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Brain, Minds and Machines Summer Course 2015 (Deadline = March 16th)

by Kreiman, Gabriel

Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course 2015 http://www.mbl.edu/education/special-topics-courses/brains-minds-and-machin… When: August 13 – September 3, 2015 Where: Woods Hole, Massachusetts (MBL) Directors: Gabriel Kreiman, Tomaso Poggio (L. Mahadevan, honorary director) Application deadline: March 16, 2015 This intensive three-week course will give advanced students a “deep end” introduction to the problem of intelligence – how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines. Today’s AI technologies, such as Watson and Siri and Deep Learning, are impressive, but their domain specificity and reliance on vast numbers of labeled examples are obvious limitations; few view this as brain-like or human intelligence. The synergistic combination of cognitive science, neurobiology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science holds the promise to build much more robust and sophisticated algorithms implemented in intelligent machines *and* to begin understanding how the brain produces the mind. The goal of this course is to help produce a community of leaders that is equally knowledgeable in neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science. The first half of the course will focus on the intersection between biological and computational aspects of learning and vision. The second half will focus on high-level social cognition and artificial intelligence, as well as audition, speech and language processing. Throughout the course, students will participate in tutorials to gain hands on experience with these topics. The course will include presentations by world leaders in the field, discussions with relevant industrial companies interested in AI, hands-on tutorials, evening debates and discussions. Additionally, students will be working on cutting-edge research projects directly guided and mentored by the faculty. This course is organized by the Center for Minds, Brains and Machines: https://cbmm.mit.edu/ Course instructors will include: Tomaso Poggio Gabriel Kreiman Nancy Kanwisher Winrich Freiwald Matt Wilson Josh Tenenbaum Liz Spelke Boris Katz L Mahadevan Jim DiCarlo Aude Oliva Josh McDermott Projects will be cross-disciplinary and include access to the iCub humanoid robot and Google Glass. We will also be hosting an Evening Lecture Series, including speakers from both industry and academia, in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and cognitive science. Speakers include: Larry Abbott Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Dorin Comaniciu, Siemens Corporate Technology Ammon Shashua, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mobileye, OrCam Eero Simoncelli, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University Gabriel Kreiman klab.tch.harvard.edu Use "9265358979" anywhere in the message body to ensure that your message navigates through anti spam filters

March 12, 2015

3 Research Assistants at the Institute of Cognitive Scinece

by Peter König

The Neurobiopsychology Research Group (Prof. Dr. Peter König) of the Institute of Cognitive Science invites applications for *3 Research Assistants *** *(Salary level E 13 TV-L, 50 %)* ** to be filled as soon as possible for a period of 3 years. *Description of Responsibilities:* The positions involve participation in the research activities within the European Community funded research project /Socialising Sensori-Motor Contingencies./ This project investigates processing multimodal information and sensorimotor integration under natural conditions and utilizes a variety of methods. They include behavioral studies, psychophysical methods, physiological measurements (EEG, MEG, TMS), methods of sensory augmentation, mathematical modelling, computer simulations and brain-computer interfaces. *Required Qualifications:* Applicants are expected to have an excellent academic degree (Master, Diploma or PhD), experience in several of the domains listed above, a good record in statistical methods including multivariate analyses and Bayesian technics, good programming skills as well as a good command of the English language. As a certified family-friendly institution, Osnabrück University is committed to furthering the compatibility between work/studies and family life. As an employer, Osnabrück University is particularly concerned with creating equality opportunities for women and men. Woman with relevant qualifications are therefore strongly encouraged to apply for the positions. Preference will be given to women with equal qualifications. Qualified applicants with disabilities will be favored. Applications with the usual documentation should be submitted by e-mail in a *_single_* PDF-file to Prof. Dr. Peter König (pkoenig(a)uni-osnabrueck.de <mailto:pkoenig@uni-osnabrueck.de>) with a cc to office(a)ikw.uni-osnabrueck.de <mailto:office@ikw.uni-osnabrueck.de>no later than *March 31, 2015*. Further information can be obtained from Prof. Dr. Peter König (pkoenig(a)uni-osnabrueck.de) -- *http://www.facebook.com/CognitiveScienceOsnabruck* Prof. Dr. Peter König Institute of Cognitive Science University Osnabrück Albrechtstr. 28 49076 Osnabrück +49 541 969 2399 http://cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/~NBP/

