University System of Georgia Format for New Program Proposal

Institution _Georgia State University____Date__May 19, 2008__________

School/Division_College of Arts and Sciences____Department_Neuroscience Institute__

Name of Proposed Program_M.S./Ph.D. in Neuroscience___________

Degree __M.S./Ph.D.___Major ____ Neuroscience _____ CIP Code__30.2401__

Starting Date _August 2009____

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Table of Contents:

1. 
   Program Description and Objectives:
   

This proposal describes a plan for establishing a multidisciplinary, multi-departmental, M.S./Ph.D. program in Neuroscience (offering a M.S. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience) that will enhance the behavioral and life sciences training and research efforts of Georgia State University (GSU). The program will respond to requests from students and to a need for highly trained specialists in the areas of Neurobiology and Behavioral Neuroscience. The M.S./Ph.D. program in Neuroscience will provide students with the training necessary for careers in the rapidly expanding biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as well as for academic careers in several related disciplines. Recent studies, as well as our own survey (appended), clearly indicate that prospective students in the neurosciences prefer to earn advanced degrees specifically in Neuroscience rather than in traditional biological or behavioral science programs. The M.S./Ph.D.program in Neuroscience will therefore enhance the ability of GSU to compete for top graduate students nationally and internationally.

2. 
   Justification and need for the program
   
   1. 
      Indicate the societal need for graduates prepared by this program. Describe the process used to reach these conclusions, the basis for estimating this need, and those factors that were considered in documenting the program need.
      

The neurosciences are a set of disciplines that have a common interest in understanding the structure and function of the nervous systems of animals, including humans. The neurosciences embrace the traditional fields of neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and neurology, and the newer fields of neuroethology, neuroeconomics, neurophilosophy, neuropsychology, behavioral, cognitive, computational, and developmental neuroscience, dynamical systems, and neuromics. Neuroscience is informed by and informs psychology, psychiatry, pharmacology, biophysics, computer science, robotics, education, and speech/language pathology. The neurosciences are a growing field; one measure of the growth is the membership of the Society for Neuroscience, which has increased from 500 to over 37,000 since its beginning in 1969. The Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs (ANDP) (http://www.andp.org/) lists over 130 programs in Neuroscience.

The interdisciplinary nature of Neuroscience research is fundamental and thereby unites faculty across various disciplines as perhaps no other life science initiative can, as witnessed by the Brains & Behavior Area of Focus incorporation of 9 different departments from 3 different colleges. Neuroscience encompasses several fields of biological and behavioral research and is typically subdivided into the following disciplines: Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Systems and Integrative Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, and Clinical Neuroscience. Allied areas include biophysics of membranes, biochemistry of neurotransmitters and signal transduction pathways, robotics, brain/computer interfaces, learning/educational research, psychotropic drug design, social behavior, marketing strategy, philosophy of mind, and others.

The major medical problems facing the population in the foreseeable future are brain problems. The killer diseases of previous generations, such as polio, heart disease, cancer, and even diabetes, are increasingly preventable or treatable, but diseases or injuries of the brain currently have few solutions. Topics related to these diseases include:

Arthritis

Deafness

Parkinson’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

Diffuse Lewy Body Syndrome

Other Dementias

Drug abuse

Social pathology (e.g. various anti-social personality disorders)

Spinal cord regeneration

Traumatic brain injury

Stroke

Childhood developmental disorders

Chronic pain

Obesity-induced diabetes, hypertension, joint pain, and congestive heart failure

Mental health/affective disorders (e.g. autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression)

Neurological ramifications of disease states

Robotics, sensory and motor prostheses

Terrorism- neurotoxins, neuroimmunology

GSU has important resources for supporting students in the emerging field of neuromics. We have the first Center for Neuromics (http://biology.gsu.edu/neuromics) in the nation, which promotes research aimed at understanding the complex interactions of neurons in the brain. Through seed funding from the Brains & Behavior Initative, we have started a collaborative project between biologists and computer scientists to build NeuronBank, a knowledge base of neuronal circuitry, which has now received NIH funding. The Center for Neuromics sponsors seminars and provides student travel and research awards.

2. 
   Indicate the student demand for the program in the region served by the institution. What evidence exists of this demand?
   

We have conducted a survey of students currently connected with the Brains & Behavior and Center for Behavioral Neuroscience Programs. Most are currently working on a degree in Biology or Psychology; a few are from the other departments involved in the Brains & Behavior Area of Focus. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Out of 51 respondents, 31 agree or strongly agree that they would have applied to such a program, and only 10 said they would not, with the rest neutral. Only 8 out of 51 disagreed with the statement “I would prefer to earn my degree in Neuroscience”

Please see Appendix I for details.
A M.S./Ph.D. PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE AT GSU WILL ENHANCE VISIBILITY OF OUR EXISTING PROGRAMS IN NEUROSCIENCE

