Self-Study of Graduate Education Curriculum in Neurobiology School of Medicine University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Submitted to: The Graduate School University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill April 2012 1 Dr. William D. Snider Director of the UNC Neuroscience Center and the Neurobiology Curriculum Dr. Aldo Rustioni Associate Director, Neurobiology Curriculum Denise E. Kenney Student Services Manager 2 Site Visit Committee May 15-17th 2012 Committee Chair: Professor Louis Reichardt, University of California, San Francisco Committee Members: Professor Carol Mason, Columbia University, New York Professor Henrik Dohlman, UNC/Biochemistry and Biophysics (Internal reviewer) 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS PROGRAM OVERVIEW pages A. Mission, Goals and Objectives 7 B. Faculty 8 C. Students 8 D. Research Environment 8 E. Self-Study 9 CURRICULUM 9 A. Degree Requirements: Doctoral 9 Required Course Work 10 Examinations and Dissertation Guidance Committees 10 B. Degree Requirements: Master 12 C. Advising/Mentoring 13 FACULTY 14 A. Research Interests 15 B. Faculty by Year 16 C. Affiliations 16 D. Titles 17 E. Publications in high-impact journals 17 F. Grant Support 18 STUDENTS 19 A Admission, Current Students and Their Advisor 19 B. Research Interests 21 C. First Author Publications 22 D. Financial Support 22 E. Teaching Experience 22 F. GRE Scores 23 4 INTELLECTUAL ENRICHMENT 23 THE FUTURE 25 A. Continued Neuroscience Faculty Recruitment 25 B. Improved Student Recruitment 25 C. Course Curriculum 25 D. Fund Raising 26 E. Challenges 26 -------------- . --------------- APPENDICES 27 2001 Summary of Findings by the 2001 Reviewing Panel 27 CURRICULUM 28 Typical Neurobiology Training Program 28 Schedule of 2011-2012 Course Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 29 Elective Courses 31 FACULTY 33 Profile of Primary Faculty 33 STUDENTS 37 Financial Support 37 Current Student Demographics + Gender +Diversity (urm) 37 Past Student Demographics + Gender + Diversity (urm) 40 PhD’s Awarded (1971 to 2011) 41 Publications (past 5 years) 46 Thesis Defenses, Source of Support, Years to Graduation, Current Placement 65 OTHER 76 Neuroscience Center Seminars List (2008 to present) 76 Tuesday “Mini-series” (2008 to present) 87 5 Fall Neuroscience Symposia (2002 to present) 94 Perl-UNC Awards (2000 to present) 96 Triangle Synapse Club (2002 to present) 97 Administrative Support 100 Biographical Sketches of Primary Faculty 102 Faculty and Student Evaluations 332 6 PROGRAM OVERVIEW A. Mission, Goals and Objectives. The Neurobiology (NBIO) Curriculum at UNC-Chapel Hill was established in 1966, even before the foundation of the Society for Neuroscience, by faculty in the department of Biochemistry. Dr. Edward Perl became the Curriculum Director when he moved from the University of Utah to take the chair of the department of Physiology at UNC; he was subsequently selected as the first president of the Society for Neuroscience. The NBIO Curriculum was thus created by the early visionary leaders who recognized that neuroscience was an academic discipline much like biochemistry and genetics, and that broad-based PhD programs should be established that encouraged training not only in neurophysiology, but also in neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and behavioral neuroscience. The idea was that faculty who studied nervous system should be included, whatever their department. The concept has taken root and is now so broadly accepted that virtually all major US institutions offer PhD training in neuroscience. It is a matter of pride that the NBIO Curriculum at UNC has offered PhD training continuously for 46 years. These decades have seen remarkable advances in technology for studying the nervous system, requiring a constant infusion of new talented faculty. The NBIO Curriculum is dedicated to interdisciplinary training in the neurosciences and to the fostering of significant, original investigations resulting in awarding of the PhD degree, by UNC- Chapel Hill. Our approach maintains a central commitment to the training of neurobiologists in an age of specialization, while at the same time striving to engender an appreciation for the whole of neuroscience. As the field of neuroscience expands, the need to introduce students to new technical approaches to fundamental questions is essential. We have met this need through the addition of new faculty members, and have stressed molecular genetics, computational neuroscience, and translational research in neuroscience in the design of courses. A number of structural and administrative changes at UNC have impacted the NBIO Curriculum. Until 2008, students entered the program directly; the NBIO Curriculum managed its own recruiting and paid first-year stipends from a variety of sources. Financial