March 12, 2015

One Postdoc and one PhD position in computational neuroimaging/neuroscience

by s.ghebreab＠uva.nl

One Postdoc position available in Computational neuroimaging with deep learning and one PhD position in Visual computational neuroscience. Both positions are part of research that bridges state-of-the-art vision technology of the Intelligent Systems Lab Amsterdam (ISLA, Science Faculty), with the state-of-the-art in brain imaging offered by the Cognitive Neuroscience Group Amsterdam (CNGA, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences). Both groups are part of the University of Amsterdam and enjoy a world-class reputation, ISLA for computer vision and search engine technology (discovering concepts in images and video) and CNGA for the neural basis of visual perception.. For position and application details see: - Postdoc Position 1: http://www.uva.nl/over-de-uva/werken-bij-de-uva/vacatures/item/15-050.html - PhD Position 2: http://www.uva.nl/over-de-uva/werken-bij-de-uva/vacatures/item/15-077.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Dr. Sennay Ghebreab Head of Studies Social Sciences, Amsterdam University College Associate professor (adjunct), Brain & Cognition, University of Amsterdam Tel: +31-20-5258844, Email: s.ghebreab(a)uva.nl, http://www.sennay.net <http://www.sennay.net/> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

March 12, 2015

NEST User and Developer Workshop, 20-22 April 2015, Geneva

by Hans Ekkehard Plesser

Dear Colleagues! The NEST simulator is used by a growing number of neuroscientist. To strengthen the growing NEST community and foster the dialog between NEST users across a broad spectrum of modelling approaches, as well as between users and developers, we would like to invite you to the First NEST User Workshop, Monday 20 April (evening) til Wednesday 22 April (late afternoon) at Campus Biotech in Geneva, Switzerland. The workshop is primarily intended for users and developers of NEST and you will benefit most if you already have practical experience with NEST. However, if you are interested in using NEST in the future, this workshop will also be useful for you. We will present the new NEST Git Repository and Code Review Platform as part of the workshop. For a limited number of participants, we offer the possibility to present your scientific work done with NEST. If you are interested in presenting, please contact the workshop organizers Hans Ekkehard Plesser (hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no) Marc-Oliver Gewaltig (marc-oliver.gewaltig(a)epfl.ch) For more information and registration, please go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nest-user-workshop-tickets-15974979594 Registration is free, but limited. Registration deadline: 11 April 2015 We can offer (very) limited travel support to younger participants, kindly provided by the HBP Education Program. This workshop is organized in collaboration between the NEST Initiative and the HBP Education Program. We are looking forward to seeing you in Geneva! Hans E Plesser Marc-Oliver Gewaltig http://www.nest-initiative.org http://humanbrainproject.eu — Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Associate Professor Acting section Head Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no Home http://arken.umb.no/~plesser

March 12, 2015

Students: spend the summer improving brain research software tools in Google Summer of Code

by Malin Sandström

Hi all, (apologies for cross-posting) are you a student interested in brain research and software development? Or do you know one? This year again, INCF is participating as mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code, a global program that offers students stipends to spend the summer writing code for open source projects. INCF has 27 project proposals offered by mentors from the international research community, many of them with a computational neuroscience slant. All projects deal with development and/or improvement of open source tools that are used in the neuroscience community. You can see our full list of projects here: https://incf.org/gsoc/2015/proposals To be eligible, students must fulfill the Google definition of 'student': an individual enrolled in or accepted into an accredited institution including (but not necessarily limited to) colleges, universities, masters programs, PhD programs and undergraduate programs. Student applications open on *Monday, March 16.* <https://incf.org/gsoc/2015/proposals> Please forward to anyone you think might be interested! Best regards, Malin Sandström (INCF org admin for GSoC) GSoC questions welcome to: gsoc(a)incf.org -- Malin Sandström, PhD Community Engagement Officer malin.sandstrom(a)incf.org International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility Karolinska Institutet Nobels väg 15 A SE-171 77 Stockholm Sweden http://www.incf.org

March 12, 2015

What is the precision of synaptic plasticity?

by Terry Sejnowski

http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/03/11/016329 Hippocampal Spine Head Sizes are Highly Precise Thomas M Bartol, Cailey Bromer, Justin P Kinney, Michael A Chirillo, Jennifer N Bourne, Kristen M Harris, Terrence J Sejnowski The size of an EPSP is highly correlated with the the spine head volume for excitatory synapses on pyramidal cells. Spine heads on a dendrite originating from the same axon had the same volume, regardless of whether they were large or small. This has implications for the precision of the mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity. Terry -----

