- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

ICDL-EpiRob 2015 CFP

by Benjamin Rosman

======================================================== Call for Papers, Tutorials and Thematic Workshops New Conference Feature: BABYBOT CHALLENGE IEEE ICDL-EPIROB 2015 The Fifth Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA August 13-16, 2015 http://www.icdl-epirob.org/ == Conference description The past decade has seen the emergence of a new scientific field that studies how intelligent biological and artificial systems develop sensorimotor, cognitive, emotional and social abilities, over extended periods of time, through dynamic interactions with their physical and social environments. This field lies at the intersection of a number of scientific and engineering disciplines including Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computational Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics. Various terms have been associated with this new field such as Autonomous Mental Development, Epigenetic Robotics, Developmental Robotics, etc., and several scientific meetings have been established. The two most prominent conference series of this field, the International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) and the International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), are now joining forces for the fifth time and invite submissions for a joint conference in 2015, to explore and extend the interdisciplinary boundaries of this field. == BABYBOT CHALLENGE -- CASH PRIZES FOR THE TOP SUBMISSIONS We are excited to announce a new ICDL-EpiRob conference feature: the BABYBOT CHALLENGE. The goal of the challenge is to use the tools of developmental robotics to replicate and extend the key findings from one of three selected human-infant studies. Please visit www.icdl-epirob.org for the full announcement, including the three target studies, details on the submission process, and a description of how the winning submissions will be judged and selected. == Keynote speakers (confirmed) Prof. Dare Baldwin, Dept. of Psychology, University of Oregon, USA Prof. Kerstin Dautenhahn, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK Prof. Asif Ghazanfar, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, USA == Call for Submissions We invite submissions for this exciting window into the future of developmental sciences. Submissions which establish novel links between brain, behavior and computation are particularly encouraged. == Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): * the development of perceptual, motor, cognitive, emotional, social, and communication skills in biological systems and robots; * embodiment; * general principles of development and learning; * interaction of nature and nurture; * sensitive/critical periods; * developmental stages; * grounding of knowledge and development of representations; * architectures for cognitive development and open-ended learning; * neural plasticity; * statistical learning; * reward and value systems; * intrinsic motivations, exploration and play; * interaction of development and evolution; * use of robots in applied settings such as autism therapy; * epistemological foundations and philosophical issues. Any of the topics above can be simultaneously studied from the neuroscience, psychology or modeling/robotic point of view. == Submissions will be accepted in several formats: 1. Full six-page paper submissions: Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings and will be selected for either an oral presentation or a featured poster presentation. Featured posters will have a 1 minute "teaser" presentation as part of the main conference session and will be showcased in the poster sessions. Maximum two-extra pages can be acceptable for a publication fee of $100 per page. 2. Two-page poster abstract submissions: To encourage discussion of late-breaking results or for work that is not sufficiently mature for a full paper, we will accept 2-page abstracts. These submissions will NOT be included in the conference proceedings. Accepted abstracts will be presented during poster sessions. 3. Tutorials and workshops: We invite experts in different areas to organize either a tutorial or a workshop to be held on the first day of the conference. Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific topics as well as overviews that will inform the interdisciplinary audience about the state-of-the-art in child development, neuroscience, robotics, or any of the other disciplines represented at the conference. A workshop is an opportunity to present a topic cumulatively. Workshops can be half- or full-day in duration including oral presentations as well as posters. Submission format: two pages including title, list of speakers, concept and target audience. 4. Babybot challenge (Deadline June 15, 2015): Special submissions are invited for the Babybot challenge, which is for the first time introduced to this conference. For detailed information please visit www.icdl-epirob.org and navigate to “Babybot Challenge.” All submissions will be peer reviewed. Submission website through paperplaza at: http://ras.papercept.net == Important dates March 9, 2015, paper submission deadline May 15, 2015, author notification July 1, 2015, final version (camera ready) due August 13th-16th, 2015, conference == Program committee General Chairs: Matthew Schlesinger (Southern Illinois Univ.) Dima Amso (Brown University) Bridge Chairs: Jeffrey Krichmar (UC Irvine) Bertram Malle (Brown University) Program Chairs: Anne Warlaumont (UC Merced) Clemént Moulin-Frier (INRIA) Publications Chairs: Lisa Meeden (Swarthmore College) Publicity Chairs: Lola Cañamero (Univ. of Hertfordshire) Matthias Rolf (Osaka University) Benjamin Rosman (CSIR) Local chairs: David Sobel (Brown University) Thomas Serre (Brown University) Finance chairs: Clayton Morrison (University of Arizona) -- This message is subject to the CSIR's copyright terms and conditions, e-mail legal notice, and implemented Open Document Format (ODF) standard. The full disclaimer details can be found at http://www.csir.co.za/disclaimer.html. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Feb. 17, 2015

