
Neuroscience
The goal of the Neuroscience Program is, through interdisciplinary approaches, to facilitate students' understanding of the nervous system and development of rigorous scientific research, analysis, and communication skills.
About the Major
The brain is our most fascinating and complicated organ, and it governs the very nature of our conscious existence. Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system, and includes many disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and psychology. In addition, the study of neuroscience helps students to understand the interrelationships between the basic sciences and concepts in philosophy, mathematics, and computer science.
Students Will Learn To:
- Engage in scientific inquiries that are informed by ethical and/or socio-cultural perspectives
- Communicate ideas effectively and concisely
- Integrate scientific literature to develop neuroscientific research questions
- Apply appropriate scientific methods to address neuroscientific research questions
- Demonstrate an interdisciplinary understanding of the nervous system
A Sampling of Courses

Sensation and Perception
An exploration of sensory systems and perceptual experiences. This course will address how we obtain information from our physical environment and use it to create the vibrant experience of our own bodies and the world around us. An emphasis on vision, but also covering audition, somatosensation, olfaction and gustation. Topics will include methodological approaches, sensory pathways and neurobiological mechanisms, disorders, illusions and multi-sensory interactions.
Explore these select courses:
This course is centered on understanding the neurobiology of the "addicted brain." Strong emphasis on the neurobiological effects of drugs of abuse, including short and longer-term changes in the brain and body that occur in response to drug use and abuse. A sampling of drugs to be discussed include cocaine, heroin, marijuana, hallucinogens and alcohol. Effectiveness of various treatment strategies will also be considered. Some discussion of the social, political and philosophical aspects of addiction to drug and non-drug substances (e.g., food compulsions and pathological gambling).
Introduction to the theory and implementation of artificial intelligence. This course covers both foundational and modern approaches to AI, and explores a common thread of searching intelligently for solutions. Students will learn to select an appropriate AI representation to solve a problem and empirically analyze the performance of AI systems. Topics include heuristic search, game playing, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. Programming Intensive.
Meet Our Faculty
Siobhan Robinson
Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Director of Neuroscience
neurobiology of learning, memory and motivation
learning and inference; functional neuroimaging; computational neuroscience; cognitive science
gene regulation; patterning and morphogenesis; transcription factors and DNA-binding; regulatory DNA; developmental genetics; molecular biology; embryology; eye development
emotion, social stress, psychoneuroimmunology, psychophysiology, and neurogenetics
evolutionary biology, reproductive physiology, and herpetology
cellular neurobiology and neuroethology; measurement and detection of neurotransmitters; isolation and identification of novel chemical messengers; cellular metabolism in the nervous system
cognitive neuroscience of perception and attention; experimental psychology; cognitive psychology; human neuropsychology
Explore Our Spaces
The Taylor Science Center houses the offices for faculty members in neuroscience. The complex contains an atrium with a coffeehouse, an auditorium, and more than 100 teaching and student research laboratories.
Explore Hamilton Stories

ABRCMS Conference Attendees See Science Beyond the Classroom
After two years of supporting virtual conference attendance, ROOTS — Hamilton’s Society for Students of Color in STEM — took 14 members to the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Students (ABRCMS) in Anaheim, Calif. The trip, which took place from Nov. 8 to 12, came at no fee to students, thanks to funding from the Dean of Faculty’s Office and a grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

White’s Student Researchers Study Children’s Self-Control
“A lot of the research I do on self-control is focused on the preschool age range,” White said. “If we are going to create interventions to build children’s skills, we want to do it while the prefrontal cortex is developing the most.”

One Thesis. Two Students. Four Majors.
Neuroscience, Dance, Mathematics, Music. Recent graduates Toscana Ogihara ’22 and Anthony Christiana ’22 took this unlikely combination of majors and collaborated on creating an original score for Ogihara’s dance thesis.
Careers After Hamilton
Hamilton graduates who concentrated in neuroscience are pursuing careers in a variety of fields, including:
- Researcher, National Institute for Drug Abuse
- Medical Student, Harvard Medical School
- Research Analyst, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch
- Neurologist & Neuro-Oncologist, Unity Hospital
- Science Teacher, New York City Department of Education
- Neuropsychologist, Sports Concussion New England
- Assistant Professor, Penn State College of Medicine
- Researcher, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Contact
Department Name
Neuroscience Program
Contact Name
Siobhan Robinson, Program Director
Clinton, NY 13323