The graduate program in Neuroscience and Behavior offers a balance between basic research and practical laboratory training in contemporary behavioral neuroscience. The primary aim of the program is to help students gain an understanding of brain-behavior relationships with particular interest in identifying the biological mechanisms important for human and animal behavior. At UCSB, the faculty interests can be categorized into three broad subareas of research: visual neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, and psychopharmacology. Within these three subareas of specialization, the varying backgrounds and expertise of the faculty provide the student with an opportunity to explore such diverse research topics as: the physiological basis of color vision; the developmental neuroanatomy of visual pathways; the behavioral regulation of body temperature, food and water intake; the neuroendocrinological analysis of sexual behavior; the neuropharmacological analysis of drug action in developing and adult organisms; and the neurobiology of drug reward and dependence.
Laboratory research is complemented by a wide range of graduate level courses offered by faculty in the Psychology Department as well as in pharmacology, neurobiology, and biochemistry. The program is enriched by an active Biopsychology colloquium series in which a substantial and impressive list of scholars are invited to visit the campus several times during the academic year. Some faculty and students also benefit from the interdisciplinary interactions stemming from their involvement in the UCSB Neuroscience Research Institute.

In addition to an extensive range of different faculty research laboratories, the Department of Psychology provides technical support staff and facilities that greatly enhance the quality of the work environment and increase the research possibilities open to graduate students. Each faculty laboratory is linked with the campus Molecular Modeling Computing Facility, the Life Sciences Computing Facility, the UCSB Library, and “on-line” reference data bases, such as Medline and Current Contents. There are workshops within the Psychology Building for metal, carpentry, and electronic fabrication, as well as extensive computing facilities, all of which are available for graduate student use. The Department houses a modern satellite animal vivarium suitable for housing a variety of rodent species and a newly renovated central vivarium located in the Biological Sciences Building, equipped to accommodate a wide range of vertebrates, including primates.

A relatively small sized program with excellent research facilities, the Neuroscience and Behavior program provides a student with a personal approach to a high quality graduate education.

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