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USC encourages all undergraduates to participate in Independent Study activities outside the formal class room. Independent Study offers students the opportunity to experience hands on learning and to develop personal relationships with a deeper core of the University than they can through classes alone. To encourage this experience, the Neuroscience Minor requires that students gain Independent Study experience either in a research laboratory or in some other venue appropriate to the context of the Minor.
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Independent Study at USC. Professors maintain dual lives as educators and researchers, creating two overlapping communities within the University. Independent Study can give students access to both communities. Independent study can receive course credit, and these credits can variously be applied towards satisfying the major, a minor (as in the case of the Neuroscience Minor) and/or satisfying elective credits up to limits set by the specific departments. In the case of a Research Experience, students can often receive financial support for research, especially during the summer, from either research grants of professors or from several competitive fellowship programs offered through their Major Department, College and/or University.
Independent Study as Scientific Research. Students in the Sciences typically pursue Independent Study through a Research Experience in a professor's laboratory. A Research Experience is strongly encouraged for students interested in Graduate School or Medical School. Students may become familiar with professors through their classes and through the descriptions of research interests on the professor's department web site. Students can join laboratories as early as their freshman year; often, a sustained research experience in one or several laboratories can be most rewarding in terms of accomplishment and the development of professional relationships.
Independent Study as a Creative Experience.
Students of the Arts and Humanities may choose to explore a specific topic or theme in neuroscience through artistic expression or intellectual exploration. Independent studies are creative and exploring neuroscience using an artistic or intellectual mode valued. Students may become familiar with professors through their classes and through the interest descriptions on the professor's department web site. Students choosing this option should develop their projects in the context of the Minor, and with the guidance of identified mentors within their programs who are associated with the Minor.
Below is a list of potential mentors; all have indicated a willingness to work with undergraduate students within the Neuroscience Minor. However, their ability to take on students may vary at any given time, and may depend on how many students they are already working with.
Participating Faculty / Possible Independent Study Mentors: (click on name for more information)
(NOTE: if you are a faculty member not on this list but would like to be included, please contact Richard Vogt.)
 Anthropology
- Daniel Buxhoeveden, The reiterative micro-organization of the cortex and how this can be applied to comparative neuroscience, medicine, and brain evolution.
Art
- Don Barth, Exploration of virtual interactive narrative and landscapes. "One of my goals is to show the natural world, but at the same time, I want to make the engager aware of the minutia of the everyday - aware of what is in or just beyond the backyard.
- Karla Berry, Film & video narative. "I tell stories. Sometimes the storytelling follows conventional forms of dramatic and non-fiction production, and other times the storytelling experiments with imagery and interactivity."
Biological Sciences
- Renae Brodie, Behavioral strategies for managing the transition to land in early life history.
- Pat DeCoursey, Behavioral Ecology, Biological Rhythms
- Rob Raguso, Chemically-mediated plant/animal interactions; insect olfaction, behavior and pollination ecology.
- Deanna Smith, Neural cell biology, axon transport.
- Richard Vogt, Molecular and developmental neurobiology of chemosensory systems.
Computer Science and Engineering
Pharmacy
- Desuo Wang, Cardiac ion channel protein function and regulation at normal and diseased conditions; cardiovascular drug R&D.
Philosophy
Psychology
Public Health
- Leo Bonilha, Epilepsy and brain function.
- Jim Carson, Cellular mechanisms related to nutrition, hormone, and physical activity restoration of neuromuscular function during wasting diseases, such as
cancer cachexia, and also functional disuse.
- Stella deBode, Cortical plasticity of the developing brain and the effects of the removal of one hemisphere on cognitive and motor behavior. Epilepsy and Cognitive functioning.
- Dimitar Deliyski, Acoustic analysis of voice and speech disorders; visualization and automatic measurement of vocal fold vibratory characteristics; clinical application of laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy.
- Elaine Frank, Effects of traumatic brain injury on long term outcome and language function.
- Julius Fridriksson, Neurogenic communication disorders; evaluating aphasia recovery after stroke using various MRI techniques.
- Gregory Hand, Neurobiology and physiology of the
stress response in human and animal subjects. Psychoneuroimmunology
associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer.
- Chris Rorden, Right hemisphere function, apraxia, and fMRI studies.
School of Medicine; Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience
- Jim Buggy, Neuroendocrine / hypothalamic regulation of physiological processes.
- Jim Fadel, Anatomy and function of forebrain dopamine and acetylcholine systems.
- Janet Fisher, Functional properties of the GABAA receptor and its role in epilipsy.
- Leslie Jones, Neuroplasticity in the hippocampus. Strategies to involve undergraduates in original, authentic research.
- David Mott, Epilepsy
- Larry Reagan, Molecular and cellular effects of stress and glucocorticoids on learning and memory in the hippocampus.
- Sarah Sweitzer, Pain processing in the developing nervous system of neonates.
- Marlene Wilson, Neuropharmacology of Axiety: the role of neuropeptides and the amygdala in anxiety-related behaviors.
- Steven Wilson, Using viral vectors to elucidate brain function, leading to the development of new treatments for behavioral and neurological disorders.
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Sandra Kelly, Professor of Biological Sciences.
The effect of alcohol exposure during development on the central nervous system.
What I do...
I study the effect of alcohol exposure on the developing nervous system and on behavior. Most of my work involves a rat model of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and entails exposure of the rat during the entire prenatal and the early postnatal period. We are particularly interested in how alcohol exposure during development alters social behavior and the neural substrates of social behavior such as the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and frontal cortex. Our investigations use fairly sophisticated measures of social behavior combined with measures of neural activity and neuroanatomical abnormalities. The lab will be particularly focused on how the environment could exacerbate or ameliorate alcohol-induced effects in the next few years. Our long-term goal is to develop methods to alleviate the alcohol-induced effects.
