Dr. Colin Allen, Professor of Cognitive Science and History and Philosophy of Science, wins 2008 Faculty Mentor Award The IU Graduate and Professional Student Organization is pleased to announce that Dr. Colin Allen was selected as recipient of the 2008 Faculty Mentor Award. The GPSO established this award to recognize and generate appreciation for faculty members who are outstanding mentors to graduate and professional students. Good mentorship is an important aspect in the professional and academic, as well as personal development, of students. A good mentor guides and assists the student in refining strong research and teaching skills, while remaining respectful of the student’s own interests, ideas and goals. Mentorship may come in such forms as: encouraging participation in conferences and the pub­lication of research; providing research or teaching opportunities; providing assistance in finding internships or post-degree employment; providing networking opportunities and contacts with other scholars in the field; encouraging continued learning, both through coursework and through practical experience, and supporting the personal life of the individual student. Dr. Allen was nominated for exemplifying a good mentor in these and other ways. Robotics Exhibition - Friday, April 25 The Cognitive Science Robotics Laboratory invites you to a Robotics Exhibition, to be held on Friday, April 25th, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on the 8th floor of the West Wing of Eigenmann Hall. This exhibition will feature robots built by IU students, including the IU Robotics Club and the Spring 2008 Autonomous Robotics class, as well as robots used in ongoing research in the lab. Robots to be demonstrated include a robotic saxophone player, robotic hands and arms, bipedal and hexapedal walkers, a robotic head and expressive upper torso, and an autonomous Segway platform. The exhibition is free and open to all, so please feel free to bring your family and friends. Refreshments will be served. Visiting Undergraduate Research Attention, colleagues, friends and/or interested parties at other colleges/ universities- announcing the IUB visiting undergraduate research opportunity! The Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University, Bloomington invites upper-level undergraduate students and students who are graduating from college to apply to the Cognitive Science Visiting Undergraduate Program. The program is designed to give students interested in Cognitive Science an opportunity to design and conduct their own research while working closely with a faculty mentor, at the top Cognitive Science Program in the country, for a full academic year. More details may be found on this site under “academics”, then “fellowship”. Using Facebook for Social Psychology Research The research of Indiana University Professor of Cognitive Science and Psychological and Brain Sciences Dr. Eliot Smith was reported by the New York Times as part of a new movement to use the web site Facebook for research. Facebook¹s network of 58 million active users and its status as the sixth-most-trafficked Web site in the United States have made it an irresistible subject for many types of academic research. Dr. Smith is using Facebook to study how people meet and learn more about potential romantic partners. Read the full New York Times story at: Read the story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/style/17facebook.html Indiana University's William Timberlake honored by Pavlovian Society William Timberlake, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Cognitive Science Program, recently was presented with the Pavlovian Research Award by the Pavlovian Society. Timberlake received the award at the society's annual meeting in October in Austin, Texas. It was awarded "in recognition of seminal and creative contributions to understanding Pavlovian conditioning in the broader behavioral and ecological context of living organisms." For more details, see http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6678.html Professor Linda Smith is elected a 2007 fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Dr. Linda Smith, Chancellor's Professor and Chair of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, and voting member of the Cognitive Science Program, was elected as a new fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was joined by 202 other fellow scholars, scientists, artists, and leaders, including former Vice President Albert Gore, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, director Spike Lee, pianist Emanuel Ax, and cognitive scientist Rodney Brooks. This esteemed society was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, and John Hancock. The Academy will welcome this year¹s new class at its annual Induction Ceremony on October 6, at the Academy¹s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Listen to Professor Colin Allen's Philosophy Talk Interview An audio stream of Professor Colin Allen's interview on the topic of animal minds on Philosophy Talk is available for download. Philosophy Talk is a weekly, one-hour radio series hosted by Stanford University philosophers Ken Taylor and John Perry. IU Cognitive Scientist Discusses Potential of Video Games for Learning Sasha Barab, Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education and also the Indiana University Cognitive Science Program, was invited as one of three experts to a MacArthur Foundation panel discussion on the question "Do Video Games Help Kids Learn?" You can access the video webcast for the event at http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2029199/k.BFC9/Home.htm. NaNu Symposium Colin Allen, professor of Cognitive Science and History and Philosophy of Science, and Karola Stotz, post-doctoral fellow in the Cognitive Science Program, were recently named recipients of a Faculty Research Support Program award from the Vice Provost for Research. This award is for their proposal to host a symposium at Indiana University, Bloomingon, March 23-25, 2007, on "Reconciling Nature and Nurture in the Study of Behavior. Visiting Undergraduate Research Undergraduate students are invited to apply for the Cognitive Science Visiting