Science of brain luring Y. students

PROVO — Brian Bingham is not a musician, but he has a lot in common with those artists who carefully craft a composition note by note until a small sound becomes a symphony.

That same creative process is the method that Bingham has used during his time at Brigham Young University to turn the strict subject of neuroscience into an exciting experience.

"Musicians spend hours and hours on a piece until something clicks and the music becomes enjoyable," Bingham said. "Science is also very repetitive and its methods can be tedious, but if you can get past that, you can discover new ways that the world is working."

Bingham will experience a real musical moment today as he dons his cap and gown to walk the aisles of the BYU Marriott Center to the tune of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance."

The ceremony will be a welcome respite from the studying and testing the 24-year-old Connecticut native has endured to graduate from the BYU neuroscience program — which is the largest program of its kind in the nation.

"In addition to being the largest program, we hope in the long term to receive national recognition from the neuroscience community for the quality of students that are coming out of our program," said BYU professor Edwin Lephart.

While the major is science-based, it blends biology, psychology and chemistry to focus on brain functioning and its connection to behavior.

Bingham said he left a biochemistry major to join the neuroscience program after taking a class on human development, which piqued his curiosity about affective disorders and addictions.

"I am very fascinated about the way we think," he said. "I really enjoyed the things that I was able to learn."

According to BYU, 80 percent of BYU students graduating in neuroscience go on to medical or dental schools and another 15 percent enter graduate neuroscience programs.

Bingham will become part of the latter in the fall when he enters the University of Pennsylvania's neuropharmacology doctoral program.

"Neuroscience has become a popular undergraduate major throughout the country," said Edward Stricker, chairman of the neuroscience department at the University of Pittsburg. "Rather large programs in neuroscience are found at some of the most prestigious universities in the country, including UCLA, Emory, Pitt, Penn, Johns Hopkins, Brown and Vanderbilt. BYU is well ahead of the curve and currently has the largest undergraduate program in the country."

While many consider science majors to be more difficult than other creative programs, Bingham said all BYU degrees are an accomplishment to obtain.

"To each their own. Everybody is going to go where its comfortable for them," Bingham said. "I would have had a tough time graduating from the school of music."

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E-mail: lwarner@desnews.com