College of Arts and Sciences

Departmental E-mail: abeh@indiana.edu 

Departmental URL: https://animalbehavior.indiana.edu/index.html

(Please note that when conferring University Graduate School degrees, minors, certificates, and sub-plans, The University Graduate School’s staff use those requirements contained only in The University Graduate School Bulletin.)

Curriculum

Curriculum
Courses
Faculty

Graduate Degrees in Animal Behavior

Faculty from the Departments of Biology, Psychological & Brain Sciences, Anthropology and others provide broad and intensive training in neuroscience, learning, development, ecology, and evolution. Focal research topics include mate choice and sexual behavior, parental behavior and development, migration and orientation, communication and learning and developmental plasticity. Program graduate students are encouraged to work in more than one laboratory, bringing to bear multiple techniques and conceptualizations on particular problems. Training requirements include courses in neuroscience, evolution, and learning/development, plus special year-long topical seminars. The program invites eminent visiting scientists to participate in these seminars, give workshops, and interact with students and faculty. Students may obtain a PhD Minor in Animal Behavior and/or a PhD Area Certificate in Animal Behavior by completing the requirements below.

Admission Requirements

Students must be admitted to a Ph.D. program in the Depart­ment of Biology, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, or the program in Neuroscience or other related departments or programs (e.g., program in Medical Sciences, Anthropology, History and Philosophy of Science). They must also become a member of the program in Animal Behavior.

Students should select an advisory committee made up of at least three members of the graduate faculty. For students whose home department or program is Biology, at least one member of the advisory committee from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences or the program in Neuroscience or other related departments or programs (i.e., Anthropology, History and Philosophy of Sciences) is expected. For students whose home department or program is the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences or the program in Neuroscience, at least one member of the advisory committee from Biology or other related departments or program (i.e., Medical Sciences, Anthropology, History and Philosophy of Science) is expected. At least two of the student's committee members must be members of the program in Animal Behavior.

Ph.D. Minor in Animal Behavior

Course Requirements

At least THREE courses taken from at least two different departments/graduate programs, as specified below:

(1) ONE ABEH A501 Seminar in the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior
(2) TWO courses from the following list. One of these courses must be a graduatelevel evolution or ecology course if such a course is not part of a student's major. One of these courses must also be a graduate-level neuroscience or physiology course if such a course is not part of the student's major. Other graduate courses with significant content in the study of animal behavior may be substituted with the permission of the Animal Behavior Program director.

Neuroscience and Physiology:
• ANTH B540 Hormones and Human Behavior
• NEUS N500 Neural Science I
• NEUS N501 Neural Science II
• BIOL L560 Physiological Ecology
• BIOL Z563 Comparative Neurobiology of Animal Behavior
• BIOL L553 Sensory Ecology
• BIOL Z562 Genetics of Behavior
• PSY P526 Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
• PSY P569 Stress Effects on Brain and Behavior
• PSY P637 Neurobiology of Addiction
• PSY P667 Neuropsychopharmacology
• MED P561 Comparative Animal Physiology

Evolution or Ecology:
• ANTH B527 Human Evolutionary Biology Laboratory
• ANTH B568 Evolution of Primate Social Behavior
• BIOL L567 Evolution
• BIOL L573 Quantitative Genetics and Microevolution
• BIOL L581 Behavioral Ecology
• BIOL Z540 Population Genetics
• BIOL Z620 Phylogenetics1

Other Courses:
• ANTH B500 Proseminar in Bioanthropology2
• ANTH B522 Laboratory Methods in Bioanthropology
• ANTH B524 Theory and Method in Human Paleotology
• ANTH B525 Genetic Methods in Anthropology
• ANTH B546 Reproductive Ecology
• ANTH B600 Seminar in Bioanthropology2
• BIOL Z460 Animal Behavior
• BIOL Z466 Endocrinology
• COGS Q551 Brain and Cognition
• COGS Q700 Theoretical Issues in Animal Cognition2
• PSY P514 Methods in Biopsychology
• PSY P527 Developmental Psychobiology
• PSY P564 Psychophysics

¹ Only Phylogenetics section of BIOL Z620 counts towards this requirement. Other sections require approval of the Animal Behavior Program director

² Only sections with significant content in the field of animal behavior count towards this requirement. Consult with the Animal Behavior Program director.

Graduate Area Certificate in Animal Behavior

Course Requirements

The requirements for the Area Certificate in Animal Behavior include all of the requirements of the minor, plus the following:

1. One additional ABEH A501 Seminar in the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior
2. ABEH A502 Professional Ethics for the Bio-Behavioral Sciences or PSY P595 FirstYear Research Seminar
3. One additional course from above.