Program Requirements and Courses

This page contains a summary of the program requirements. Students are encouraged to consult the proposal submitted to NSF for more information on the program and its goals.

1. Application: research and training plan.
2. Coursework:
Winter Storm, each year [see more info here]
Regular attendance at IGERT weekly lunch seminar
6 foundational courses (may overlap with student's regular PhD program requirements, but must also go beyond regular PhD requirements)
At least one integrative seminar (to be offered annually by the program - rotating topics)
Research Ethics - NACS 600, or an alternative approved by the Program Director
Advanced Rotation - one semester, or equivalent, working primarily with a different mentor
Outreach Activities
Participation in program evaluation and assessment activities
Regular meetings with the advisor to discuss progress

Courses

The table shows a list of suggested courses arranged into separate areas. Students may suggest alternative courses as a part of their individualized training plan (please see the list at the end of this document for examples). Substitutions should preserve the commitment of the program to diverse training that includes significant work in language diversity.
Students complete coursework from two of the three areas and all students should take at least two courses from the language diversity track; students may propose substitute courses that better serve their interdisciplinary preparation.

Language Diversity
Syntax I/II (LING 610-611)
Phonology I/II (LING 620-621)
Semantics I/II (LING 660-661)
Pragmatics (LING 663)

Cognition & Neuroscience
Psycholing. I/II (LING 640-641)
Fund Neurosci (NACS 641) Cogn. Neurosci (NACS 642)
Cogn. Science (NACS 645)
Cog. Proc (SLAA 741)

Comp./Neural Modeling
Intro Comp Models of Lang (LING 689A)
For neuroscientists:
Fund. Neuroscience (NACS 641)
Comp. Neuroscience (NACS 643)
Quant Proc of Biol Data (NACS 728B)
For natural language processing:
Comp Ling I (CMSC 726)
Comp Ling II (CMSC 773)
Machine Learning (CMSC 726)

All students should also plan to take one integrative seminar and research ethics

NACS Certificate

Note that certain course combinations may also be counted towards the new Certificate in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science offered by the NACS Program. Requirements for the Certificate are 16 credits, consisting of two courses from NACS 641-644 [8 credits], two other approved courses [6 credits], and two semesters of attendance at the NACS Friday seminar [2 credits]. Students must submit a separate application to the NACS Certificate program. Details on this program and a downloadable application form may be found here.