Summer Neuroscience Program (SNP)
The Summer Neuroscience Program (SNP) at Rockefeller University is a two-week course aimed at introducing talented and enthusiastic high school students to the brain. Led by graduate students, the program takes a look at the most current research in neuroscience, in an effort to understand how our brain works and how it relates to our daily life. Despite hundreds of years of research and thousands of discoveries, the human brain still holds countless mysteries. At SNP, students learn about the brain by posing questions…
- How do we form memories?
- What are smells?
- Why do we sleep and dream?
- How did our brains evolve?
- What happens to the brain in Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease?
- Why are some drugs addictive?
- How do brain cells work?
- How do we hear sounds?
- Are animals conscious?
- Why do we fall in love?
- What happens to the brain when we're depressed?
- And many many more...
In addition to the series of highly interactive lectures, students present fun, fascinating journal articles to their classmates. Students also visit research laboratories, dissect brains, and design and conduct neuroscience experiments.
The course takes place from 9:30am to 4:00pm, Monday through Friday, during the last two weeks of August (please see the main page or nominations page for specific dates). Classes are held at the Rockefeller University in Manhattan, and all expenses are covered, including metro passes, meals, and school supplies throughout the program.
We seek motivated, mature, and inquisitive students, irrespective of previous scholastic achievement or interest level in science. To be eligible for participation, students must be enrolled in a New York City public school, and must be at least 16 years of age at the start of the program -- we cannot make exceptions. Students must be nominated by a teacher or mentor, and a subset of nominated students will be contacted by the SNP directors to arrange an interview.