Interactive simulations and resources for neuroscience education.
An automatic frequency sweep from 20 Hz to 32 kHz across intensity levels (0–70 dB relative). Maps your personal hearing threshold by holding the spacebar when tones are audible, visualized on an octave-scaled audiogram.
Launch SimulationExplore how auditory cortex neurons respond to combinations of frequency and intensity. Adjust tuning parameters to visualize receptive fields, characteristic frequencies, and response maps across the tonotopic axis.
Launch SimulationVisualize how the basilar membrane responds to sound. Adjust frequency, intensity, tuning sharpness, and damping to see traveling wave patterns and the tonotopic organization of the cochlea, with real-time audio output.
Launch SimulationDemonstrates how the brain uses microsecond timing differences between ears to localize sound. Adjust the ITD delay and mute individual ears to experience binaural processing and the precedence effect.
Launch SimulationExplore how level differences between the two ears contribute to sound localization, especially for high-frequency sounds. Adjust IID values and frequency to observe the head shadow effect and binaural level cues.
Launch SimulationPlays a looping melody while you adjust the strength of individual harmonics in real time. Demonstrates how the same pitch can sound like different instruments depending on harmonic content (timbre), with waveform and spectrum visualization.
Launch SimulationTopics taught: Optogenetics and chemogenetics for circuit manipulation in neuroscience.
Session 2: Experimental Models, Methods, Reagents, and Considerations of Gender, Race, Age, and Health Disparities.
VCU · Typical duration: approximately 5 years. Year 1 includes BSDP. Timeline not to scale.
Complete core courses and three rotations. Select a permanent mentor by the end of spring and complete the student–adviser compact.
Form a committee of at least five members and enter it in GradTrak. Present the research question, aims and approach by the end of fall.
Target May: submit a one-page Specific Aims and six-page Research Strategy. Committee review takes 10 business days; the average score must be below 6.0.
Target summer after passing the written component. Register the examination in GradTrak at least 10 business days beforehand.
Includes any permitted retake. Exceptions require program approval. Complete formal degree-candidacy paperwork after passing.
Obtain committee permission to write before dissertation writing and final-defense scheduling.
Apply by the SOM deadline, resolve DegreeWorks issues and remain enrolled.
Register in GradTrak and provide the complete draft to the committee. Late examination registration invalidates the examination.
Have at least one first-author original research paper accepted or published, unless an exception is approved. Present a public seminar and complete the oral defense.
Finish revisions, upload the final dissertation, complete electronic thesis/dissertation approvals and submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates.
Neuroscience Ph.D. handbook (PDF) · Current SOM calendars and forms
Planning summary based on the July 2025 public handbook and January 2026 comprehensive-exam guidance. Confirm current requirements with the program director.
VCU Anatomy and Neurobiology, M.S. · Typical duration: approximately 2 years. Timeline not to scale.
Maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 and earn at least B in required courses. Agree on mentor-selection timing with the program.
At least three faculty members are required, including one from outside the student’s discipline. Confirm proposal and meeting deadlines with the program director.
Submit before formally beginning the final thesis/research phase, and no later than the semester before graduation. For spring graduation, the latest filing semester is the preceding fall.
This is the typical research and completion period; research may begin earlier. Agree on thesis scope and readiness for defense with the adviser and committee.
Complete at least 37 credits and four seminar semesters. Apply by the SOM deadline, resolve DegreeWorks issues and remain enrolled.
Register in GradTrak and provide the complete draft to the committee. Late examination registration invalidates the examination.
Defend the research and demonstrate knowledge of the relevant scientific background before the SOM defense cutoff.
Finish revisions, upload the finalized thesis to Scholars Compass and complete all electronic thesis approval signatures.
M.S. degree requirements · Candidacy policy · SOM calendars and forms
Research/thesis track only. A separate departmental handbook and proposal deadline were not publicly verified; confirm current requirements with the program director.