Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Neural Science
Faculty Mentor
Student Testimonial
Recommended Courses for Freshmen and Sophomores
Major and Minor
Honors Track
NYU Shanghai Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) in Neuroscience
NYUSH STEM Resources
Prof. Li Li
Email: ll114@nyu.edu | Profile
“There are roughly 100 billion neurons in the brain and roughly 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. For every cell in my brain shines a hot ball of gas trillions of miles all around me. My mind is a universe in and of itself. To better understand the physical, chemical, and biological basis of my mind, I decided to major in neuroscience. The most complex object known to man is sitting right on my shoulders. From it, how does intricate social interactions arise? Sophisticated processes of language and thought? Complicated unconscious regulation of my body’s most minute organs? Free will? More importantly, was my grandmother able to really hear me when I called her name while she lay in a comatose state? The reason why I love neuroscience so much is because it ties together hard science but perfectly illustrates how science, at the end of the day, is still a human endeavor. We are limited by the language we use and that language often limits our understanding of the world around us and even ourselves. I think neuroscience embodies the idea that science must be studied with a moral compass always finely tuned to do the right thing. What is the right thing anyway? Neuroscience is so deeply intertwined with philosophy because it is the study of who we are, where does that ‘who’ arise from in your brain? It doesn’t get more meta than that.” – Ronak Trivedi, Class of 2017
Recommended courses for Freshmen (Class of 2021) to take in Spring 2018
- Writing as Inquiry (4 credits)
- English for Academic Purpose (EAP) (2 credits)/Chinese (2 credits)
- Foundations of Chemistry II (3 credits)
- FoS Chemistry Lab (2 credits)
- Foundations of Biology I (3 credits)
- Core curriculum class/General elective class (4 credits)
Recommended courses for Sophomores (Class of 2020) to take in Spring 2018
- Biostatistics (4 credits) – NEUR-SHU 100 Math Tools for Life Sciences offered in Spring 2018 can fulfill this requirement.
- Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience(4 credits)
- Foundations of Physics II Honors or General Physics II (3 credits)
- English for Academic Purpose (EAP)(4 credits)/Chinese (2 or 4 credits)
Note that students are required to have completed Elementary Chinese II or 8 credits of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) before they are eligible to study away. Pre-med students should also consider taking Organic Chemistry II and Physics II Lab.
Degree Requirements – 2017-18 Bulletin
* = offered in Spring ’18 in Shanghai
The requirements below are from the online version of the 2017-2018 bulletin. Please refer to the Pre-2016-17 Registrar’s All Majors Degree Requirements Record or 2016-17 Registrar’s All Majors Degree Requirements Record. Not every course listed is taught every semester, and in any given semester other courses may be offered that fulfill this requirement. Requirements may be met through equivalent courses in the Global Network with prior approval.
| PREREQUISITE COURSES |
| *BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I (pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus) BIOL-SHU 22 Foundations of Biology II (pre-reqs: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I) BIOL-SHU 123 FoS Biology Laboratory (pre-reqs: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I) CHEM-SHU 125 Foundations of Chemistry I (pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus) *CHEM-SHU 126 Foundations of Chemistry II (pre-req: CHEM-SHU 125 Foundations of Chemistry I AND pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus) *CHEM-SHU 127 FoS Chemistry Laboratory (pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND CHEM-SHU 126 Foundations of Chemistry II) PHYS-SHU 91 Foundations of Physics I Honors (pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus) OR PHYS-SHU 11 General Physics I (Calculus – pre-req OR co-req, this can be waived by the instructor based on student’s prior experience) *PHYS-SHU 93 Foundations of Physics II Honors (pre-req: PHYS-SHU 91 Foundations of Physics I Honors) OR *PHYS-SHU 12 General Physics II (PHYS-SHU 11 General Physics I – pre-req OR Instructor Permission; AND Calculus pre-req OR co-req – this can be waived by the instructor based on student’s prior experience) PHYS-SHU 71 FoS Physics Laboratory (pre-req or co-req: PHYS-SHU 91 Foundations of Physics I Honors or PHYS-SHU 11 General Physics I) *PHYS-SHU 94 Physics II Lab (pre-req or co-req: PHYS-SHU 93 Foundations of Physics II Honors or PHYS-SHU 12 General Physics II) Note that Foundations of Physics III Honors is NOT required for Neural Science majors. |
