Neuroscience, PhD

Nicolas G. Bazan, MD, PhD
Director, Neuroscience Center of Excellence

Hamilton Farris, PhD
Neuroscience Graduate Program Co-Director

The multidisciplinary graduate program in Neuroscience is an important educational program of the LSU Neuroscience Center of Excellence. Students are trained in teaching and research for careers in academic institutions, the biomedical industry, or government agencies. The training program consists of course-work, seminars, and the development of independent research. In the first two years, students take all required basic biomedical science and Neuroscience graduate courses. Subsequently, advanced courses and directed research are undertaken to fulfill the particular educational needs of the student. After passing the preliminary examination for admission into doctoral candidacy, students continue to have the opportunity to take more courses, including in specific areas related to their research. At the beginning of the second year of graduate school, students are expected to choose a particular area of research and a supervising major professor.

Applications to the graduate program in Neuroscience are reviewed by a faculty committee. To be considered for acceptance into the program, applications should be received in January of the year in which the students intend to enroll. Usually all accepted students receive a graduate stipend. Minimum requirements for admission to the program include a degree from a university or its equivalent and achievement of a 2.5 overall grade point average and a 3.0 average in science course. Applicants are expected to have taken the GRE and to have obtained a minimum combined score of 1200 on the verbal and quantitative portions of the exam (approximately 315 on the new scoring system). Foreign students are required to achieve at least 550 on the TOEFL exam.