public release through the library. For students who choose to register the copyright with
the U.S. Copyright Oce, the Graduate School will help facilitate the process. Registraon is not required to
ensure copyright protecon for your work, but certain addional rights are gained by virtue of registraon.
All applicable fees must be paid at the me the dissertaon is turned in to the Graduate School. The abstract
is published in Dissertaon Abstracts, which publicizes the compleon of the dissertaon and announces its
availability on microlm.
Final Examinaon
The candidate must pass his or her dissertaon defense at least fourteen days before the end of the term in
which the degree is to be conferred, or by April 1 for May graduaon. The nal oral examinaon is
administered by the student’s Ph.D. commiee and is on the dissertaon and signicant related material; the
student is expected to demonstrate an understanding of the larger context in which the dissertaon lies. The
public is invited to aend the nal examinaon, which is announced in advance in Vanderbilt’s electronic
calendar. The chair of the Ph.D. commiee or the director of graduate studies of the program, aer
consultaon with the candidate, shall nofy the Graduate School in advance of the place and me of the
examinaon and the tle of the dissertaon. This should be done no later than two weeks prior to the
examinaon. The Graduate School then formally noes the Ph.D. commiee and submits the defense
noce to Vanderbilt’s electronic calendar. The dissertaon defense results form, signed by the commiee
members and the director of graduate studies for the program, should be forwarded immediately to the
Graduate School.
Registraon
The normal academic load for full-me registraon is 9 to 13 hours in the fall and spring semesters. Students
registered for 9 or more credit hours in fall or spring are dened as full me. Those registered for 7 or 8
hours in fall or spring are considered three-quarter me, those registered for 6 hours in fall or spring are half
me, and those registered for less than 6 hours in fall or spring are less than half me. In the summer term, 6
or more hours is dened as full me, 5 hours is three-quarter me, 3 to 4 hours is half me, and less than 3
hours is less than half me. Aer compleng the hourly requirements for the degree, full-me students
register for master’s (7999) or Ph.D. (8999, 9999) research without hourly credit to reect full-me eort on
research. Certain programs oer a half-me Ph.D. research course (9999) for students who are able to
devote only half-me eort to dissertaon research.
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Grading System
The grading system in the Graduate School includes the leer grades A, B, C, and F. A student will not be
granted graduate credit for any course in which a grade less than C– is received. Courses not designated as
eligible to be repeated for credit may be repeated for grade replacement purposes. If a course was failed the
last me it was taken, credit is awarded when the course is repeated with a passing grade. If a course was
previously passed, no new credit will be earned. If a course previously passed is repeated and failed, credit
originally earned for it is lost. In any case all grades earned are shown on the transcript. The most recent
grade in a course replaces the previous grade in determining credit, in compung the grade point average,
and in verifying the compleon of degree requirements and progress toward the degree. Passed courses may
be repeated only once. Failed courses may be repeated any number of mes unl passed. The leer I may be
used at the discreon of the instructor in those cases in which the student is not able to complete work in
the normal me. The notaon W is entered onto the transcript when a student withdraws from a course or
from the Graduate School.
A grade point average of 3.0 is required for graduaon. Leer grades are assigned grade point values as
follows:
A+ = 4.0, A = 4.0,A– = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B– = 2.7, C+ = 2.3, C = 2.0, C– = 1.7, F = 0.0
S/U grades are given every semester for all research courses (7999, 8999, and 9999), regardless of the
number of hours registered. The accumulaon of three (3) U grades over the course of study will lead to
dismissal from the program and the Graduate School. No credit will be granted for courses in which a grade
of U is received. Students receive grades in all courses except those approved for credit/non-credit, audits,
and some seminars. An I that is not replaced by a leer grade within one year may be changed to the grade F
at the discreon of the instructor; otherwise, the I may become permanent and remain on the transcript as
such. Certain courses approved by the graduate faculty for credit/ non-credit or Pass/Fail count toward total
hours. Courses that are strictly no-credit, however, do not count toward total hours or in calculang grade
point average, although grades for such courses are entered on the student’s record. With the instructor’s
permission, students are permied to audit certain courses. Students who audit are expected to aend the
course regularly. Students must be registered for regular courses in order to audit. Audits are listed on the
student’s transcript. Audits are limited to two per semester.
Further Requirements
It should be understood that the requirements stated above are minimum and that individual programs may
add others. Students are urged to consult individual program entries in this catalog and departmental chairs
and directors of graduate studies to learn the requirements of programs in which they are interested.
For addional educaonal requirements and informaon, please review the Graduate Catalog at the link
listed above.
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Becoming a Neuroscience Graduate Student
Program Requirements
Bruce Carter, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies
Vanderbilt's Neuroscience Graduate Program prepares each student to make
signicant contribuons in neuroscience and fosters development from trainee to
independent research scienst and educator. This is achieved by combining sound
training in the fundamentals of neural science with more specialized training that
focuses on the integraon of this knowledge base into a study of nervous system
funcon and disease. The training, which combines rigorous course work with
opportunies for state-of-the-art research, is designed to prepare graduates for a
future in which neurosciensts must be able to make the transion from molecules
and cells to neural systems and behavior.
Summary of Requirements
Students can enter the Neuroscience Graduate through the Interdisciplinary
Graduate Program (IGP), or be directly admied into the Neuroscience Graduate
Program (NGP), or through the Medical Scienst Training Program (MSTP). As
spulated by the Vanderbilt University Graduate School, 72 total hours of graduate
credit is required for the Neuroscience Ph.D. degree with a minimum of 27 hours of
didacc (classroom) coursework and the balance of up to 48 credits of research
hours. In most cases didacc course work will be completed during the rst two
years. At the end of the second year, a Ph.D. Qualifying Examinaon must be
sasfactorily completed for the student to then be admied into doctoral candidacy
for a Ph.D. degree in neuroscience. If needed, remaining course elecves may be
taken following the Qualifying Examinaon aer a student completes the qualifying
process, the student's eort is largely directed towards compleng her/his
dissertaon project. The average me to degree in our program is just over 5 years.
