PURSUING A NEUROSCIENCE MINOR RICE AT

WRITTEN BY HAYLEY JUE

EDITED BY TRINITY EIMER

Pursuing a college minor provides undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to diversify their study of the world within an academic environment. Students can develop new skills while studying topics that complement their academic goals, personally interest them, or both. At Rice, the neuroscience minor introduces students to the foundations of neuroscience while equipping them with the tools needed for success in a variety of careers.

Brown junior Alex Serrato is majoring in biosciences with a major concentration in cell biology and genetics. While making her four year plan, Serrato noticed that she had a lot of free space in her schedule. After browsing Rice’s various minors, she found that the neuroscience minor’s classes overlapped with her interests in neuroscience and psychology.

“Prior to coming to Rice, I thought neuroscience was an interesting topic, but had not been exposed to it as much as biology in high school…I was also not very interested in the computational or engineering classes in the neuroscience major, and preferred the neurobiological approach to neuroscience,” Serrato said. “I thought minoring would allow me to explore these new topics without having to commit to something I wasn’t as familiar with.”

Unlike Serrato, who discovered neuroscience at Rice, Brown sophomore Justin Hebert developed an interest in neuroscience in high school. He applied to Rice as a neuroscience major pursuing the pre-med track. Although he decided to major in computer science instead, he is still pursuing his interest in neuroscience via the minor.

All neuroscience minors must choose to specialize in one of two areas: Humanities and Social Science or Natural Sciences and

Engineering. Hebert has elected to specialize in Natural Sciences and Engineering; in particular, Hebert wants to take classes related to artificial intelligence—an interest located at the intersection of computer science and neuroscience.

“The thing I really like about the neuroscience minor is that it allows you to either take a concentration in humanities [and] social sciences or engineering [and] natural sciences,” Hebert said. “As a computer science major, I’m most interested in the engineering aspect of neuroscience, so I plan on taking some of the classes from that division like COMP 440 [Artificial Intelligence] and NEUR 383 [Introduction to Neuroengineering].”

However, Hebert wishes that more opportunities and events related to neuroengineering were advertised to students. Thus far, Hebert has noticed that the overwhelming

Design by Bryant Polanco majority of Rice’s neuroscience information and events are designed for pre-med students.

“I initially wanted to be involved in the neuroscience club, but it felt like a lot of the events were geared towards people interested in research or medicine, and I didn’t really fall into either of those categories,” Hebert said.

Serrato has a different critique of the neuroscience program. While researching and comparing potential majors, Serrato felt that the neuroscience major provided students with fewer opportunities to explore various topics.

“Since the major is still very new, I think there is still a lack of diversity of classes compared to other majors. Creating more elective classes could help expose students to certain topics that they might be interested in learn- ing more about. This would give students the flexibility of focusing on a more niche topic, or choosing to be more well-rounded and taking a myriad of different courses,” Serrato said. Although she ultimately decided to pursue the biosciences major, Serrato’s interest in neuroscience has continued to grow at Rice. This year, she has been involved in Rice Neuroscience Society, Brain Bee, Brain Awareness Week and BrainSTEM. After graduating from Rice, Serrato hopes to attend a neuroscience or neurobiology graduate program.

“As I started taking more biology and neuroscience classes, I began to become more interested in pursuing neurobiology or neuroscience research in graduate school,” Serrato said. “More specifically, I really enjoyed learning about prions in BIOS 300 and how sensation is connected to brain systems in NEUR 380.I was able to do neuroscience research for a summer REU at UT Southwestern last year where I had the opportunity to attend a few neuroscience research presentations at the school. The research I did there, combined with the presentations I attended, further confirmed my interest in pursuing a career in neuroscience.”

In total, the neuroscience minor requires six courses: one core course, four courses from one area of specialization, and one course from the other area of specialization to provide breath in the field of neuroscience. Hebert said that the neuroscience minor’s breadth requirement provides an opportunity to learn something new.

“The only advice I have is to not be afraid to experiment and take classes that are outside of your comfort zone. For the minor, you have to take at least one class from both of the divisions anyway, and doing so may help you find a new interest.”

Moreover, Serrato emphasizes that the Rice neuroscience community has positively contributed to her experience as a neuroscience student. She recommends that her neuroscience peers engage in student organizations and events to build community with others also interested in neuroscience.

“Minoring in neuroscience has…introduced me to the neuroscience community at Rice, through which I have met other students interested in the same kind of research as me,” Serrato said. “Through [neuroscience] organizations I have also been introduced to neuroscience and leaders and [business] owners outside of Rice, from whom I have learned different avenues one can take for neuroscience post-graduation.”

For both Serrato and Hebert, pursuing the neuroscience minor means that they can explore the intersection of two subjects they are passionate about. As Rice’s neuroscience department continues to grow and develop, we may find that students increasingly find ways to incorporate neuroscience into their learning. From studying the effects of neurotransmitters on biological systems to advancing artificial intelligence or beyond, neuroscience will not only provide us with insights about the brain, but will also inform our understanding of other subjects for many years to come.

Neuroscience Minor

CORE

Fundamental

NEUR 380

Neuroscience Systems

HUMA/SOC SCI CONCENTRATION

NEUR 362

Cognitive Neuroscience: Exploring the Living Brain

NAT SCI/ENGI CONCENTRATION

BIOS 385

Fundamentals of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Electives

PSYC 308

PSYC 310

BIOS 415

BIOE 497

Memory

Psychology of Aging

Experimental Physiology

Sensory Neuroengineering

For more information on the neuroscience minor please refer to tinyurl.com/riceneuroscience

Youmadeapostthatreceivedover50FizzUps!Andthecrowdgoeswild.The first time I read that notification, I felt a sense of social validation that got me hooked onto Fizz. Fizz is a social media app only available to college students, and users can only access their college’s community. At Rice, over 2,000 students use the app to anonymously post their feelings, jokes, complaints, and more. Fizzner, the highest ranked user on the app, even describes it as “a creative outlet” for himself and others. As I have continued to use the app throughout the year, I have grown to love the funny and light-hearted posts that populate the “Fizzin’” page. However, there have also been many troubling instances of fatphobia, racism, classism, and bullying. This disconnect from the inclusive culture that Rice aims to foster is extremely concerning and raises three central questions.

This was most famously studied by Zimbardo. In 1969 he performed an experiment in which women who wore hoods that maintained their anonymity were more likely to press a button to “shock” (it was a fake shock) a “victim” (actor) in another room. Then, in 1971 he conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment in which Stanford students volunteered to be prisoners and prison guards. While this experiment is controversial, it revealed that stripping an individuals’ identity and making them a deindividualized “prison guard” makes them more likely to abuse “prisoners”. These patterns of behavior are not only limited to lab settings, though. Zimmerman (2016) found that anonymous competitors in an online, team-based word unscrambling game were much more likely to be aggressive towards team members after failure than non-anonymous competitors. Clearly, anonymity is a major factor contributing to the negative behavior found on Fizz, which begs the question …