Undergraduate Program. The deadline has been extended to February 9, 2007. Hospitable Robots The IU Cognitive Science Robotics Laboratory held an open house Friday, January 12. A video of the event is available at HeraldTimesOnline.com. New Online Undergraduate Journal The Indiana Archives of Cognitive Science (IACS) recently published the inaugural edition of the Indiana Undergraduate Journal of Cognitive Science. This online journal is a collection of undergraduate work in various disciplines within cognitive science. Ph.D. Program Application for Fall 2007 The Cognitive Science Program is currently accepting applications for the Ph.D. program for 2007 fall matriculation. Information about the application procedure is available at Admission to the Cognitive Science Ph.D. Program. Fall 2006 Course Offerings Fall 2006 undergraduate courses and Fall 2006 graduate courses offered by the Cognitive Science Program are available online. Graduate Student Orientation Guide The 2006-07 Graduate Student Orientation Guide is now available online. Faculty Position Beginning Fall, 2007 As part of a series of new appointments, the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University seeks a junior level appointment in the general area of intersection of cognitive science and robotics. Applicants with expertise in any aspect of embodied cognitive science are welcome, but we are particularly interested in those with expertise in evolutionary robotics and/or dynamical approaches to cognition. Applicants should have a record that demonstrates an excellent potential in the areas of research and teaching. Successful applicants will take a leadership role in the ongoing development of a new, state-of-the-art robotics laboratory for teaching and research. Indiana University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Applications from women and minority group members are especially encouraged. Applicants should send full dossiers, including three letters of recommendation. As far as possible, e-mail all materials (ideally in PDF format) to cogsrch@indiana.edu. Materials may also be mailed to Professor Randall Beer, Robotics Search Committee, Cognitive Science Program, Eigenmann 819, 1910 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47406-7512. Applications received by November 1, 2006 are assured full consideration. You can also download a PDF version. Air Force Announces Research Initiative The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has announced a new Multidisciplinary Research Initiative on the topic of building bridges between neuroscience, cognition, and human decision making. This is a 5 year , multimillion dollar project. Building Bridges between Neuroscience, Cognition, and Human Decision Making FY07 MURI Topic 15, AFOSR Background: For the past 100 years, researchers from neuroscience and cognitive science have worked independently developing separate bodies of scientific knowledge and theory. However, recent advances in neural recording and brain imaging technology in conjunction with major advancements in mathematical and computational modeling of cognition have created new and exciting possibilities for bridging the gaps between these fields and stitching together these vast bodies of research. The potential for integrating these fields has produced a surge of interest evidenced by several recent special issues appearing in major journals (Neuron, Nature-Neuroscience, Neural networks, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience) and special funding initiatives by NSF and NIMH and DARPA. For example, diffusion models of decision making developed in cognitive science are now capable of describing both human performance as well as neural activation patterns recorded from the brain by multiple cell recording techniques. Neural network models of reinforcement learning are now capable of describing human learning as well as the dopamine response recorded in cortical - striatum neural circuits. Neural network and information processing models of cognitive control have been directly linked to electrical recording and functional magnetic resonance imaging of the anterior cingulate. In short, mathematical and computational modeling on the intersection of cognitive – neuroscience is on the cusp of outstanding and surprising theoretical scientific breakthroughs. Objective: The general goal is to form a complete and thorough understanding of basic human decision processes ranging from neuroscience through cognition to behavior. This is to be done by building a lattice of theoretical models with bridges that span across fields studying neural recording and brain imaging in elementary decisions (simple two alternative choice tasks) to human information processing and decision making with complex dynamic tasks (e.g., AWACS target detection, or UAV reconnaissance operation). For example, fine-grained, low-level models of neurophysiology need to be mapped into courser-grained neural network or connectionist models of sensory-perceptual systems and elementary information processing, which then need to be integrated into higher-level procedural models of complex human decision behavior. The main effort of this work is intended to be in the direction of new integrative theoretical developments that succeed in building these bridges using mathematical and/or computational modeling. However, this theory development must be accompanied and supported by rigorous empirical model tests and empirical model comparisons, which would require new human experimentation especially designed for this purpose. Research Concentration Areas: The proposed research will require interdisciplinary teams composed of neuroscientists, biophysicists, mathematical biologists and mathematical psychologists, cognitive psychologists and computer scientists. The teams also need to be a mix of talented experimentalists from neuroscience and cognitive psychology working closely together with creative theoreticians. These teams will address key research issues such as: (a) what is the neural basis of decisions, (b) how does this knowledge impact and constrain higher level models of cognition, (c) how can we integrate basic neural mechanisms into information