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In addion to the academic requirements described below, every student is
required to complete Teaching Apprenceship/Assistantship in at least one course
during graduate training. Also, students are required to aend the Neuroscience
Graduate Program Seminar series, Research Forum, and the Annual Neuroscience
Retreat.
Didacc Requirements
All neuroscience graduate students are required to take a minimum of 24 hours of
coursework by the me they are ready for qualifying exams in the summer and fall
of their second to third years. Besides the 24 non-research credits required,
students have the opon to take addional elecves and research hours, up to a
total of 12 credits (including required courses) per semester.
Required Courses (1
st
and 2
nd
year students):
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Page 16
All Students:
Second year
SUMMER: Qualifying Examinaon; Research Hours.
Third year
* FALL: Research Forum; Research Hours.
* SPRING: Research Forum; Research Hours.
* SUMMER: Research Hours.
Fourth and Fih years
Successful compleon of Teaching Apprenceship, Research Forum and
Neuroscience Graduate Seminars; thesis Research and Defense of Thesis.
The 2
nd
year trainee will meet with the Program Director (Dr.Lisa Monteggia) and the Director
of Graduate Studies (Dr. Bruce Carter) during the academic year of their second year to
IGP Entry
Bioregulaon I & II
Fundamentals of Neuroscience I and II (NURO 8340 and 8345)
Neurobiology of Disease (NURO 8365)
Neuroscience Discussions I & II (NURO 8325 & 8326 )
Neuroscience Research Forum, (NURO 8320, mulple semesters)
Elecves
NGP Direct Entry
Lab Rotaon (NURO 8302, rst year of Graduate Program, 2 semesters)
Fundamentals of Neuroscience I and II (NURO 8340 and 8345)
Neurobiology of Disease (NURO 8365)
Neuroscience Discussions I & II (NURO 8325 & 8326)
Neuroscience Research Forum, (NURO 8320, mulple semesters)
Elecves
MSTP Entry – see “Compass” MSTP handbook.
MSTP Seminar (rst year in program)
Fundamentals of Neuroscience I and II (NURO 8340 and 8345)
Neuroscience Discussions I & II (NURO 8325, & 8326)
Neuroscience Research Forum, (NURO 8320, mulple semesters)
Elecves
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Page 17
discuss any concerns or issues as students of the program before qualifying exam.
These meets will be setup for every other month basis during academic year.
Accumulang Credits
72 credit hours are required to graduate with the Ph.D. degree from Vanderbilt
University. This includes the required minimum 27 credits from the didacc
coursework in addion to any elecves; MSTP students are limited to 27 total
didacc credits. The hours of course work may be increased (but not decreased),
with a corresponding reducon in research hours. The required neuroscience
courses are the same for MSTP students who have entered the Neuroscience
Graduate Program, and elecves will be determined for each individual based on
research interests and courses completed in the rst two years of medical study.
MSTP students must take the MSTP Seminar course (IGP 310) unl all 72 graduate
hours are earned. All graduate students who have completed their required 72
credit hours will be required to register for NURO 8399 (Ph.D. Dissertaon
Research) for 0 credits unl they graduate.
Outcomes, Monitoring and Progress
Over the past 10 years, the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Vanderbilt has had
exceponal success in placing graduates in premier postdoctoral fellowships at
research instuons worldwide. The average me to degree for the program during
this period has been 5.2 years. The program has numerous milestones for assessing
student progress during the course of their graduate training. The most tangible of
these for prequalifying students is the Research Forum – a works in progress
presentaon to the enre program, which is mandatory for all students in years 3
and 4. In addion, course directors and the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)
closely monitor progress. Once the student has successfully passed into doctoral
candidacy, primary oversight shis on to the thesis commiee, which meets at a
maximum interval of every 9 months in order to assess progress and provide
feedback on the student’s project. Students should prepare a brief summary of
their progress and distribute it to the commiee 1 week before the meeng.
Lab Rotaon and Advisor selecon
During their rst year of matriculaon, each student is required to perform experimental
work in dierent laboratories. Students entering through the IGP will supply the IGP
Director with a list of approved faculty with whom that student would like to rotate. The
selecon, however, is ulmately Dr. Paon’s. Students in the IGP that are interested in
neuroscience are encouraged to perform their research rotaons with training faculty of
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the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Once an IGP student has selected a faculty advisor,
the student and advisor must submit a formal request for admission into the Neuroscience
Graduate Program. The rst step is to make an appointment with the DGS, who will
explain the requirements and expectaons of the Program and determine the student’s
interest and commitment to a neuroscience career. A subcommiee of the Neuroscience
Steering Commiee evaluates candidates and selects who will be admied. Students
entering the NGP directly perform laboratory rotaons in their rst year under the
guidance of the DGS. Students should take care to diligently evaluate the research
programs of Neuroscience training faculty, and rotate in the labs of those that they deem
most compable with their goals. These laboratory rotaons provide an early opportunity
for research experience and an introducon to some of the many techniques used to
invesgate neuroscience problems. Of greater importance is that the laboratory rotaons
familiarize students with the science and working environments of potenal dissertaon
advisors. Typically, each rotaon lasts for one semester and the student chooses a mentor
by the end of the spring semester of rst year. A third oponal rotaon can be performed
in the summer between the rst and second years, if necessary or desirable. It is
incumbent on all Cognive and Systems students to have arranged for a faculty
dissertaon mentor, in consultaon with the DGS and Director, before the beginning of fall
semester of their second year. Failure to do so will be considered a lack of sucient
progress. To receive academic credit for their rotaons, students should register for NURO
-302 on the secon number for their rotaon faculty member. At the beginning of each
semester, each student should email the DGS with their mentor selecon.
