Neuroscience

Related Student Organizations

Bucknell Researchers, Advocates and Investigators in Neuroscience (BRAIN)

Career Paths

The study of neuroscience prepares students to enter graduate programs in neuroscience, medicine or other health-related fields or to pursue careers in research or teaching.

Graduate and Professional School

Bucknell’s emphasis on undergraduate research provides an important advantage for students planning to go on to graduate or professional school.

Selected Faculty Publications

Bucknell’s neuroscience faculty members’ scholarship has recently appeared in the following selection of academic journals:

• American Journal of Primatology
• Animal Behaviour
• Brain and Cognition
• Developmental Psychopathology
• Developmental Psychobiology
• Hormones and Behavior
• Journal of Evolutionary Psychology
• Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes
• Journal of Neuroscience
• Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology
• Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Music Perception
• Neuron
• Perception & Psychophysics
• Personality and Individual Differences
• Physiology and Behavior
• Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Facilities & Resources

• Laboratory facilities support student neuroscience research on insects, rodents and bats. Primate colonies containing baboons, macaques, capuchins and squirrel monkeys are also available for the study of behavior and cognition.
• Bucknell’s proximity to the Geisinger Medical Center provides students with a distinctive research venue and service-learning opportunities.

Courses Offered

The Bachelor of Science major in neuroscience requires 12 basic courses, plus four upper-level electives that the student can choose from a list of approved courses. Three additional courses are strongly recommended but not required for completion of the degree program.

Required Courses

Cell and Molecular Biology
Genetics
Organic Chemistry I and II
General Chemistry I or Inorganic Chemistry I
General Chemistry II or Analytical Chemistry I
Calculus I or Accelerated Calculus
Statistics I or Psychological Statistics
Introduction to Neuroscience
Physiological Psychology
Neural Plasticity or Behavioral Neuroendocrinology or Neuroethology or Neurophysiology
Learning or Human Cognition or Sensation and Perception or Developmental Psychobiology

Upper-level Electives

Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
Comparative Physiology
Physiological Mechanisms
Neurophysiology
Molecular Biology
Functional Genomics
Biology of Aging
Developmental Biology
Biochemical Methods
Neuroethology
Virology
Immunology
Cell Biology
Biotransport
Fabrication and Experimental Design
Neural Signals and Systems
Biochemistry
Developmental Psychopathology
Cognitive Aging
Advanced Psychological Statistics
Psychology of Music
Human Neuropsychology
Advanced Perception

Program Details

• The field of neuroscience unites a variety of disciplines that will define the major scientific advances of the next century and beyond. These disciplines include: anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, physiology, biomedical engineering, physiological psychology, developmental psychobiology, perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology and neuropsychology.
• Three tracks are available to neuroscience majors including the general neuroscience track, the behavior and cognitive neuroscience track and the cellular and molecular neuroscience track.
• Neuroscience students develop strong analytical skills and gain experience in data analysis and experimental design.

Faculty

Elizabeth Capaldi Evans, biology & animal behavior
Ph.D. Michigan State University
Scholarly interests: neuroethology of social insects, animal behavior

David W. Evans, psychology
Ph.D. Boston University
Scholarly interests: developmental psychopathology, brain-behavior links in compulsive-spectrum disorders using event-related potentials.

Owen Floody, psychology
Ph.D. The Rockefeller University
Scholarly interests: neural and neurochemical control of reproductive behavior and communication

Andrea Halpern, psychology
Ph.D. Stanford University
Scholarly interests: cognition and cognitive neuroscience of memory, music cognition, aging

Peter Judge, psychology and animal behavior
Ph.D. University of Georgia
Scholarly interests: primate cognition, reconciliation behaviors

James Lavine, linguistics
Ph.D. Princeton University
Scholarly interests: syntactic theory

Heidi Lorimor, linguistics
Ph.D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Scholarly interests: psycholinguistics

Elizabeth Marin, biology
Ph.D. Standford University
Scholarly interests: developmental neurobiology in Drosophila melanogaster

Kevin Myers, psychology
Ph.D. Duke University
Sholarly interests: animal learning and motivation

Kathleen Page, biology
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University
Scholarly interests: cell and sensory physiology

DeeAnn Reeder, biology
Ph.D. University of California at Davis
Scholarly interests: behavioral neuroendocrinology, mammalian behavior

Jennie Stevenson, psychology
Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Scholarly interests: neurobiology of behavior; role of oxytocin

Ruth Tincoff, psychology
Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University
Scholarly interests: developmental psycholinguistics

Joseph Tranquillo, biomedical engineering
Ph.D. Duke University
Scholarly interests: neural electrophysiology

T. Joel Wade, psychology
Ph.D. University of North Carolina
Scholarly interests: revolutionary psychology

Undergraduate Research

With many opportunities for undergraduate research, students develop a solid foundation in scientific research at Bucknell. Many students conduct work of sufficient quality to result in publication in peer-reviewed professional journals. Recent student research project titles include:

• Anxiety Indicators Correlate to Reversal-learning Perseveration in Nonhuman Primates
• Event-related Potentials and Normally Developing Children’s Compulsive Behavior
• Affective and Neuropsychological Correlates of Children’s Compulsive like Behaviors
• Recognition Memory for Familiar and Novel Tunes in Musicians and Nonmusicians
• Neuroendocrinology of the Stress Response in Free-ranging Bats
• Effects on Female Reproductive Behavior of Cell-specific Lesions of the Ventromedial Hypothalamus in Hamsters
• Effects on Male Reproductive Behavior of Oxotremorine Injections into the Preoptic Area of Hamsters
• Interactions between the Septum and Preoptic Area in the Inhibition of Female Reproductive Behavior in Hamsters

Study Abroad

At Bucknell, neuroscience majors can enhance their studies by spending a summer, semester or year abroad through one of Bucknell’s own “in” programs or through one of many approved programs around the world. Recently, neuroscience majors have studied in New Zealand and United Kingdom.

Quick Facts

Number of full-time faculty: 13

Average number of majors per class year: 10

Internships

Internships provide real-world professional experience and networking benefits. Recently, neuroscience students have interned at:

• Massachusetts General Hospital
• Orthodontic Partners
• The Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program
• Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston