Specific research projects for postdoctoral trainees will be determined by both the mentor and the trainee's interests. Trainees will be encouraged to take full advantage of the program by interacting with all of our faculty both formally, in our programmed seminars and simposia,and informally. This is facilitated by the fact that most of our faculty work in the same building. Each new postdoctoral trainee will be prompted to spend some time in other labs, specially during the first few months of the program. This assists with the integration of the trainee in our research community and promotes learning about different animal models and available techniques.

Postdoctoral trainees are allowed and invited to take or audit courses to enhance their background in comparative and evolutionary issues. A trainee with a neurobiology background could join our program without formal training in evolutionary biology and take courses on that topic. The same would apply to trainees with any of the desirable backgrounds. Trainees will be required to audit the seminar in Scientific Ethics if they have not had a similar course during their predoctoral training and they may participate in the course on scientific grant writing if needed. Postdoctoral trainees will be expected to attend NACS seminars and the Topics in Neuroscience seminar.