Grades and Addional Expectaons
Grades
The scale of grades in the Graduate School ranges from A (4.0) to C (2.0) to F (0).
Connued nancial support and good standing in the Neuroscience Graduate Program
requires course grades of at least a B (3.0) average and taking a full course load (at least 8
hours) each semester. A student who fails to earn this minimum grade point average or
who earns a C or lower in any course will be placed on academic probaon. If a second
grade of C or less is earned by a student, he/she is subject to dismissal from the
Neuroscience Graduate Program. A special note concerning grades: research grades
(NURO 8379 and 8399) are now on a “Sasfactory/Unsasfactory” system (S or U). A “U” is
considered a sign that a student is not performing up to the expectaons of her/his
dissertaon advisor. Thus, if a student earns a “U” in research, the student should speak to
his/her dissertaon advisor and discover where his/her research performance is not
meeng expectaons. The accumulaon of three (3) U grades over the course of study will
lead to dismissal from the Program and the Graduate School.
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Addional Expectaons
In addion to earning 72 course work and research hours and maintaining at least a B
average, there are addional Program requirements.
1. Every student is required to complete a Teaching Apprenceship/Assistantship in at
least one course during graduate training, recommended during year 4 or 5 but
partly determined by support mechanism and program needs.
2. Neuroscience Graduate Program students are required to aend the weekly
Neuroscience Graduate Program Seminar series, Research Forum meengs, and
the Annual Neuroscience Retreat. Students who are in their third year at Vanderbilt
or beyond are required to do either a poster or oral presentaon at the retreat.
3. Students beyond the second year are encouraged to parcipate in outreach
opportunies aorded through the Vanderbilt Brain Instute. Details of these
addional requirements are described in the secon on Addional Informaon
Regarding Training Requirements and Opportunies.
4. While not required, all students are encouraged to aend topic-specic journal
club meengs, and Cognive & Systems track students are encouraged to aend
the Psychology Neuroscience Seminar.
5. Throughout graduate training, students are expected to engage in scholarly
acvies, such as studying the scienc literature with the goal of integrang this
new informaon into their own research quesons, and aending lectures, journal
clubs, and scienc meengs in order to keep abreast of the most recent scienc
achievements.
Meeng these and other expectaons will foster a student’s professional development,
establishing a scienc lifestyle of learning that will persist throughout his/her professional
career.
Addional Informaon Regarding Training Requirements and Opportunies
Seminars: In addion to didacc course and laboratory research requirements, all students
in the Neuroscience Graduate Program are required to aend the Neuroscience Graduate
Seminars series. The series presents lectures by naonally renowned invesgators
conducng state-of-the-art research, allowing graduate students and faculty to keep
abreast of ongoing achievements in neuroscience research. Students in the program may
be asked to meet with vising lecturers in the Neuroscience Graduate Seminar Series,
expanding their professional contacts with leading researchers. Students are also required
to aend Neuroscience Research Forum; in which trainees have the opportunity to
present their own research to their fellow trainees (students in their rst year are
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expected to present a paper in a journal club format). Seminars presented by the Kennedy
Center for Research on Human Development, the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, the
Departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology in the College of Arts and Science, and
medical school departments further enhance the neuroscience graduate students' access
to sciensts and research breakthroughs in related disciplines. In addion, departments at
Vanderbilt oer journal clubs that focus on specic areas within neuroscience. Students
are encouraged to aend these seminars.
Teaching Assistant:
Another component of every neuroscience graduate student’s training is the TA-ship,
which provides experience in preparing and giving lectures and exposes the student to the
responsibilies and dues of a course director. Opportunies are made available for every
student to assist in one or more of the required or elecve courses. There are three kinds
of “TAs” in the Neuroscience Graduate Program: (1) “Teaching Assistantships” for
undergraduate neuroscience courses performed as a condion of spend support from the
College of Arts and Science, (2) “Teaching Assistantships” assigned for NURO graduate
courses, and (3) “Teaching Apprenceships” arranged by students with individual
professors. Each student in the NURO program must complete one semester of one type
of “TAship”. Assignment of TAs should be done spring/summer (May/June) for the
following academic year.
Type 1 – Assignments are usually handled by the Undergrad Neuroscience Director and
the CICN Director in consultaon with the VBI director and DGS. These TA-ships are usually
fullled as a condion of support pre-qualicaon.
Type 2 and 3 TAs usually occur post-qualifying (year 4), but can occur prior to or following
that interval.
Type 2 – NURO courses currently assigned TAs are 8325, 8326, 8365, 8340, 8345, and
8365. Note that the load is biased toward systems courses and students so the program
must be proacve in assigning these students to courses rather than leng them do type 3
apprenceships. The DGS/Program manager assigns these TAs in consultaon with the VBI
director (dra leer aached). They do not involve any monetary support to the student.
Type 3 – “Teaching Apprenceships” are then performed by all students not having been
assigned a type 1 or 2. The DGS/Program manager noes all of these students of the
requirements and procedures (dra leer aached). Each student must arrange for a TA
with a professor (usually, but not
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always the mentor), submit a brief wrien descripon of the TA acvity to be performed,
which is forwarded by the faculty member to the DGS signaling his/her of the TA acvity
approva . The DGS approves and forwards this to the Program Manager for the students
le and database.
Teaching opportunies outside the tradional university classroom seng are also
provided. These include, but are not limited to, public educaon and community outreach
acvies that form Vanderbilt’s Brain Awareness celebraon each March.
