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Cluster of faculty positions in Computational Neuroscience at UC Davis

by Mark Steven Goldman

The University of California at Davis is making a major expansion in Computational Neuroscience and related fields, with 10+ tenure-track faculty position openings in the next 3 years through clusters of hires in Computational Neuroscience (3 positions), Motor Control & Neural Engineering (2 positions), Network Science (2 positions), and Data Science (4 positions). UC Davis is a top-10 Public Research University (US News & World Report) located in the college-town of Davis, CA, 1 hour from the San Francisco Bay Area and 20 minutes from the state capital of Sacramento. All cluster and position descriptions can be found at the following website http://comphip2017.ucdavis.edu/. The two Computational Neuroscience faculty positions available this year are broadly targeted as described formally below: Assistant Professor - Computational Neuroscience The University of California, Davis invites applications for up to two tenure-track Assistant Professor positions in computational neuroscience. Each position will focus on identifying general principles of brain function; and/or on modeling and methods at the molecular, cellular, circuit, and/or systems levels that connect to data obtained from different experimental techniques. This is part of a 3-year initiative to hire 10+ new faculty across multiple departments who focus on advanced computational theory and methods, including clusters of hires in computational neuroscience, network science, and data science (see http://comphip2017.ucdavis.edu) QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. (or equivalent degree) in mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, physics, psychology, neuroscience, or related field; a demonstrated record of teaching, or evidence of the potential to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in the academic department or departments; a record of attracting, or the potential to attract, extramural funding; and excellent potential for interactions/collaborations. APPLICATION PROCESS: The position will remain open until filled. To ensure full consideration, completed applications should be received by November 20, 2017. Applications received after this date will be reviewed by the search committee if the position has not yet been filled. Qualified applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statements of research and teaching interests, representative reprints and/or preprints, a statement of contributions to diversity, and at least three letters of recommendation electronically. The cover letter should indicate which of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior; Computer Science; Statistics; Mathematics; or Physics would be the most appropriate academic departments. For more information, contact Prof. Mark Goldman (msgoldman(a)ucdavis.edu<mailto:msgoldman@ucdavis.edu>). For technical questions please contact Susan Sainz (swsainz(a)ucdavis.edu) Apply at UC Recruit: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/apply/JPF01722

Oct. 25, 2017

NICE 2018 - call for abstracts is open

by Aimone, James Bradley

Dear colleagues, The abstract call for NICE 2018 is now open: https://easychair.org/cfp/NICE_2018 Abstracts due: November 15, 2017 The 2018 Neuro-Inspired Computing Elements (NICE) Workshop is the 6th annual meeting of researchers in the neural computing field. Like previous workshops, NICE 2018 will focus on the interplay between neural theory, neural algorithms, neuromorphic architectures and hardware, and applications for neural computing technology. NICE aims to involve diverse participation from all over the world and bring together research communities with universities, government, and industry. We are asking for extended abstracts of two pages, with emphasis on novel results in brain-inspired neural algorithms for machine learning, neural computing architectures and hardware, theoretical neuroscience, and applications of neural computing. Event dates are Feb. 27-Mar.1, 2018, and this year the workshop is being hosted by Intel, at their Hillsboro, Oregon site. Registration and accommodation details will be available on the event website (niceworkshop.org<http://niceworkshop.org>) by end of October. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Hillsboro, Feb.27th. Brad Aimone

Oct. 24, 2017

3-year, ERC-funded, postdoctoral position at University of Birmingham, UK.

