Neuroscience

Engaged Neuroscience

Engaged Neuroscience takes what you’re learning in your courses and puts it into practice through internships, research, study away, winter term, career exploration, and beyond.

Here’s a sampling of recent projects, field experiences, and post-graduate destinations for neuroscience majors.

RISE at Oberlin
Research. Internships. Study Away. Experiential Learning.

Ways Neuroscience Majors Rise

Research

  • How the brain combines sound and vision information in a multisensory world
  • Nature and nurture interplay in neurodegenerative diseases
  • How neurotransmitter systems regulate cognitive functions and social behavior
  • How the brain processes time in decision-making
  • Investigating the neural circuitry of reward
  • How brain circuits process reward and regulate behavior

Internships

  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Exceptional Research Opportunities Program
  • University of Vermont’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
  • Fox Chase Cancer Center Undergraduate Student Research Program
  • Life Science Summer Undergraduate Research at University of Minnesota
  • Neuroscience-related biotech companies including Synapse Biomedical and Neurophotometrics

Study Away

  • DIS–Study Abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark (courses in psychopharmacology and cognitive neuroscience)
  • Syracuse University in Florence, Italy
  • Development, Politics, and Languages (SIT), Ecuador
  • SEA Semester Study Abroad Programs: Environmental Studies in Woods Hole

Experiential Learning

  • Laboratory-based course in topics such as cognitive neuroscience, sensory neuroscience, neurotoxicology and neurodegeneration, neuropharmacology, neurodevelopment, neurophysiology, and neuroimmunology
  • Capstone courses focusing on reading, discussing, presenting, and writing on neuroscience-related topics
  • Many majors volunteer at the Bonner Center, “Get with the Program,” Kendal at Oberlin (a retirement community), and area hospitals (Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals)

First Destinations of Recent Neuroscience Majors

  • Positions:
    • Research scientist, research associate, research fellow, or research intern at University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Gerson Lehrman Group, Allen Institute for Brain Science, Oconetics Pharmaceuticals, and IDEXX laboratories
    • Neurophotometrics, Synapse Biomedical
    • Regeneron
    • Project coordinator at Rady Children’s Hospital
  • Graduate Schools:
    • PhD in neuroscience, University of California, San Diego
    • PhD in pharmacology, Columbia University
    • MS in neuroscience, Princeton University and Stanford University
    • PhD in neural science, New York University
    • PhD in Oregon Health and Science University
    • JD/PhD in law & economics and neuroscience at Vanderbilt University
  • Medical Schools:
    • Harvard University
    • Vanderbilt University
    • George Washington University
    • Thomas Jefferson University
    • Johns Hopkins University
    • Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University
  • Other Professional Programs:
    • MA in public health
    • Veterinary school
    • Physician assistant
    • Physical therapy