Minors
Neuroscience is a broad, interdisciplinary field. All CMU students have the option to explore the various aspects of neuroscience by minoring in one of the three primary sub-disciplines: Neurobiology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Computational Neuroscience.
There are three minors offered:
- The Neuroscience Minor focuses on Neurobiology, but gives a breadth of exposure to Cognitive Neuroscience and also to a variety of approaches to Neuroscience, including Neural Computation.
- The Cognitive Neuroscience Minor has a stronger Cognitive foucs, but also provides students solid exposure to Neurobiology and to approaches to Neuroscience, including Neural Computation.
- The Minor in Neural Computation primarily foucses on Computational Neuroscience, but also provides a groundwork in experimental approaches, including Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurobiology.
Students wishing to gain a more wholistic foundation in all three aspects of Neuroscience may want to consider the Neuroscience Major.
Neuroscience Minor
The minor in Neuroscience offered by the Department of Biological Sciences is similar to the Cognitive Neuroscience Minor offered by the Department of Psychology. This minor requires students take 03-362 (Cellular Neuroscience) instead of 85-211 (Cognitive Psychology).
Students in either minor can customize their education by their choice of distribution electives.
Students pursuing the minor in Neuroscience will:
- Acquire foundational knowledge of the basic biological foundations of the nervous system, from the cellular through systems levels.
- Understand the effects of basic neurological function on behavior, including cognition.
- Gain an appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the field of neuroscience.
The requirements for the Neuroscience Minor include 7 courses: four required courses, and three distribution and elective courses.
Curriculum
Required coursework
85-219 Biological Foundations of Behavior
or 03-161 Molecules to Mind
03-121 Modern Biology
03-362 Cellular Neuroscience
03-363 Systems Neuroscience
Distribution Requirements
Three Courses, including at least 1 from each of the following two categories
APPROACHES TO NEUROSCIENCE
85-355 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
85-412 Cognitive Modeling
85-414 Cognitive Neuropsychology
85-419 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing
85-429 Cognitive Brain Imaging
15-386 Neural Computation
15-883 Computational Models of Neural Systems
36-746 Statistical Methods for Neuroscience is also a possible choice offered intermittently
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE ELECTIVES
03-133 (formerly 03-260) Neurobiology of Disease
03-364 Developmental Neuroscience
03-365 Neural Correlates of Learning & Memory
15-486 Artificial Neural Networks
85-211 Cognitive Psychology*
85-356 Music and Mind: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Sound
85-370 Perception
85-390 Human Memory
85-406 Autism: Psychological and Neuroscience Perspectives
*NOTE: 85-213 may be used instead of 85-211 when offered
NOTE: Because the curriculum within this minor may overlap with some degree requirements, no more than 2 courses fulfilling Neuroscience Minor requirements may count towards the requirements of a student’s major or other minor.
Cognitive Neuroscience Minor
The minor in Cognitive Neuroscience offered by the Department of Psychology is similar to the Neuroscience Minor offered by the Department of Biological Sciences. This minor requires students take 85-211 (Cognitive Psychology) instead of 03-362 (Cellular Neuroscience).
Students in either minor can customize their education by their choice of distribution electives.
Students pursuing the minor in Cognitive Neuroscience will:
- Acquire foundational knowledge of the basic biological foundations of the nervous system, from the cellular through systems levels.
- Understand the effects of basic neurological function on behavior, including cognition.
- Gain an appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the field of neuroscience.
The requirements for the Cognitive Neuroscience Minor include 7 courses: four required courses, and three distribution and elective courses.
Curriculum
Required coursework
85-219 Biological Foundations of Behavior
85-211 Cognitive Psychology*
03-121 Modern Biology
03-363 Systems Neuroscience
*NOTE: 85-213 may be used instead of 85-211 when offered
Distribution Requirements
Three Courses, including at least 1 from each of the following two categories
APPROACHES TO COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
85-355 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
85-412 Cognitive Modeling
85-414 Cognitive Neuropsychology
85-419 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing
85-429 Cognitive Brain Imaging
15-386 Neural Computation
15-883 Computational Models of Neural Systems
36-746 Statistical Methods for Neuroscience is also a possible choice offered intermittently
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE ELECTIVES
03-133 (formerly 03-260) Neurobiology of Disease
03-362 Cellular Neuroscience
03-364 Developmental Neuroscience
03-365 Neural Correlates of Learning & Memory
15-486 Artificial Neural Networks
85-356 Music and Mind: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Sound
85-370 Perception
85-390 Human Memory
85-406 Autism: Psychological and Neuroscience Perspectives
Neural Computation Minor
The Minor in Neural Computation
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/upnc/nc_minor/
The Minor in Neural Computation is an inter college minor jointly sponsored by the School of Computer Science, the Mellon College of Science, and the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and is coordinated by the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC).
The minor in Neural Computation will require a total of five courses: four courses drawn from the four core areas (A: Neural Computation, B: Neuroscience, C: Cognitive Psychology, D: Intelligent System Analysis), one from each area, and one additional depth elective chosen from one of the core areas that is outside the student's major. The depth elective can be replaced by a one-year research project in computational neuroscience. No more than two courses can be double counted toward the student's major or other minors.
A. Neural Computation
15-386 Neural Computation
15-387 Computational Perception
15-883 Computational Models of Neural Systems
85-419 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing
86-375 Computational Perception
Pitt-Mathematics-1800 Introduction to Mathematical Neuroscience
B. Neuroscience
03-362 Cellular Neuroscience
03-363 Systems Neuroscience
03-761 Neural Plasticity
85-765 Cognitive Neuroscience
Pitt-Neuroscience 1000 Introduction to Neuroscience
Pitt-Neuroscience 1012 Neurophysiology
C. Cognitive Psychology
85-211 Cognitive Psychology
85-213 Human Information Processing and Artifical Intelligence
85-412 Cognitive Modeling
85-419 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing
85-426 Learning in Humans and Machines
85-765 Cognitive Neuroscience
D. Intelligent System Analysis
10-601 Machine Learning
15-381 Artificial Intelligence: Representation and Problem Solving
15-386 Neural Computation
15-387 Computational Perception
15-486 Artificial Neural Networks
15-494 Special Topic: Cognitive Robotics
16-299 Introduction to Feedback Control Systems
16-311 Introduction to Robotics
16-385 Computer Vision
18-290 Signals and Systems
24-352 Dynamic Systems and Controls
36-225 Introduction to Probability Theory
36-247 Statistics for Lab Sciences
36-401 Modern Regression
36-410 Introduction to Probability Modeling
42-/86-631 Neural Data Analysis
42-632 Neural Signal Processing
86-375 Computational Perception
Prerequisites
The required courses in the above four core areas require a number of basic prerequisites: basic programming skills at the level of 15-110 Principles of Computing and basic mathematical skills at the level of 21-122 Integration, Differential Equations and Approximation or their equivalents. Some courses in Area D require additional prerequisites. Area B Biology courses require, at minimum, 03-121 Modern Biology. Students might skip the prerequisites if they have the permission of the instructor to take the required courses. Prerequisite courses are typically taken to satisfy the students' major or other requirements. In the event that these basic skill courses are not part of the prerequisite or required courses of a student's major, one of them can potentially count toward the five required courses (e.g. the depth elective), conditional on approval by the director of the minor program.