Outreach
One goal of Vanderbilt’s Brain Awareness program is to educate the general public about
how normal behaviors and funcons are sub served by brain acvity, and on the
relaonships among brain dysfuncon, mental illness, and neurological disease, and the
importance of biomedical research in understanding normal brain funcon and treang or
eradicang nervous system diseases. As members of Vanderbilt’s neuroscience
community, neuroscience graduate students help aain this public educaon goal, and
opportunies have included: vising a fourth grade classroom and describing the “whys
and hows” of your research; developing and conducng “hands on” neuroscience acvies
and demonstraons for middle school students vising on the Vanderbilt campus; and
leading interacve learning experiences for families vising the Brain Blast brain fair.
Neuroscience Retreat
Each Fall the Vanderbilt Brain Instute coordinates a Neuroscience Retreat.
Neurosciensts from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, the College of Arts and
Science, the Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Meharry Medical
College, and other neighboring instuons gather for a day lled with brain-related talks,
poster sessions, and food. The purpose of the Retreat is to foster communicaon among
laboratories within and beyond the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Speakers from
Vanderbilt’s own neuroscience community (both faculty and students) relate ongoing
research projects and future plans, and a keynote address on a topic of general interest is
presented by a naonally renowned neuroscienst. A graduate student poster session
allows trainees and faculty to enjoy learning about and discussing the many variees of
neuroscience research being conducted at Vanderbilt in a relaxed and informal seng. Not
only do these interacons smulate new insights and collaboraons, presenng scienc
data and ideas at the Retreat will increase graduate student condence and poise in future
presentaons at naonal meengs.
Other Opportunies:
The Neuroscience Student Organizaon (NSO) was established by graduate students and
includes any interested graduate student doing neuroscience-related work in any
department or program at Vanderbilt. The NSO is run by students and has its own
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infrastructure including a president and advisory council. The NSO also coordinates an
annual campus- wide Spring Neuroscience Seminar and plays a key role in coordinang the
annual Neuroscience Retreat.
There are many opportunies for neuroscience graduate students to gather informally with guests, faculty,
and other trainees. For example, students can meet sciensts vising Vanderbilt at small, informal luncheons
that include only neuroscience students and the guest speaker as well as at more formal recepons.
Neuroscience graduate students also meet informally with neuroscience faculty members at the
Neuroscience Research Forums. Many other opportunies to establish a broad network of on-campus faculty
relaonships, to develop es with non-Vanderbilt sciensts, and to serve as hosts to more junior trainees are
provided for neuroscience graduate students.
Program Tradions: The Neuroscience Graduate Program gives out ve awards each calendar year.
1. The Elaine Sanders-Bush Student Research Award is given to the student that
published the highest quality, highest impact paper in the academic year prior
to the Retreat as chosen by a special commiee comprised of faculty and
designated by the Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Instute. Recipients receive a
plaque and have their name inscribed on a permanent plaque which hangs in
the Vanderbilt Brain Instute oce. This award is presented at the Annual
Neuroscience Retreat.
2. The Neuroscience Student Leadership Award is given to the advanced student
who has demonstrated the highest level of leadership and service to the
program and their fellow students. The recipient is nominated by their peers
and is selected by a commiee comprised of administrave sta, faculty, and
students. All students who are nished with the qualifying process are eligible
to be nominated. Recipients receive a plaque and have their name inscribed on
a permanent plaque which hangs in the Vanderbilt Brain Instute oce; this
award is presented at the Annual Neuroscience Retreat.
3. The Vanderbilt Reviews Neuroscience Cover Award is given to the third-year
student who provided the cover-art for that year’s volume of VRN. The cover is
chosen by VRN editorial board for impact and aesthec quality. The winner gets
his/her image printed on the cover of the journal, and receives a framed and
maed copy of that cover along with the cover’s gure legend. This is awarded
at the Annual Neuroscience Retreat.
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4. The Neuroscience Retreat Poster Award is given to the poster session
parcipant who is deemed to have prepared the most outstanding poster at the
Annual Neuroscience Retreat (the panel awards one each to the outstanding
graduate student and post-doc posters). The recipients are chosen by a panel of
judges and receive a prize determined at the Retreat.
5. In the autumn, the program bestows the Neuroscience Forum Speaker Award
on the student who received the strongest average audience rang for their
forum presentaon during the previous academic year.
In addion to the awards described above, the program holds pares on an annual basis. The
purpose of the pares is to provide an opportunity for faculty and students to gather in an informal
seng to socialize, and thus build cohesion across the program. The Annual First-Year Student Party
is held in the autumn (usually in October), in order to welcome the new students who entered the
program in August. In the winter, the program hosts a holiday party, typically in Medical Research
Building III. Finally, the NSO hosts pares on a quarterly basis, during the academic year, for IGP
students rotang in Neuroscience labs, to which all program graduate students are invited. The
purpose of these gatherings is to provide a social outlet, as well as an opportunity for rotang
students to meet and ask quesons of students in the program.
Financial Support
Spends and tuion allowances are awarded to students through mulple
mechanisms. Spend levels are set by the University in consultaon with the
department chairs. Spends for the 2020-2021 academic year are $32,500.
• Direct admit NGP students are supported by one of a variety of
mechanisms for their rst year. Some students on this track may be
eligible for a second year of support from these means. Once training
grant support and other compeve awards are completed, the nancial
support is the responsibility of the dissertaon advisor. Financial support
may be withdrawn at any me from a student whose academic
performance is deemed inadequate. Medical Sciensts Training Program
(MSTP) Students, who have completed the rst two years of Medical
School, will be supported for one addional year on MSTP/Medical School
Funds. The nancial support is then the responsibility of the dissertaon
advisor. Financial support may be withdrawn from a student whose
performance is deemed inadequate.
