Academics / Graduate program

Graduate Program Information

General Objectives of the Program

The aim of the doctoral program is to prepare a select group of scientists for research careers in the brain and cognitive sciences. We expect our graduates to be competent experimenters and to be able to interpret their work to others, to write well, and to teach effectively. Advanced training of this sort demands much time devoted to basic research. Course requirements are therefore limited to eight subjects generally taken in the first two years. The remaining time is devoted primarily to laboratory work, although students are encouraged to take advanced seminars throughout their stay. Students begin the program essentially as research apprentices and assistants; as time goes on, the program revolves increasingly around the student‘s own investigations, leading to an eventual choice of thesis. The basic graduate program is designed to be completed in four to five years.

Student Advising and Supervision

Incoming students choose an advisor who may or may not be the eventual thesis advisor. By the end of the first year, the student and the advisor will select an advisory committee. Official notice of the membership of this committee must be sent to the Academic Administrator. The advisory committee will consist of the advisor and two to four additional faculty members, at least two of whom must be from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Exceptions to this may be granted by the Graduate Committee Chairperson. At its meetings, someone other than the advisor will act as chairperson. This committee will report to the Department Graduate Committee.

The advisory committee will supervise the student‘s progress, administer the oral part of the qualifying exam, read and approve the required progress reports, and judge whether there is satisfactory progress through the program. Students are encouraged to meet informally with their committee members during the year for advice on academic or research matters. The advisory committee will evolve into the thesis committee, with membership changing at the initiative of the student as his or her research direction becomes more clearly defined.

Mandatory annual meetings of the advisory committee will be held before 31 May of the third, fourth, and above years. In the second year, the required meeting will take place within the fall term. Students should plan on contacting members of their committee no later than March 1 in order to schedule a meeting before the end of May. It is preferable to have the meeting earlier than May, and it is recommended to have more than one meeting a year.

Completion of the yearly committee meeting is a requirement of the graduate program and is necessary in order to continue in the program.

The advisory or thesis committee is charged with producing a brief report on the candidate‘s progress. Specific annual progress reporting forms are provided that address expected progress for each yearly milestone (year 2, 3, 4, 5+).

Year 2 (first meeting of the advisory committee): The candidate will be required to submit a research plan that will outline research goals. Advisory Committee will produce a year 2 report. Meeting must be held during fall term. Second Year Advisory Committee Meeting Form (Word)

Year 3 (oral qualifying exam): The candidate will be required to submit a research progress report that will also serve as the basis for the oral qualifier. Advisory Committee will produce a year 3 report. Third Year Advisory Committee Meeting Form (Word)

Year 4 (formation of thesis committee): The candidate will be required to submit a thesis proposal that will include a report of research progress and published work or work being prepared for publication. The Advisory Committee, now Thesis Committee, will produce a year 4 report. Fourth Year + Thesis Committee Meeting Form (Word)

Year 5 and each year beyond: The candidate will be required to submit an annual progress report that should include published work or work being prepared for publication. The Thesis Committee will produce a year 5+ report. Fourth Year + Thesis Committee Meeting Form (Word)

To make each committee meeting useful, you must submit three documents to your committee a week in advance of your meeting:

a 3 to 5 page written research summary
the appropriate thesis committee report forms
your CV

You must also prepare a brief oral presentation for the meeting which emphasizes points upon which you want feedback. During the meeting you will discuss your project or potential projects, as well as how you intend to proceed over the coming year. At the end of the meeting you and your committee will complete the annual committee meeting form by filling out the committee comments section and signing the form. This completed form must be submitted to the Academic Office.

Rotations and Lab Changes: During the graduate‘s first year, a minimum of three laboratory rotations are strongly encouraged, to be coordinated with the relevant Rotation Advisor. By the beginning of summer term at the latest, each student should choose a laboratory and advisor, and notify the Academic Administrator of this choice.

A brief proposal for each rotation is required, to be submitted to the Academic Administrator the week before starting a rotation.
A brief report of each rotation is required, to be submitted to the Academic Administrator within two weeks of completing a rotation.

Students who, at a later time, are considering a change in advising arrangements must discuss the matter at an early opportunity with the Graduate Committee Chairpersonor the Academic Administrator, who will help ensure a smooth transition. Lab changes should not be arranged without prior departmental approval.

PhD Curriculum and Research Requirements

1. Research Involvement

Students are expected to spend at least half their time in research, for which academic credit is given. Students are encouraged to carry out research projects with at least two different advisors during their graduate careers.

Registration: Registration takes place during the first week of each term; the Academic Administrator will have registration forms for students who have successfully preregistered and are not on registration hold due to outstanding fees or fines. (First year students cannot preregister for fall term, but their registration forms will be available at the department orientation.) The registration forms include all subjects selected during preregistration, and any changes or additions can be made on the form before it is signed and returned to the Registrar‘s Office. The Academic Administrator is the Registration Officer.

