Behavioral Neuroscience
(Biological Division)
Program Description
The members of the Behavioral Neuroscience division use neuroscience techniques mostly (but not exclusively) in animals to understand how the brain works to produce behavior. The program is strongly research oriented and each student works directly with a faculty mentor. Topics that individual researchers explore include neural plasticity, the cellular basis for learning and memory, hormonal effects on neural development, adolescence and aging, drugs of abuse and addiction, auditory encoding of speech, physiology of the visual system, and genetic influences on motivation. The faculty and students in the Behavioral Neuroscience division interact with the Brain and Cognition division in Psychology and the campus wide Neuroscience Program.
Note: the Behavioral Neuroscience division was formerly called the Biological Division. Students interested in graduate work with a member of the division should select "Biological" on their the graduate application form.
Curriculum
The curriculum is tailored to the individual student's interests and goals. The only course requirements are the department's requirements and the weekly Proseminar in Psychology for the Behavioral Neuroscience division. Most students take courses in the various biology departments outside of Psychology as part of the department's minor requirement. Participation in research is emphasized and each student presents a first year project by the end of the third semester in graduate school.
Facilities and Resources
Faculty laboratories are either in the Psychology Building or in the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute. There are animal housing facilities in both buildings. In addition, all faculty and students have access to group facilities for such techniques as electron microscopy, confocal microscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Affiliated Departments, Programs and Institutes
All of the faculty in the Behavioral Neuroscience division are also members of the campus wide Neuroscience Program. There are also close ties to the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute and to several departments within the Schools of Molecular and Cellular Biology and of Integrative Biology. Some graduate students within the Behavioral Neuroscience division have also been members of the campus MD/PhD (Medical Scholars) Program. Admission to both the Medical Scholars Program and the Psychology Department doctoral program is required. Members of the division also interact with the Institute for Genomic Biology.
Behavioral Neuroscience Faculty
Roberto Galvez, Assistant Professor
Analysis of learning induced neocortical plasticity and the underlying mechanism(s) throughout development and in neurological disorders.
Office: Room 2351 Beckman Institute | (217) 244-0391 | rgalvez@illinois.edu
Joshua Gulley, Associate Professor
Neurobiology of drug and alcohol addiction, with an emphasis on behavioral and physiological analyses of brain reward pathways in animal models of drug taking and repeated drug exposure.
Office: Room 731 | (217) 265-6413 | jgulley@illinois.edu
Janice M. Juraska, Professor
The effects of sex, hormones (especially gonadal) and the environment on brain structure and of behavioral abilities in rats across during development, adolescence and aging.
Office: Room 735 | (217) 333-8546 | jjuraska@illinois.edu
Justin S. Rhodes, Associate Professor
Physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms of motivation for natural and drug rewards using mice as a model organism; behavior genetics of exercise and effects of exercise on cognition and brain function.
Office: Room 3315 Beckman Institute | (217) 265-0021 | jrhodes@illinois.edu
Robert Wickesberg, Associate Professor
To discover the cues that are used to recognize speech, we examine how speech is encoded in the peripheral auditory system. .
Office: Room 733 | (217) 333-1147 | wickesbe@illinois.edu
Associated Faculty
Michael Coles, Professor Emeritus
The utility of measures of brain activity, derived using non-invasive procedures, in understanding human cognitive function.
Office: Room 509 | (217) 333-2122 | m-coles@illinois.edu
Emanuel Donchin, Professor Emeritus
Electrocortical measures and cognitive activities. Current research is concerned with the interpretation of components of the event related brain potential (ERP) as manifestations of cognitive activity.
Prof. Donchin is currently at the University of South Florida| (813) 974-0466 | donchin@mail.usf.edu
William T. Greenough, Professor Emeritus
Cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory and other brain information storage processes; genetic and environmental sources of mental retardation; psychobiology of mammalian development; quantitative anatomy; effects of exercise on the brain; MRI and spectroscopy in brain; and the roles of astrocytes in brain function.
Office: Room 530 | (217) 333-4472 | wgreenou@illinois.edu
Joseph G. Malpeli, Professor Emeritus
Neurophysiology of the mammalian visual system.
Office: Room 530 | (217) 265-6207 | jmalpeli@illinois.edu