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• IGP students: The rst two semesters of support are provided by the BRET
(Biomedical Research Educaon and Training) oce, during which me
students are enrolled in the common IGP curriculum. Students are then
eligible to compete for posions on various training grants and in the
Vanderbilt Brain Instute. Addional sources of support could include
faculty research grants, faculty non-federal funds and individual
fellowships from extramural sources. Once training grant support and
other compeve awards are completed, the nancial support is the
responsibility of the dissertaon advisor. Financial support may be
withdrawn at any me from a student whose academic performance is
deemed inadequate. MSTP Students’ rst two years of support (years 1
and 2 of Medical School) are provided by the Medical School. Once a
student has chosen a dissertaon advisor, the responsibility for support
typically falls on to the chosen laboratory. However, in a number of cases
the student can be supported by a training grant or instuonal sources.
Decisions as to this support are generally based on merit (such as prior
academic performance or research), with the typical duraon of support
being two years.
Compeve topping-up awards include Harold Sterling Vanderbilt Graduate
Scholarships and the Vanderbilt’s Dean’s Fellows program. The laer provides
compeve fellowships targeted to individuals underrepresented in the basic
sciences. The Milton T. Bush Scholars Program was established for general
trainee related expenses. Financial support may be withdrawn from a student
whose performance is deemed inadequate.
Spend funds are available—either through the recommended direct deposit
method or by actual check—on the last working day of the month. Checks are
available for pickup in BRET Financial oce - 350 Light Hall or Payroll
Department – Baker Building with the appropriate signature. Tuion and fees
are paid from various sources by BRET nancial oce, or in some cases, by the
student:
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• Tuion: All tuion expenses for approved courses will be covered. Tuion
will be directly paid for those students in their rst two years of training.
There are other opons for payment of tuion thereaer. Program
Manager will discuss with the students on a case-by-case basis.
• Health Insurance: All graduate students, unless they sign an insurance
waiver, are covered by health insurance through Vanderbilt University.
The current health insurance fee is $3064. If insurance is waived,
please nofy Program Manager each year. Coverage runs from August
12 of one year to August 12 of the next. This premium is covered by the
spend/payroll funding sources. Spouses and other dependents can be
covered by this insurance but guidelines for paying for such coverage vary
and payment of the premium for this addional coverage is the
responsibility of the student. For addional informaon about student
health insurance, or to request the insurance waiver, please contact the
Student Health Center at (615) 343-4688.
• Service Fees: All graduate students pay a Service Fee, and this fee plus the
student idencaon badge gives the student access to the excellent
facilies at the Student Recreaon Center the Libraries and other
Vanderbilt resources. These fees are either paid by the spend funding
source or by the student. It is a complicated issue determined by the
source from which the student’s spend comes. Students should speak
with Program Manager for claricaon about their parcular
circumstance. Spouses, domesc partners, and dependents may also use
the facilies for an addional fee that is paid by the student.
• Transcript Fees: First me students at Vanderbilt: All new incoming
students will be assessed a $100 one-me transcript fee. This fee will be
paid by the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Other special handling fees
(FedEx, UPS, etc.) may be charged and this will be the responsibility of the
student.
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• Student Accounts Bills: Tuion, insurance and fees are pre-billed, so one
should not panic a bill for several thousand dollars is received. If the next bill
sll shows a balance, please bring this bill to BRET nancial oce so that any
problems can be resolved and no late fees are charged. Note: the student is
responsible for trac Violaons, pharmacy bills, housing, etc. that are
charged to the student account and for any associated late fees. Students on
training grants will who come o of training grants, fellowships and go on PI
support will be responsible for paying their student service fees. Any student
with a balance on their student account going into the Fall or Spring semester
will not be allowed to register.
Neuroscience Student Handbook
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Graduate students are eligible for a variety of Vanderbilt-derived grants. The
Vanderbilt “Dissertaon Enhancement Grant” (up to $2,000) is intended to
enhance already outstanding dissertaon projects by perming the addion of
a new dimension, addional breadth, or other worthwhile extensions. Funding will
not be available from this source for aspects of dissertaon work that is an integral
or essenal constuent of the research as described and understood in the
dissertaon proposal, but rather as a means of expanding the scope of what was
already approved in the research proposal. Applicaons for the Dissertaon
Enhancement Grant are usually due in February, so please visit the website for the
specic date. The “Graduate Student Travel Grant” is an essenal means of support
for travel to present a student’s research. The student is eligible for up to $500
for each year, for a maximum of three years. Applicaon for this extremely versale
grant involves lling out this form and subming the student’s presentaon
abstract. The applicaon for the Travel Award must be signed by the Director of
Graduate Studies and turned in to the Program Manager at least 2 weeks before the
trip. Applicaons are rolling.
The Society for Neuroscience oers Graduate Student Travel Awards
(hp://www.sfn.org/Awards-and-Funding/Individual-Prizes-and-Fellowships/
Professional-Development-Awards/Trainee- Professional-Development-
Awards):
You may nominate yourself for a Trainee Professional Development Award by
subming the following applicaon components via the online applicaon portal.
Completed applicaon form.
Copy of the applicant's abstract submission conrmaon form for the
upcoming SfN annual meeng including both the control/tracking number
and the abstract.
Applicant’s CV, including educaon, honors/awards, and publicaons (abstracts
and manuscripts).
Short essay (no more than 500 words) on how aendance at the annual
meeng will impact your career goals (for undergraduates, or why you
chose the path of neuroscience). Addionally, the essay should speak to
a personal experience that has had a broader impact on your career in
science. Examples of topics could include:
A woman scienst who has inspired the applicant
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Page 28
The importance of local advocacy and outreach eorts in neuroscience
The importance of conducng rigorous science
One-page leer of recommendaon from the applicant's mentor, advisor,
chapter representave or program/department chair.