Summer Registration: The program is structured over a twelve-month year, and students must be registered in the summer in order to be eligible for stipend checks. Students will normally register for 36 units of 9.921 Research in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, requiring full-time summer research, or 36 units of 9.THG Thesis in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, in the case of more advanced students. Students who do not expect to devote the major part of a summer to normal research activities should have their plans approved in advance by the Graduate Committee Chairperson.

2. Major and Minor Fields and Course Requirements

By the end of their first year, students are required to choose a major and a minor field from those represented in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences or, in the case of the minor, from closely allied fields outside the department. The purpose of the major and minor field requirement is to encourage each student to acquire both breadth and depth of knowledge. Rather than mechanically checking off requirements, students (with the help of their advisory committees) are urged to use the framework of these requirements to design a curriculum suited to their interests and professional goals. In some cases the spirit of the requirements may be met by substituting other courses (see below). In those instances a student must petition the Graduate Committee Chairpersonfor permission to make a substitution. Earlier petitions are encouraged. Because many subjects are offered in alternate years, attention to the MIT Bulletin will be required. In particular, subjects most relevant to the qualifying examination (see Qualifying Examination below) should be taken in the first two years.

Students must pass the required core and lecture courses with grades of A or B. The Department Graduate Committee reviews student performance and, after discussion, may vote to place a student whose performance is unsatisfactory on Departmental Warning. In more serious cases the Committee may recommend a Dean‘s Warning. Continued unsatisfactory progress will result in expulsion from the program.

Graduate courses are of three types: core, lecture, and seminar.

Graduate Core Course: All first-year students are required to take two of three core courses, Systems Neuroscience (9.011) in the fall, and Cognitive Science (9.012) or Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology (9.013) in the spring.

Graduate Course Requirements: Graduate students are required to take at least three courses in their major area and at least two courses in their minor area; none of these subjects may be taken "pass/fail." At least three of these five subjects must be designated as "lecture courses." Lecture courses are designed to present a coherent body of information via a series of lectures by one or more member(s) of the faculty. The Department Graduate Committee decides which courses qualify for lecture course status, generally following two criteria: 1) the course should have a structure that includes faculty lectures and provides a survey of the field, and 2) there must be a required paper or written project. Lecture courses are a principal means by which graduate students acquire relevant information for their qualifying exams.

Graduate Seminar Courses: are more specialized, less formal, and less explicitly didactic than the lecture courses. They are a means by which graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members can share ideas and discuss issues related to ongoing research. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this means of keeping abreast of current ideas and work in their own and related fields.

3. Qualifying Examination

The qualifying examination consists of a three-hour written section and a one-hour oral section. Separate exams are normally given in each area of departmental specialization: cognitive science, systems neuroscience, cell and molecular neuroscience, and computation. The written portion will normally be taken around June 15 of the student‘s second year. It is designed to test both breadth and depth of knowledge within the area of specialization. The written exam will be closed book and will deal principally, but not exclusively, with defined material from announced reading lists in each of the department‘s major fields. A student in otherwise good standing who fails the written exam will be given the opportunity to take the exam again at a later date.

Updated reading lists for qualifying exams will be distributed on Registration Day of the spring term of the student‘s second year. If an updated list is not made available at that time, students will be responsible for the material declared in the last official reading list, although modifications may be arranged between the student and graduate committee members. The most recent reading lists are available on Stellar at http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/9/quals/quals-bcs/index.html. Please see the Academic Administrator regarding the Computation reading list.

The oral portion of the qualifying exam, about one hour in length, comprises the mandatory third year progress report and committee meeting.

4. Other Requirements

Responsible Conduct of Research: In order to prepare graduate students to address problems concerning the responsible conduct of research, formal and informal courses and seminars are offered by the department and by the Institute. Brain and Cognitive Sciences students are required to take a seminar in the responsible conduct of research. This requirement will normally be completed before spring term of the first year. In addition, students are encouraged throughout their stay at MIT to attend departmental colloquia and roundtables organized around these issues.

NIH Required Education for Human Subjects Research

All BCS graduate students must successfully complete an approved human subjects training program, whether or not they are currently performing research involving humans as subjects. Web training is available at http://web.mit.edu/osp/www/hs-training.htm. Training must be confirmed by 1 October.

Quantitative Methods: Graduate students are required to take a class in statistics or quantitative methods. They can satisfy this requirement by taking an appropriate course at MIT or Harvard with the prior approval of the Graduate Committee Chairperson.

Teaching: All graduate students will be given teaching assignments, which are important in preparing for academic careers. Three terms of teaching are required, one each in years two, three, and four. Students should register for 9.919 Teaching Brain and Cognitive Sciences in the appropriate terms.

