Martha Farah Will Direct New Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program

This fall, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Neuroscience and Society will partner with the School of Arts and Sciences to offer a first-of-its-kind program that aims to educate non-scientists about the workings of the brain. The certificate program in Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, or SCAN, will draw students from Penn’s various graduate programs, providing insight on how neuroscience is impacting their disciplines and vice versa.

Martha Farah, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology and the director of the Center for Neuroscience and Society, will head the new program.

“Many different fields are now incorporating the ideas and methods of neuroscience, from law and education to social sciences and even humanities,” Farah says. “Our aim is to empower graduate students in these areas to be leaders in this new interdisciplinary trend. We will equip them with a critical understanding of what neuroscience can and can’t do and the know-how to undertake their own good, rigorous, interdisciplinary work.”

All participants will take two core classes that will introduce them to the foundations of neuroscience, with an emphasis on the neuroscience of human thought, feeling, and action. The other two courses will be chosen from advanced classes in neuroscience, courses on the impact of neuroscience on society, and “bridging” courses set in the student’s own discipline, be it law, business, education, or something else. 

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