The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior offers two awards for graduate students each year.
The James L. McGaugh Award for Excellence in Research honors the founding chair of the department and is given to a student whose published or “in press” research is of outstanding quality.
The Ralph Waldo Gerard Prize in the History of Neuroscience is given to students who have written outstanding papers on the history of neuroscience. It honors Dr. Gerard, the first Dean of the Graduate Division at UCI, who was a pioneering neuroscientist best known for developing the intracellular microelectrode.