To receive instruction in teaching, graduate students will attend the department‘s workshop for new graduate teaching staff.

5. The Petition Process

There are two forms of petitions that graduate students will encounter. The first is a formal MIT process that is followed when official Registrar‘s records are involved, e.g., completion of “Incompletes” after one intervening term, etc. Petition forms for this purpose are available in the BCS Graduate Office (46-2005), the Registrar‘s Office (5-119), or Student Services (11-120).

The second form of petition is an internal process for obtaining approval of substitutions in or extensions for departmental requirements. There are no official forms for this process, but students must formulate their requests in advance and in writing. The requested substitution should be spelled out with course titles and numbers; the rationale for the substitution should be clearly stated, and relevant course descriptions should be attached. Requests should be emailed to the Chair of the Graduate Committee with a copy to the Academic Administrator. The Graduate Committee Chairpersonwill respond on behalf of the Graduate Committee as soon as possible, usually by email. Class substitution requests are approved in special circumstances only.

Extension of Deadlines
All deadlines in this document are to be met as stated. If a student needs extension of a deadline for any reason, a request must be made in advance, in writing. The procedure for internal petitioning, as described above, should be followed.

Student Representation
The graduate student body annually elects representatives to act as liaison with departmental faculty and administration. These representatives communicate with the Graduate Committee on matters concerning departmental curriculum, requirements, deadlines, etc. Suggestions for modifications in the graduate program should be brought to their attention. In return, the representatives will keep the students informed of planned changes, and the consequences of these changes, to the departmental rules and requirements.

Outside these formal procedures, any graduate student in the department is encouraged to discuss problems and suggestions with the Chair of the Graduate Committee and other departmental faculty.

Thesis

Work on the doctoral dissertation, under the sponsorship of the faculty advisor, should be well under way by the third year in residence and should be completed within two years. Extension of graduate work beyond a fifth year requires a review by the Department Graduate Committee following a report by the student‘s advisory committee.

The doctoral dissertation work should make an original contribution to knowledge and should be reported in a manner fit for publication. Because of the emphasis on active research by students in the program, the thesis will normally include a coherent body of published and publishable work, plus an introduction and a discussion which include a comprehensive review of literature. The thesis may take the form of two or three journal articles in which the student was first author, so long as it includes an introduction and a conclusion that relate the research projects to one another.

Thesis Proposal: The thesis proposal is due on Fall Registration Day of the student‘s fourth year. Registration in 9.941 (Thesis Proposal) for six units is required in order to receive credit for the proposal. An appropriate number of copies are submitted to the student‘s advisory committee, which at this point evolves into the thesis committee. The thesis committee will meet with the student by October 31 of the fall term to determine whether the proposal is feasible and whether the student is qualified to conduct the proposed research. Thesis committees normally consist of four members, with the student‘s advisor functioning as chairperson of the committee, except during oral examinations. One committee member is usually from outside the department. See Thesis Proposal Guidelines below for further details.

If the proposal is not completed and approved within the fall term, the student will receive a grade of J and continue to register for 9.941 in subsequent terms until the final Pass grade is received.

Thesis Document and Thesis Defense: The MIT publication, "Specifications for Thesis Preparation", available at http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/thesis-specs/index.html, should be consulted, along with the departmental checklist mentioned above. The thesis committee must approve the thesis as defensible, based on an assessment of a final draft. The draft of the thesis must be received by the thesis committee members at least three weeks prior to the defense. The final draft of the thesis must be submitted to the Graduate Office one week prior to the defense. The thesis committee has the intervening period to read the thesis and raise any objections. If there are no objections raised by the deadline for submission to the Graduate Office, the defense can proceed as scheduled. If there are serious objections, the chair of the committee must notify the candidate in writing of those objections and the defense must be postponed until the issues raised by the committee have been addressed.

The dissertation will be uploaded to a special BCS Stellar site http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/9/fa06/9.THESIS-BCS/index.html, and the time and place of the oral defense will be announced to the department. The announcement will be made four to eight days in advance. The defense date must be agreed upon by all committee members plus the Graduate Committee Chairperson. At the time of the presentation, the student will discuss his or her research in a formal 45-minute talk to which all department members are invited. After the talk, the student will answer questions by those present. An additional closed session of questioning will follow, at which the faculty will choose from the following decisions:

Oral Defense: 1) Passed, or 2) Not passed, and a) Student will meet with group again in closed session within two weeks, or b) Student will meet with group again in closed session before the deadline of the following term, or c) No second chance scheduled at this time.

Written Defense: 1) Written thesis passed as is (although there may be non-critical editorial suggestions for improvement), or 2) Written thesis passed pending certain changes, to be approved by thesis supervisor and/or specific committee members and the Graduate Committee Chairperson, or 3) Written thesis requires more work, so approval is withheld this term.

