What is the relationship between Krasnow and Mason Neuroscience

I’m discovering, over the last year, that this is a major source of confusion. And it’s easy to see why: a whole lot of Mason neuroscience (but not all) is housed at Krasnow.

So here’s my take:

Mason neuroscience right now consists of two doctoral programs (neuroscience and biopsychology), a P&T granting Program in SCS (Computational Neuroscience) and a critical mass of neuroscientist faculty members who conduct research. If we’re lucky, over the next several years, these elements (or at least most of them) might coalesce into a single neuroscience department in the new College of Science. I think that would be very good for neuroscience at Mason, not the least because it would make our story easier to understand for outsiders, but also because it would potentially open the door for an undergraduate neuroscience major…and that major could definitely strengthen Mason’s premed offerings.

Krasnow, on the other hand, is a research unit, albeit a unique one that operates university-wide under the office of the Provost (like the other academic units). There are activities at Krasnow, crucial to its long term scientific mission which, most definitely aren’t neuroscience. For example: evolutionary algorithms and agent based modeling. Another example: the emergence of the metabolic chart from the basic laws of physics. Finally, we’re soon to be very heavily involved in computational social science.

The institute was chartered with a scientific mission to operate at the intersection of neuroscience, behavioral biology and computer science. It was the likes of Herb Simon, Murray Gell-Mann and Julie Axelrod who came up with that. So while, we are most definitely growing our strength in neuroscience, it’s useful to keep in mind that the Institute, needs to also tend its garden in these other areas.

Why?

It’s my sense that this intersection may play a crucial role in achieving, eventually, a very deep understanding of higher human cognition with the context of the universe as a whole. And to me, that is the most interesting question.