General Description
Behavioral genetics is an area of specialization devoted to the study of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. In behavioral genetics, principles and techniques from biochemical genetics, developmental genetics, evolutionary genetics, molecular genetics, pharmacogenetics, and quantitative genetics are applied to the analysis of behavior. Students in the graduate training program are expected to achieve competence in genetics relevant to their special research interests. Departmental faculty is currently applying the concepts and tools of behavioral genetics to such diverse areas as aging, alcohol abuse and addiction, cognitive development, drug abuse and addiction, learning disabilities, neurological diseases, nicotine tolerance and withdrawal, personality/temperament, and psychopathology. Within the Behavioral, Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics (BPSG) graduate training program, students can arrange a course of studies that incorporates elements of the other training programs in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and other academic units within the university (e.g., the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Department of Integrative Physiology, or the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology).
Program Requirements
Program requirements: March, 2022
NOTE: Students starting before Fall 2018 may choose to use the old BPSG requirements.