Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Undergraduate Study

Bachelor of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Course 9)

Brain science and cognitive science are complementary and interactive in their research objectives. Both approaches examine perception, performance, and intervening processes in humans and animals. Central issues in the discipline include the interpretation of sensory experience; the reception, manipulation, storage, and retrieval of information within the nervous system; and the planning and execution of motor activity. Higher-level functions include the development of formal and informal reasoning skills; and the structure, acquisition, use, and internal representation of human language.

The Bachelor of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences prepares students to pursue advanced degrees or careers in artificial intelligence, machine learning, neuroscience, medicine, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, education research and technology, and human-machine interaction.

Methods of inquiry in the brain and cognitive sciences are drawn from molecular, cellular, and systems neuroscience; cognitive and perceptual psychology; computer science and artificial intelligence; linguistics; philosophy of language and mind; and mathematics. The undergraduate program is designed to provide instruction in the relevant aspects of these various disciplines. The program is administered by an Undergraduate Officer and an Undergraduate Administrator, consulting as necessary with faculty members from these disciplines who also serve as advisors to majors, helping them select a coherent set of subjects from within the requirements, including a research requirement. Members of the faculty are available to guide the research.

The Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) major incorporates programming and computational skills to meet the increasing demands for those skills in both graduate school and the workforce. The major offers a tiered system of subjects with enough flexibility to allow multiple avenues through the Brain and Cognitive Sciences curriculum, meeting the divergent goals of BCS students. Individual guidance regarding career goals is available from faculty and from Career Advising and Professional Development.

Bachelor of Science in Computation and Cognition (Course 6-9)

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences offer a joint curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Science in Computation and Cognition that focuses on the emerging field of computational and engineering approaches to brain science, cognition, and machine intelligence. The curriculum provides flexibility to accommodate students with a wide diversity of interests in this area—from biologically inspired approaches to artificial intelligence to reverse engineering circuits in the brain. This joint program prepares students for careers that include advanced applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as further graduate study in systems and cognitive neuroscience. Students in the program are full members of both departments, with an academic advisor from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Inquiries

Information about this program is available from the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Academic Office, Room 46-2005, 617-253-7403. 

Minor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences

The Minor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences consists of six subjects arranged in two levels of study, intended to provide students breadth in the field as a whole and some depth in an area of specialization.

Core Subjects
9.00	Introduction to Psychological Science	12
9.01	Introduction to Neuroscience	12
9.40	Introduction to Neural Computation	12
Specialized Subjects
Select any combination of three subjects from Tier II and/or Tier III of the undergraduate degree program:		36
Tier II Subjects
9.09[J]	Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
9.13	The Human Brain
9.18[J]	Developmental Neurobiology
9.19	Computational Psycholinguistics
9.21[J]	Cellular Neurophysiology and Computing
9.26[J]	Principles and Applications of Genetic Engineering for Biotechnology and Neuroscience
9.35	Perception
9.49	Neural Circuits for Cognition
9.53	Emergent Computations Within Distributed Neural Circuits
9.66[J]	Computational Cognitive Science
9.85	Infant and Early Childhood Cognition
Tier III Subjects
9.24	Disorders and Diseases of the Nervous System
9.42	The Brain and Its Interface with the Body
9.67[J]	Materials Physics of Neural Interfaces
Total Units		72

Graduate Study

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences offers programs of study leading to the doctoral degree in neuroscience or cognitive science. Areas of research specialization include cellular and molecular neuroscience, systems neuroscience, computation, and cognitive science. The graduate programs are designed to prepare students to pursue careers in research, teaching, or industry.

Doctor of Philosophy in Brain and Cognitive Sciences Fields

The doctor of philosophy in brain and cognitive sciences fields (the PhD program) is normally completed in approximately six years of full-time work, including summers. Institute requirements for the PhD are given in the section on General Degree Requirements. Formal coursework for the departmental program is intended to prepare the student to pass the general examinations and do original thesis research. The written and oral qualifying examination must be passed by the end of the spring term of the student’s second year.