I teach introductory psychology (PSYC 101), biopsychology (PSYC 460), and introductory neuroscience (SCCC 330P) at the undergraduate level and also teach graduate level courses in biopsychology and neuroscience.
My education...
My education took place in Canada. I went to high school in a small blue-collar town in Northern Ontario and then did my undergraduate work at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. My undergraduate degree was a B.S. in Psychology with the equivalent of a minor in biology and physics. My graduate work was in experimental psychology with a specialization in behavioral neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal. After that, I moved to the U.S. and did postdoctoral work at the University of Iowa and the State University of New York in Albany before coming to the University of South Carolina in 1988.
Undergraduates in my lab...
I have worked with undergraduates extensively since I have been at USC. Many of my students have gone on to graduate school in neuroscience and two of them have won NSF graduate fellowships to fund their work. One of my former undergraduate students (Dr. Bill Jenkins) is now a faculty member at USC Upstate and is back collaborating with me - - which is lots of fun. I currently have five undergraduate students working in the lab - - some of them (the ones who have started early and have stuck around) are doing independent projects and others are collaborating with the graduate students on their projects.
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Richard Vogt, Professor of Biological Sciences.
Sensory Detection: the Molecular Genetic Interface between Organism and Environment. Molecular and Developmental Design of Chemosensory Systems.
What I do...
I study the molecular biology and developmental biology of olfactory systems, always in systems with a strong behavioral context. Most of my lab's work focuses on insects, primarily moths and fruit flies, but we have also worked with zebrafish and sea turtles. There are far more species of insect than any other animal, and olfactory systems utilize large gene families to detect and process diverse odors. Consequently the system is very attractive for evolutionary study: the diverse ways different species accomplish the same task and the expansion and selection of gene families. We use molecular biological, histological, tissue culture and behavioral techniques.
I teach courses in Physiology and Neurobiology, stressing principles and molecular processes. I oversee specific departmental resourses including class room computers, a confocal microscope and the water purification system that serves the research labs.
My education...
My education was very broad. I had courses in zoology (terrestrial and marine) and botany (terrestrial and marine), ecology, math (algebra, calculus), physics (general, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics), chemistry, molecular biology and physiology. I was often involved in research projects either in the field or laboratory. I had many hands on experiences. I received my undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington in 1974 my PhD in Zoology at the University of Washington in 1984, and did postdoctoral research in the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Washington, the Dept of Chemistry at State University of New York in Stony Brook, and the Section of Molecular Neurobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. I came to University of South Carolina in 1991 as an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2003.
Undergraduates in my lab...
I worked with undergraduates when I was a postdoctoral researcher, and have consistently had undergraduate students participating in my research laboratory since I joined USC. Undergraduate students have worked on a broad range of projects with techniques ranging from molecular biology, histology/microscopy, and behavior. Undergraduates in my lab typically work closely with graduate students or postdocs.
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Rob Raguso, Professor of Biological Sciences.
Chemically-mediated plant/animal interactions; insect olfaction, behavior and pollination ecology.
What I do...
I study chemically-mediated communication between insects and plants, primarily within the context of pollination biology. My students and I have explored the broader ecological context for olfactory behaviors in a model organism, Manduca sexta, the tobacco hornworm moth. The flowers pollinated by this moth tend to have strong, easily characterized odors and high contrast visual displays. Our experiments examine the roles of different sensory modalities at different spatial scales to investigate how they are used by foraging moths. I am equally interested in signal evolution, and am studying the diversification of odor/color combinations in several plant-pollinator systems ranging from generalized pollination to food deception and obligate mutualism. The common themes in these studies are the use of balanced behavioral assays with olfactory and visual cues, chemical and physical characterization of floral odor and color, and the interpretation of such information within a phylogenetic context.
I teach undergraduate courses in Animal Behavior and Plant Form and Function, both of which are highly integrative surveys of adaptive responses of organisms to their environments. My graduate seminars on Sensory Physiology and Plant Biosynthetic Pathways use primary literature to explore the adaptive context for ecological signal detection and production in animals and plants, respectively.
My education...
A childhood passion for butterflies brought me into early contact with such famous biologists as Charles Remington and Paul Ehrlich, and led me to major in Biology at Yale (1987). However, I acquired a diverse background of research experiences before choosing my career path. Before entering graduate school, I had worked as a technician in neurobiology, plant physiology and population genetics labs, and as a field assistant studying herbivory, seed dispersal and pollination. Such a broad exposure to different sub-disciplines, researchers, techniques, field stations, model systems and philosophies made me deeply skeptical of dogma, and motivated me to pursue interdisciplinary studies. I left insect biology long enough to earn a PhD in plant genetics at the University of Michigan (1995), then returned to the fold to study hawkmoth olfactory behavior for my postdoctoral work at the University of Arizona (1996-1998). I came to USC in 1999 as an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences and was promoted to Associate professor in 2005.
Undergraduates in my lab...
I was deeply influenced by research opportunities during my undergraduate years, and am committed to providing such opportunities in my lab. Students have joined my lab through work-study, independent study, summer REU programs, Howard Hughes fellowships and through the South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (SCAMP) program. Undergraduates in my group typically are paired with a doctoral student or postdoctoral fellow, with whom they work closely in the lab or field, and several have developed their own research projects. I encourage my undergraduates to present their findings at departmental seminars and scientific meetings (SC Academy of Sciences, Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology), and many of them have co-authored publications in international journals (e.g. links here).
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