2015 Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop- Call For Applicants

by Ralph Etienne-Cummings

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop* *2015 Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop* *Telluride, Colorado, June 28th - July 18th, 2015* CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Deadline is April 2nd, 2015 NEUROMORPHIC COGNITION ENGINEERING WORKSHOP www.ine-web.org Sunday June 28th - Saturday July 18th, 2015, Telluride, Colorado ine-web.org/workshops/workshops-overview/index.html and the workshop wiki is at https://neuromorphs.net/ GOALS: Neuromorphic engineers design and fabricate artificial neural systems whose organizing principles are based on those of biological nervous systems. Over the past 18 years, this research community has focused on the understanding of low-level sensory processing and systems infrastructure; efforts are now expanding to apply this knowledge and infrastructure to addressing higher-level problems in perception, cognition, and learning. In this 3-week intensive workshop and through the Institute for Neuromorphic Engineering (INE), the mission is to promote interaction between senior and junior researchers; to educate new members of the community; to introduce new enabling fields and applications to the community; to promote on-going collaborative activities emerging from the Workshop, and to promote a self-sustaining research field. FORMAT: The three week summer workshop will include background lectures on systems and cognitive neuroscience (in particular sensory processing, learning and memory, motor systems and attention), practical tutorials on emerging hardware design, mobile robots, hands-on projects, and special interest groups. Participants are required to take part and possibly complete at least one of the projects proposed. They are furthermore encouraged to become involved in as many of the other activities proposed as interest and time allow. There will be two lectures in the morning that cover issues that are important to the community in general. Because of the diverse range of backgrounds among the participants, some of these lectures will be tutorials, rather than detailed reports of current research. These lectures will be given by invited speakers. Projects and interest groups meet in the late afternoons, and after dinner. In the early afternoon there will be tutorials on a wide spectrum of topics, including analog VLSI, mobile robotics, vision and auditory systems, central-pattern-generators, selective attention mechanisms, cognitive systems, etc. *2015 TOPIC AREAS:* *Human Auditory Cognition: Communicating with EEG and Virtual Reality Links (The Matrix)*: Shihab Shamma (UM-College Park), Malcolm Slaney (Microsoft), Edward Lalor (Trinity College, Dublin), and Alain de Cheveigne (UPMC, France) *Manipulation Actions: Movements, Forces and Affordances: *Cornelia Fermüller (UMCP), Michael Pfeiffer (INI-UZH), Ryad Benosman (UPMC, Paris), and Andreas Andreou (JHU) *Neuromorphic Natural Language Processing:* John Harris (UFL, Gainesville) and Chris Huyck (Middlesex University) *Spike-Based Cognitive Computing: Seeing, Hearing, and Thinking with Spikes: *Arindam Basu (NTU, Singapore) and John Arthur (IBM Research Almaden) *Computational Neuroscience (invitational mini-workshop)* : Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute) LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENTS: The summer school will take place in the small town of Telluride, 9000 feet high in southwest Colorado, about 6 hours drive away from Denver (350 miles). Great Lakes Aviation and America West Express airlines provide daily flights directly into Telluride. All facilities within the beautifully renovated public school building are fully accessible to participants with disabilities. Participants will be housed in ski condominiums, within walking distance of the school. Participants are expected to share condominiums. The workshop is intended to be very informal and hands-on. Participants are not required to have had previous experience in analog VLSI circuit design, computational or machine vision, systems level neurophysiology or modeling the brain at the systems level. However, we strongly encourage active researchers with relevant backgrounds from academia, industry and national laboratories to apply, in particular if they are prepared to work on specific projects, talk about their own work or bring demonstrations to Telluride (e.g. robots, chips, software). Wireless internet access will be provided. Technical staff present throughout the workshops will assist with software and hardware issues. We will have a network of PCs running LINUX and Microsoft Windows for the workshop projects. We encourage participants to bring along their personal laptop. No cars are required. Given the small size of the town, we recommend that you do not rent a car. Bring hiking boots, warm clothes, rain gear, and a backpack, since Telluride is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Unless otherwise arranged with one of the organizers, we expect participants to stay for the entire duration of this three week workshop. