A Welcome Letter to NEURds

Howdy y’all,

Welcome to neuroscience at Rice. Whether you are joining the major or the minor, the following information is going to be helpful to your career as a NEURd at this university. Below is a guide to what this welcome letter will cover:

Neuroscience Opportunities Listserv

Essentially all of the major neuroscience events at Rice University are organized via the Neuroscience Opportunities Listserv, or NEUR-OPPS. This is an email newsletter, and includes general advising sessions, special guest lecturers, opportunities for outreach, advertisements for labs seeking students, scholarships and grants, neuroscience related events outside of Rice, and anything else that may be useful to you. You can sign up for it by following this link.

Rice Neuroscience Society

Rice Neuroscience Society is the primary organization that provides supports for undergraduates in neuroscience. They create on-campus events to help students progress in their college careers. This includes peer advising with meetings that help students, such as how to get involved with a lab and what courses to take. Further, they host a multitude of neuroscience related events to raise awareness of the field/major and act as a hub for the other, more specialized neuroscience organizations on campus (listed below).

RNS works closely with the faculty advisors for the neuroscience major and minor. If you have any ideas for how either of these can be improved, RNS is the primary mechanism for students to voice their opinions. Because of this, it is suggested that every neuroscience major and minor join RNS (even as a periphery member) so their voices are head.

Neuroscience Organizations

There are an ever growing number of neuroscience related organizations at Rice. Here are several of the active organizations.

BrainSTEM

BrainSTEM is one of the more active organizations on campus. It is both a course (BIOC 129) and a club. Undergraduates (as well as graduate students from the UTHealth and Baylor) go to teach neuroscience to middle and high school students once a week in various underserved communities in the Houston area. In the course/class, students both serve their community and learn how to communicate science effectively at the same time. BIOC 129 is one credit hour course run by Dr. Flynn, and counts as a single elective for the neuroscience major if taken for 3 semesters. This is a great option for students who wish to dedicate themselves to science outreach and communication. For students that cannot dedicate themselves to going once a week, the club provides a great option to serve your community when you have time. Additionally, officers in the club help Dr. Flynn decide how the BrainSTEM program is going to grow and change along with the neuroscience major. You can contact them at brainstem@rice.edu.

Pancakes for Parkinson’s

Pancakes for Parkinson’s (or P4P) is the Houston chapter of a national fundraiser to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research. They team up with the Houston Area Parkinson’s Society (as well as other local organizations) to run events that raise money for research as well as raising awareness for the disease. You can contact them at ricep4pchairs@gmail.com.

Alzheimer’s Buddies

Alzheimer’s Buddies is another active outreach group at Rice – students volunteer to spend one hour a week with an Ahzeheimer’s patient (their buddy). This helps to build social ties and reduce loneliness, which has been demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes. It is part of a national organization, and  is a great club for future MDs who wish to build relationships with the Alzheimer’s community in the Houston area.

Speculative Neuroscience Club

Many of those who pursue neuroscience are interested in the deeper philosophical problems that the field touches on.  How does meditation effect the brain? Does it make sense to extend the concept of mind to include the body? What is this whole consciousness thing, anyway? The Speculative Neuroscience Club is a group that meets twice a month for lunch to discuss ideas like these while keeping them grounded in science. You can contact them through their faculty advisor (flynn@rice.edu).

Undergraduate Research

Rice emphasizes experiential learning; in the sciences, this means interning at various labs at Rice, Baylor, and UTHealth. Generally, students start looking into doing scientific research in their Sophomore or Junior year, although this is not a hard and fast rule. You can find more information about doing research at www.neur310.rice.edu.

Degree Requirements

Official requirements for either the major or the minor can be found on the general announcement websites here. You may find a slightly more user friendly version of this on the official Rice Neuroscience website (major, minor), as well as general information about various neuroscience related initiatives at Rice. Keep in mind that the GA has the final say on what is required; the Rice Neuroscience website is kept up to date, but isn’t an official document.

A quick note: because the neuroscience major is new, it is liable to change as faculty add/alter courses. If it changes during your stay at Rice, you should pick a single year to follow – in other words, you may graduate following the requirements from 2017-2018, or 2018-2019, but you cannot “mix” the requirements between years. However, if this becomes an issue, please contact an advisor and talk with them (see below). We’re happy to help.

Finally, if you are trying to find when classes are going to be available (to make your 4-year plan), you can check out the Predicted Course Offerings. Again, this is not an official document, but it should help guide your studies.

Advising

Dr. Flynn is the main advisor for the neuroscience major and minor. You can reach him at flynn@rice.edu. He will be able to give you advice on what courses to take, where to do research, and is generally available to chat about neuroscience related issues. He can also sign any major/minor declaration forms that you may have.

If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Flynn, you can use his appointment system at www.flynn.rice.edu/appointments.

If Dr. Flynn is unavailable, there are several other advisors for the major available.

  • Dr. Caprette (caprette@rice.edu)
  • Dr. Aazhang (aaz@rice.edu)
  • Dr. Kemere (caleb.kemere@rice.edu)
  • Dr. Dickman (dickman@bcm.edu)