The graduate studies curriculum is designed to provide students with a broad grounding in the neurosciences. The core curriculum provides not only instruction in the fundamentals of neuroscience, but also a context in which the student becomes familiar with the research interests of the faculty and classmates. Course descriptions for all courses are found in the current UCI General Catalogue. 224 Developmental Neurobiology Students are expected to complete satisfactorily each component of this core curriculum and to maintain an overall GPA of 3.3 or better at the end of the first year. In addition, students attend departmental colloquia in which speakers from all domains of neuroscience and related disciplines present their research.
Teaching is considered an integral part of the educational process.
First-year students commence teaching in the spring quarter and then generally teach one course per year during each of their second and third years. First-year students are expected to participate in research and laboratory seminars as well as the core classes. The first year provides students with an opportunity to select the research topic they will pursue for their doctoral studies. Beginning with the second year of graduate study, students focus primarily on research. Since the faculty s goal is to foster a student s development from novice to collaborator, students are expected to actively engage in research in the laboratory of their advisor, typically co-authoring several publications by the time the Ph.D. degree is awarded.