ASSOCIATION OF NEUROSCIENCE DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS
2005 SPRING MEETING SUMMARY
Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Bethesda, MD
APRIL 30 - MAY 1, 2005

The 2005 meeting of the Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs was held at the Bethesda Hyatt Regency Hotel on April 30-May 1. Our organization is the only focused on the topic that concerns us most -- neuroscience training. As such our Spring meeting is the primary forum through which we learn about new initiatives for funding, share ideas for improving and managing our programs, and project what will be the next set of issues and opportunities related to neuroscience training. At this years meeting we focused on several new topics including:

• new ways to train graduate students emanating from the CID project

• approaches to organization and management of day-to-day issues of graduate programs

• postdoctoral organizations and their impact on our training programs

• approaches to bringing neuroscience to the community through faculty and students 

Most importantly, we allotted more time for dialogue among panel members and representatives of our programs as well as with policymakers at NIH. It is vital that we all engage in discussion and debate about these issues, raising our own questions and sharing our own approaches with our colleagues. In particular, we engaged members input to the next generation ANDP Survey, one of the defining activities of our organization. The meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on April 30 and concluded at 1:30 p.m. on May 1. 

A working session was held to provide the membership with the opportunity to comment on plans for the next ANDP Survey and to offer suggestions for soliciting new information from the membership that may be of particular value to compile. Leading this effort, Dr. Ed Stricker reviewed our current data on key training issues and preview new questions planned for the survey. Members were able to find out where their program stands when it comes to numbers of graduate applicants, time to degree, faculty hiring, and other topics that concern us all. 

A meeting agenda is available online. 

ANDP membership is comprised of chairpersons and program directors of neuroscience-related departments and programs from academic institutions and it is the only organization whose primary objective is to advance neuroscience education and research at both the institutional and national levels. The Spring Meeting is our primary time to gather and share ideas. Your participation is important to our mission and is very likely to have a direct impact on how you administer your program.