Neuroscience Program

Home / Undergraduate / Undergraduate Research / NEUR 99: Senior Research and Senior Honors in Neuroscience

NEUR 99: Senior Research and Senior Honors in Neuroscience

2022-2023 Information

To enroll in NEUR 99A for Fall semester: Complete the 99 Petition online no later than Sept 5, 2022. The neuroscience department will send you further instructions so you can register in NEUR 99 if the petition is complete, your faculty research sponsor has filled their separate form, and project requirements have been met. Please note that you must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the Neuroscience Major in order for you to be eligible to enroll in Honors, but not to do senior research. We will be checking GPAs to determine eligibility, based on requirements for the BA degree.

To enroll in NEUR 99b for Spring semester: if you enrolled in NEUR 99a in the previous Fall, you do not need to submit the petition again but you must email the Neuroscience Department at neuroscience@brandeis.edu no later than Jan. 13, 2023 that you wish to enroll in NEUR 99b. If you are enrolling in NEUR 99 for the first time (e.g., you did NEUR 93 in the Fall), you must complete the online 99 Petition no later than Jan 13, 2023. The biology department will send you further instructions so you can register in NEUR 99 if the petition is complete, your faculty research sponsor has filled their separate form, and project requirements have been met.

NEUR 99: Senior Research and Senior Honors in Neuroscience

The Senior Research Program provides an opportunity for students concentrating in Neuroscience to do a two-semester-long independent research project during their senior year and to receive both course and elective credit for that research. Research must ask and attempt to answer a novel question in neuroscience, with the goal of contributing to neuroscience knowledge. Any senior concentrating in neuroscience regardless of GPA can participate in Senior Research (NEUR 99) and ask to be considered for Senior Honors (see NEUR 99 petition). Eligibility for honors is determined by the student's research performance and final academic record.

Expand All

How to Enroll in NEUR 99

The student should meet with their faculty research sponsor (and co-sponsor, when appropriate). The student then submits the completed NEUR 99 Petition online. The Neuroscience office will then email the research sponsor (and co-sponsor, when appropriate) a Sponsor’s Agreement form to complete. The enrollment application will be complete only when the student and research sponsor (and co-sponsor, when appropriate) have submitted their forms. The Neuroscience office will then send a further instruction to the student so they can enroll in NEUR 99. Note that you must be on campus or connected to the Brandeis VPN in order to access the online petition.

Course Requirements for 1st Semester of NEUR 99 (usually NEUR 99a)

At the completion of the first semester of NEUR 99, the student writes a paper that reviews the literature in the scientific field pertinent to their research and includes a bibliography of cited papers. Requirements for the review paper:

In a minimum of 8 pages of double-spaced text, the student should describe and discuss the scientific literature that is important for the problem being investigated. If there are models or hypotheses, the review should describe what they are. What evidence supports or negates the models? What is the specific question or problem being explored and how will it be solved? The review should include references in the text and provide a bibliography containing those citations [the bibliography does not count toward the 8 pages of text]. This review will be useful when writing the introduction to the senior thesis.

The student must give their review to the Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and send a PDF copy to neuroscience@brandeis.edu in the Neuroscience office by the deadline (see timetable).

Course Requirements for 2nd Semester of NEUR 99 (usually NEUR 99b)

At the completion of the 2^nd semester of NEUR 99, students write a Senior Research thesis that contains the following sections:

Title Page: includes student’s name, the title of senior research, and date.
Abstract (not more than 250 words): summarizes the nature of the research project, the results obtained, and the relevance of those results.
Introduction: poses the research question that was asked in the context of current knowledge in the relevant field.
Materials and Methods: provides in sufficient detail all aspects related to how the experiments were conducted.
Results: provides a written description along with figures and tables, of the experimental data obtained.
Discussion: evaluates the results obtained and their relevance and significance to current models and data in the field.
References: includes complete citations (authors' names, paper titles, journal, volume, page, year). See the journal Cell for examples.

The student must give the thesis to the Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and send a PDF copy to neuroscience@brandeis.edu in the Neuroscience office by the deadline (see timetable).

Students who are taking NEUR 199 should follow the Thesis and Dissertation Guide found here: https://www.brandeis.edu/gsas/student-resources/thesis-dissertation-guide.html

Candidacy for Senior Honors

To become a candidate for Senior Honors, students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the Neuroscience major, based on the requirements for the BA degree, and must enroll in two semesters of NEUR 99 in senior year and complete the NEUR 99 petition including the section asking to be considered a candidate for Senior Honors. Senior Honors is the departmental award for Distinction in Neuroscience and requires both excellence in laboratory research and a strong academic record (GPA eligibility): Neuroscience majors enrolled in NEUR 99 are eligible for honors if they obtain a B+ or higher in both NEUR 99a and NEUR 99b, and write and defend a thesis. Also, the student’s faculty research mentor must support the student’s honors candidacy.

