Hi, I am very interested in Tufts for undergrad and loved the campus, but I’m not quite sure how good of a biopsychology program it has. How does it compare in robustness to neuropsych/biopsych programs at schools like Penn and Brown? If I go to Tufts would I be prepared well for getting into grad schools for neuropsych? Could anyone tell me more about the program or about what research is happening within it?
Thanks in advance!
^^ I’m also really interested in Tufts’ biopsychology program so I would love to know more too!
Tufts has two interdisciplinary programs that involve Bio and Psychology - one is Biopsych and the other is Cognitive and Brain Sciences. There is a lot of interdisciplinary activity going on in this area because Cognitive and Brain Sciences pulls in Computer Science, Philosophy and Child Development as well as Bio and Psych. Biomedical Engineering also contributes in the area of interdisciplinary research.
In terms of research:
On the Bio end of the spectrum, Tufts runs a national tissue engineering lab with Columbia that developed the first 3D model of the brain in order to enable further study of brain function.
http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/bioengineers-make-functional-3d-brain-tissue-model
http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/new-technique-generates-human-neural-stem-cells-tissue-engineering-3d-brain-models
On the behavioral end of the spectrum, Tufts has developed a non-invasive, real-time, brain monitoring device that is being used to enable the study of brain health after brain damage as well as to monitor cognitive workload during regular activities.
http://engineering.tufts.edu/bme/documents/newsletter2015.pdf
http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/new-way-diagnose-brain-damage-concussions-strokes-and-dementia
One interesting interdisciplinary application is monitoring cognitive workload and using it to enhance learning.
https://tuftsdaily.com/features/2016/03/13/the-piano-lesson-of-tomorrow-comp-sci-dept-researches-music-learning/
Tufts and US Army Research Labs just created the Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Science - a joint interdisciplinary research center that leverages several existing Tufts research labs as well as providing additional labs and US Army researchers.It is considered an “engineering lab”, but it is co-directed by Psychologists from Tufts and Army Research Labs.
http://www.centerforabcs.org/index.php/about/centerpeople
There are nine cognition related research labs in the Psychology department.
http://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/research/labs.htm
Probably the most fun cognitive research at Tufts is in the area of music cognition - featuring Snowball the dancing Cockatoo (be sure check out the video)
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/we-got-beat
Probably the most publicized cognitive research at Tufts is a Navy funded project to try to use AI techniques to model morality in robots. Brown and RPI are partners.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/o2wt62/the-colbert-report-morality-lessons-for-robots
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/robo-ethics
http://spectrum.ieee.org/video/robotics/robotics-software/how-to-build-a-moral-robot
In terms of facilities, Tufts has two new interdisciplinary buildings. The CLIC building (opened about a year ago)
which has an Engineering Psychology (Human Factors) Lab and one of the two themes of the new SEC (opening this fall) is Neuroscience.
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/space-next-generation-thinking
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/new-science-and-engineering-complex-designed-collaboration
Tufts was recently funded as an NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) site for Complex Biological Systems/Data Science
https://engineering.tufts.edu/research/undergradresearch/REU
Hope this helps!
Hi, @Mastadon! Thank you so much for your reply. This has given me a better idea of just how much Tufts has contributed to the field. So in your opinion, if I wanted to become a neuropsychologist that is interested in studying the neuroscience behind certain psychological disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, would Tufts give me a good basis, for undergrad, for me to do so? Again, thank you so much for that wonderful response.