Behavioral Neuroscience Program

Professor Ann-Marie Torregrossa, PhD, (center) with students and lab personnel.

Area head Ann-Marie Torregrossa, PhD, (center) with a student and lab personnel

The core tenet of the Behavioral Neuroscience Doctoral Program is that a complete understanding of behavior requires understanding the mechanisms and principles at multiple levels of organization (i.e., behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, neurochemical). Since ideas, methods and techniques from these underlying levels of analysis are necessary for the investigation of brain-behavior relations, students in the behavioral neuroscience program are expected to achieve general competence in the breadth of biological factors that control and affect behavior, and in-depth proficiency in areas relevant to their special interests.

Area Head: Ann-Marie Torregrossa, PhD

The Learning Environment

Program faculty conduct groundbreaking nationally recognized research on motivated behaviors, pain, ingestive behavior, drug addiction, and synaptic plasticity. A number of adjunct faculty contribute to the intellectual breadth of our program, and our students interact with a larger neuroscience community at UB, making our program a particularly rich and diverse intellectual environment.

Through a close and personalized student-mentor relationship, students gain an appreciation for programmatic problem-oriented, rather than technique-oriented, research. Our goal is to produce sophisticated, versatile scientists and teachers who will contribute meaningfully to academia and industry.

The Admissions Process

Although there are no set requirements for admission to the program, preference is given to students with a master’s or bachelor’s degree in psychology or neuroscience, who have been involved in research, and who have some course background in physiology or neuroscience.

As our program is mentorship-based, students are admitted to work with an individual faculty member. Faculty members accepting students vary from year to year. Before applying, prospective students should view the list of faculty members accepting students and/or contact potential mentors.

Faculty Members Accepting PhD Students

Funding Opportunities

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