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS: Notification of acceptances will be mailed out around the April 15th, 2015. The Workshop covers all your accommodations and facilities costs for the 3 weeks duration. You are responsible for your own travel to the Workshop, however, sponsored fellowships will be available as described below to further subsidize your cost. Registration Fees: For expenses not covered by federal funds, a Workshop registration fee is required. The fee is TBD per participant for the 3-week Workshop. This is expected from all participants at the time of acceptance. Accommodations: The cost of a shared condominium, typically a bedroom in a shared condo for senior participants or a shared room for students, will be covered for all academic participants. Upgrades to a private rooms or condos will cost extra. Participants from National Laboratories and Industry are expected to pay for these condominiums. Fellowships: This year we will offer one Fellowship program to subsidize your costs: The EU-CSNII Fellowship (http://csnetwork.eu/) which is funded by the 7th Research Framework Program FP7-ICT-CSNII-601167. The top 8 EU applicants will be reimbursed for their registration fees ($1250), subsistence/travel subsidy (up to Euro 2000) and accommodations cost ($1500). The registration and accommodation costs will go directly to the INE (the INE will reimburse them). We invite applications for a three-week summer workshop that will be held in Telluride, Colorado. Sunday June 28th - Saturday July 18th, 2015. The application deadline is Wednesday, April 2nd and application instructions are described at the bottom of this document. The 2015 Workshop and Summer School on Neuromorphic Engineering is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering, DARPA, Office of Naval Research, The EU-Collaborative Convergent Science Network (CNS-II), University of Maryland - College Park, Institute for Neuroinformatics – University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, University of Western Sydney and the Salk Institute. Directors: Cornelia Fermuller, University of Maryland, College Park Ralph Etienne-Cummings, Johns Hopkins University Shih-Chii Liu, Institute of Neuroinformatics, UNI/ETH Zurich, Switzerland Timothy Horiuchi, University of Maryland, College Park Workshop Advisory Board: Andreas Andreou, Johns Hopkins University Andre van Schaik, University Western Sydney, Australia Avis Cohen, University of Maryland Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Boston University Giacomo Indiveri, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Jonathan Tapson, University Western Sydney, Australia Malcolm Slaney, Microsoft Research Jennifer Hasler, Georgia Institute of Technology Rodney Douglas, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Shihab Shamma, University of Maryland Tobi Delbruck, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Previous year workshop can be found at: <http://ine-web.org/workshops/workshops-overview/index.html> participant’s registration fees after receipt from CSNII), while the subsistence/travel reimbursement will be provided directly to the participants by the CSNII at the University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. HOW TO APPLY: Applicants should be at the level of graduate students or above (i.e. postdoctoral fellows, faculty, research and engineering staff and the equivalent positions in industry and national laboratories). We actively encourage women and minority candidates to apply. Anyone interested in proposing or discussing specific projects should contact the appropriate topic leaders directly. The application website is (after February 23rd, 2015): ine-web.org/telluride-conference-2015/apply-info Application information needed: Contact email address. First name, Last name, Affiliation, valid e-mail address. Curriculum Vitae (a short version, please). One page summary of background and interests relevant to the workshop, including possible ideas for workshop projects. Please indicate which topic areas you would most likely join. Two letters of recommendation (uploaded directly by references). Applicants will be notified by e-mail. 23rd February, 2015 - Applications accepted on website 2nd April, 2015 - Applications Due 15th April, 2015 - Notification of Acceptance -- Ralph Etienne-Cummings, PhD, FIEEE Professor and Chairman Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Computational Sensor Motor Systems Lab Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD [image: cid:image001.png@01CFC064.B58B46A0]

