"You're now incorporated into the initiative," says Santos. "It kind of gives you a more direct link with the faculty involved in MBB, some of whom I wouldn't have known or gotten to work with otherwise."
Santos says she is also excited about meeting undergraduates from other disciplines who are interested in neuroscience. "Rarely in the psych department do you meet the hard core bio and CS people," Santos adds.
Too Late to Join?
Other students, while extremely interested in neuroscience, think it's a bit too late for them to join the track.
Tracey A. Cho '97 a history and science concentrator says, "I already have a plan of study laid out, and I'm very happy with it; but if I were a freshman, I'd definitely consider it."
Still, juniors like Santos, and possibly even seniors, are eager to join the tracks.
"We are certainly encouraging juniors to look at the track as an option for themselves," says Harriman. Dowling also points out that requirements could be modified to accommodate late-comers to the track.
Indeed, some students may have already met the track requirements. Herman A. Sanchez '97, a psychology concentrator, actually reduced his concentration requirements by joining the track. Math and science courses that previously did not count towards his degree in psychology will now meet requirements for the cognitive neuroscience MBB track.
"Value Added"
But like McDermott, some students interested in neuroscience view the MBB track as a limitation.
Regarding the MBB track, biology concentrator Nickolas D. Juliano '96 says, "It just seems like everything you would do if you were interested in the neurosciences and with a little bit less choice." Juliano, who says he's met most of the MBB requirements anyway, admits the MBB track does provide a cohesion with other neuroscience majors that he lacked.
This very cohesion is what those involved in the MBB tracks like to refer to as "value added"--or what students will gain by joining the track. Besides providing students an opportunity to meet and converse with others interested in MBB, the track also promises to broaden understanding of the mind, brain and behavior.
As Hyman writes in an e-mail message, "We do not think that psychology majors, for example should go through Harvard without thinking about the brain."
"We also do not think that neuroscientists should go through Harvard without fully considering their own philosophical commitments or the potential effects of their work on human self-understanding," he continues.
Harriman says the tracks give students more flexibility to amass concentration credit for courses that fall within the rubric of MBB but may be offered outside of their departments. For example, a biology concentrator can receive credit for taking abnormal psychology, just as a psychology concentrator in the MBB track can receive concentration credit for pre-med requirements.
Rather than being forced to hunt through the course catalog to find courses relevant to neuroscience, students in the MBB program now have such courses at their fingertips. In reference to the computational neuroscience track, Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences Stuart M. Shieber says, "People with MBB interest would have been able to major in computer science anyway, but the track puts in one place courses that are pertinent."
The Future of MBB
Will MBB evolve into its own concentration? Committee members are paying close attention to the new tracks, which they consider to be somewhat of an experiment. "Whether there is a concentration depends on sustained student interest in the tracks and the perception of the faculty and student alike that we are adding value," Hyman writes in an e-mail message.
Although the MBB program is still in its formative stages, the faculty seem confident that this experiment will succeed.
"I am hopeful that MBB will generate novel and important research at the intersections of different disciplines, as well as help to train a new generation of scholars with both discipline-specific expertise and cross-disciplinary breadth," says Schacter. "This new generation of scholars will help to create the synergies that will shape 21st-century science."