Neuroscience Program

Senior Research and Honors Program

President Liebowitz greets student at SciFest

Photo Credit: Mike Lovett

Seniors can receive credit for senior research in neuroscience by completing the NEUR 99 petition and meeting with the neuroscience honors coordinator no later than the first week of September of the student’s senior year. Once the petition is approved, candidates must enroll in NEUR 99a and 99b (or one of these and NEUR 93) to carry out a senior research project and submit and defend a thesis.

All neuroscience faculty mentor students for their senior research projects which range across the fields of faculty expertise. Project examples include:

  • the sequencing of RNAs as they vary through the circadian rhythm in drosophila,
  • quantification of neural responses in ferrets to visual motion,
  • human memory and speech recognition.

Students typically work in the corresponding lab long before their final year, and thus have the opportunity to create and present a scientific poster based on their research to the Brandeis community at SciFest in the summer between their junior and senior years. To reach the level of honors, a student must typically work in a research lab for at least two years.

More detail on the Neuroscience Senior Honors program, including the petition, can be found in the University Bulletin and at Senior Research & Honors in Neuroscience.

Apply for Senior Honors

Applying to Senior Honors (NEUR 93, 99 and 199) is now online. Use your UNET ID and password to log into this FileMaker-based function. Information about the application process is also available: NEUR 93NEUR 99/199.

A Sample of Past Theses

What is in a senior honors thesis? The Brandeis Institutional Repository (BIR) contains the Senior Honors Theses that have been submitted to the BIR over the years. Since this repository contains the senior honors theses from across the campus, use the "search within this collection" option to narrow your search.