Feb. 17, 2015

Intrinsic motivations: announcement of several works

by Gianluca Baldassarre <gianluca.baldassarre＠istc.cnr.it>

I announce the publication of various collections of papers and activities on intrinsic motivations (IMs). Please find below a list of brief explanations and links to them. Further below I also briefly introduce intrinsic motivations for those who are not familiar with them. *** Collections of papers and activities on IMs *** Lately I co-edited a special issue (`Topic') of Frontiers. The articles of the Topic were published in part with `Frontiers in Psychology - Cognitive Science' (19 articles): http://journal.frontiersin.org/ResearchTopic/1326 and in part with `Frontiers in Neurorobotics' (6 articles): http://journal.frontiersin.org/ResearchTopic/1797 All articles of the Topic, including an editorial that briefly introduces IMs and summarises the contributions, can be downloaded with one click from this web page as a `Frontiers eBook' (1 pdf file of 45 MB): http://www.frontiersin.org/books/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open-ended_devel… Before the Topic, we edited a Springer book collecting other 17 papers on IMs: `Baldassarre G., Mirolli M. (eds) (2013). Intrinsically motivated learning in natural and artificial systems. Berlin: Springer.' You can see the titles, abstracts, authors of the book chapters, and other information on the book, here: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-642-32375-1 We also edited a second Springer book collecting further 14 papers: `Baldassarre G., Mirolli M. (eds) (2013). Computational and Robotic Models of the Hierarchical Organisation of Behaviour. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.' Hierarchical architectures represent a key problem for IMs as the knowledge and skills accumulated under the drive of IMs has to be stored in suitable hierarchical systems. You can see the titles, abstracts and authors of the book chapters, and other information on the book, here: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-642-39875-9 The three collections above were prompted and partially funded by a 4-year EU-funded project, now terminated, called `IM-CLeVeR -- Intrinsically Motivated Cumulative Learning Robots'. The project was funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), ICT Challenge 2 `Cognitive Systems and Robotics' (grant agreement no. ICT-IP-231722). The web-site of the project is here: http://www.im-clever.eu/ In the project web-site you can find information on the project activities and other material on IMs, for example a summary of main results and publications of the project: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-results a final digest of the project insights: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-digest/final-digest and a `tool-box' of information for those who are interested in IMs: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-toolbox/final-toolbox I hope these works contribute to attract an increasing attention of... clever and strongly intrinsically-motivated researchers from different disciplines on intrinsic motivations, a great topic of investigation so important for humans and for technology. *** Brief introduction to intrinsic motivations (IMs) *** Intrinsic motivations are related to things such as curiosity, the interest for novel stimuli and surprising events, and the motivation to learn new behaviours (think about children at play). It has been proposed that the adaptive value of IMs is to motivate and guide the cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skills that can be later used (e.g., in adulthood) to accomplish goals that enhance biological fitness. IMs continue to operate also during adulthood and indeed in humans they underlie life-long learning and typically human activities such as art and scientiﬁc discovery. IMs are also at the core of processes that strongly aﬀect human well-being, such as the sense of competence, self-determination, and self-esteem. Recent neuroscientiﬁc research is starting to uncover the basic brain mechanisms underlying IMs, although under research agendas not directly addressing IMs. For example, IM mechanisms have been related to learning signals based on dopamine, novelty detection in hippocampus, and prediction errors in various parts of brain. In the last decade, IMs have also been introduced in machine learning and autonomous robotics as a means for developing artiﬁcial systems that can autonomously learn several diﬀerent skills in an open-ended, cumulative fashion. The idea is that intelligent machines and robots could autonomously acquire skills and knowledge under the guidance of IMs, and later exploit such knowledge and skills to accomplish the tasks that are useful for the user in more eﬃcient and faster ways than if they had to acquire them from scratch. This possibility would especially enhance the utility of intelligent artiﬁcial systems when operating in real-life environments posing challenges that cannot be foreseen at design time. Although the possible functions and mechanisms of IMs are still debated and seen differently by the different research communities involved, and although the recognition of IMs as a research field per se is only partially accomplished, their link with some of the most sophisticated aspects of human cognition (curiosity, art, science, well-being), and their potential for applications make them an interesting and important research field that deserves additional research efforts. Kind Regards, Gianluca Baldassarre -- .|.CS...|.......|...............|..|......US.|||.|||||.||.||||..|...|....... Gianluca Baldassarre, Ph.D., Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (LOCEN-ISTC-CNR), Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, I-00185 Roma, Italy E-mail: gianluca.baldassarre(a)istc.cnr.it Web: http://www.istc.cnr.it/people/gianluca-baldassarre Tel: +39 06 44 595 231 Fax: +39 06 44 595 243 Learn from the past, live in(tensely) the present, dream for the future ...CS.|||.||.|||.||..|.......|........|...US.|.|....||..|..|......|.........