| MAJOR REQUIRED COURSES: All Five |
Approved upper-level Psychology courses Note: The below list of courses is not exhaustive. These are sample classes. If you find another course that you would like to count towards this requirement, contact your Academic Advisor so that the course may be reviewed for approval. *NEUR-SHU 222 Perception (pre-req: NEUR-SHU 201 Intro to Neural Science or PSYC-SHU 101 Intro to Psychology but pre-req can be waived based on the student’s background) The following courses will not be offered at NYU Shanghai but students may take one of them at New York to fulfill the requirement. PSYCH-UA 29 Cognition Approved upper-level Biology courses Note: The below list of courses is not exhaustive. These are sample classes. If you find another course that you would like to count towards this requirement, contact your Academic Advisor so that the course may be reviewed for approval. BIOL-SHU 30 Genetics (pre-req: BIOL-SHU 22 Foundations of Biology II) The following courses will not be offered at NYU Shanghai but students may take one of them at New York to fulfill the requirement. BIOL-UA 25 Principles of Animal Psychology |
| NEURAL SCIENCE MAJOR ELECTIVE COURSES: Choose Three | |
| Note: The below list of courses is not exhaustive. These are sample classes. If you find another course that you would like to count towards this requirement, contact your Academic Advisor so that the course may be reviewed for approval.
*MATH-SHU 160 Networks and Dynamics (pre-reqs: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND MATH-SHU 140 Linear Algebra. Not open to students who took MATH-SHU 264 Dynamical Systems) The following courses will not be offered at NYU Shanghai but students may take one of them at New York to fulfill the requirement. |
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| Students may take any courses in the NYU system to meet the general elective requirements and are strongly encouraged but not required to take Intro to Programming and choose from the following listed courses to develop research skills.
*NEUR-SHU 997 Independent Study in Neural Science (2-4 credits, can be repeated once. Students need to fill out the permission form.) Recommended Computer Science General Electives Recommended Mathematics General Electives |
Minor Requirements
| Neural Science Minor |
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| *BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I (pre-req or co-req: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus) BIOL-SHU 22 Foundations of Biology II (pre-reqs: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I) BIOL-SHU 123 FoS Biology Laboratory (pre-reqs: MATH-SHU 121 Calculus or MATH-SHU 201 Honors Calculus AND BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I) NEUR-SHU 201 Introduction to Neural Science (pre-req: BIOL-SHU 21 Foundations of Biology I and co-req: BIOL-SHU 22 Foundations of Biology II) *NEUR-SHU 251 Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience (pre-req: NEUR-SHU 201 Intro to Neural Science) OR NEUR-SHU 301 Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience (pre-req: NEUR-SHU 251 Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience and BIOL-SHU 22 Foundations of Biology II) |
- Honors seminar (Fall, 4 credits)
- Independent study in Neural Science (Fall and Spring, at least 4 credits)
- Honors thesis
Students must apply to the DUS for admission to the Honors Track in their senior year. Students requesting Honors status must achieve a grade point average of 3.65 or better in all courses required for the major and 3.65 over all courses taken for credit. Students should also demonstrate a genuine interest in research. Students must complete the Honors Seminar (4 credits) and start conducting research with a faculty member in Neural Science in the fall semester of their senior year and complete the Independent Study in Neural Science (at least 4 credits) with the same faculty sponsor in their senior year. The student must submit an honors thesis (40-60 pages in length, double spaced) that is accepted for honors standing by the faculty sponsor and the DUS. Presentation of the thesis work at the NYU Shanghai Undergraduate Research Conference is required.
For formatting guidelines for the Honors thesis, please see here.