The Neuroscience, B.S. is designated as a capstone major. The capstone major at UCLA serves as a project-based culmination to a curriculum (a meaningful, shaped collection of courses typical of a major or minor), bringing together in a coherent way key elements of that curriculum. The acquisition of knowledge should lead to a specialized topic explored in a paper or project. Methodological training should be applied to a specific inquiry. Knowledge integrated across a range of topics and disciplines should provide broader contexts for a topic or project. And specific skills, such as research, discussion, teamwork, project design, performance, oral presentation, and writing, should be employed as appropriate to that inquiry.
Students must select one of the following four options to satisfy the major capstone requirement.
Option 1: Lab Methods
Students who choose the Lab Methods capstone option must take a total of 4 major upper division electives with at least one elective from each elective category (review elective categories here). The 4th elective may be from any category.
Option 2: Independent Research
*Students pursuing Departmental Honors must complete NEUROSC 198A/B instead of 199A/B.
Important Notes on Independent Research:
- Pre-requisites:
- NEUROSC M101A (with a grade of C- or higher)
- At least one quarter of an SRP-99 OR departmental 199 research contract in the same neuroscience-related research lab under the same faculty mentor who has an Academic Senate title
- Only UCLA research labs are eligible for the capstone (no outside research labs)
- NEUROSC 198/199 research contracts are solely intended for Neuroscience majors completing the Independent Research capstone option or Neuroscience minors completing the research contracts to satisfy an elective requirement.
- NEUROSC 198/199 research contracts are 4 units each. Letter grades are assigned upon completion of NEUROSC 198B/199B, earning the student 8 total units. Grades for NEUROSC 199A/198A will remain as “IP” (in-progress) indefinitely, but the 4 units still count towards study list units.
- NEUROSC 198/199 research contracts are only available during the regular academic quarters (fall, winter, and spring) and must be taken in consecutive quarters. NEUROSC 198 research contracts can only be taken in consecutive quarters during the same academic year (i.e., fall and winter or winter and spring).
- Students are limited to completing either NEUROSC 198A/B or NEUROSC 199A/B once. Students who’d like to continue earning academic credit for their research can complete NEUROSC 199C (only once) or a departmental 199.
- Participation required at the annual Neuroscience Poster Day held during spring quarter.
Please see below for detailed instructions on enrolling in Neuroscience research contracts.
Option 3: Project Brainstorm
- NEUROSC 192BX (winter and spring quarters)
Important Notes on Project Brainstorm:
- Prerequisites:
- NEUROSC M101A (with a grade of C- or higher)
- Approval by instructors via application process
- Project Brainstorm is a two-quarter outreach and research project offered to juniors and seniors in the Neuroscience major, in which students have an opportunity to develop teaching lessons on neuroscience that are presented to local K-12 students.
- Project Brainstorm meets on Thursdays from 9:00 am – 11:50 am in both the winter and spring quarters. However, there will be additional requirements and an increased time commitment to satisfy the capstone.
- Students who are interested in applying to Project Brainstorm should apply in fall quarter when applications are made available.
- Admission into the Project Brainstorm capstone option is highly-competitive, with 8-10 students typically being accepted every year. Students who are accepted into the program will be enrolled in NEUROSC 192BX in winter and spring quarter by the Neuroscience advisors.
- Applicants should plan for an alternative capstone option, since admission is not guaranteed. Please refer to the other capstone options as alternatives.
- Participation required at the annual Neuroscience Outreach Day held during spring quarter.
Option 4: DOPA-Team
Important Notes on DOPA-Team:
- Prerequisites:
- NEUROSC M101A (with a grade of C- or higher)
- Approval by instructors via application process
- DOPA-Team is a two-quarter outreach and research project offered to juniors and seniors in the Neuroscience major, in which students have the opportunity to choose a novel, unique project, such as youth drug trends over time during the winter quarter, and be given the opportunity to choose a drug category and translate the academic knowledge acquired in C177 into an age-appropriate and interactive presentation and hands-on activity for high school students during the spring quarter.
- Students who are interested in applying to DOPA-Team should apply in fall quarter when applications are made available.
- Admission into the DOPA-Team capstone option is highly-competitive, with 12-16 students typically being accepted every year. Students who are accepted into the program will be enrolled in NEUROSC C177 in winter quarter and NEUROSC 192CX in spring quarter by the Neuroscience advisors.