by Jennifer Cook

The School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham, UK, invites applications for a 3-year position as a post-doctoral researcher. The successful candidate will work together with Dr. Jennifer Cook on a European Research Council (ERC)-funded project on the relationship between social cognition, motor control and dopamine system function (ERC-StG-Brain2Bee). The starting date for the position is 13th January 2018 (although there is some flexibility around start date). The closing date for applications is 10th November 2017. See here for details: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BFB695/research-fellow/ *Project description:* Parkinson’s Disease is usually characterised by motor impairment, and Autism by social difficulties. However, the co-occurrence of social and motor symptoms is critically underappreciated; Parkinson’s disease patients exhibit social symptoms, and motor difficulties are common in Autism. At present, the biological basis of co-occurring social and motor impairment is unclear. Notably, both Autism and Parkinson’s disease have been associated with dopamine system dysfunction and, in non-clinical populations, DA has been linked with social and motor ability. This project will use psychopharmacology and behavioural training in typical individuals to understand the relationship between dopamine system function, and social and motor ability. Insights from these initial studies will be used in studies of patients to better understand the relationship between DA system dysfunction and the social and motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Results from this package of work will help us to move closer to a cross-disorder understanding of factors underlying variation in social and motor abilities. *The Candidate:* The successful candidate will be responsible for contributing to the development of a social and motor task battery; leading a study of social and motor function in patients with Parkinson’s Disease; and working with a team of researchers to run a psychopharmacology study to assess the effects of a dopaminergic drug on social and motor outcomes in 100 participants. Candidates should have substantial experience of behavioural experimental methods and ideally experience of working with a clinical population, and running and analysing psychopharmacology studies. This post will require analysing data associated with this project, preparing manuscripts for publication, presenting results at national and international conferences and the possible supervision of research assistants and students. Please note this post is aligned to external funding and therefore the salary on offer is up to a maximum of £32,548. -- Dr Jennifer Cook Birmingham Fellow School of Psychology University of Birmingham Tel: 0121 414 7218 <goog_589294029> www.jencooklab.com http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/psychology/people/profile.aspx?Referenc…

Oct. 23, 2017

EVIC 2017 - XIII IEEE Latin-American Summer School on Computational Intelligence

by Rodrigo Salas

EVIC 2017 - XIII IEEE Latin-American Summer School on Computational Intelligence We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this message. Please distribute to anyone who may be interested. ================================================================ XIII IEEE Latin-American Summer School on Computational Intelligence (EVIC) December 13-15, 2017 Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile Blanco 1911, CIAE Building, 4th Floor, Valparaíso, Chile. www.evic.cl Poster Competition - 1st call for abstract deadline: October 31th, 2017 (extended) 2nd call for abstract deadline: November 13th, 2017 http://www.evic.cl ================================================================ The XIII Summer School of Computational Intelligence will take place at Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. It is jointly organized by the Chilean Chapter of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society and the School of Biomedical Engineering, Universidad de Valparaiso. The aim of the Summer School is to promote Computational Intelligence, bringing together areas such as Intelligent Control Systems, Robotics, Computer Vision, Computational Neuroscience, Science Data, Big Data, among others, in order to disseminate the basic knowledge and the latest research advances to students, professors and professionals from Chile and other Latin American countries. During the Summer School, a Student Poster Competition on Computational Intelligence will be held. ==== Confirmed speakers ==== Chin-Teng Lin, Faculty of Engineering & IT, School of Software University of Technology Sydney, Australia Paulo Lisboa, Department of Applied Mathematics, John Moores Liverpool University, UK Pablo Estevez, Department of Electrical Engineering, Universidad de Chile Wael El-Deredy, Biomedical Engineering School, Universidad de Valparaíso Pablo Zegers, Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneur Luis Aburto, Physical Science and Mathematics Faculty , Universidad de Chile Gonzalo Acuña, Department of Informatics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile Mauricio Araya, Department of Informatics, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María Felipe Bello, Department of Informatics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile Sebastián Maldonado, Engineering and Applied Science Faculty, Universidad de los Andes Orietta Nicolis, Department of Statistics, Universidad de Valparaíso Bárbara Poblete, Computer Science Department, Universidad de Chile Carolina Saavedra, Biomedical Engineering School, Universidad de Valparaíso Miguel Solis, Engineering Faculty, Universidad Andrés Bello Felipe Tobar, Mathematical Modeling Center, Universidad de Chile Richard Weber, Physical Science and Mathematics Faculty, Universidad de Chile Alejandro Weinstein, Biomedical Engineering School, Universidad de Valparaíso ==== Organizing committee ==== Rodrigo Salas, Universidad de Valparaíso Claudio Held, Universidad de Chile Carolina Saavedra, Universidad de Valparaíso Doris Saez, Universidad de Chile Pablo Zegers, Emprendedor en Inteligencia Artificial Steren Chabert, Universidad de Valparaíso Alejandro Veloz, Universidad de Valparaíso ==== Important dates ==== Application for registration/travel scholarships (Chilean students) November 17th 1st call for extended abstract submission deadline: October 31th, 2017 (extended) 2nd call for extended abstract submission deadline: November 13th, 2017 ===== Paper submission ===== Authors should submit their articles in English as PDF files following the IEEE style guidelines for conference proceedings (limited up to 3 pages (US letter size)). The submission must include the following sections: Introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusions. Affiliation should include the name of the student participating in the competition, and the name of the co-authors Submit your work in PDF format in the following link https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=evic2017 Posters will be selected based on the quality of the extended abstract. The decision notification will be send by electronic mail. Posters should be posted according to the schedule which will be noted in the program. A committee of three experts will evaluate the posters and assign the first, second and third places. The awards will be announced on December 14th, 2017. Contact: Rodrigo Salas F. <rodrigo.salas(a)uv.cl>

