Behaviour, Cognition and Neuroscience is a program in the biology department at the University of Windsor. This program represents an emergent inter-disciplinary field in the behavioural/life sciences and specifically in the area of neuroscience.
Behaviour, Cognition and Neuroscience is a program in the biology department at the University of Windsor. This program represents an emergent inter-disciplinary field in the behavioural/life sciences and specifically in the area of neuroscience.
Neuroscience, which links the disciplines of biology and psychology, is the study of behaviour and its neural mechanisms. It is a strong and growing interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand brain function at molecular, behavioural and cognitive levels. This area of study is already well grounded as a graduate (i.e. Master's and doctorate level) discipline in many North American universities and has a strong presence in medical schools.
Few, if any Canadian undergraduate (i.e. Bachelor's) programs, however, provide the integrated training in this area that would aid students in applying to such programs. In the past, students from our university have had to acquire the basic research skills and knowledge during the first year as graduate students.
The incorporation of the Behaviour, Cognition and Neuroscience Program (BCN) as a combined biology/psychology honours B.Sc., strongly encourages students to become involved in research laboratories during their first three years of study. In year 4, students are required to complete an undergraduate thesis in this subject area. All students attend a biweekly BCN colloquium and have the opportunity to interact with visiting researchers from other institutions.
Our goal is to prepare graduating BCN students to be among the top candidates to enter graduate study in basic and applied programs in behaviour, cognition or neuroscience, or in professional programs in the health sciences. The recent undergraduate review of the undergraduate program in Biological Sciences (Oct. 2003), has assessed the BCN program as a “…model for all streams in the honours (Biological Sciences) program….”
Our students have strong leadership as well as scholarly qualities. They are leaders in the University of Windsor Science Society and have established a vibrant BCN Students' Association (uwindsor.ca/bcnsa). The recent addition of Schulich School of Medicine at University of Windsor offers further interaction between BCN and the Windsor community.
