The Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science does not grant degrees. However, students earning degrees in participating departments can earn a Certificate in Cognitive Science by successfully completing the Certificate requirements in addition to those necessary for their graduate degree.

Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship concerned with understanding the nature and development of such intelligent capacities as perception, language, reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and related skills, whether these capacities are instantiated in biological or artificial systems. Members of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science (RuCCS) may have joint appointments with such participating academic departments as Psychology, Linguistics, Philosophy, Computer Science, and others as the program develops. RuCCS also has working relationships with a number of other graduate programs (such as Biomedical Engineering, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Information, Communication, and Library Studies) and with other research centers on campus.

The goal of the Cognitive Science Certificate program is to provide a structured way for students enrolled in various graduate programs to study and carry out research in Cognitive Science with guidance from relevant faculty advisors, and to bring interested students from different departments together in a graduate student community integrated into the general university research community.

This list of courses is not meant to be exhaustive. Proposals for adding additional courses in various departments, such as (but not limited to) the School of Information, Communication and Library Studies, the Graduate School of Education, the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, the department of Mathematics, and the departments of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, will also be considered by the certificate committee for credit towards the Certificate in Cognitive Science.

If you have any questions, please email the Graduate Program Director at:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Admission to the Certificate Program

If you have an interest in Cognitive Science you should at some stage -- preferably on (or even before) your arrival at a Rutgers as a graduate student, meet with the Certificate Program Director and let them know of your interest. 

REGISTRATION PROCESS:

After having met with the Program Director, potential Graduate Certificate Program students, will be advised to complete and submit, with the required signatures, the Cognitive Science Graduate Certificate Intent Form below to Graduate Director.  This form is a statement of 'intent' to complete the Cognitive Science Graduate Certificate Program. 
This form should be submitted AFTER completing the Cognitive Science Proseminar course, 16:185:500.    However,  at the discretion of the Program Director, may be submitted earlier. (This course is only offered in the Fall semester) 

Students in good standing in their departments may also petition the director of the Certificate Program for admission as official candidates for the Certificate in Cognitive Science. This will normally occur after students have completed the required Cognitive Science ProSeminar in Cognitive Science (16:185:500).  Such official Certificate Candidates will be assigned a faculty advisor who will advise them with regard to courses and research requirements for the Certificate. If you are one of these students you would be eligible to compete for the limited supply of Cognitive Science Graduate Fellowships. The expectation is that if you maintain a satisfactory standing as a Certificate Candidate, as determined by the the Cognitive Science Certificate Committee, and meet all the formal requirements, you would be granted a Certificate in Cognitive Science at the time that you receive your graduate degree. This Certificate, along with your transcript and the endorsement of the program, will identify you as having attained special training in the interdisciplinary field of Cognitive Science.

Under special circumstances students may be admitted as Candidates for the Certificate program, and be eligible for a Cognitive science Fellowship, at the time they are first admitted to a graduate program at Rutgers. Such students will have an exceptional record and a demonstrated commitment to the interdisciplinary study of Cognitive Science. Also under special circumstances students may petition the Certificate Committee for equivalent-credit for courses taken elsewhere or for independent research work.

After you have completed all the course requirements and research project, please complete and submit the School of Graduate Studies Certificate Program Application Form below to the CogSci Graduate Director for final approval.