constraints kept the program quite small. However, since 2009, all graduate students in biomedical sciences at UNC have matriculated through the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (BBSP), an umbrella biomedical sciences program. Students are supported in their first year of BBSP and then choose from a variety of PhD programs including NBIO. With the creation of BBSP, the Curriculum has relinquished its standards for admission and it has promoted academic opportunities for a student population that reflects the ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the state of North Carolina. The new arrangement has led to a very significant expansion of the NBIO Curriculum, and it has had a positive effect on morale and the overall neuroscience research climate at UNC while. However, resources that had formerly supported individual graduate programs were used to establish BBSP. The biggest challenge that the NBIO Curriculum currently faces is that our total institutional support is a $50,000 annual allotment from the School of Medicine. Major changes at UNC that have impacted the Curriculum in a positive way were the establishment of the UNC Neuroscience Center in 1999, and construction of the Neuroscience Research Building in 2002. Both of these initiatives provided a focal point for neuroscience at UNC, stimulated much-needed recruitment of new faculty, and resulted in intellectual enrichment opportunities for NBIO students (see below). 7 B. Faculty Primary faculty of the NBIO Curriculum are active P.I.s and potential faculty mentors for NBIO students. Affiliate faculty do not directly provide research training for students but may serve in various administrative roles and/or as members of advisory committees. Most primary faculty are in academic departments at the School of Medicine. However, one of the strengths of the Curriculum is that we have active faculty from the main campus, including departments of Biology, Psychology and Chemistry. Everyone on the primary faculty list is funded and active in the program. Over the past, research funds have been generated through federal grants (from NINDS, NIDA, NIAAA, NEI, NIDCD,NIMH, including, most recently, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and large private foundation, e.g. National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. In the current academic year, a multi-million grant has been awarded by the Simons Foundation for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders to Brian Roth, Mark Zylka and Ben Philpot, and an Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) grant has been awarded to Eva Anton. Ken McCarthy has been featured in a March 2010 issue of Science, and Tom Kash has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (September, 2011). We are proud of the outstanding publication record and high impact factors achieved by the NBIO faculty. Over the past 2 years, NBIO faculty have published in Nature, Cell, and Science, and multiple papers from NBIO faculty have appeared in Nature Neuroscience and Neuron. We feel this publication record compares favorably with that at larger programs. Faculty are very actively engaged in design of courses and teaching, committee work and direct mentoring of students in the laboratory. C. Students Our students come primarily from the East Coast, although we have drawn students from all parts of the US. Most of our students perform very well in the course and thesis work. A number of students enter with an interest in addiction research and are attracted to the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, and strong groups in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology who also work on substances of abuse. There is intense competition from Duke (only 12 miles away). We are always working to improve credentials of the students we accept, and we hope to add applicants from colleges not currently represented that offer rigorous scientific training. We have awarded 16 PhDs over the past two years and students have gone on to postdoctoral fellowships at highly-ranked schools (see Appendix). Students must have at least one first-author paper as a requirement for graduation. Reflecting the success of their faculty mentors, many students have graduated with papers in some of the highest impact journals in the field of neuroscience (see Appendix). Financial support of students during the first year of their graduate education is mostly provided by BBSP. As the student chooses a laboratory, the faculty mentor/P.I. is responsible for the student’s stipend. Students are encouraged to apply for independent funding, mainly NRSA’s (eight students currently have an NRSA). The NBIO Curriculum can provide stipends from an NIH training grant (T32). This grant provides ten stipends per year. Only first and second-year students