Feb. 16, 2015

Subject: ECMLPKDD 2015 : Call for Papers, Tutorials and Workshops

by ECMLPKDD 2015

The European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD) will take place in Porto, Portugal, from September 7th to 11th, 2015 (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org) This event is the leading European scientific event on machine learning and data mining and builds upon a very successful series of 25 ECML and 18 PKDD conferences, which have been jointly organized for the past 14 years. ECMLPKDD 2015 will host three tracks, tutorials and a set of workshops. Therefore, we invite all researchers and practitioners from different communities to submit papers and/or present tutorial and workshop proposals. ************************* CALL FOR PAPERS ************************* JOURNAL TRACK ********************* Articles for this track are submitted all year long directly to either Machine Learning or Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, and are reviewed like regular journal articles. Accepted articles appear in full in the journal and the authors are given a presentation slot at the conference. Articles deemed insufficiently mature for journal publication may be accepted for inclusion in the proceedings. Submissions to the journal track will be managed by the Guest Editorial Board. Paper Submission: Cut-off dates for the bi-weekly batches are 18 Jan, 1 Feb, 15 Fev, 1 Mar, 15 Mar, 29 Mar, 12 Apr, 26 Apr of 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/journal-track RESEARCH PROCEEDINGS TRACK ******************************************* The research proceedings track, which is organized in the traditional way. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/research-proceedings-track INDUSTRIAL, GOVERNMENTAL & NON-GOVERNMENTAL PROCEEDINGS TRACK **************************************************************************** ************************** The NEW industrial, governmental & non-governmental (NGO) proceedings track is independent and distinct from the Research Track. Submissions to this track should solve real-world problems and focus on engineering systems, applications, and challenges. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/industrial-proceedings-track ***************************************************************** CALL FOR TUTORIAL AND WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ***************************************************************** TUTORIALS ************** The tutorials are intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to established or emerging research topics of interest for the machine learning and the data mining community. These topics include related research fields or applications. The ideal tutorial should attract a wide audience. It should be broad enough to provide a basic introduction to the chosen research area, but it should also cover the most important topics in depth. We welcome half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-tutorials WORKSHOPS **************** The workshops will be on relevant and current topics in Machine Learning and Data Mining. The scope of the proposal should be consistent with the conference themes as described in the ECMLPKDD 2015 Call for Papers (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission) Interdisciplinary workshops that bring together researchers and practitioners from different communities are especially welcome. We encourage workshops that bridge the gap between theoretical advances and important and/or innovative applications of machine learning and data mining. We welcome both full and half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Workshop Websites and Call for Papers Online: March 27, 2015 Workshop Proceedings (Camera-ready): August 3, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-workshop-proposals Hope to see you all soon in Porto, Portugal!!! The publicity chairs of the ECMLPKDD 2015, Carlos Abreu Ferreira Ricardo Campos --- Este e-mail foi verificado em termos de vírus pelo software antivírus Avast. http://www.avast.com