Oct. 23, 2017

Call for submissions: 2nd HBP Student Conference

by HBP Education

Dear all, Below please find the call for submissions for the 2nd HBP Student Conference in Ljubljana: Call for submissions: 2nd HBP Student Conference Transdisciplinary Research Linking Neuroscience, Brain Medicine and Computer Science 14-16 February 2018, Ljubljana, Slovenia Extended abstract submission deadline: 25 October 2017 The 2nd HBP Student Conference provides an open forum for the exchange of new ideas among young researchers working across various aspects of neuroscience, brain medicine and computer science relevant to the Human Brain Project. The scope of the conference offers a plethora of opportunities for extensive scientific discussions, both intra- and interdisciplinary, among peers and faculty, through a variety of discussion sessions, lectures and social events. We invite original high-quality submissions describing innovative research in all disciplines addressing the HBP research programme. Contributions emphasising theoretical and empirical foundations as well as novel approaches to specific problems with respect to the subprojects of the HBP are welcome. Finally, we particularly encourage submissions with a potential to inspire the research community by introducing new and relevant problems, concepts and ideas, even if the work is at an early stage of development. Participation in the 2nd HBP Student Conference is open to advanced master students, PhD students and young researchers, regardless of whether they are affiliated with the HBP or not and regardless of whether they make a submission to the scientific programme or not. Participation of young female investigators is highly encouraged. Child care is offered during the conference. Please use the registration form to indicate if you need this service. Seven travel grants will be available upon request for European students only (country of residence). Travel grant requests have to be sent to education(a)humanbrainproject.eu prior to the abstract submission deadline. For further information and abstract submission visit: https://education.humanbrainproject.eu/web/2nd-hbp-student-conference <https://humanbrainproject.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2e28686501b59b…> We are looking forward to receiving your abstracts! Best regards, The HBP Education Programme Office Theresa Rass HBP Education Programme Project Assistant Medical University Innsbruck (MUI) Müllerstraße 59, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Phone Office: +43 512 9003 71246 Mobile Phone: +43 676 871672246 Email: education(a)humanbrainproject.eu <mailto:education@humanbrainproject.eu>