All applicaon components must be submied as a single PDF with documents
arranged in the following order: applicaon form, completed abstract, CV, short essay,
and leer of recommendaon. Applicaons that are not submied in this format or are
missing one or more of the applicaon components will not be considered.
Ruth L. Kirschstein Naonal Research Service Award (NRSA) and other Grant
Opportunies
All Neuroscience Graduate Program students are encouraged to submit a
naonally compeve predoctoral grant applicaon. The Ruth L. Kirschstein
Naonal Research Service Award (NRSA) is a NIH grant mechanism that provides
spend and tuion support for the duraon of the student’s graduate training.
Other graduate student fellowships are oered by the Naonal Science Foundaon
or by private foundaons, and can be substuted. The awarding of these individual
NRSAs or other independent graduate student funding mechanisms reect
exceponally well on the student, their laboratory and the program.
Policy Regarding Outside Employment
Spend and tuion fellowships are awarded to allow students to devote full
me to the pursuit of a Ph.D. degree in the Neuroscience Graduate Program
and to complete the requirements for the degree in as short a me as is
consistent with adequate training and research progress. The student should
not engage in addional employment while receiving a spend through the
graduate program, regardless of the source of that spend, because such
employment causes a serious impediment to the graduate educaonal
process. Graduate educaon and research are of necessary, largely self-
movated processes, and the distracons of outside employment can
interfere with the ability of students to prepare sasfactorily for their future
professional careers. If addional income is absolutely necessary, students are
encouraged to consider low-interest student loans. Advice about such loans
Neuroscience Student Handbook
Page 29
may be obtained from the Vanderbilt University Financial Aid Oce. If a
student feels strongly that outside employment is necessary while in the
Neuroscience Graduate Program, this must be discussed with the student’s
dissertaon advisor and a formal request must be submied to the DGS.
Students should be aware that such requests will rarely, if ever, be granted.
However, if outside employment is necessary and is approved by the DGS, the
student must not allow it to interfere with high standards of performance and
the mely compleon of graduate educaon and research training. If a
student is discovered to have unapproved outside employment, he/she may
face immediate dismissal from the Program.
Qualifying for Ph.D. Candidacy
The Ph.D. qualifying process should typically be completed by the end of the second year
of graduate training. Successful qualicaon represents the nal checkpoint for admission
into candidacy for a Ph.D. degree. The purpose of the qualifying examinaon is to test the
student’s general knowledge of neuroscience and familiarity with published research
related to their dissertaon project, and to determine whether the student possesses and
can communicate analycal abilies needed for a scholarly career.
The Dissertaon Commiee
The Dissertaon Commiee is comprised of the advisor, two members of the
Neuroscience Graduate Program faculty, and one member of the Vanderbilt faculty from
outside the Neuroscience Graduate Program. The Dissertaon Commiee serves as a
working team to help the student in a number of ways including oering suggesons about
experimental technique and design, and providing connual encouragement to be
innovave and take risks—characteriscs that are crucial to long-term success in research.
Therefore, it is important that the Dissertaon Commiee be carefully selected, with
consideraon of the scienc training, intellectual interests, and research acvies of each
Commiee member. The diversity of intellectual acvity that will be present in a student’s
research project should be reected in the composion of the Dissertaon Commiee.
The student and dissertaon advisor propose the composion of the Dissertaon
Commiee to the Director of Graduate Studies, who then evaluates it and, if approved,
sends it to the Dean of the Graduate School for nal approval. The Dissertaon Commiee
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Page 30
is crucial to the trainee’s research progress and professional advancement, and thus its
composion should be based on sound scholarship and service to the student. During the
Qualifying Exam, the mentor will not be present.
The Qualifying Examinaon Wrien documents
Five weeks prior to the Qualifying Examinaon, the student will submit a concise paper, reviewing
the background literature relevant to the student's projected dissertaon research to the Director
of Graduate Studies (DGS), the Program Coordinator and to the members of the Dissertaon
Commiee. This will be a 5-10 page review in the style of Nature Reviews in Neuroscience,
including 1 gure. Appended to the review must be a page that describes the aims of the student's
planned dissertaon project (this secon should be limited to one-page and will not be counted
within the 10-page limit for the major review secon) and a separate page lisng all of the courses
the student has taken since matriculang into the graduate program at Vanderbilt. Within one
week, the chair of the commiee will poll the members to decide whether the review and the
Specic Aims are acceptable. The review and aims will either be approved or revisions will be
requested. A nal version must be accepted prior to the oral exam. Upon acceptance by the
Dissertaon Commiee, the review is to be submied to Editor-in-Chief (vrn@vanderbilt.edu) for
publicaon with the reviews from the rest of the qualifying class in Vanderbilt Reviews
Neuroscience, the ocial journal of the Vanderbilt Brain Instute. The format of the review must
meet specic guidelines for publicaon (see hp://vrn.vanderbilt.edu/authors.html). Prior to
iniang wring, the student should consult freely with their advisor, laboratory members and
other faculty, discussing relevant literature and techniques and rening the focus for the review, as
well as formulang the specic aims. However, consultants should not dictate the content, provide
templates (e.g., a grant), or crique dras of the wrien document. Consultaon, once wring is
iniated, should be limited to specic quesons, rather than broad-based issues related to content
or structure of the review. The review must be the intellectual product of the student. The student
may, however, have another student or postdoc read over the document for grammacal
correcons.
