To return to the contents page, click your browser's "Back" button.

BACKGROUND:
Title: Vision Science Graduate Program (MS, PhD). Contact: Fran Stone, University of California, Berkeley, 488A Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720; 510/642-9804; http://vision.berkeley.edu/. Est: 1946. Semester. Granted last 3 years: PhD 10, MS 2. Part-time: no. Program: The Graduate Program in Vision Science offers both MS and PhD degrees. These degree programs prepare students for careers in teaching and research in vision science, optometry, ophthalmology, psychology, bioengineering, human factors, neurobiology, cell biology, and other disciplines. The program combines the study of the fundamentals of the vision sciences, the study of advanced topics, and a research program selected and conducted with the guidance of faculty members of the program. Areas of specialization include visual psychophysics, the neurophysiology of vision, ocular physiology, visual development, physiology and psychophysics of visual disorders, visuomotor mechanisms, machine vision, and applied vision. Areas related to human factors engineering include visual requirements for vehicle guidance, detection and identification of warning signals, data compression and computer graphics, and more. The program enthusiastically supports teaching and research on applied problems in vision science. HFES student chapter: no. Catalog: ($5.75) ASUC Store, Attn: Mail Order Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.

APPLICATION:
Deadlines: 1/5 for fellowship and admission, 2/10 admission only. Fee: $40 (subject to change without notice).

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
GPA: 3.0. GRE: 70% v, 85% q, 85% a. Other: Three letters of reference, statement of purpose, and a background in any of the following areas: biology, psychology, physics, engineering, optometry, mathematics, medicine, neurobiology. Research: high. Work experience: medium. Letters: high. Interview: low.

ADMISSIONS:
Students applying last year: approx. 30 (some applicants hand-picked). Accepted: 10. Entered program: 8. Openings/year: average 7.

TUITION AND FEES:
Resident: $2300/semester. Nonresidents: $7600/semester. Subject to change without notice.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
% receiving: 65. Amount: $4000/$20000/$35000. Available: Fellowship, TA, RA (partially tuition exempt), traineeship (tuition exempt). Apply: with application.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
MS: 20 units, no exams or languages, thesis research required, 2 years. Nonthesis option: no. PhD: 4 semesters of residence (approx. 50 units), qualifying oral exams, no languages, dissertation research required, 5 years.

CURRICULUM:
Required courses (units): Optics and Dioptics of the Eye (2), Visual Neurophysiology and Development (2), Spatial Vision and Machine Vision (2), Anatomy and Cell Biology of the Eye (2), Motion Perception and Binocular Vision (2), Ethics in Vision Research (2), Graduate Student Instructor Training Course (2), "Oxyopia" Noontime Seminar (2). Electives: Instrumentation and Methodology in Vision Research (2), Biomedical and Environmental Health Science Statistics (4), Neural Networks (3), Machine Vision (3), Quantitative Methods (3), Binocular Vision (3), other (3). Required courses outside department: Statistics. Offered: research activities in summer. Class size: 7.

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES:
Research facilities: Research facilities available at Berkeley to graduate students in vision science are unexcelled anywhere in the world. Federally supported research facilities include modern visual psychophysics laboratories plus computers. The optometry laboratory, housing 6000 volumes and subscribing to 200 periodicals, is part of the larger University of California library, one of the finest in the world. Teaching: All students in the PhD program are required to teach a minimum of 2 semesters. Students can teach up to 8 semesters if they need support. Typically, these graduate student teaching appointments are to instruct the laboratory sections involved in the first 2 years of the optometry curriculum. Current research: Aging and visual performance, ocular motility constraints, visual requirements for vehicle guidance, data compression for computer graphics, detection and identification of warning signals, special requirements related to ocular diseases.

STUDENTS STATISTICS:
Active: 18 men, 16 women. First-year students: 8. Mean scores: MS: GRE 1165 v + q, GPA 3.6. PhD: GRE 1353 v + q, GPA 3.5.

FACULTY:
Anthony J. Adams, PhD 1962, Indiana U; physiological optics. Ian L. Bailey, MS 1971, Indiana U; physiological optics. Martin S. Banks, PhD 1977, U Minnesota; developmental psychology. Theodore E. Cohn, PhD 1969, U Michigan; bioengineering. Gunilla Haegerstrom-Portnoy, PhD 1983, U California, Berkeley; physiological optics. Stanley A. Klein, PhD 1967, Brandeis U; physics. Clifton M. Schor, PhD 1972, UC Berkeley; physiological optics.