Welcome to the Neuroscience major at the University of Maryland!
This is the Neuroscience major’s fourth year, and we are excited to be together as a community on campus! Although the NEUR major is relatively new, University of Maryland has a long, strong history of neuroscience. We are proud to now have a proper mechanism to share it with all of our undergraduates.
Our goal in developing this program was to give students a great and versatile neuroscience background. But, we also hope that this program builds a form of intellectual community to nourish the minds of future neuroscientists and to help them find their place in the world. It is amazing to see how much we have already accomplished, and I am eager to see the wonderful things our students, faculty, and staff will continue to do. Even a pandemic can’t hold us back.
Here are some of our accomplishments I’d like to celebrate:
- In Fall 2021, we began offering all 4 courses in our core NEUR series
- We have two NEUR-specific UNIV100 sections
- Our students are involved in research and earning NEUR379/479 research credit
- We have 4 NEUR Professional Track Teaching Faculty:
- Dr. Anna Navaro-Cebrian (NEUR200 co-course director, started Fall 2021)
- Dr. Amanda Chiccoli (NEUR305 course director, started Fall 2019)
- Dr. Chan Lin (NEUR306 course director, started Fall 2020)
- And me, Dr. Hilary Bierman (DUGS, NEUR405 course director)
- Dr. Nik Francis is directing the NEUR Honors Program which kicked off in Fall 2022
- We have amazing and dedicated staff:
- Vicki Fitzgerald (Assistant Program Director, started January 2020)
- Keesha Sims (Program Coordinator, started August 2022)
- Emma Bentley (Graduate Assistant, started August 2023)
- We renovated laboratory and office space
- We have a thriving NEUR Ambassadors program
- We are hosting a Career Panel Series each semester
- We have wonderful community building fall and spring events
- And, most importantly, we currently have approximately 380 Neuroscience Majors!
Neuroscience majors benefit from the vast resources of both the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the College of Computer, Math and Natural Sciences. Although orchestrating a cross-college major wasn’t the easiest endeavor, we succeeded because of the hard work of many individuals from both colleges and other campus departments. In doing so, we have hopefully helped pave the way for the development of other interdisciplinary majors.
I am very proud to be the Undergraduate Director for NEUR. This is a very personal calling for me. It is the major I would have been when I was a student here on campus. I see parts of myself in so many of our students and I cannot wait to see all the wonderful things they will discover and accomplish.
Be well,
Dr. Hilary Bierman
Director, Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience
UMD Class of 2001