The Qualifying Examinaon Meeng
The Qualifying Examinaon should take place about one month aer acceptance of the review and
Specic Aims Page by the Commiee (in early June). A informaonal meeng will be held in March
of each year to meet with the Director of Graduates for students who will be compleng their
qualifying exam The Qualifying Exam will also include one Program Representave from the VBI
Educaon and Training Commiee, who will be responsible for making sure the exam is run
consistent with the guidelines outlined below and will provide the evaluaon form and a
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summary leer to the DGS. The Program Representave will parcipate in quesoning the student,
parcularly in fundamental knowledge of neuroscience, since they should be familiar with the
material taught in the required courses. The Qualifying Exam meeng should last approximately
two hours, including the oral exam and closed discussions. The Qualifying Exam comprises two
parts: wrien proposal and oral exam. The commiee confers in the student's absence at the start
of the meeng, at which me the commiee reviews the student’s performance in classes (based
on grades provided by the Program Coordinator) and discusses the scoring of the wrien proposal
(the wrien part will already have been approved as acceptable prior to the meeng). Criteria for
assessing the document include (but are not limited to) the following: sciencally sound, logical,
sucient background/review of eld, well-organized, clearly wrien, proper grammar/spelling.
The Program Representave polls each member to reach a consensus on a score. The student will
then return to the commiee and begin their oral defense of the proposal. The examinaon
begins with the student giving no more than a 5-minute overview of the topic of their review and
specic aims, followed by quesons from the faculty designed to evaluate the student's general
knowledge, ability to integrate didacc informaon into research design, capacity to connect and
synthesize interrelated ideas and ability to think clearly and crically. The exam should take
approximately 2 hours, but the exact me is at the discreon of the commiee. Prior to the
meeng, commiee members will receive a list of topics the student is expected to be familiar
with from coursework (this document will be formed from the syllabi from NURO 340 and 345).
The examiners are also free to queson the student about the content taught in other courses that
they’ve taken or knowledge relevant to the student’s area of research. Commiee members will
prepare in advance for the meeng by reading the review and specic aims and idenfying several
lines of quesoning (on both the review itself and general background) to pursue during the oral
exam. All commiee members should acvely parcipate in quesoning the student. Although a
wide variety of quesons may be deemed appropriate during the oral exam, the commiee's focus
should be to ascertain whether the student has established a crical knowledge base essenal for
understanding his/her research project and achieving success as he/she progresses through
graduate school. It is the Program Representave’s responsibility to keep everyone "on track" (in
terms of me, lines of quesoning, and overall direcon) during the oral exam. Upon conclusion of
the oral exam, the commiee confers in the student's absence to evaluate the student's
performance. The Program Representave polls each member to reach a consensus as to whether
the student passed or failed the exam. A condional pass is a possible outcome with condions to
be established by the commiee. Two forms will be completed by the Program Representave,
one for the Neuroscience Program and one for the graduate school. The Program Representave
will then inform the student of the results and go over in detail the commiee’s evaluaon. It
should be noted that both the Neuroscience program and the graduate school allow a student to
repeat the examinaon should the student fail the rst examinaon. Both the student's wrien
document and performance during the oral exam must be deemed sasfactory by all commiee
members. The wrien document must be approved before the oral exam. Inadequate
performance by the student in the oral exam is grounds for failure and will necessitate a second
oral exam and/or addional remediaon (within 90 days). In such cases, it is the Program
Representave’s responsibility to delineate (with input from the commiee) what remedial steps
are most appropriate for a parcular student and how the commiee will evaluate the student a
second me. Examples of remediaon used successfully in the past include the following: provide
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student with a specic reading list to augment background knowledge relevant to his/her project
followed by a second oral exam to test understanding of the assigned material; student meets with
an assigned faculty member for "tutorials" to remedy specic gaps in knowledge or to improve
breadth of understanding of fundamental cell and neuroscience topics (e.g. discuss chapters from
Kandel’s textbook).
Aer the qualifying exam, the Program Representave will prepare a brief report summarizing the
student's performance and outcome of the exam. The representave will ask for input from all
commiee members and then provide the report to the DGS and the Program Coordinator within
one week of the exam who will forward to the mentor and the student. Aer compleng the exam,
the student should schedule their rst regular commiee meeng, which should occur within 3-6
months aer the exam. If the commiee recommends that the student must repeat the
examinaon, the Program Coordinator will schedule the commiee meeng. Otherwise, it is the
student’s responsibility to schedule the rst regular commiee meeng. Unless requested, the
Program Representave will not be a part of the regular commiee and a chair will be chosen by
the student with recommendaons from the mentor. At the rst commiee meeng, the student
will present their thesis proposal. A wrien proposal, in NIH NRSA format, must be provided to the
commiee at least one week prior to the meeng. For all subsequent meengs, students are
expected to provide the commiee with a brief (2-3 page) progress report at least one week prior
to the meeng.
Becoming a Doctoral Candidate
The enre qualifying process must be completed by the end of the third year of graduate
school or the student faces dismissal from the program. Any excepons to these guidelines
must be discussed in advance with the Director of Graduate Studies. Aer the successful
compleon of the Qualifying Examinaon, the Director of Graduate Studies will nofy the
Graduate School so that they can ocially designate the student as an ocial doctoral
candidate.
Submission of the Grant Proposal to NIH or Equivalent
Aer incorporang recommendaons made by the student’s Qualifying Examinaon Panel
and Dissertaon Commiee, the student is HIGHLY encouraged to submit a naonally
compeve grant to the Naonal Instutes of Health or some other funding agency. Once
the dissertaon commiee has approved the proposal, the student should work with their
advisor to rene the proposal for submission to external agencies. Susan Hoteling can
answer most quesons regarding praccal and nancial maers and can assist in the
submission of fellowship applicaons.