Students interested in Neuroscience want to have a M.S./Ph.D. in Neuroscience to reflect their specialized knowledge and training. The annual number of applications for graduate training in the neural sciences has almost tripled during the past 19 years and is now ~65 per program, while the number of matriculates has doubled and is now ~8 students per program. Nonetheless, the academic quality of incoming graduate students has remained high, as suggested by their undergraduate GPA (average = 3.49), their scores on the GRE (average = ~69th percentile), and their research experience.  23% of the incoming students have an undergraduate major in Neuroscience or Behavioral Neuroscience. Other common majors were Biology (23%), Psychology (15%), and Chemistry (6%), and an additional 8% had dual majors including one or more of these disciplines. With a M.S./Ph.D. program in Neuroscience at GSU, this will facilitate our national and international reputation, paying dividends in greater numbers and quality of students as well as better postdoctoral and faculty positions for our Ph.D. graduates. This, in turn, will heighten awareness of Neuroscience at GSU, specifically, and GSU research more generally in the national/international arena. This will lead to even higher quality job applicants for faculty positions in Neuroscience-related Departments.

Faculty who would jointly train M.S./Ph.D. students in the proposed Program come from several departments as well as from the Neuroscience Institute. The ANDP 2005 Report finds that more than half of all Neuroscience programs are institution-wide, reflecting the broad-based, interdisciplinary nature of the field. Only 18% are located in Departments of Neuroscience or Neurobiology. In contrast, 64% of the programs link neuroscientists in multiple departments (or in a “Center”, “Division”, or “Institute” of Neuroscience) in a unified, degree-granting program. These numbers are similar to those obtained in the 2000/2001 and 2003 ANDP surveys. On average, there are 51 faculty members per program. In 75% of the programs, the degree awarded to graduate students trained in the neurosciences is a Ph.D. in Neuroscience or in Neurobiology (or in a discipline that had those words in their name). This situation represents a striking reversal from that which occurred 19 years ago, when the majority of such degrees were awarded in other disciplines. The number of applications to graduate training programs in the neurosciences is almost three times the number per program that it was in the 1986 survey. The median number of graduate students in a program is 25. The Ph.D. degrees awarded per year average 3.9 per program and this number has been steadily increasing. The attrition rate is only 4%. 69% accepted postdoctoral positions, 26% were in other neuroscience-related positions, 1% were employed outside the field, and 0% were unemployed. A unified M.S./Ph.D. program under the administration of the Neuroscience Institute would produce a seamless program of study for Neuroscience graduate students across departments.

3. 
   Give any additional reasons that make the program desirable (for example, exceptional qualifications of the faculty, special facilities, etc.)
   

The Society for Neuroscience has made outreach to K-16 students a fundamental part of its mission, and Atlanta’s Neuroscience community has taken this charge to heart, primarily under the auspices of the NSF-funded Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) headquartered at GSU. Neuroscience faculty are actively involved in efforts to improve science education at the K-12 level via initiatives coordinated by the CBN. GSU neuroscience educators have established partnerships with the Decatur School System and the DeKalb County School system for a series of programs involving teachers and students, including teacher training workshops, school visits, and a lending library of science education materials made available to classroom teachers. Integrated into these teacher and classroom-oriented activities are summer programs for students, including the ION (Institute on Neuroscience) program for high school students in which the students gain formal mentoring and an opportunity to work in neuroscience labs at GSU and other Atlanta universities and colleges, and Summer Brain Camps, summer science camps for middle school students which both provide science experiences for the students during which GSU science faculty and public school teachers who have completed one of the teacher training workshops work together. GSU neuroscience educators also hold a two-day Neuroscience Expo at the Atlanta Zoo, the first day of which students from a Decatur middle school are exposed to neuroscience-related activities, while on the second day the Expo is open to all children and their parents who visit the Zoo. School-oriented programs are focused on schools with high proportions of underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged students. Summer programs and other student-oriented activities have >80% minority student participation. The Georgia Biomedical Partnership recognized the CBN for its outstanding work in education and community outreach with its 2006 Biomedical Community Award.

Neuroscience faculty members lead the CBN’s undergraduate education initiatives as well. The nationally recognized BRAIN program for undergraduates is held each year, bringing in 22 undergraduates from Atlanta institutions and across the nation for neuroscience research fellowships to gain hands-on research experience at GSU and other Atlanta universities and colleges while attending lectures and seminars on neuroscience topics and professional skills. Historically, >75% of the participants have been women and >60% have been underrepresented minorities. A similar academic year program, CBNuf, is currently being tested, and is targeted specifically at minority undergraduates at Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University. Neuroscience faculty have established strong relationships with these Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Atlanta. Career Days and Research Days at Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University are attended by neuroscience faculty and CBN staff to provide information about graduate school opportunities, and several students from these institutions have worked in GSU neuroscience labs and/or enrolled in its graduate programs. In recognition of his work with these institutions, CBN Director and GSU neuroscience faculty member Dr. Elliott Albers was named Mentor of the Year by The Center for Biomedical and Behavioral Research at Spelman College in 2006. Improvements in education extend to the professional level as well. There is enhancement of graduate and research programs through the CBN Graduate Scholars Program (providing doctoral students with an interest in behavioral Neuroscience the opportunity to gain a broader breadth of experience by working in a collaborative research environment) and a CBN Post-Doctoral Fellows program.