Ramos Raddy L, Esposito Anthony W, O'Malley Shannon, Smith Phoebe T, Grisham William
Department of Biomedical Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568.
Department of Math and Natural Sciences, Suffolk County Community College, State University of New York, Brentwood, NY 11901.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2016 Apr 15;15(1):A1-A4. eCollection 2016 Fall.
The impact of undergraduate neuroscience programs on the broader landscape of life sciences education has not been described. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, we found that the number of undergraduate neuroscience programs in the U.S. continues to grow. Within any given institution, neuroscience programs exist alongside a small number of other life sciences undergraduate programs, suggesting that neuroscience is one of few major options from which students can choose from at many institutions. Neuroscience majors constitute a substantial proportion of all life sciences graduates at many institutions, and in several cases, neuroscience majors were the majority of life sciences graduates. Thus, neuroscience programs contribute substantially to life sciences education, and neuroscience is a highly attractive major among undergraduate students where these programs are available. These data have implications for institutions with existing neuroscience programs as well as for institutions seeking to establish a new program.
本科神经科学专业对生命科学教育更广泛领域的影响尚未得到描述。利用美国国家教育统计中心的数据，我们发现美国本科神经科学专业的数量持续增长。在任何一所特定院校中，神经科学专业与少数其他本科生命科学专业并存，这表明神经科学是许多院校学生可选择的少数主要专业之一。在许多院校，神经科学专业的学生在所有生命科学专业毕业生中占相当大的比例，在某些情况下，神经科学专业的学生是生命科学专业毕业生的大多数。因此，神经科学专业对生命科学教育做出了重大贡献，在开设这些专业的院校中，神经科学是本科生非常有吸引力的专业。这些数据对现有神经科学专业的院校以及寻求开设新专业的院校都有启示意义。