Oct. 23, 2017

The Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience - recent articles

by Stephen Coombes

The Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience publishes research articles on the mathematical modeling and analysis of all areas of neuroscience. The current list of journal articles is available at http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/ : Fundamental Limits of Forced Asynchronous Spiking with Integrate and Fire Dynamics Anirban Nandi, Heinz Schättler, Jason T. Ritt and ShiNung Ching https://mathematical-neuroscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13408-… Symmetries Constrain Dynamics in a Family of Balanced Neural Networks Andrea K. Barreiro, J. Nathan Kutz and Eli Shlizerman https://mathematical-neuroscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13408-… An Analysis of Waves Underlying Grid Cell Firing in the Medial Enthorinal Cortex Mayte Bonilla-Quintana, Kyle C. A. Wedgwood, Reuben D. O’Dea and Stephen Coombes https://mathematical-neuroscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13408-… A Stochastic Version of the Jansen and Rit Neural Mass Model: Analysis and Numerics Markus Ableidinger, Evelyn Buckwar and Harald Hinterleitner https://mathematical-neuroscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13408-… Fast–Slow Bursters in the Unfolding of a High Codimension Singularity and the Ultra-slow Transitions of Classes Maria Luisa Saggio, Andreas Spiegler, Christophe Bernard and Viktor K. Jirsa https://mathematical-neuroscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13408-… All articles are Open Access. ------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Coombes Professor of Applied Mathematics School of Mathematical Sciences Nottingham, UK Tel: 0115 846 7836 http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/~sc/ ------------------------------------------------------- This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.

Oct. 23, 2017

2 tenure-track positions in Computational Neuroscience at Western University

by Jorn Diedrichsen

Two Probationary (Tenure-Track) Faculty Positions in Computational Neuroscience The Faculty of Science at Western University is inviting applications for two probationary (tenure-track) faculty positions at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in Computational Neuroscience. These unique appointments are initially funded through BrainsCAN (brainscan.uwo.ca<http://www.uwo.ca/brainscan/index.html>), a $66M initiative funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund at Western University, and allow a research-intensive focus for the first 5 years of the appointment. Successful candidates will be provided a yearly research budget for this period, and will be eligible for further internal funding including research accelerator awards, and support for postdoctoral research fellows and PhD students. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree and be recognized internationally for excellence in computational neuroscience research. The ideal candidates will develop and apply computational and statistical data analysis methods to the modeling of neurophysiological, behavioral, or neuroimaging data in order to significantly contribute to the advancement of neuroscience. Candidates with either theoretical or empirical research programs are encouraged to apply. The position will commence on July 1, 2018 or as negotiated. The successful candidates will become members of the Brain and Mind Institute (www.uwo.ca/bmi<http://www.uwo.ca/bmi>) and will work in the highly collaborative environment in neuroscience, a key area of research strength at Western University. The BMI has 30 Principal Investigators working in the areas of behavioral, cognitive and clinical neuroscience, nearly 200 trainees, and an interdisciplinary neuroscience graduate program. Facilities at Western include a full range of ultra-high field, research-only, MRI scanners (3T, 7T, 9.4T) and state of-the-art laboratories for cognitive, behavioral, and neurophysiological testing in humans, nonhuman primates and rodents. The successful candidates will be appointed into one, or more, of either the Department of Statistical & Actuarial Sciences (www.uwo.ca/stats<http://www.uwo.ca/stats>), the Department for Applied Mathematics (www.uwo.ca/apmaths<http://www.uwo.ca/apmaths>), and the Department of Computer Science (www.csd.uwo.ca<http://www.csd.uwo.ca/>) as appropriate, in the Faculty of Science at Western (www.uwo.ca/sci<http://www.uwo.ca/sci>). Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. Review of applications will begin on December 1st, 2017. For full details, please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/brainscan/work_with_us/vacancies/computational_neuroscien… Jörn Diedrichsen Western Research Chair Brain Mind Institute Department of Computer Science Department of Statistics Email: jdiedric(a)uwo.ca<mailto:jdiedric@uwo.ca> Tel: 1-519-661-2111 x86994

