When Maia Barrow was in sixth grade, a close relative was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Seeing their cognitive decline sparked her interest in neuroscience. She chose to study at Georgia Tech so she could not only take classes in neuroscience but also do research in it. 

“I realized from the International Baccalaureate program in high school that I really liked research and writing about my findings, so I wanted to hit the ground running,” Barrow said. “A couple of the other schools I considered didn’t have as fully developed a program as Georgia Tech.”

Since her first year at the Institute, Barrow has worked in School of Psychology Professor Eric Schumacher’s cognitive neuroscience lab, where she is now the lab manager. Her experience enabled her to work in three other labs over three summers. These research opportunities prepared Barrow, now in her final semester, to apply for neuroscience Ph.D. programs. She hopes to study computational psychiatry, which applies basic neuroscience concepts to computational modeling, enabling better predictions and diagnoses of neurodegenerative disorders, like MS, and clinical disorders.

Barrow is one of more than 100 Georgia Tech undergraduates who conduct neuroscience research every year. They lend their perspective to nearly 70 labs across campus, which are often led by faculty in the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS).

Connecting Across Campus

Students work in labs in almost all seven of the Institute’s Colleges, but they can also conduct research at places like Emory University or the Shepherd Center. 

“Having the chance to engage in hands-on scientific discovery in a research laboratory is often a richer, deeper experience than a classroom,” said Schumacher, who also directs the undergraduate neuroscience program. “Making those discoveries is why scientists are interested in science, so giving undergraduates an opportunity to do that is critical for a successful program.”

Finding the right lab is paramount in this process. As director of undergraduate research in neuroscience, Katharine McCann helps connect students to the right research opportunities, whether by emailing labs to see if there are openings or coordinating a networking night for students to meet researchers in labs.

“One of the reasons undergraduate neuroscience research is so robust at Georgia Tech is that there's neuroscience research happening in nearly every College on campus,” said McCann. “Most of our students are placed in the College of Sciences or the College of Engineering, but we have students who are in the College of Computing and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, too.” 

The undergraduate presence is just as much of a benefit to the lab, according to Schumacher. Often, these students bring a new outlook, as well as solid basic science skills that reinvigorate a lab’s energy. 

Embedding Research in Everything

Neuroscience is one of the most interdisciplinary majors on campus. Students take courses ranging from biology to computation, and because they gain both broad knowledge and deep research experience, neuroscience has become one of Georgia Tech’s fastest-growing majors. This combination prepares them for careers in science, technology, and even fields such as medicine and dentistry.

“For neuroscience, we require students to take chemistry, physics, math, and biology, so they’re well-rounded critical thinkers,” said Tim Cope, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences andthe Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. Cope previously ran the neuroscience undergraduate program and now directs the neuroscience and neurotechnology Ph.D. program. “Neuroscience is one of the most pressing societal topics right now. Not a day goes by in our lives that there's not something in the news about addiction, depression, or Parkinson’s, and these neuroscience students could be at the forefront of improving people’s lives.”

Building the Future of Neuroscience 

Fourth-year neuroscience student Lynn Kim joined biological sciences Professor Young-Hui Chang’s Comparative Neuromechanics Lab in her first year. She studied how the nervous system adapts to a novel gravity environment through a reduced gravity simulator that mirrors the body weight support system. For her thesis, she explored the role of vision in coordinating sense and motor function, analyzing changes in movements, muscle activity, and cognitive perception of gravity.

“I believe my projects will provide valuable insights to both neuroscience research and applied rehabilitation science, while preparing me to pursue a career dedicated to improving patient outcomes through research,” Kim said.

Georgia Tech leads in neuroscience research at every level. From students who are performing their first experiments to interdisciplinary institutes like INNS, Georgia Tech is building a neuroscience pipeline that starts early and runs deep.