Program Overview

Introduction to the Graduate Certificate in Neuroscience

The graduate certificate in neuroscience is designed to formalize training of graduate students in neuroscience and to recognize the achievements of students who have undertaken comprehensive training in these topics, both through formal coursework and through research in their respective subject areas. The graduate certificate welcomes participation from across the University in any field that makes contact with neuroscience as part of scholarship.

Enrollment to the Program

The certificate is administered by the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) and is open to any Princeton University student enrolled in a Ph.D. program who are not enrolled in the Neuroscience Ph.D. program or the Neuroscience Joint Degree Program. Students must enroll in the PNI graduate certificate program in time to complete the course requirements during their regular degree program length.

Certificate Requirements

To earn the certificate, students must complete four requirements:

1. Take for credit and earn a grade of B or better in one core course
2. Take for credit and earn a grade of B or better in one approved elective course
3. Enroll in the graduate seminar course and attend the seminar journal club
4. Incorporate one chapter of neuroscience research in the dissertation, as judged by a PNI faculty member who is either a dissertation advisor, thesis committee member, and/or dissertation defense committee member

Core Course

Students must take one core course listed below. This requirement is designed to ensure that all students who earn the certificate have a solid foundation in the basic principles of neuroscience. A grade of B or better is required in both core courses.

• NEU 501A: Cellular and Circuits Neuroscience A survey of modern neuroscience in lecture format, focusing on brain function from cells and the molecules they express to the function of circuits.
• NEU 501B: Neuroscience: From Molecules to Systems to Behavior This laboratory course complements NEU 501A and introduces students to the variety of techniques and concepts used in modern neuroscience, from the point of view of experimental and computational/quantitative approaches.
• NEU 502A: Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience A survey of modern neuroscience that covers experimental and theoretical approaches to understanding how the brain works.
• NEU 502B: From Molecules to Systems to Behavior This lab course introduces students to the variety of experimental and computational techniques and concepts used in modern cognitive neuroscience.

Elective Course

Students are also required to take one neuroscience-related elective course. This requirement is designed to give students additional training in the neuroscience field. Elective courses can be selected from any graduate level course on campus as long as the course contains a neuroscience-related component. Each elective course must be approved by the Director of Graduate Students. A grade of B or better is required in the elective course.

• NEU 537: Computational Neuroscience
• NEU 545: Statistics for Neuroscience
• NEU 560: Advanced Statistical Methods for Neural Data
• COS 511: Theoretical Machine Learning
• COS 513: Foundations of Probabilistic Modeling
• ORF 525: Statistical Learning and Nonparametric Estimation
• ELE 535: Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition
• ELE 571: Digital Neurocomputing
• ELE 521: Linear Systems Theory
• ELE 523: Nonlinear Systems Theory
• MAE 541: Applied Dynamical Systems
• MAE 542: Advanced Dynamics
• APC 529: Coding Theory and Random Graphs
• MAE 546: Optimal Control and Estimation
• COS 521: Advanced Algorithm Design
• COS 551: Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology
• COS 598B: Natural Algorithms
• APC 524: Software Engineering for Scientific Computing
• MOL 515: Methods and Logic in Quantitative Biology
• PSY340: Neuroeconomics

Research Seminar Course and Journal Club

To learn about the current research in neuroscience and interact with researchers across disciplines, students are required to enroll in the neuroscience graduate seminar course for two semesters and participate in the seminar journal club.

Dissertation

The final requirement for the certificate is that the student’s dissertation research must include one chapter of neuroscience research. The student’s thesis committee and dissertation defense committee must include at least one core faculty member of the PNI. The DGS will review and confirm that this requirement has been met.