UT Dallas > School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences > Departments > Department of Neuroscience > Graduate Programs > Current Students

Current Students

Degree Requirements

PhD students in the Systems and Cellular Neuroscience (SCN) track must complete a program of rigorous research training and coursework, ultimately resulting in a significant original contribution of knowledge within their area of study. See our current graduate students.

The SCN program is structured to support our students’ research endeavors while providing the flexibility to create an individualized plan that can accommodate your specific research interests and goals:

Year 1: Rotations and First-Year Project

Most students spend their first semester exploring their research interests by participating in lab rotations. By the end of their first year, they have found a lab home and developed an independent First Year Project (proposal due early Spring).

Year 2: First-Year Project Defense & Forming your Dissertation Committee

Completion of your First-Year Project by December gives you a jump start on your Dissertation. In Year 2, you’ll begin to develop your Dissertation Proposal and choose which faculty will guide you as members of your Dissertation Committee.

Year 3: Defending your Dissertation Proposal

In Year 3, your research ideas become fully developed in the form of an NRSA-style Dissertation Proposal (due Sept 1 of Year 3). By the end of Year 3, you will defend your Proposal to your committee and colleagues.

Year 4: Research

You’ll be conducting research throughout your graduate career, but Year 4 is the time to really focus, as your coursework and other program milestones will have already been completed.

Year 5: Dissertation Defense!

In Year 5, you will present your original research findings to the world in the form of a Dissertation (document) and a Dissertation Defense (oral presentation). We highly encourage multiple first-author research papers prior to dissertation defense. This will put you in an advantageous position to move forward in your career. The minimum requirement for defense is one first-authored research paper.

Course Offerings

Graduate students in the Systems and Cellular Neuroscience track complete 24 credit hours of coursework in Years 1-2. Students must complete all the required courses listed below, plus one Advanced Elective course and one Cognition elective. Course details can be found on the UT Dallas Coursebook. Students must also enroll in additional research credit hours; in total, at least 75 semester credit hours are required for degree completion.

Required Courses: