The 21st Century promises extraordinary progress in understanding the neural bases of animal and human behavior. Much of the work will depend upon a greater integration of information across levels of biological organization and a greater reliance upon quantitative approaches than has historically been the case. The next Century, thus, also poses the challenge of educating young scientists in a broader and more flexible way than has historically been the case. Computational neuroscience is one of the areas in which integrative and quantitative approaches to neuroscience and behavior will be increasingly important. Accordingly, funds are requested here for six predoctoral slots for the Committee on Computational Neuroscience that has been established at the University of Chicago. This Ph.D. training program has two specific aims: (1) to train young scientists with a working knowledge of neuroscience at levels of organization ranging from molecular neurobiology to cognitive science, (2) to train young scientists who have basic expertise in both mathematical and experimental approaches to important problems in neuroscience. The program has several key components: (1) an integrated curriculum of nine required courses, (2) laboratory rotations, (3) exposure to a range of seminars, workshops and retreats, and (4) dissertation research. The training faculty are drawn from 11 basic science and clinical departments at the University of Chicago and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. These faculty are involved in research ranging from structure/function relationships of voltage-gated channels, to sensorimotor transformations in song birds, to connectionist models of language, as well as several areas of neural engineering. A key feature of the program is that most of the faculty are involved in combined mathematical and experimental approaches to neuroscience and behavior. ? ?
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