All students are required to take an approved Foundational Core subject that provides an introduction to brain and cognitive studies from the viewpoint of systems neuroscience, molecular and cellular neuroscience, cognition, and computation and a statistics course relevant to their area of study. Further coursework includes 9.401 Tools for Robust Science, a subject developed to enhance scientific rigor, transparency, and reproducibility in neuroscience and cognitive science; and two elective subjects that allow each individual to obtain the appropriate background for research in their own area.

• Cellular and molecular neuroscience coursework emphasizes the current genetic, molecular, and cellular approaches to biological systems that are necessary to generate advances in neuroscience.

• Systems neuroscience coursework covers neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neurotransmitter chemistry, concentrating on the major sensory, motor, memory, and executive systems in the vertebrate brain. Specific ties to molecular neurobiology or computation may be emphasized, depending upon the research interests of the student.

• Computation coursework is intended to give both an understanding of empirical approaches to the study of the brain and animal behavior and a theoretical background for analyzing computational aspects of biological information processing.

• Cognitive science coursework covers such topics as language processing, language acquisition, cognitive development, natural computation, neural networks, connectionist models, and visual information processing. Students also choose seminars and coursework in linguistics, philosophy, logic, mathematics, or computer science, depending on the individual student's research program.

Graduate students begin a research apprenticeship immediately upon arrival with lab rotations in the first year. The rotations are intended to provide trainees with the opportunity to familiarize new students with the research being conducted  and select a laboratory in which they will complete their dissertation research. Students complete three rotations during the first year, registering for 12 units of 9.921 Research in Brain and Cognitive Sciences in both the fall and spring terms; an optional fourth rotation is also available but must be approved by the rotation coordinator. 

At the end of the first year, an advisory committee of two to four faculty members is formed. This committee monitors progress and, with membership changing as necessary, evolves into the thesis committee. Students must pass the oral and written qualifying exams for doctoral candidacy denoted by receiving a "P" Pass grade in 9.300 by the end of spring of the student’s second year. At the end of Y2, upon completing all required coursework, including 9.300, students can continue to conduct research and develop their thesis in preparation for a thesis proposal.

The thesis proposal is a description of a specific program of research which, if completed successfully and on the proposed timeline, the committee judges would be sufficient to earn a PhD from the BCS program. It is expected that the research embodied in the PhD dissertation be original and significant work, publishable in scientific journals. Thesis research normally requires 24–36 months of full-time activity after the qualifying examinations have been passed. 

In addition to coursework, students are also expected to serve as teaching trainees for two terms. Teaching trainees will register for 12 units of 9.919 Teaching Brain and Cognitive Sciences during each term of teaching. This is typically done once in the second year of the program and again in the third year.

Students must also participate in two department-approved professional development activities, registering for 9.990 during each term of participation. One credit unit will be awarded only upon completion of two activities. A list of pre-approved professional development activities is available on the BCS website. Students may also petition other relevant professional development activities.

Upon successful completion of all program requirements, the student will be awarded the PhD in the corresponding field of brain and cognitive sciences.

Financial Support

Financial assistance is provided to qualified applicants in the form of traineeships, research assistantships, and a limited number of fellowships, subject to availability of funds. Prospective students are encouraged to apply for individual fellowships such as those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program to cover all or part of the cost of their education. 

Inquiries

For additional information regarding teaching and research programs, contact the Academic Administrator, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Room 46-2005, 617-253-5741, or visit the department's website.

Financial Support

Financial assistance is provided to qualified applicants in the form of traineeships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and a limited number of fellowships, subject to availability of funds. Prospective students are encouraged to apply for individual fellowships such as those sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program to cover all or part of the cost of their education. The department's financial resources for non-US citizens are limited; international students are strongly encouraged to seek financial assistance for all or part of the cost of their education from non-MIT sources.

Inquiries

For additional information regarding teaching and research programs, contact the Academic Administrator, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Room 46-2005, 617-253-5741, or visit the department's website.