The Pathways to Neurosciences program fosters belonging, excellence, and leadership in the next generation of Stanford neuroscience trainees.
Eligibility
The Pathways to Neurosciences program is open to trainees who:
- Are Stanford PhD students who will be in their 4th-5th year of their program or are Stanford trainees appointed as postdocs who will be in their 1st-2nd year of training in fall 2024 (late September).
- Are doing Neuroscience research*.
- Are from populations historically underrepresented and/or excluded in the US neuroscience research workforce (See definition of Underrepresented groups found on this page). These include, but are not limited to:
- Individuals with disabilities, defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
- Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, defined as those who meet two or more of the criteria described on this page.
- Individuals who identify as a sexual or gender minority who is underrepresented on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
- Others whose backgrounds and experiences would enrich the representation among the professoriate in their academic fields.
- Are US citizens, permanent residents, or international scholars (no citizenship restrictions).
- Spend no more than 25% of their time providing clinical care.
*Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary discipline. Applicants from all fields are welcomed to apply so long as their current graduate or postdoctoral research is neuroscience related.
Pathways welcomes applications from trainees of all backgrounds. All applications will be evaluated in conformance with applicable law.
Application
The Pathways application consists of 2 short sections: biographic information and short open-ended questions. Before continuing to part I, applicants will be asked to confirm they meet the eligibility criteria outlined above.
Part I: Biographic information
In this section, we ask applicants to share their name, email, affiliation, brief description of their research, and answer some demographic questions.
Part II: Short essay questions
In this section, we ask applicants to provide brief answers to the following questions:
- What elements of the Pathways to Neurosciences program will be the most valuable to you? How do you hope to benefit from those elements and how will this experience advance your career goals? (100-200 words)
- How might you contribute to creating an inclusive Pathways community and research environment in neuroscience? (100-200 words)
When answering these questions, applicants may include any information they wish to share, such as prior experiences and professional development needs, the quality of their early educational environment, socioeconomic status, culture, family background, first-generation status, ability status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and life or work experiences, including experiences of overcoming adversity or discrimination. All answers will be kept confidential.
Click here to return to the program page and access the application.