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Subsequent Dissertaon Commiee Meengs and Expectaons
During the me between becoming an ocial Ph.D. candidate and the dissertaon defense,
each student must convene the Dissertaon Commiee periodically so that commiee
members can monitor the student’s progress and make mely, construcve suggesons.
Students are required to meet with their commiee at least every nine months. However,
the student and advisor may decide more frequent commiee meengs are necessary,
such as at the compleon of a major set of experiments or at other crical points in the
research process. Students should prepare and distribute a brief two to three page progress
report to their commiee at least one week prior to their commiee meeng. The report
should highlight accomplishments and problems which have occurred since the previous
commiee meeng.
Dissertaon Research
The most important aspect of the Neuroscience Graduate Program is the student’s
dissertaon research. Other aspects of the program are designed to provide the scholarly
background and professional experiences that prepare the student to conduct and defend
the dissertaon research and, subsequently, to develop a career as an independent
invesgator. Thus, aer the student completes both phases of the Qualifying Examinaon,
eorts should focus towards compleng his/her project.
Before Dissertaon Submission to the Commiee
It is appropriate to convene a commiee meeng once all data are collected and analyzed,
several months before the nal defense date. This meeng can resolve, before the nal
defense, any major stumbling blocks that might preclude commiee approval of the nal
dissertaon project. Before dissertaon wring begins, students should obtain a copy of
the Graduate School’s ocial instrucons, available online at hps://
gradschool.vanderbilt.edu/academics/theses/index.php
hps://gradschool.vanderbilt.edu/documents/checklist_for_graduaon_spring2020.pdf
During the development of the dissertaon, the student and advisor should review and edit
the student-generated text together on a chapter-by-chapter basis. When both student and
advisor agree that the dissertaon is completed, the student sets up the thesis defense
with commiee members and, no later than three weeks before the defense date, noes
the Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator as to the date, me, and place of the defense as
well as the tle of the dissertaon. The Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator subsequently
noes the Graduate School.
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Submission and Defense of the Ph.D. Dissertaon
Dissertaon Submission
The dissertaon defense should be scheduled at a me when all Dissertaon Commiee members
can aend. In order to achieve this, the defense must oen be scheduled well in advance of the
ancipated date. Although most dissertaon defenses take less than two hours, a two-hour period
should be scheduled. All Dissertaon Commiee members must receive a copy of the dissertaon
at least two weeks prior to the defense date. Please see checklist for defending in Neuroscience
Graduate Program on next page for instrucon.
Overview of the Defense
As a nal requirement for compleon of the Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience, each candidate must orally
defend the dissertaon before the Dissertaon Commiee and other interested persons. This inial, “public
seminar” poron of the defense consists of a 45-50 minute oral presentaon summarizing the project for the
commiee and public aendees. Following this oral presentaon, the public may queson the candidate and
then, in a closed session, the Dissertaon Commiee will ask quesons related to the dissertaon research in
order to assess the thoroughness of the candidate’s knowledge and the quality of the work. The successful
oral defense of the dissertaon requires that the candidate demonstrate authority and experse in his/her
research area.
Aer the oral defense, the Dissertaon Commiee determines whether the candidate passed or failed the
dissertaon defense, and noes the candidate at that me. The Dissertaon Commiee will le the ocial
decision with the Graduate School. Since the Graduate School requires that all Dissertaon Commiee
members ax their signatures to each of at least three tle pages of the dissertaon on bonded paper (see
Graduate School dissertaon guidelines below), students who pass their dissertaon defense should be
prepared to get signatures from their commiee members before the defense meeng is adjourned, while
all members are present. The candidate should then le all necessary forms with the Graduate School.
Compleng the Ph.D. Degree Process
The Graduate School has several deadlines (see Calendar) that must be met during the semester in which the
degree is to be awarded, including: (1) last day to le “Intent Graduate” form; (2) last day for approval of
dissertaons and successful oral defense of thesis research; (3) last day candidate’s approved copies of the
dissertaon are accepted in the Graduate School Oce. These deadlines are listed in the Graduate School
dissertaon guidelines website. hps://gradschool.vanderbilt.edu/academics/intraterm-graduaon.php The
Ph.D. candidate must have completed all course work, submied and successfully defended the dissertaon,
and be registered during the semester in which the degree is to be conferred. The program will pay for 3
hardbound copies of the thesis: One for you, your mentor and program. See the Program Manager for
details. You will also want to have copies bound for your own use. The Neuroscience Graduate Program will
pay for the binding of three hardback copies (one for the Neuroscience Program, on for your Thesis Advisor,
and one for you) and the paperback copies for your Commiee members. Students who complete their
defense and turn in their paperwork to the graduate school between the deadline for the previous
semester and the rst day of the next semester should not have to register for the
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following semester, but regardless, their graduaon date will be the end of the semester following the
defense.
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Life Aer Degree Compleon
Deciding what direcon your career will take following compleon of the Neuroscience Graduate
Program should arise early and become increasingly important as your training progresses. It is
never too early to consider career opons and plan a curriculum accordingly. To prepare further
for a career of independent research in academic biomedical research, it is usually essenal that
students who receive the Ph.D. in Neuroscience take a postdoctoral posion in order to pursue a
specic research interest and acquire addional technical skills and experse. Some students may
take permanent posions in industrial or government research laboratories or at teaching-oriented
colleges immediately aer receiving their degree. Your career objecves can best be realized
through the careful planning of your graduate training program. Your advisor, Dissertaon
Commiee, Director of Graduate Studies, and members of the Neuroscience Ph.D. faculty and
Program sta stand ready to advise you on career opons. In addion, the B.R.E.T. oce oers
career counseling and Vanderbilt’s Career Center oers a variety of services including resume and
interview assistance, and on-campus employer interviews.
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