A new Northwestern University program aims to decrease the time to a PhD for research-invested neuroscience undergraduates while simultaneously increasing diversity and strengthening Northwestern’s position in the ever-growing scientific field.
The Vertically Integrated Neuroscience Education Program, or VINE, will offer a small number of Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (WCAS) undergraduates majoring in neuroscience direct admission into the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) PhD program, a graduate program run jointly by WCAS’s Department of Neurobiology and multiple departments in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“VINE will allow a diverse pool of students with positive and promising research experiences in neuroscience to build upon their work and accelerate their to time to degree,” says Tiffany Schmidt, director of the undergraduate neuroscience program. “With no current direct admit graduate PhD pathway for neuroscience students, VINE provides this pathway in a way that maximizes the likelihood of a productive, successful PhD experience while strengthening research communities within WCAS and within NUIN as a whole.”
Building upon existing momentum
Though many WCAS neuroscience undergraduates were making substantial, independent contributions to research labs across the University, there was no clear avenue for students to capitalize upon that work and roll it into PhD studies at NUIN. As a result, those who pursue graduate studies often venture elsewhere, where they then start over on new projects in new labs with new people. This lengthens students’ time to degree.
VINE, however, offers a more streamlined path, as students accepted into the program can build upon their existing efforts in Northwestern labs, thrive in a familiar network, and earn their PhD with NUIN.
“With VINE, we are providing students a path to leverage the research momentum they have gained as undergraduates. This is data they have collected, experiments they have done, and that can form the foundation of their PhD thesis research,” says Catherine Woolley, associate dean for research at WCAS and the William Deering Chair in Biological Sciences.
To be certain, VINE also helps Northwestern retain top-performing student researchers, specifically those from diverse backgrounds who can bring varied perspectives into scientific initiatives. The WCAS-based neuroscience major is among the most diverse at Northwestern. More than half of the current undergraduates are female and a large share of students come from underrepresented minority groups.
“This is precisely the type of highly trained and academically well-trained pool from which we wish and ought to encourage applicants,” says Cesar Braga-Pinto, associate dean for graduate studies at WCAS.
Funded by WCAS, VINE will aim for a significant proportion of its scholars to be underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students, or females. This will further drive diversity at NUIN and also help to increase diversity in neuroscience research at large.
A program with a purpose
VINE promises to strengthen the already excellent scientific education and training in WCAS and NUIN by building and reinforcing local research communities and seamlessly linking undergraduate students to an established PhD program.
Early on, WCAS faculty can identify neuroscience students interested in research, learn about their goals and aspirations, and help them see a direct path to a PhD.
“By knowing these students as individuals, with personalities and histories and ambitions, we can not only retain them at Northwestern, but ensure that Northwestern and our labs are the best place for them, and likely have a high rate of success,” Braga-Pinto says.
Once in NUIN, students can capitalize on the foundational relationships they have formed and what they have already learned to continue engaging with a particular research project.
“The students we bring into VINE are ones we’re going to know well as people and, because of that, we can mix and match coursework to tailor the program to their educational needs and research interests,” says Dan Dombeck, the associate director of the NUIN PhD program, which currently hosts some 130 students.
The VINE program’s late 2022 announcement generated immediate interest. Within a month of its launch, the program received numerous applications and many inquiries.
“This shows us that there is demand among students for this alternative way,” Schmidt says.
The first VINE scholars will be admitted in early 2023 and begin their graduate studies this fall.