Oct. 21, 2017

Brain Modeling ToolKit

by Anton Arkhipov

Dear Colleague, We would like to announce the alpha release of the Brain Modeling ToolKit (BMTK), developed at the Allen Institute for Brain Science: https://github.com/AllenInstitute/bmtk. BMTK is a python-based software package for building and simulating models of neuronal circuits. It supports simulations at four levels of resolution (biophysically detailed, point-neuron, population statistics, and machine intelligence) by providing wrappers to tools such as NEURON, NEST, diPDE, and TensorFlow. This is an alpha release and we are working on creating more extensive documentation and tutorials. Meanwhile, we are very much looking forward to hearing feedback on the existing functionality. If you could try out the package and let us know about your experience, that would be very much appreciated! At this early stage, we are happy to work closely with you to help you get started on using the BMTK. Please email the lead developer of BMTK, Kael Dai, at kaeld(a)alleninstitute.org<mailto:kaeld@alleninstitute.org>, or to me, at antona(a)alleninstitute.org<mailto:antona@alleninstitute.org>, with any questions. A good place to start is the user guide: https://alleninstitute.github.io/bmtk We are looking forward to your feedback! Many thanks, Anton. Anton Arkhipov Associate Investigator T: 206.548.8414 [cid:image001.png@01D349BD.C61A1100] www.alleninstitute.org<http://www.alleninstitute.org/>

Oct. 20, 2017

final schedule for workshop on high performance computing in neuroscience

by Ted Carnevale

The final schedule for the workshop on high performance computing in neuroscience, which will be held November 11 from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM at the 2017 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, is now available at http://www.nsgportal.org/SFN2017_workshop.html --Ted

Oct. 19, 2017

COSYNE 2018: Abstract submission is now open, Call for workshop proposals

by Tomas Hromadka

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2018 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING 01 - 04 March 2018 Denver, Colorado WORKSHOPS 05 - 06 March 2018 Breckenridge, Colorado www.cosyne.org ==================================================== IMPORTANT DATES Abstract submission is now open. Workshop proposal deadline: 10 November 2017 Abstract submission deadline: 20 November 2017 ---------------------------------------------------- COSYNE ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks is selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. For details on workshop proposals please see below or visit Cosyne.org -> Workshops. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. This year we would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. For more information and details on submitting abstracts please visit Cosyne.org -> Abstracts. COSYNE SPEAKERS Tim Behrens (Oxford) Josh Berke (UCSF) Tiago Branco (UCL) Jessica Cardin (Yale) Claudia Clopath (Imperial) Marlene Cohen (Pittsburgh) Iain Couzin (Max-Planck) Carina Curto (Penn State) Ann Graybiel (MIT) Vivek Jayaraman (Janelia) Mate Lengyel (Cambridge) Joni Wallis (Berkeley) Byron Yu (CMU) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Ilana Witten (Princeton) and Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Program Chairs: Linda Wilbrecht (Berkeley) and Brent Doiron (U Pittsburgh) Workshop Chairs: Laura Busse (LMU) and Ralf Haefner (U Rochester) Undergraduate Travel Chairs: Angela Langdon (Princeton) and Robert Wilson (U Arizona) Publicity Chair: Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org ----------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------- A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting. The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals that differ substantially in content, scope, and/or approach from workshops of recent years (examples available at Cosyne.org -> Workshops). Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. In order to foster discussion within Workshops and reduce overlap between workshops, organizers should inform invited speakers that a single person should not speak in more than one of the Workshops taking place on the same day. WORKSHOP DETAILS - There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. - Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people. - The workshops will be split into morning (8.00-11.00 AM) and afternoon (4.30-7.30 PM) sessions. - Workshops will be held at Breckenridge, CO, a ski resort located 100 miles (approximately two hours) from the Denver International Airport. Buses from the main conference will be provided. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Workshop proposal deadline: 10 November 2017 Format: plain text only, please no attachments, email to workshops [at] cosyne.org (Laura Busse, Ralf Haefner) Proposals should include: - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. - A title. - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted group of participants. - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed speakers. - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please explain why. - A brief resume of the workshop organizer along with a short list of workshop-relevant publications (about half a page total). - A list of confirmed speakers. Workshop organizer responsibilities include coordinating workshop participation and content, scheduling all speakers and submitting a final schedule for the workshop program, and moderating the discussion. Organizers can be speakers but need not speak depending on scheduling constraints. SUGGESTIONS Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. We recommend fewer than 10 talks. WORKSHOP COSTS Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. All workshop speakers are expcted to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One complementary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. COSYNE WORKSHOP QUESTIONS workshops [at] cosyne.org COSYNE MAILING LISTS Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

Oct. 18, 2017