Committees

NSB faculty-run committees

Steering Committee

Mission: Vision and programmatic decisions

Tasks: Discuss reports from committees, provides program guidance, and votes on major program business decisions

• Graduate Program Director and Steering Chair—Heather Richardson
• Graduate Operations Committee Chair —David Moorman (fall)/ Gerry Downes (spring)
• Climate, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Representative—Bekki Spencer
• Admissions Committee Chair—Paul Katz
• Seminar and Events Committee Chair—Elena Vazey
• NSB Student President—Erika Correll (fall)/ Emily Lopez (spring)
• NSB Student Representative—Fran Walsh
• NSB Student Representative (non-voting) - Margot Schmitt

Graduate Operations Committee (GOC)

Mission: Oversee program procedures and student progress in the program

Tasks: Collaborate with Graduate Student Success Committee and GPD for policy and procedure updates, help GPD launch Prograds, conduct animal student reviews

• Gerry Downes (current)
• David Moorman (until Dec 2024)
• Jennifer Rauch 
• Mariana Pereira

Graduate Student Success and Engagement Committee

Mission: Assess and improve program climate to promote a diverse, equitable, and inclusive research training community in NSB

Tasks: Connect NSB community members to DEI resources, events and mentoring training, provide consultation to all other committees and leadership  

• Bekki Spencer (Chair)
• Joe Bergan
• Travis Hodges
• Stephanie Padilla
• Graduate assistant and peer mentoring coordinator: Emily Robinson

Seminar Committee

Mission: Coordinate NSB seminar events

Tasks: Communicate with NSB community members to invite and host speakers for NSB seminars

• Elena Vazey (Chair)
• Karine Fénelon
• Grad assistants: Katy Nippert (website) and Ellen Rodberg (seminars)

Admissions and Recruitment Committee

Mission: Select an outstanding class of PhD and MS students for admissions to the NSB program

Tasks: Holistic review of applications (Slate software), organize Zoom interviews, make acceptance decisions

• Paul Katz (Co-Chair, admissions)
• Jenny Rauch (Co-Chair, recruitment)
• Cana Park
• Karine Fénelon
• Lauren Aulet

Curriculum Task Force 

Mission: Improve NSB curriculum

Tasks: Use notes from 2022-23 task force to conduct next steps (survey NSB students and faculty etc.) and submit a proposal for updating curriculum to NSB Steering Committee

• Luke Remage-Healey (Chair)
• Sarah Pallas

Recruitment Open House Task Force

Mission: Recruit an outstanding class of PhD and MS students to the NSB program

Tasks: Recruitment of students including in person events (in collaboration with GPD and Seminars Committee)

• Jenny Rauch (Chair)
• Emily Lopez (NSB Student President)
• Patty Reis (NSB Student member)
• Zander Crowley (IDGP Staff)
• Amanda Leigh-Hawkins (IDGP Staff)

NSB student-run committees

NSB President and Vice President:

• Emily Lopez (President)
• Anusha Bharadwaj &  Margot Schmitt (Co-Vice Presidents)

Steering Committee Graduate Student Representativea(s):

• Fran Walsh (voting)
• Margot Schmitt (non-voting)

Seminar Committee Representative:

• Jennifer Wang

GEO Steward:

• Cassandra Delvey (Spring 2025)

Community and Social Coordinator:

• Shrishti Ramaiah

Neuroscience Resource Manager:

• Katie Copelas

Recruitment Chair(s):

• Patty Reis
• Jennifer Wang

Peer Mentoring Team:

• Liz Beech
• Nick Bourdon
• Felipe Augusto Cini Da Silva
• Emily Lopez
• Katy Nippert
• Kate Otter
• Shrishti Ramaiah
• Katrina Rodheim