The Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) is a center for

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

research at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. Founded in the spring of 2004, the PNI serves as a "stimulus for teaching and research in neuroscience and related fields" and "places particular emphasis on the close connection between theory, modeling, and experimentation using the most advanced technologies." It often partners with Princeton University's departments of

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and Molecular Biology.

History

Founding

The Princeton Neuroscience Institute was created in 2004 under the leadership of psychology professor Jonathan D. Cohen and molecular biology professor

David Tank David W. Tank is an American molecular biologist and neuroscientist who is the Henry L. Hillman Professor in Molecular Biology at Princeton University and the co-director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute along with psychology professor Jo ...

, who continue to serve as Co-Directors of the PNI. Jonathan Cohen joined Princeton in 1998 and specializes in cognitive neuroscience. He has been the director of the Center for the Study of Brain, Mind and Behavior since 2000. He has also directed the undergraduate certificate program in neuroscience since 2001. Cohen earned his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. He did an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

and his

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

at Stanford University School of Medicine.

joined Princeton's faculty in 2001, where he specializes in physics-based measurement techniques to study the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

. Prior to Princeton, he was a researcher at

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

from 1983 to 2001. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

is currently a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

Scully Hall

Moneo Arquitecto, an international architecture and design firm, was commissioned to design the new neuroscience and psychology buildings in 2006. The building is 248,00 square feet, and was designed by

Rafael Moneo José Rafael Moneo Vallés (born 9 May 1937) is a Spanish architect. He won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003 and La Biennale's Golden Lion in 2021. Biography Born in Tudela, Spain, Moneo studied at ...

to meet

LEED Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certification.

Academics

Undergraduate

At the undergraduate level, the PNI directs both the Undergraduate Concentration in Neuroscience (

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

) and the Undergraduate Certificate in Neuroscience ( minor). Both are designed for undergraduate students interested in a wide variety of fields, such as

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, and

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

. Exceptional undergraduate students may qualify for a number of research awards, including the James M. Shapiro ’80 Fund for Undergraduate Research in Neuroscience, the Nancy J. Newman, MD ’78 & Valerie Biousse, MD Senior Thesis Research Fund for Neuroscience, and the Sanda & Jeremiah Lambert ’55 Fund for Undergraduate Neuroscience, in Honor of Clare Lambert ’08 and Hilary Lambert ‘10.

Graduate

The graduate program in Neuroscience is designed to prepare students for careers as in academia or in industry. Students may select one of the following areas of research: systems and circuits, human neuroscience, or theory and computation. The PNI also offers a joint graduate degree program in neuroscience, which is designed for students who are interested in an interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience. Prospective applicants may work in a number of other related departments, including

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

, or

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. Princeton is also one of the few universities in the country to offer a graduate and postdoctoral program in Quantitative and Computational Neuroscientists.

Research

Research at the PNI spans the disciplines of molecular,

cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and express ...

, and

cognitive neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental proces ...

. The PNI is also especially dedicated to

computational Computation is any type of arithmetic or non-arithmetic calculation that follows a well-defined model (e.g., an algorithm). Mechanical or electronic devices (or, historically, people) that perform computations are known as ''computers''. An espe ...

research. The PNI directs a number of programs and projects, including the Intel Labs and PNI Project, Rutgers-Princeton Center for Computational Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, and the International Brain Lab (IBL).

Centers and Initiatives

* Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics * The McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience * The Regina and John Scully '66 Center for the Neuroscience of Mind and Behavior The Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics was founded by Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos to focus on the development of microscopy imaging techniques for measuring neural circuit dynamics in the functioning brain. The Center hosts a number of custom-built optical instrumentation for large-scale monitoring and optogenetic perturbation of neural activity. The McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience specializes on

neural coding Neural coding (or Neural representation) is a neuroscience field concerned with characterising the hypothetical relationship between the stimulus and the individual or ensemble neuronal responses and the relationship among the electrical activit ...

and dynamics. James McDonnell III, a former University trustee, established the program in 2007. Founded in 2007, the Regina and John Scully '66 Center for the Neuroscience of Mind and Behavior analyzes how physical mechanisms of the brain give rise to the functions of the mind.

References

External links

Princeton Neuroscience Institute
official website
Princeton Psychology Department
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Princeton University Department Of Psychology Department of Psychology Psychology institutes Psychology departments in the United States Neuroscience research centers in the United States 2004 establishments in New Jersey