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Graduate Programs


Language, Music, and Communication is a unit of NICO (the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems), a research institute of Northwestern University. Students wishing to pursue Ph.D work are admitted through various departments and cross-school Ph.D programs. Students may pursue an interdisciplinary Ph.D Certificate in Language Music and Communication while pursuing their degree. The Director of Graduate Studies for the LMC Ph.D Certificate is Sumitrajit Dhar.

The primary admitting programs for Language Music and Communication Graduate students are:

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department

Co-directors of Graduate Studies (Ph.D degree): Cynthia (Cindy) Thompson Email, Steven Zecker Email
Graduate Admissions Coordinator: Cynthia (Cindy) Coy Email
Doctor of Audiology (AuD degree): Susan Erler Email

The CSD Department is in Northwestern's School of Communication. Recent alums are employed as faculty or research staff in speech science and neuroscience, Contact these programs if you are interested in clinical research in speech or hearing.

The Linguistics Department

Graduate Admissions: Matt Goldrick Email
Director of Graduate studies: Janet Pierrehumbert Email

The Linguistics Department is in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Recent alums are employed as faculty or research staff in universities, in bilingual education programs, and in research and development in speech and language technology. Contact this program if you are interested in basic research involving an integrated experimental and computational approach to language systems.

The Music Theory and Cognition Program

Director of Graduate Studies: Robert Gjerdingen Email

The Music Theory and Cognition Program is in Northwestern's School of Music. Contact this program if you have a strong background in music theory, education, or performance and wish to have a laboratory component in your graduate studies in music.

Northwestern Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (NUIN)

Graduate admissions coodinator: Ms. Cheri Bell Email

NUIN is responsible for neuroscience education and research in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering, the Feinberg School of Medicine, and Northwestern's affiliated hospitals. Contact this program if you have a strong life sciences background and are primarily interested in neurolinguistics.

Signals and Systems Division, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Graduate admissions: Ying Wu Email

EECS Signals and Systems is in the McCormick School of Engineering. Recent alums are employed in as faculty or research staff in engineering schools, or in research and development in high-tech corporations. Contact this program if you have a strong technical background and are interested in building next-generation communications technology and information technology.



Fellowship Opportunities


In addition to graduate fellowships administered by departments, applicants to Language, Music and Communication are eligible for some fellowships administered by interdisciplinary committees. Applicants who fit the profile for one of these opportunities should explain their interest in their application to the department. The department will use this information in making nominations to the committees.