Training in Visual Neuroscience

Project Summary/Abstract This is a competing renewal application for funds to support pre- and postdoctoral training in visual neuroscience at New York University in the Center for Neural Science (CNS) and the Cognition and Perception Program in the Department of Psychology (CP). We seek to renew training support for 4 predoctoral and 1 postdoctoral fellows. This level of support is justified by the need for the training program to provide for the training of a diverse yet coherent group of trainees. With the help of previous NEI support, the Visual Neuroscience Training Program has become a leading center for research training and has launched and shaped the careers of many who have made important contributions to the field. The 18 faculty of the training program seek to understand the visual system from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, but all share a consistent focus on understanding visual function. The quality, experience, breadth, and productivity of the training faculty has in the past and will in the future provide a fertile intellectual environment in which young scientists can thrive. Four newly recruited faculty have invigorated the program and made it even better, and have broadened its reach into the general area of visual disorders. There is ample instruction through courses and especially through mentoring in the research labs of CNS and CP that helps bring trainees to the frontiers of vision research. Many active researchers supported by NEI and other agencies provide direction, leadership, and support for students once they emerge as more independent senior scholars. Extensive shared facilities, including MRI scanners, an MEG and a TMS facility operated solely for research in the two participating departments, facilitate collaborations among faculty and trainees. The students who join the CNS and CP doctoral programs are of outstanding quality and a high proportion have historically gone on to successful and in some cases stellar careers in visual neuroscience.