- Accepted students should not enroll themselves in NEUROSC C177, as seats are held for those completing this capstone option.
- Additionally, NEUROSC C177 cannot satisfy a major elective requirement for DOPA-Team students, so they will need need to complete 3 other major electives.
- Applicants should plan for an alternative capstone option, since admission is not guaranteed. Please refer to the other capstone options as alternatives.
- Participation required at the annual Neuroscience Outreach Day held during spring quarter.
How to Enroll in Neuroscience Research Contracts
NEUROSC 199A/198A
STEP 1. Download NEUROSC 199A or 198A contract from MyUCLA. For assistance, please use the MyUCLA contract tutorial.
NOTE: NEUROSC 198A contracts are for students who are pursuing departmental honors with the neuroscience department.
STEP 2. Complete supplemental outline – 198A/199A Supplemental Outline Instructions
- STEP 2A. Include proof of completion of the laboratory safety fundamental concepts course if your contract requires it (it will say “safety training” at the top of your MyUCLA contract)
- STEP 2B. Faculty advisor directory information from http://directory.ucla.edu/ (click here for an example)
STEP 3. Fill out the faculty sponsor form
- Click here for the NEUROSC 199A faculty sponsor form
- Click here for the NEUROSC 198A faculty sponsor form (this form includes a spot to note who the second reader for your honors thesis will be).
STEP 4. Have your faculty mentor sign both the MyUCLA contract and the faculty sponsor form (e-signatures are acceptable). (Please leave the Chair Signature line blank on the MyUCLA contract as this will be signed by the uNSIDP Vice Chair).
If your major GPA is below a 3.0, please include or have your faculty mentor email the Neuroscience advisors (neurosci@ucla.edu) a brief 2-3 sentence statement of support for your lab participation. You will not be enrolled until this support statement is included or emailed.
STEP 5. Submit the MyUCLA contract, faculty sponsor form, and supplemental outline as one (1) PDF document to the Bruin Learn website by 4 p.m. on Friday of Week 1.
* If you are completing SRP-99, NEUROSC 199A/B or NEUROSC 198A/B through a UCLA Health Sciences Lab, please note that UCLA Health Sciences now requires that you are dual processed through the UCLA Health Science Volunteer Office (though you do not need to send these documents to the URC or the Neuroscience IDP). For UCLA Health Sciences processing steps, please visit: https://www.uclahealth.org/Volunteer/ucla-health-sciences-volunteer-program.
A status report is due by Friday of finals week – see report directions at the bottom of the page.
NEUROSC 199B/198B
STEP 1. Download NEUROSC 199B or 198B contract from MyUCLA. For assistance, please use the MyUCLA contract tutorial.
STEP 2. Get faculty mentor to sign the MyUCLA contract. Under Course Proposal, please include as much detail as possible regarding your project and how you will be evaluated at the end of the quarter (i.e., final lab report or honors thesis and Neuroscience Poster Day presentation).
If your major GPA is below a 3.0, please include or have your faculty mentor email the Neuroscience advisors (neurosci@ucla.edu) a brief 2-3 sentence statement of support for your lab participation. You will not be enrolled until this support statement is included or emailed.
STEP 3. Submit the MyUCLA contract to the Bruin Learn website by 4 p.m. on Friday of Week 1.
Important Notes:
- A final report is due by Friday of finals week – see report directions at the bottom of the page.
- Students must present a poster at the annual Neuroscience Poster Day in May
- Students will receive an 8-unit letter grade at the end of the quarter, reflecting the work in the lab for the past two quarters and the quality of both reports.
NEUROSC 199C
Do you want to continue with upper division research units?
Enroll in NEUROSC 199C ← 199C faculty form located here
STEP 1. Download the NEUROSC 199C contract from MyUCLA. Under Course Proposal, please include as much detail as possible regarding your project and how you will be evaluated at the end of the quarter.
STEP 2. Get faculty mentor to sign the MyUCLA contract.
STEP 3. Submit the MyUCLA contract and faculty sponsor form as one (1) PDF document to the Bruin Learn website by 4 p.m. on Friday of Week 1.
For NEUROSC 199C, students will receive a 4-unit letter grade at the end of the quarter. These units will count towards the university’s upper division requirement, but will not count for the Neuroscience major.
Quarterly Deadlines
A report is due by Friday of finals week (a status report for NEUROSC 199A/198A, and a lab report or honors thesis for NEUROSC 199BC/198B, respectively) – click here for report directions.