Senior Honors Requirements

All the 1^st and 2^nd semester NEUR 99 course requirements given above for Senior Research apply to candidates for Senior Honors. The Honors candidate must write an Honors thesis using the format of the Senior Research thesis (see above) and give a public oral presentation and defense of their work to a designated Faculty Research Committee, which is composed of the student's research sponsor (and co-sponsor, when appropriate) and two additional faculty members in the Neuroscience Department. The oral presentation and defense should last one hour. Typically, the candidate prepares a 30-35 minute talk that includes an introduction that shows why the work was undertaken, what goals were set, the results obtained and why they are significant. Throughout this presentation, the research committee members will ask questions. Presentations may include the use of a blackboard, handouts, and/or Powerpoint presentations, etc. Each member of the research committee evaluates the written thesis and oral presentation/defense and makes a recommendation to the Neuroscience faculty that the candidate graduate with no Honors, Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors. Assuming GPA eligibility has been met, these recommendations are considered by the Department of Neuroscience faculty who make the final determination about the candidate's Honors status. Students will learn about their honors status at graduation.

NEUR 99 Timetable for 2022-2023 Academic Year

Fall Semester 2022

No later than September 5th: To request enrollment in NEUR 99a, complete and submit the online NEUR 99 petition. If you want to do NEUR 99 with someone who is not a member of the Brandeis Neuroscience faculty, you will need a Brandeis Neuroscience faculty co-sponsor and approval from the NEUR 99 research coordinator.

Deadlines for NEUR 99 Review or Senior Thesis:

If you are a Senior Honors Candidate who is defending at the end of Fall Semester:
by November 18^th at 3pm: Send a PDF of your Senior Honors Research thesis to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and to the other two members of your faculty research committee (and give paper copies, if asked). You will be told beforehand who the committee members are.

on December 8^th, 9^th, and 12^th: Honors Oral Presentation and Defense

If you are concluding Senior Research in the Fall (it is your second semester of NEUR 99) but are not an Honors Candidate: by December 14th: Send a PDF of your Senior Honors Research thesis to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and to the Neuroscience office.

If you are doing NEUR 99a in the Fall and intend to do NEUR 99b in Spring (whether or not as Honors):
by December 14th: The review paper on your field of research is due. Send it as a PDF to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and to the Neuroscience office.

If you are doing NEUR 199a in Fall and intend to do NEUR 199b in Spring: by December 14th: The review paper on your field of research is due. Send it as a PDF to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and to the Neuroscience office.

Spring Semester 2023

During the week of January 9^th and no later than January 13^th: If you took NEUR 99a in the Fall, email the Neuroscience Departmentl (neuroscience@brandeis.edu) to enroll you in NEUR 99b. If you are starting NEUR 99 this Spring semester and will conclude NEUR 99 in Fall 23, or if you are a senior wanting to combine NEUR 93 (Fall) and NEUR 99b (Spring), complete and submit the online NEUR 99 petition. If you want to do NEUR 99 with someone who is not a member of the Brandeis faculty, you will need a Brandeis faculty co-sponsor and approval from the NEUR 99 Research Coordinator.

Deadlines for NEUR 99 Senior Thesis:

If you are a Senior Honors Candidate and are Defending in the Spring Semester:

by April 19th: Send a PDF of your Senior Honors Research thesis to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and ask for feedback by April 24th. You then have time to incorporate any feedback and send the final version to your research sponsor and the other members of your committee by April 26th (and give paper copies, if asked). You will be told beforehand who the committee members are.

on May 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th: Honors Oral Presentation and Defenses

by no later than May 10th: If revisions are required by your research committee, send a final version of your Senior Honors Research thesis to your faculty sponsor and a pdf copy to the Neuroscience office.

Complete the Certification of Master’s Thesis Acceptance form and submit to Richard Cunnane at rcunnane@brandeis.edu, neuroscience@brandeis.edu, and your thesis advisor.

Submit your thesis to ProQuest.

Further instructions are available.

If you are not doing Senior Honors but are concluding Senior Research in the Spring:

by May 10th: Send a PDF of your Senior Honors Research thesis to your Brandeis research sponsor or co-sponsor and to the Neuroscience office.