Cognitive Neuroscience PhD

Program Code: G-CNS-PHD
Department: Cognitive Neuroscience
Website: dibs.duke.edu/education/graduate/cnap

Program Summary

The Cognitive Neuroscience Admitting Program (CNAP) provides an interdisciplinary education in cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience uses the techniques and principles of neuroscience to understand the neural and psychological mechanisms that underlie cognitive processes such as attention, perception, memory, decision making, motor control, conscious awareness, and many others. This program is a graduate admitting program designed for students who are interested in broad training that integrates ideas and techniques across this diverse and rapidly growing field. Research experience will provide expertise in the major methods that drive cognitive brain research. Program faculty are drawn from a wide range of departments and programs including psychology and neuroscience, neurobiology, psychiatry, biomedical engineering, philosophy, evolutionary anthropology, computer science, linguistics, neurology, and radiology.

Academic Requirements

Students who matriculate to the Cognitive Neuroscience Admitting Program do not initially affiliate with any particular department or advisor. They begin by completing broad coursework and laboratory research rotations within the umbrella of the CNAP program. Typical early coursework includes an optional neuroscience bootcamp followed by a core course in cognitive neuroscience and a quantitative elective course. During their first year, students complete rotations in three laboratories, often chosen because they investigate different research topics or use diverse research methods. By their second year, students select a primary advisor and declare a department with which they will affiliate and complete their degree. Students typically also select a secondary advisor who provides complementary expertise in a relevant research topic. After the degree-granting department has been selected, students become full members of that department, while also remaining affiliated with the CNAP program and participating in its activities. The doctoral degree that is eventually obtained consists of a PhD in the field of the selected department, with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience.