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My Magnum Opus about how our brains make our minds will be published next month by Oxford University Press

by Grossberg, Stephen

Dear Colleagues, I am writing to call your attention to the publication next month by Oxford University Press of my Magnum Opus about how our brains make our minds in health and disease. The book also has implications for developing increasingly autonomous and adaptive technologies that emulate, and can thus harmoniously interact with, human users. The book discusses many topics about mind and brain. For one, it explains how, where in our brains, and why from a deep computational perspective our brains can learn to consciously see, hear, feel, and know things about the world. I wrote the book to be self-contained, accessible, and appealing to the general public. In addition to its exposition of how our minds work and how these discoveries inspire new designs in engineering, technology, and AI, I have been able to use that foundation to provide discussions of many topics that are of current interest, including how we see visual art; how mental disorders like Alzheimer's disease, autism, amnesia, and disordered sleep are caused; biological bases of creativity and morality; why so many decisions are irrational despite our belief that evolution selects adaptive behaviors; how learned helplessness, self-punitive behaviors, and fetishes may arise and persist; how our brain's design specializes a universal developmental code that it shares with all living cells across multiple species; and how our ceaseless interactions with the external world have shaped the designs that enable us to understand the physical world around us. I hope that, after reading the book Summary and Description below, and the Advance Reviews by 18 leading psychologists, neuroscientists, neural modelers, and technologists, you may be interested in reading the book. If you do, please see the information in the attached flyer for how. Best wishes, Steve Grossberg +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Conscious MIND, Resonant BRAIN: How Each Brain Makes a Mind by Stephen Grossberg 800 pages, $35 (see attached flyer for 30% reduction to $24.50) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/conscious-mind-resonant-brain-97801… SUMMARY • Explores how your mind works, notably how you learn to consciously see, hear, feel, and know things • Explains how mental disorders can be understood on a continuum with normal behaviors • Creates a computational foundation for applications of autonomous adaptive intelligence in engineering, technology, and AI DESCRIPTION How does your mind work? How does your brain give rise to your mind? These are questions that all of us have wondered about at some point in our lives, if only because everything that we know is experienced in our minds. They are also very hard questions to answer. After all, how can a mind understand itself? How can you understand something as complex as the tool that is being used to understand it? This book provides an introductory and self-contained description of some of the exciting answers to these questions that modern theories of mind and brain have recently proposed. Stephen Grossberg is broadly acknowledged to be the most important pioneer and current research leader who has, for the past 50 years, modelled how brains give rise to minds, notably how neural circuits in multiple brain regions interact together to generate psychological functions. This research has led to a unified understanding of how, where, and why our brains can consciously see, hear, feel, and know about the world, and effectively plan and act within it. The work embodies revolutionary Principia of Mind that clarify how autonomous adaptive intelligence is achieved. It provides mechanistic explanations of multiple mental disorders, including symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, autism, amnesia, and sleep disorders; biological bases of morality and religion, including why our brains are biased towards the good so that values are not purely relative; perplexing aspects of the human condition, including why many decisions are irrational and self-defeating despite evolution's selection of adaptive behaviors; and solutions to large-scale problems in machine learning, technology, and Artificial Intelligence that provide a blueprint for autonomously intelligent algorithms and robots. Because brains embody a universal developmental code, unifying insights also emerge about shared laws that are found in all living cellular tissues, from the most primitive to the most advanced, notably how the laws governing networks of interacting cells support developmental and learning processes in all species. The fundamental brain design principles of complementarity, uncertainty, and resonance that Grossberg has discovered also reflect laws of the physical world with which our brains ceaselessly interact, and which enable our brains to incrementally learn to understand those laws, thereby enabling humans to understand the world scientifically. Accessibly written, and lavishly illustrated, Conscious Mind/Resonant Brain is the magnum opus of one of the most influential scientists of the past 50 years, and will appeal to a broad readership across the sciences and humanities. ADVANCE REVIEWS “A tour de force on How the Brain Works…a masterpiece on brain science and neuro-computing that could only be created by Grossberg.” -- Leon Chua, University of California at Berkeley "Whenever you claim to be "the first to do" this or that in artificial intelligence, it is customary - and correct - to add "with the exception of Stephen Grossberg". Quite simply, Stephen is a living giant and foundational architect of the field." -- Karl J. Friston, University College London "This is a breath-taking book authored by a giant pioneer of the brain and mind." -- Shun-Ichi Amari, RIKEN Brain Science Institute "Professor Grossberg is a rara avis. In an age of increasing specialization, he has a remarkable, unparalleled, gift of seeing connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. And he writes about these with passion, but without compromising accuracy." -- V. S. Ramachandran, University of California San Diego "Stephen Grossberg is a true genius, who has discovered and developed many of the most important concepts and theories about how our brains make our minds. His fundamental contributions to science for over 50 years are richly worthy of a Nobel Prize." -- Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University "Stephen Grossberg is a "big picture" thinker who has had a remarkably deep influence on many aspects of several fields. It's difficult to overstate the range of his vision and the depth of his thinking, and I expect this book to be required reading in many courses for years to come." -- Stephen Kosslyn, Foundry College “After reading many papers by the author, I always wished that he would present them in a coherent whole. And here it is. A magnificent volume of great science from mind to brain and back, a condensed ars poetica of a great scientist.” -- György Buzsáki, New York University "The current volume charts the remarkable developments that have led Dr. Grossberg to a principled, unified theory of the link between brain and mind. Dr. Grossberg's insights are unparalleled in their breadth and detail, leading us to a scientific understanding of the most remarkable aspect of the mind, consciousness." -- Michael Mozer, Google Brain, Mountain View, CA “Stephen Grossberg is one of the most original and influential theorists in contemporary cognitive science and computational neuroscience. In Conscious MIND Resonant BRAIN, he takes the reader on an eye-opening tour in which he addresses fundamental problems of mind and brain from his unique theoretical perspective. This is an important book that should be of interest to anyone who wonders how a brain can give rise to a mind. -- Daniel L. Schacter, Harvard University “In this book Stephen Grossberg shares the wisdom and encyclopedic knowledge that he acquired over 50 years of research devoted to unravel the mysteries of the human brain. Stephen pioneered the field of theoretical neuroscience and this approach allowed him to discover general principles that govern functions as diverse as visual perception, learning and memory, attention, emotion, decision making and consciousness. It is the essence of overarching principles to be abstract and to sometimes defy intuition, but Stephen succeeds to convey the essential in a language that is readily accessible to the non- expert. He embeds the discussion of neuronal mechanisms in the rich framework of cognitive psychology and elegantly bridges the gap between scientific evidence and subjective experience. He takes the readers by the hand and lets them discover the often surprising philosophical, ethical and societal implications of neurobiological discoveries. For those who enjoy intellectual adventures and wish to explore the boundaries of the known this scholarly written book is a real treasure.” -- Wolf Singer, Max Plank Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt "Although a behavioral modeler and not a neuroscientist, I have followed Stephen Grossberg's research closely for many years, because I regard him as one of the very most creative and insightful neuroscience theorists that the field has seen. His book should be a must read for those wanting to understand how the brain produces mind." -- Richard Shiffrin, Indiana University "How often do we have the chance to hold a true masterpiece? Grossberg's monumental accomplishments developed over multiple decades now written at an accessible level to a broader audience. What a true privilege!" -- Luis Pessoa, University of Maryland “Steve Grossberg is one of the most insightful and prolific writers on biological intelligence. This book is a masterful presentation of fundamental methods of modeling minds, brains and their interactions with the world, many of which are due to the author and his collaborators. The models are presented as mathematical systems, including computing and neural networks. The variables, parameters and functions represent biological and environmental concepts; mathematical conclusions are interpreted as predictions of biological behavior. In many cases these have been verified experimentally. There are illuminating and surprising connections to other disciplines, including art, music and economics. Highly recommended to a general audience.” -- Morris W. Hirsch, University of California at Berkeley "This comprehensive overview of Grossberg’s contributions to our understanding of the mind and brain shows exactly how prescient he, and his colleagues, have been. Whatever one’s specific interest, from visual illusions to mental illness, this book provides a principled treatment of it. The principles flow from Grossberg’s early framing of many of the questions that have come to define computational neuroscience – including his early understanding of the centrality of expectations. Kudos to him for pulling it all together here." -- Lynn Nadel, University of Arizona “This book is not for the faint of heart. Stephen Grossberg has been a giant in the field of computational neuroscience for 60 years. In this book he presents his carefully developed, integrative neurobiological theory on how the nervous system generates our conscious lives. It is bold yet self-reflective and therein challenging to all students trying to figure out how the brain does its tricks. A must read.” -- Michael Gazzaniga, University of California at Santa Barbara "Conscious Mind, Resonant Brain is the magnum opus of one of the giants of neural networks. The soaring ambition of this book reflects the career achievements of Grossberg's insatiable appetite for understanding how brains work. It is a must-read for those interested in all aspects of how the mind and brain function in health and disease." -- Donald C. Wunsch II, Missouri University of Science and Technology "Grossberg has single-handedly elevated the psychophysics and psychology pioneered by Herman von Helmholtz and William James into a comprehensive mathematical theory of brain and behavior with profound implications and strong empirical support." -- David Hestenes, Arizona State University “An excellent and wide-ranging view of how the brain perceives the world for us by a pioneering brain theoretician.” -- Wolfram Schultz, University of Cambridge

April 1, 2021

Job Openings: Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor (Computer Science) at Hong Kong Baptist University (2 vacancies)

by COMP HKBU

The Department of Computer Science at Hong Kong Baptist University, presently offers BSc, MSc, MPhil, and PhD programmes, and is now seeking outstanding applicants for the following faculty positions on tenure-track. Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor (Computer Science) (2 vacancies) (PR0311/18-19) The appointees will perform high-impact research, to teach and supervise students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to contribute to professional and institutional services. Collaboration with other faculty members in research and teaching is also expected. They will be encouraged to collaborate with colleagues within the Department to contribute to two special thematic applications including (a) health informatics and (b) secure and privacy-aware computing, and to pursue new strategic research initiatives under the Department/Faculty/University. Applicants should possess a PhD degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, and sufficiently demonstrate abilities to conduct high-quality research in areas including but not limited to: Internet of things, Cyber-security, High-performance computing, Big data analytics, and Financial technologies. Applicants should also show strong commitment to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in computer science and/or information systems, possess track record of innovative research and high-impact publications, and be able to bid for and pursue externally-funded research programmes. Initial appointment will be offered on a fixed-term contract of three years. Re-appointment thereafter will be subject to mutual agreement. For enquiry, please contact Dr. William Cheung, Head of Department (email: william(a)comp.hkbu.edu.hk) More information about the Department can be found at http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk. *Those who have responded to the previous advertisement need not re-apply.* *Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.* Application Procedure: Applicants are invited to submit their applications at the HKBU e-Recruitment System (jobs.hkbu.edu.hk) with samples of publications, preferably *three best ones* out of their most recent publications/works. They should also request *two referees* to send in confidential letters of reference, with PR number (stated above) quoted on the letters, to the Human Resources Office (Email: recruit(a)hkbu.edu.hk) direct. Those who are not invited for interview 4 months after the closing date may consider their applications unsuccessful. All application materials including publication samples, scholarly/creative works will be disposed of after completion of the recruitment exercise. Details of the University’s Personal Information Collection Statement can be found at http://hro.hkbu.edu.hk/pics. The University reserves the right not to make an appointment for the posts advertised, and the appointment will be made according to the terms and conditions applicable at the time of offer. Review of applications is on-going until the position is filled. URL: https://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/v1/?page=job_vacancies&id=503

April 1, 2021

Virginia Tech, Assistant/Associate Professor position in Clinical Psychology

by Pearl Chiu

Dear All, We invite applications for a tenure-track/tenured Assistant/Associate Professor position in Clinical Psychology at Virginia Tech. We welcome applicants whose research falls across the range of clinical psychological science, including clinical scientists who use computational (neuro)science approaches! For more information: https://careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us/job/515515/assistant-or-assoc… If you have questions, feel free to contact me or our search committee chair, Dr. Thomas Ollendick (tho at vt.edu) Please distribute broadly; apologies for cross-posts. Thank you, Pearl -- Pearl Chiu, PhD Associate Professor Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech VTC School of Medicine Salem VA Medical Center 2 Riverside Circle, R1110 Roanoke VA 24016 +1 540-526-2019 chiup(a)vtc.vt.edu

March 31, 2021

Multiple postdoc positions in Computational Neuroscience and neural data analysis

by Arvind Kumar

Join us in our endeavour to create a theoretical framework to understand (and hopefully treat) neurodegenerative brain diseases. Upto 5 postdoctoral positions are available at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden - for building multi-scale models to capture relationship between brain's structure and activity dynamics - to analyse brain connectivity and activity data using topological data analysis - To develop machine learning algos to extract the brain's anatomical connectivity from MRI images. The postdoctoral researchers will become part of an interdisciplinary community of neuroscientists, clinicians, mathematicians and brain imaging experts at KTH and Karolinska Institute Stockholm. These positions are a part of the new interdisciplinary initiative dBRAIN <https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/current-research-projects/dbrain/> within the ‘Digital Futures <https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/collaborative-projects>’ initiative at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The goal is to better understand neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. We combine computational modeling, machine learning and topological data analysis to identify causal links among disease biomarkers and disease symptoms. This understanding should improve diagnosis, prediction of the disease progression and suggest better therapies. Contact: Contact the relevant PIs whose names and email addresses are available at dBRAIN <https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/current-research-projects/dbrain/> website. -- Dr. Arvind Kumar Computational Brain Science, Div. of Computational Science and Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm Lindstedtsvägen 5. Room#4439 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden. Ph. No. +46-8790-6224 Web: https://www.kth.se/profile/arvindku/ https://arvkumar.github.io/ cricket blog: http://rightarmoverfast.blogspot.com -------- न यः संपृच्छे न पुनर्हवीतवे न संवादाय रमते । तस्मान्नो अद्य समृतेरुरुष्यतं बाहुभ्यां न उरुष्यतम् ॥ ऋग्वेदः मण्डलं - ८. He who has no pleasure in questioning, nor in debate, nor in dialogue, Defend us to-day from him and from his encounter, defend us from his arms.

March 31, 2021

Special Issue “Industrial Big Data and Process Modelling for Smart Manufacturing

by Barna Iantovics

Dear Colleague, The Open Access journal Mathematics (ISSN2227-7390; IF 1.747) is currently running a Special Issue “IndustrialBig Data and Process Modelling for Smart Manufacturing”: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics/special_issues/Industrial_Big_Data… We (Prof. Hatem Ghorbel, University of Applied Sciences and ArtsWestern Switzerland; Prof. Stefano Carrino, University of Applied Sciences andArts Western Switzerland; Dr. Ivana Budinská, Institute of Informatics SlovakAcademy of Sciences, Slovakia; Prof. Vicente Rodríguez Montequín, University ofOviedo, Spain) are serving as its Guest Editor. All of us are currently takingpart of one of the CHIST-ERA projects funded underthe Big data and process modelling for smart industry (BDSI) call.The topics included in the special issue are aligned with this call, as well asother calls like Object recognition and manipulation by robots: Datasharing and experiment reproducibility (ORMR). We cordially invite you to submit one feature paper to the SpecialIssue. It could be a full review or an original research article. We will behonored if you are able to participate. The submission deadline is 31 October 2021. You maysubmit your manuscript now or up until the deadline. If you plan to submit, ifpossible, we expect to receive your tentative title and submission date. Adiscount over the article processing charge may be considered according to therelevance of the paper and submission date. Don’t hesitate to contact me forfurther details. Yours faithfully, Prof. Hatem Ghorbel University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland Social Network of Machines (SOON) Project Coordinator Project funded under the CHIST-ERA BDSI call

March 30, 2021

PhD in computational neuroscience

by Eirini Mavritsaki

Dear colleagues, Please find below a PhD opportunity in our lab. Best wishes, Eirini Title: An EEG and computational modelling investigation into cultural differences in visual perceptual learning Supervisory Team: Professor Eirini Mavritsaki, Dr Panagiotis Rentzelas, Professor Maxine Lintern, Professor Zoe Kourtzi (University of Cambridge), Stephanie Chua Visual perceptual learning (VPL) refers to the acquisition of visual skills through training which improves our ability to detect useful information in cluttered scenes. Individualism and independence in Western cultures have been associated with differential processing and attentional styles. This research will be based on understanding cross-cultural differences on VPL using EEG and computational modelling work. The ideal applicant should have a good first degree in Psychology/Computer Science. Previous experience in conducting neuropsychological experiments and/or computational modelling work will be highly desirable. Link: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/social-sciences/research/phd_opportunities Contact information: Prof. Eirini Mavritsaki Eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:Eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 3316361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prof. Eirini Mavritsaki, Ph.D., CPsychol , SFHEA Professor of Cognitive Psychology Director of Research and Enterprise for the School of Social Sciences Director of Postgraduate Research Studies for the School of Social Sciences Department of Psychology Faculty of Business Law and Social Sciences Birmingham City University The Curzon Building 4 Cardigan Street Birmingham B4 7BD eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 331 6361 Please use the link below if you want to book a meeting with me https://calendly.com/eirini-mavritsaki ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 30, 2021

CFP Workshop on Competitive and Cooperative Social Interactions @ IJCAI2021

by Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros

Call For Papers - The Workshop on Competitive and Cooperative Social Interactions @ IJCAI2021 I. Aim and Scope In this workshop, we put together the top-tier researchers on machine learning, in particular social signal processing, and human-robot interaction to discuss, understand and propose possible solutions for our overall topic “Competition and Cooperation: How to integrate machine learning and human-robot interaction in meaningful applications?”. Our intention is to leverage an enriching discussion of the existing problems on competitive and cooperative interactions on the multidisciplinary view of our contributors, and not to present individual solutions for each of the related topics. Our invited speakers, all experts in their respective areas, will discuss the open problems involving social agents' interactions within their specialty. We also invite the submissions of position papers that present a critical view on this topic to complement and widen our discussions. More information: https://www.whisperproject.eu/compcoop II. Potential Topics Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Supervised, Unsupervised, and Self-supervised models for social signal processing. - Reinforcement Learning for Multi-agent interaction. - Representation Learning and Decision Making applied for - Competitive and/or Cooperative Scenarios. - Human-Robot interactions in Real-world Competitive and/or Cooperative scenarios. - Ethical aspects of artificial agents and social interactions. - Affective Computing Models and Applications for Multi-Agent Interactions. - Cognitive Models for Social Interaction. - Lifelong and Continual Learning for Interactions with Humans. - Learning with Humans in the Loop. - Developmental Learning for Social Signal Processing. - Explainable Social Agents. - Social Impact of novel Developments on Artificial Agents and Social Interactions. - Cognitive models for Social Interaction. III. Submission The workshop holds a public call for short (up to 4 pages) and long papers (up to 8 pages) that address any of the related topics. We encourage the participants to submit not only contribution papers but also position arguments about the current problems involving any of the related topics. The authors should follow the IJCAI paper template. - Paper submission deadline: May 4, 2021 - Decisions: May 18, 2021 - Camera-ready papers due: June 14, 2020 Submission website: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/CompCoop2021 IV. Organizers Pablo Barros, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy Doreen Jirak, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy Francisco Cruz, School of IT, Deakin University, Australia German I. Parisi, McD Tech Labs, USA ---------------------------------------- Dr. Pablo Barros Postdoctoral Researcher - CONTACT Unit Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – Center for Human Technologies Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B 16152 Genova, Italy email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it website: https://www.pablobarros.net<http://www.pablobarros.net><https://www.p> twitter: @PBarros_br

March 29, 2021

Two Lectureships at the University of St Andrews

by Tom Otto

Dear Colleagues, The School of Psychology and Neuroscience at St Andrews is offering two lectureships with one position in Neuroeconomics/Decision Making and the other in Behavioural Neuroscience (please see links to the adverts below). Closing Date: 23 April 2021 All the best, Tom https://www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/3505/0/293925/889/lectur… https://www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/3193/0/293921/889/lectur… -- Dr. Thomas Otto University of St Andrews School of Psychology and Neuroscience St Mary’s Quad, South Street, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, Scotland Phone: +44 (0)1334 462091 http://lclab.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

March 29, 2021

AMAM2021 (Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines) Call for Abstracts

by Auke Ijspeert

*AMAM 2021 Call for Abstracts* The International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM, http://adaptivemotion.org/ <http://adaptivemotion.org/>) is dedicated to stimulate fruitful interactions among biologists and engineers interested in adaptive motion. It aims at bringing together researchers in robotics, biomechanics, neuroscience, sports science, and other fields related to behavior in biological and artificial systems. This year AMAM is holding a virtual, asynchronous conference to highlight work done by early career researchers. The meeting will consist of an online poster session with access to asynchronous chats, a pre-recorded audio or video poster presentation, and synchronous virtual meeting times scheduled by each participant to encourage live conversation and connection across time zones. In addition there will be the traditional hardware demonstration (the Robot Zoo) in a non-traditional promotional video format. The meeting will be held June 22^nd – 25^th . Abstract deadline will be April 1^st 2021. More information can be found at https://amam2021.squarespace.com/ <https://amam2021.squarespace.com/> and will be updated regularly. Please use the contact tab on the webpage if you have any questions at all.

March 28, 2021

Postdoc position in computational neuroscience at Georgia Tech

by Choi, Hannah

Dear all, A postdoctoral researcher position is available in Hannah Choi's group in the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech. We are a new computational neuroscience group studying the link between structure, dynamics, and computation in data-driven neural networks at multiple scales. We utilize various mathematical tools to probe how efficient neural computation emerges from the underlying network dynamics and architecture, in close collaboration with leading experimental groups. More information about the group is available at hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu. The ideal candidate should have a strong quantitative background, with a PhD in computational neuroscience, applied math, physics, computer science, or other related fields. Previous experience in neuroscience and/or machine learning is preferred but not required. The position would ideally start as soon as possible (Summer or Fall 2021). To apply, please send a CV, a research statement, and the contact information for three references to hannahch(a)gatech.edu<mailto:hannahch@gatech.edu> with the subject line "postdoc application". Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Georgia Tech's campus is in the heart of midtown Atlanta, which has a thriving and collaborative computational neuroscience community spanning multiple institutions and departments. Georgia Tech is an equal education/employment opportunity institution dedicated to building a diverse community, priding itself on its technology resources, collaborations, high-quality student body, and its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Best, Hannah ************************ Hannah Choi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor School of Mathematics Georgia Institute of Technology

March 28, 2021