Graduate Curriculum Requirements

Department Requirements

Departmental Program: One quarter course in which faculty members whose primary affiliation is the Department of Psychology give summarizes on ongoing research
Three statistics courses
a. Statistics 220000 (Statistical Methods & Applications) or more advanced course
b. Psychology 37300 (Experimental Design 1)
c. Psychology 37900 (Experimental Design 2)
Trail Research Seminar: Two quarter course to help students formulate and complete the Trail Research Project
Psychology Department Core Courses: Two Courses
Select two courses from Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Sensation & Perception, and Social Psychology (both courses outside the student's specialty area)
Minor Area: Three Courses
These courses must be the Neuroscience Cluster courses:
a. Cellular Neurobiology
b. Vertebrate Neural Systems
c. Behavioral Neurobiology or Cognitive Neuroscience

Integrative Neuroscience Requirements

Integrative Neuroscience Core Course: Two Courses
a. Social/Cognitive Neuroscience Core
b. Perception/Behavioral Neuroscience Core

Two advanced courses chosen from the following:

A. Behavioral Neuroscience

Biological Rhythms and Behavior (Psyc NEW)
Neural Oscillations (Psyc 37150)
Neuropsychopharmacology (Psych 36901)

C. Perception

Attention (Psyc 38300)
Color Vision (Psyc 32000)
Perception and Action (Psyc 33700)
Vision (Psych 39000)

B. Cognitive Neuroscience

Attention (Psyc 38300)
Cognitive Neuroscience (Psyc NEW)
Developmental Cognitive
Neuroscience (36100)
Human Memory (Psyc 37400)
or LM&C
Skill Learning & Performance
(Psyc NEW)
Spoken Language Processing
(Psyc 35750)

D. Social Neuroscience

Attitudes & Persuasion (Psych 46100)
Social Cognition (Psych 34700)
Social Neuroscience of
Empathy (Psyc 33300)
Stereotyping and Prejudice
(Psych 35950)

Trial Research Project

Each student completes a Trial Research Project under the guidance of a faculty advisor. This is a significant piece of research carried out over a 12-month period. Both written and oral presentations of the research are required. The written report is due during Spring Quarter of the second year. The oral presentation is required before the end of Spring Quarter of the second year.

Qualifying Exam

A Ph.D. Qualifying Examination is given at the beginning of the third year.

Doctoral Dissertation

The Doctoral Dissertation is an independent research project carried out under the guidance of a faculty Dissertation Committee with at least four members. At least two members of the committee, including the chair, must be in the Integrative Neuroscience program; a third member must be in the Department of Psychology. The chair of the committee typically is the primary research advisor. A written dissertation proposal is presented to the committee in advance of an oral Proposal Hearing. The hearing is open to all students and faculty in the Integrative Neuroscience program.

A student is admitted to Ph.D. Candidacy after successfully completing (i) all course requirements, (ii) written and oral presentations of the Trial Research Project, (iii) the Qualifying Exam and (iv) an approved dissertation proposal (including oral defense).

The doctoral dissertation is submitted to the dissertation committee prior to a final oral defense (the “final oral examination”). The dissertation committee plus an outside reader, who may be a faculty member at the University of Chicago or a scientist at another institution, administer the final oral exam. The committee members and reader evaluate the dissertation in private after the oral exam. At most one abstention or vote to disapprove is allowed among the committee members and reader; all others must approve the dissertation to satisfy the requirements for the Ph.D. degree.