Feb. 16, 2015

Subject:SAMSI CCNS Computational Neuroscience Summer School:July 27-31, 2015

by Zhu, Hongtu

> > > >Dear colleagues, > >It is my pleasure to announce the 2015 CCNS Summer School on Computational >Neuroscience. This week-long program will be held on July 27-31,2015 as >part of the 2015-16 program on Challenges in Computational Neuroscience >(CCNS) at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute >(SAMSI) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. >( http://www.samsi.info/CCNS ) > > >The school will include courses on five major research topics in >computational neuroscience by the following instructors: > >* Neural Spike Train Analysis > Mark A. Kramer, Boston University > Uri Eden, Boston University >* Compressed Sensing for Signal Processing > Justin Romberg, Georgia Tech >* Functional Data Analysis for Medical Imaging Data > Hans-Georg Muller, University of California, Davis > Jane-Ling Wang, University of California, Davis >* Big-biomedical Data Integration and Analysis > Jeffrey S. Morris, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas > Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill > Yu-Ping Wang, Tulane University >* Shape Analysis and Diffeomorphisms for Medical Imaging Data > Laurent Younes, Johns Hopkins University > >The instructors will give an in-depth overview of each topic followed by >problem/discussion sessions. Software packages will be introduced to >students with datasets to carry out some simple data analysis. This summer >school is targeted for graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty >from neuroscience, biomedical engineering, radiology, statistics, >and applied mathematics. We may consider a limited number of applications >from senior faculty. > >The application deadline is Monday, June 1, 2015 > >For further information and to apply, see: > http://www.samsi.info/ccns-summer > >or email questions to CCNS(a)samsi.info

Feb. 14, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellowships in in System and Computational Neuroscience

by Majid Mohajerani

Postdoctoral Fellowships in System and Computational Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge A position as Postdoctoral Fellow is now open for an outstanding postdoctoral associate to conduct research in the field of neural network functions at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge, in Lethbridge, Canada. Our goal is to understand cellular and brain system mechanisms of memory and memory disorders associated with aging and brain damage. Brain regions to be investigated include frontal, parietal cortex and hippocampus, with a view to achieving a whole picture of how these brain structures work together dynamically to process, store, and transfer information to one another. The project is a collaborative effort between the research groups of Majid Mohajerani and Bruce McNaughton. Applicants are welcome to contact one of the investigators for more information. Successful candidates will join the highly collaborative and interdisciplinary Brain Dynamics group (http://lethbridgebraindynamics.com/) which has outstanding research strengths in the areas of learning and memory, decision making, information coding and related diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, addiction and stroke. Salary scales will be competitive with NIH standards for postdoctoral researchers. Post-doctoral fellow with experience in in-vivo imaging techniques and two-photon imaging, in particular, will be an ideal candidate. Good communication skills are a must. Experience in MATLAB will be an asset. Candidates should be prepared to learn and use cutting-edge physiological, anatomical, and computational techniques, such as virtual reality-based rodent behavioral systems, optogenetic manipulations, and statistical methods for the analysis and modeling of data. This research will be supported by state-of-the-art facilities in the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, including advanced two-photon imaging, voltage sensitive dye imaging, and high density multi-unit electrophysiological recording and optogenetic techniques. Interested applicants must send an email to Dr. Mohajerani ( <mailto:mohajerani@uleth.ca> mohajerani(a)uleth.ca) and include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a brief statement of research interests, and contact information of three references. Majid H. Mohajerani, PhD. Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience The University of Lethbridge 4401 University Dr W Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 Canada Office: +1(403)394-3950 Lab: +1(403)394-3951 Fax: +1(403)329-2775

