Neuroscience is a broad, multidisciplinary field concerned with the nervous system, its components, and functional activities, including behavior and consciousness.
How do nerve cells function and develop, and how do they communicate? How do brains work, and how have they evolved? What is the nature of consciousness, and the neural basis for behaviors and for human brain dysfunction? These are among the many questions being answered by contemporary neuroscience.
Neuroscience at Trinity involves faculty from the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Philosophy, and Psychology. The major is designed to give students a fundamental grounding in the sciences, and the flexibility to direct their studies towards cellular/molecular, systems/behavioral or cognitive/clinical aspects of neuroscience. A major in neuroscience can lead to a career in scientific research, the health professions, education, business, law, or government. The Trinity major also prepares students for further study in graduate school and medical school.
Neuroscience majors begin with foundational courses in Brain and Behavior, Principles of Neuroscience, biology, and chemistry, and later engage in advanced lab and seminar experiences that connect research to real-world discovery. Students can explore electives such as Developmental, Behavioral, and Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurochemistry, Neuroendocrinology, Human Neuropsychology, and Nutrition and Brain Health.
Students gain hands-on experience in Trinity’s state-of-the-art labs and through research collaborations on campus and at nearby institutions such as the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center. Faculty research spans topics from brain plasticity and memory to addiction, autism, and the study of consciousness using fMRI.
There may be no course of study more representative of the relevance, range, and challenge of a liberal arts education at Trinity than the major in neuroscience. With its multidisciplinary approach it embodies the ideals of a liberal arts education. Neuroscience, the major, offers a unique undergraduate experience. From the enjoyment of research to the diversity of subject matter to the level of work and scholarship demanded of the program, students are encouraged to extend themselves in new challenges and new ways of thinking. The intensive program enhances their powers of perception, organization, and expression.
After graduating as Neuroscience majors, most students pursue graduate studies in some area related to their curriculum at Trinity, including about 40 percent of graduates who go on to attend medical school. Others pursue graduate degrees in research. Still others find their undergraduate experience has provided an exceptional foundation for careers in a broad spectrum of careers, from applied sciences to law to philosophy. Each finds that as a neuroscience major at Trinity College, they have been prepared in a truly unique manner for a rewarding and challenging post – graduate career.
Read about Pernell T. Reid, M.D., ’03, senior vice president, Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Mass Eye and Ear (member hospital of Mass General Brigham), as profiled in the Spring 2024 issue of the Trinity College Reporter.
Last summer, Trinity College Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Sally Bernardina Seraphin received a Fred Karush Endowed Library Readership from the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library to support her research project on E.E. Just.
Aili Ramsden ’25 recently was named a finalist for a Fulbright/Maastricht University Award. This fall, she will attend Maastricht University in the Netherlands to begin a one-year master’s program in developmental psychology.
Alenka Doyle ’26 has received a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most prestigious awards for students interested in pursuing careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Doyle is a double major in neuroscience and English and also is a coxswain for the men’s varsity rowing team.
Trinity College Vernon D. Roosa Professor of Applied Science Susan A. Masino is blazing a trail in neuroscience and conservation. She insists that applied science be pursued with an approach of “fearless kindness.” To do so, she asks, “How can science make ourselves better, make our lives better, and make our planet better?”