March 12, 2015

[meetings] Living Machines IV: Final Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors

by Nathan F Lepora

______________________________________________________________ Final Call for Papers, Satellite Events and Sponsors Living Machines IV: The 4th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems 28th to 31st July 2015 http://csnetwork.eu/livingmachines To be hosted at the La Pedrera Barcelona, Spain In association with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Accepted papers will be published in Springer Lecturer Notes in Artificial Intelligence Submission deadline March 16th, 2015 ______________________________________________________________ ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2015 The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems. Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering. Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component—an existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The following are some examples: • Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can intelligently interact with their environments. • Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair. • Biomimetic computers—neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour. • Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants. • Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses. • Organism-level biohybrids such as robot-animal or robot-human systems. ACTIVITIES The main conference will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme, 29th to 31st July 2015, hosted at the La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain. The conference programme will include five plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems, and the demonstrations of state-of-the-art living machine technologies. Agreed speakers are: Roger Quinn, Robots Insect Locomotion (Case Western Reserve University) Ryad Benosman, Neuromorphic. Event-based time oriented vision (Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, France) Barbara Mazzolai, Biomimetic Robots (IIT@SSSA, Italy) Robert Richardson, Exploration Robotics (Leeds University, UK) Jose Halloy, Collective intelligence in natural and artificial systems (Université Paris Diderot LIED) Also a special talk on Biomimetics in Design Nimish Biloria, Bio-inspired performative design (TU Delf University of Technology, The Netherlands) The full conference will be preceded by a day of Satellite Events hosted by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. SUBMITTING TO LIVING MACHINES 2015 We invite both full papers and short papers in areas related to the conference themes. All contributions will be refereed and accepted papers will appear in the Living Machines 2015 proceedings which we expect to be published in the Springer-Verlag LNAI Series. Full papers (minimum 8 and up to 12 pages) are invited from researchers at any stage in their career but should present significant findings and advances in biomimetic or biohybid research; more preliminary work would be better suited to shorter paper submission (minimum 4 pages with a maximum of eight references and no more than two self-citations) Further details of submission formats will be circulated in an updated CfP and will be posted on the conference web-site. http://csnetwork.eu/livingmachines/conf2015/submission Full papers will be accepted for either oral presentation (single track) or poster presentation. Extended abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation only. Authors of the best full papers will be invited to submitted extended versions of their paper for publication in a special issue of Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. Satellite events Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are invited to propose topics for 1-day tutorials, symposia or workshops on related themes to be held 27-28th July at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Attendance at satellite events will attract a small fee intended to cover the costs of the meeting. There is a lot of flexibility about the content, organisation, and budgeting for these events. Please contact us if you are interested in organising a satellite event! EXPECTED DEADLINES March 16th, 2015 Paper submission deadline May 1st, 2015 Notification of acceptance May 22nd, 2015 Camera ready copy July 28th-31st 2015 Conference SPONSORSHIP Living Machines 2015 is sponsored by the Convergent Science Network (CSN) for Biomimetics and Neurotechnology. CSN is an EU FP7 Future Emerging Technologies Co-ordination Activity that also organises two highly successful workshop series: the Barcelona Summer School on Brain, Technology and Cognition (http://bcbt.upf.edu and the Capocaccia Neuromorphic Cognitive Engineering Workshop. The 2015 Living Machines conference will also be hosted and sponsored by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Call for Sponsors. Other organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products to through conference publications, the conference web-site, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the conference organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We offer a number of attractive and good-value packages to potential sponsors. ABOUT THE VENUE Living Machines 2015 returns to the venue of our first conference at the beautiful biomimetic building La Pedrera (Casa Mila) (https://www.lapedrera.com/en/home) designed by renowned modernist architect Antoni Gaudi. Attendees at the conference will get a free ticket to visit this historic building in the centre the Barcelona. Workshops will be held at the Poblenou Campus of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, close to hotel and restaurant area of the Diagonal and Ramblas de Poblenou and a short walk from Barcelona’s famous beaches. Organising Committee: Paul Verschure, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Co-chair) Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield (Co-chair) Stuart Wilson, University of Sheffield (Program Chair) Anna Mura, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Communications, Local Organiser) Nathan Lepora, University of Bristol (Communications) Living Machines 2015 Program Committee: Andrew Adamatzky, Robert Allen, Joseph Ayers, Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Lucia Beccai, Frédéric Boyer, Federico Carpi, Hillel Chiel, Anders Christensen, Danilo De Rossi, Angel del Pobil, Stéphane Doncieux, Marco Dorigo, Armin Duff, Volker Dürr Wolfgang Eberle, Benoît Girard, Roderich Gross, José Halloy, Koh Hosoda, Ioannis Ieropoulos, Auke Ijspeert, Holger Krapp, Cecilia Laschi, Nathan Lepora, Ben Mitchinson, Keisuke Morishima, Anna Mura, Jiro Okada, Enrico Pagello, Martin Pearson, Andrew Philippides, Tony Pipe, Tony Prescott, Roger Quinn, Sylvain Saighi, Thomas Schmickl, Reiko Tanaka, Eleni Vasilaki, Stefano Vassanelli, Paul Verschure, Stuart Wilson (Chair), Hartmut Witte