Feb. 14, 2015

Job Announcement: Chief, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Research Program, NIH

by Dennis Glanzman

Dear Colleagues, After 23 years running this program I retired from the NIH effective December 31, 2014. The position is expected to be filled soon, and the announcement should be posted on the NIH Jobs website next week. *"NIH anticipates a recruitment announcement for health science administrators (program officers) in the following areas of science: neurosciences, computational neuroscience, computational biology, neurocircuits, cognitive neuroscience. Please check http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/ <http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/> for the additional information and upcoming announcements."* It's been a great pleasure working with all of you in the Computational Neuroscience community! -- Dennis Glanzman

Feb. 14, 2015

Video available on a teaching seminar "Introduction to Efficient Coding in Early Vision"

by Zhaoping Li

A video of a ~51 minute long teaching seminar on "Introduction to Efficient Coding in Early Vision" is available at http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/zhaoping.li/EfficientCodingIntroSeminar.html which also provides additional information. Questions and comments are welcome! Li Zhaoping

Feb. 13, 2015

NIH recruiting program officers in computational neuroscience

by Giancarlo La Camera

(Posted on behalf of Janine Simmons @ NIMH, details below) NIH anticipates recruitment announcement for health science administrator (program officers) in the following areas of science: neurosciences, computational neuroscience, computational biology, neurocircuits, cognitive neuroscience. Please check http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/ for additional information and upcoming announcements. Please note that the potential position will be included in an HHS-wide announcement to be open *Feb 17-26, 2015* (note the brief time window). Please share this information widely with any PhD-level scientists with appropriate expertise who may be interested in joining an extramural funding team. I am also happy to provide additional information to interested potential applicants. Thanks, Janine -- Janine M. Simmons, M.D., Ph.D. Affect, Social Behavior & Social Cognition Program National Institute of Mental Health (301) 443-1576

Feb. 13, 2015

Postdoctoral position in computational/theoretical neuroscience

by Odelia Schwartz

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in computational/theoretical neuroscience, in the lab of Odelia Schwartz at the University of Miami. Our lab employs tools of computational and theoretical neuroscience, to study systems from the neural level through to perception and behavior. For example, we develop models of sensory processing based on the hypothesis that images, movies, and sounds have predictable and quantifiable statistical regularities to which the brain is sensitive. The models are constructed through interplay with physiological and psychophysical data. Example projects include but are not limited to: (1) Modeling of how neurons and percepts are affected by contextual information in time dynamically; (2) Modeling of hierarchical cortical processing. For more information about the lab and recent publications, see: http://www.cs.miami.edu/~odelia/ The candidate should have a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, a strong quantitative background, and an interest in neuroscience. Prior experience would ideally include areas such as computational neuroscience, machine learning, statistics and/or signal processing. University of Miami offers a vibrant interdisciplinary environment, with a growing emphasis on a brain sciences initiative. The position will be in the Department of Computer Science, with opportunities to collaborate with Psychology, Biology and the School of Medicine. The university is located in beautiful Coral Gables, and surrounded by Miami. Initial appointment is for one year with possible yearly renewal for a total period of three years. Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience. Please apply online for position # 050932 : UM Careers website http://um.hodesiq.com/job_start.asp Send inquiries; or a CV, a short statement of research interests, and names and contact information of 3 references to: Odelia Schwartz odelia(a)cs.miami.edu The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental benefits, tuition remission, vacation, paid holidays and much more. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Females/Minorities/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law.

Feb. 13, 2015