Explore the elegance and complexity of the brain and investigate how our 86 billion neurons contribute to our thinking, our behavior, and our sense of self.
Neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary field that spans the study of everything from single molecules to brain-wide circuits. The Sewanee neuroscience curriculum is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of cellular /molecular, behavioral, and cognitive approaches to exploring the brain. Flexible electives allow our students to expand their training into many related fields, including biomedical and health sciences, computational modeling, chemistry, and philosophy. Our professors provide a welcoming and collaborative environment where our students develop critical thinking skills, creativity, and a rigorous approach to understanding neuroscientific research.
Sewanee’s Neuroscience curriculum is designed to cultivate core competencies in neuroscience. Students explore core subdisciplines in neuroscience and engage in hands-on laboratory courses that allow them to develop and conduct inquiry-driven research projects in neuroscience. Flexible, interdisciplinary electives enable students to expand their appreciation of neuroscience while pursuing their interests and goals.
Explore the research programs run by our Neuroscience faculty, and discover how our students conduct and present scientific research of their own.
Sewanee’s neuroscience community welcomes all members, from the neuro-curious to the newly declared major to the graduating senior. Discover the many ways to connect with other students, interact with faculty, plug into social and professional networks, and expand your neuroscientific world.
I had the incredible opportunity of working in Dr. Cammack's lab this summer, in which we explored a cocaine antagonist and performed conditioned place preference with mice. It felt like such an accomplishment to gain valuable skills, such as maintaining/caring for the mice, staining estrous samples with cresyl violet and distinguishing the stages under a microscope, and analyzing data from the conditioned place preference tests. We put this all together on a poster, which was very rewarding and will continue to keep updating as we go!
"I began studying the brain because I was interested in why humans behave the way we do, and Neuroscience is the foundation of the most basic and complex human function and behavior. An understanding of human behavior creates empathy for others, which is likely why the Neuroscience program is filled with some of the best people on campus. Plus, it’s always really cool to say “Yeah, I majored in Neuroscience!”
''Neuroscience is a rapidly evolving field of science that involves a lot of metacognition as I like to think of it as a brain trying to untangle its own complexity. The Neuro Program at Sewanee is really amazing in the sense that it immerses students in a variety of fields like neurobiology, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience. Among the things I appreciate about the program are the accessible undergraduate research opportunities and the supportive faculty.'
“Sewanee is a great place to study neuroscience because of the community. Classes are small enough that your professors will know your name, and you are able to get to know their research and maybe even help them with it! The department is also good about sending out different internship and grad school opportunities that are around, which has helped me to explore the field and get experience outside of Sewanee. I have been grateful for the commitment that the Neuro Program has had to making us more knowledgeable in their field, and I would highly recommend Sewanee to anyone looking into neuro!”
“There is only so much that we know about the brain today, from ion channel activity to the neurobiological mechanisms to human thought and behavior. The Sewanee Neuroscience program does an excellent job at helping you explore what’s known and what’s unknown.”
Being a neuroscience major and working at Dr. Shelley's lab has really allowed me to explore my opportunities and love for the field. I have enjoyed exploring all different fields of neuroscience as it allows me to see how our brain works in many different ways and how there are different aspects that make us who we are
“I love the Neuroscience Program at Sewanee because of its faculty and community. The professors are dedicated to providing the best learning experience: they are very helpful, and make every single class interesting, and they help us find amazing internships and prepare us for our careers after Sewanee. The neuroscience community is very close, I get to take classes with many of the same people, and I made a lot of friends through the program. Every class that I've taken has been fun and very interesting, and I'm really happy to be a part of the program!”
Katharine Cammack received a B.S. in psychology from Santa Clara University and a Ph.D. in integrative neuroscience from Rutgers University. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, supported by a research fellowship from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Chris Shelley earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Imperial College London, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University College London. He conducted postdoctoral work on the mechanisms of activation of ion channels at the medical schools of the University of Miami and the University of Maryland. He has served as visiting professor at Franklin and Marshall College and a visiting scientist at Emory University.
Thomas Reppert is Assistant Professor of neuroscience and psychology in the Department of Psychology. He received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He completed his postdoctoral training in Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, supported by a research fellowship from the National Eye Institute.
Elise Kikis earned a B.A. in Biology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California Berkeley. She conducted postdoctoral work on protein folding at Northwestern University and currently studies how environmental factors contribute to the misfolding of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
Sue Buckingham received a B.A. in English from the College of Wooster and an M.S. in Plant & Soil Science and a Ph.D. in Anatomy & Neurobiology, both from the University of Vermont. She did her postdoctoral training in Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham investigating mechanisms of peritumoral seizures in an animal model of glioblastoma.
Maria Falikman is a cognitive psychologist working in the field of human visual attention. She obtained her PhD and a habilitation degree in Psychology from Lomonosov Moscow State University. She was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands
Sewanee’s undergraduate research program gives students the opportunity to explore new ideas, sharpen their research skills, and get a head start on a career or graduate school. Almost a quarter of students here were involved in mentored research projects last year, in the sciences (of course)—but also in the arts, English, politics, and more. Students have the chance to wow their peers by giving talks and presenting posters during Scholarship Sewanee, the annual celebration of student scholarship and creativity.
As a pre-health student, you’ll be surrounded by an environment of support and opportunity. Enriching curriculum, clinical internships, expansive advising, and a strong alumni network combine to create a solid foundation for your medical career. The structure of programs help ensure that you are well-prepared for your journey after Sewanee.
The Sewanee-at-Yale internship is an eight-week experience in biomedical research at the Yale Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine. Interns are placed in research laboratories, exposed to clinical settings, and get to see the day-to-day workings of a behavioral neuroscience research laboratory.
The Journal of Sewanee Science, a semiannual magazine, was founded in 2015 as a venue for Sewanee students to highlight their work. All research articles are reviewed by Sewanee alumni, giving both past and current students the opportunity to participate in, and learn from, the process of scientific publishing. The Advent 2018 issue features Amanda Watters and her research on pre-gestational oxycodone exposure and its impacts on maternal motivation, caregiving, and drug seeking.