The student is responsible for reserving a room for the defense. To do so, use the BCS Reservations calendar at http://web.mit.edu/bcs/ (click on "Reservations" in the upper right corner) and then email Brandy Baker that you‘ve made a reservation.

Thesis Proposal Guidelines

1. What is a thesis proposal?: The thesis proposal is a formal document that describes the research a student plans to pursue to fulfill the requirements for the PhD.
2. When is it due?: The proposal is due on or before Fall Registration Day of the fourth year. Exceptions to this deadline require a petition to be considered by the Graduate Committee Chairperson.
3. Purpose of the proposal.: In addition to stating the student‘s plans for fulfilling the thesis requirement for evaluation by the advisory committee, writing the thesis proposal gives the student training and experience in writing grant proposals.
4. Format: The format is described below. The proposal must be typed, double-spaced, with adequate margins. Sections 5 through 7 should be no more than 20 pages.
5. Submission of the proposal.: The proposal should be delivered to the student‘s advisory committee.
6. Life after submission of the proposal.: a. The Thesis Committee is composed of faculty members with interests and experience in research areas represented in the thesis proposal, regardless of the part of the department with which they have primary affiliation. The committee generally consists of three departmental faculty members and one non-departmental reviewer (i.e., faculty from other departments at MIT or from nearby universities), each with one vote. The student‘s advisor is the committee‘s chairperson.; b. Oral Presentation of the Thesis Proposal: The student should expect to discuss in depth all aspects of the research proposal. The presentation should be scheduled to take place before October 31, or within eight weeks of submission of the thesis proposal. The student‘s advisor must communicate the advisory committee‘s assessment to the Graduate Committee Chairperson and the Academic Administrator.; c. Thesis: Before the thesis is written, and by spring registration day of the fourth year, the candidate must receive committee approval of the thesis proposal, shown by the advisor‘s signature on the document. Significant changes in thesis plans should be approved by each committee member. This is best accomplished by meeting periodically with members of the committee as the thesis progresses. (See Thesis Proposal above.)

Format

Title Page should contain an appropriate title, the date, the student‘s name, advisor‘s name with space for signature, and the notation "thesis proposal."
Abstract is a brief (one-half to one page) description of the planned thesis as currently envisioned, including why the problem is worth studying, the types of experiments to be performed or theory to be developed, and what is expected to result.
Table of contents lists the document‘s sections with page numbers.
Literature Survey is a succinct, critical review of the current status of research in the proposed area of study. Important contributions to the field should be critically evaluated. The student should demonstrate awareness and understanding of the literature. This section should be no more than six pages.
Specific Aims should be given as numbered sentences listing the specific goals of each part of the proposed research. Normally, this section should be no more than one page in length.
Preliminary Findings: Describe studies already done by the author as background for proposed further work.
Experimental Design and Methods: Describe the experiments to be performed to accomplish each specific aim, in enough detail to enable the reader to understand just what the student will be doing. Well-established methods need only brief description and reference; new, experimental, or unorthodox methods should be described in more detail. This section should end with a timetable for completion of the studies, together with priorities for handling multiple tasks.
References: Format of references should conform to styles acceptable in the thesis.

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Graduate Committee Members

Associate Department Head for Education: Matt Wilson, 46-5233, mwilson@mit.edu
Chairperson: Earl Miller, 46-6241, ekmiller@mit.edu (Picower Professor of Neuroscience)

Computation: Sebastian Seung, 46-5065, seung@mit.edu
Cognitive Science/Neuroscience: Edward Gibson, 46-3035, egibson@mit.edu
Systems Neuroscience: Michale Fee, 46-5133, fee@mit.edu
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience: Troy Littleton, 46-3243, troy@mit.edu

Ex officio: Mriganka Sur, 46-6237, msur@mit.edu

Admissions Officer: Michale Fee, 46-5133, fee@mit.edu

Academic Administrator: Denise Heintze, 46-2005, heintze@mit.edu

Education Committee Members
Mriganka Sur, Matthew Wilson, Earl Miller, Pawan Sinha, Michale Fee, Sebastian Seung, Ted Gibson, Troy Littleton

Training Grant Oversight Committee Members
Mriganka Sur, Edward Adelson, Mark Bear, John Gabrieli, Matthew Wilson, Alan Hein, Denise Heintze

BCS Graduate Student Representatives:
Taka Soda, sodat@mit.edu (neuro)
Krista Ehinger, kehinger@mit.edu (cog)

BCS Representative to GSC:
Position Open

BCS Thesis Fields:
Neuroscience
Cognitive Science

BCS Website: http://web.mit.edu/bcs/