March 11, 2015

Postdoctoral Position in Human Intracranial Physiology at the National Institutes of Health

by Zaghloul, Kareem (NIH/NINDS) [E]

A full-time post-doctoral position focused on understanding the neural correlates of human cognitive function is available in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH. This position involves studies focused on analyzing and manipulating human intracranial electrophysiological signals, including single-unit activity, local field potentials, and electro corticography (ECoG), captured from patients with medically refractory epilepsy and from patients receiving deep brain stimulation surgery. Post-doctoral fellows will join a laboratory aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie human memory and decision making and at developing novel and innovative techniques to directly communicate with those circuits. We are seeking candidates that are highly creative, motivated, and independent with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, or a related field. Candidates must have a strong research background, with a record of relevant publications. Candidates will be encouraged and expected to participate in independent laboratory research, and will be expected to write scholarly manuscripts. Candidates must be able to lead and work well in a team. Candidates should have strong computational, quantitative, and/or engineering skills, with proficiency in developing custom code (Matlab, Python, etc.) for data analysis preferred. Past medical research is not required, but candidates must be willing to perform experiments in a clinical setting. Candidates will interact with clinical staff, graduate students, research fellows, and must have excellent spoken and written English skills. Applicants should submit a brief statement of research activities and interests, a current CV, and names and contact information of at least three references. Salary will be commensurate with experience and accomplishments. To arrange a meeting with the PI and to send materials required for consideration for this appointment please contact Dr. Zaghloul at: zaghloulka(a)mail.nih.gov<mailto:zaghloulka@mail.nih.gov> NIH, an agency of DHHS, is an equal opportunity employer.

March 11, 2015

ECMLPKDD 2015 : Nectar Track

by ECMLPKDD 2015

The European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD 2015) will take place on September 7 of 2015, in Porto Portugal ( <http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/> http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/) and includes a Nectar Track that offers conference attendees a compact overview of recent scientific advances at the frontier of machine learning and data mining with other disciplines, as published in related conferences and journals. We invite senior and junior researchers to submit summaries of their own work published in neighboring fields, such as (but not limited to) artificial intelligence, data analytics, bioinformatics, games, computational linguistics, computer vision, geoinformatics, health informatics, database theory, human computer interaction, information and knowledge management, robotics, pattern recognition, statistics, social network analysis, theoretical computer science, uncertainty in AI, network science, complex systems science, and computationally oriented sociology, economy, statistics and biology. Particularly welcome is work that illustrates the pervasiveness of data-driven exploration and modelling in science and technology, as well as innovative applications. Accepted NECTAR contributions will be presented as talks or posters and included in the conference proceedings. Important dates Submission deadline: May 4, 2015 Notifications of acceptance: June 1, 2015 Submission of camera ready copies: June 15, 2015 Detailed information about the Nectar Track is available on: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-nectar-track-contributions For further information please contact the ECMLPKDD 2015 Nectar Track Chairs: Ricard Gavaldà (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) Dino Pedreschi (Università di Pisa) 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

March 10, 2015

Two postdoctoral positions in Systems/Computational Neuroscience, UPenn

by Nicole Rust

Two postdoctoral positions - one purely computational and another combined experimental and computational - are currently available in the laboratory of Nicole Rust at the University of Pennsylvania. Both positions are focused on understanding object-related processing at higher stages of the primate visual system. Of particular interest are the neural mechanisms responsible for our ability to remember the enormous numbers of objects that we have encountered before, and how the same neural populations can both encode visual memories after a single experience and support perceptually stable object representations. Our research group uses a variety of methods, including awake primate neurophysiology, population decoding, and computational modeling, to arrive at descriptions of the transformations that occur as object-related signals propagate through the brain. More information about the lab can be found here: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/psych/rust-lab. The Rust lab is part of a substantive Systems, Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience community at UPenn and is part of the newly established Penn Computational Neuroscience Initiative: http://cni.upenn.edu/. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field prior to starting. Essential qualifications include strong quantitative skills. To inquire about this position, please contact Nicole Rust nrust(a)psych.upenn.edu.

March 10, 2015