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Nov 23, 2024
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American University Catalog 2024-2025
Behavior, Cognition, and Neuroscience (PhD)
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Admission to the Program
In addition to meeting the minimum university requirements for graduate study, applicants must submit a completed graduate application form, three letters of recommendation, and copies of all college transcripts. Students are admitted for full-time study only.
Degree Requirements
- 54 credit hours of approved graduate work, exclusive of NEUR-898 Doctoral Continuing Enrollment (1-9) /NEUR-899 Doctoral Dissertation (9)
- Students who have been admitted to the doctoral program but do not have a masters degree that has been accepted by the department must complete the degree requirements for the Neuroscience (MS) (thesis option) before they can be awarded the doctorate. Students required to complete the Neuroscience (MS) must take NEUR-797 Master’s Thesis Research (1-3) (3 credit hours required), in the Laboratory Research area
- Students must take classes for a letter grade rather than pass/fail when the option exists
- Comprehensive exam: A student, with the help of his/her advisor, chooses a topic for specialization and forms a committee of at least four members (including the advisor), at least two of whom are full-time faculty at American University. The student is given a written or oral examination on this topic prepared and scored by the committee members
- Research Assurances and Research Ethics Training: Appropriate protocol review and oversight of faculty and student research is an essential component of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training on campus. All graduate students who are conducting research in partial fulfillment of a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation are required to participate in RCR training. Documentation of RCR training must be presented to the Doctoral Program Director with the completed dissertation proposal. BCaN students are responsible for obtaining the appropriate research assurances for research that involves human participants, animal subjects, or use of recombinant DNA, infectious materials, select or toxic agents, or human materials. Application forms and guidelines are available on AU’s Research website. Copies of research assurances must be presented to the BCaN Director with the completed dissertation proposal
- Advancement to Candidacy: Students are considered “advanced to candidacy” (or “all-but-dissertation”) when they have completed all required course credits; have passed their comprehensive exam; and have an approved dissertation proposal
- Dissertation: A written proposal for the dissertation should be submitted to the dissertation committee by the middle of the second semester of the third year. The original proposal, or a revision thereof, should meet the requirements of the committee by the end of the second semester of the third year. The dissertation must be accepted by the dissertation committee, the department chair, and the university
Required (9 credit hours)
Complete 9 credit hours from the following, or other courses approved by BCaN Director and faculty advisor:
Research Methods (3 credit hours)
Statistics (6 credit hours)
Complete 6 credit hours from the following: Note: Prerequisite statistics courses can be taken and may only count towards the Electives requirement. The program recommends that students with no background or prior courses in statistics take STAT-614 Statistical Methods (3) in addition to the required 6 credit hours of statistics courses. Seminars (6 credit hours)
Complete 6 credit hours from the following, or other courses approved by BCaN Director and faculty advisor:
Electives (6 credit hours)
Complete 6 credit hours from the following, or other courses approved by BCaN Director and faculty advisor:
Note: Students may not use NEUR-799 Doctoral Dissertation Research (1-6) to fulfill this area.
Laboratory Research (18 credit hours)
Complete 18 credit hours from the following, or other courses approved by BCaN Director and faculty advisor:
Note: Students may not use NEUR-799 to fulfill this area. NEUR-797 is required for students completing the Neuroscience (MS) .
Dissertation Research (6 credit hours)
Complete 6 credit hours from the following: |
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