processing models, and (d) how do basic effects at the neural level scale up to influence performance on complex cognitive tasks? Impact: Building theoretical connections between neuroscience, cognitive, and decision behavior, would make it possible to predict in a more rigorous manner how influences of basic neural processes cascade up to impact decision performance. In particular, such theories would be capable of predicting how neural damage, physiological stress and fatigue, emotional arousal, or motivational deprivation scale up to influence human performance on complex decision tasks. Ultimately this knowledge could be used to devise treatments or decision aids to enhance military decisions under stress, and to develop autonomous agents guided by goal mechanisms similar to the emotional/motivational systems used by humans. Research Topic Chief: Dr. Jerome R. Busemeyer, Jerome.Busemeyer@afosr.af.mil, 703-696-8421 For information on how to apply, download the Broad Agency Announcement from Grants.Gov and refer to Topic # 15. The FY07 MURI BAA has been announced at http://www.afosr.af.mil/ResearchAreas/funding_otherOpp.htm The due date for the white papers is 17 Aug 06 and the full proposals is 13 Nov 06. Please note that the proposals may be submitted either electronically or in hard copy form. For electronic proposal submission, the electronic proposal must be submitted through Grants.gov (hence it is required to use the Standard Form 424 R & R package as described in the BAA). For hard copy proposal submission, the hard copy proposal needs to be mailed to the address responsible for the topics as described in the BAA, under Section IV.5. (The grants.gov standard forms also need to be used for the proposals to be submitted in hard copy form). If you have any questions, please contact Jerome Busemeyer William Estes Honored by Scientists in Special FABBS Program William Estes Ph.D. of Indiana University, a recognized giant in the behavioral sciences, is the current Featured Honoree on the site of the Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Estes has dedicated more than 60 years of his life advancing empirical and theoretical issues in psychology and this work has resulted in numerous ground-breaking discoveries. Alice Healy Ph.D. from the University of Colorado organized the effort to make this honor a reality. Read about this impressive scientist. (Note that all previous honorees remain listed in the Gallery of Honorees.) Cognitive Science Student Receives Research Grant and Award Indiana University-Bloomington student and Fairfield native, Michael Amlung has been awarded the Mary B. Orvis Award Grant in the Amount of $2,850.00. This award fund was set up to encourage research experience and training of Indiana University Students based on the Bloomington campus in the I.U. Department of Psychiatry at the I.U. School of Medicine (IUSOM). In addition to this award, Mr. Amlung is also the recipient of a 2006 Hutton Honors College Summer Research Grant in the amount of $2,000.00. Both awards will be put towards a independent research project that will be completed during summer, 2006. Together with Dr. R. Andrew Chambers, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (IUSOM), Mr. Amlung will be examining the effects of developmental lesions to the rat nucleus accumbens on psychiatric and addiction-related phenotypes expressed in adulthood. Neonatal NAc lesions have yet to be studied and the specific role of the NAc in developmental neuropsychiatric disorders is unknown. A second, related focus of this study is to examine NAc-lesioned rats’ responsivity to repeated injections of cocaine. This data will provide further insight into the importance of the NAc in a rat model of addictive behavior and schizophrenia, specifically as an indirect model of abnormal activation of dopaminergic neurons in the nucleus accumbens. Mr. Amlung is a Senior at I.U. Bloomington studying Cognitive Science and Psychology with plans to attend graduate school in Neuroscience. He is a native of Fairfield, OH and a 2003 graduate of Fairfield Senior High School. For further inquiries, please contact R. Andrew Chambers, M.D. - Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, at (317) 278-1716. Air Force Young Investigator Research Program The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has announced the Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). As indicated in the BAA, the AFOSR’s Young Investigator Research Program is to support scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the last five years. The objective of this program is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering, enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators, and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize Air Force mission and the related challenges in science and engineering. The individual award will be made to a U.S. institution of higher education, industrial laboratory, or non-profit research organization where the principal investigator is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular position. Each award will be funded at $100K or more per year for three years. Please encourage the (outstanding) young investigators in your research areas to apply to this program. (The proposal is due 4:00 PM, EDT, 20 July 2006). Professor Goldstone Named Chancellor's Professor Professor Rob Goldstone received the prestigious Chancellor's Professor award. These professorships are meant to bring significant honor to those members of the faculty who have achieved local, national, and international distinction in both teaching and research/creative activity and their interaction. Faculty selected for Chancellor’s Professorships will carry the title for the remainder of their careers at Indiana University. The successful candidate(s) also will be given a $2,500 award for each of the first three years and a $5,000 grant to be used on a project of their choice to demonstrate the ways in which teaching and research are mutually reinforcing. Dr. Goldstone's research involves the application of complex adaptive system models to the study of how individual people learn and perceive, and how groups of people organize themselves into emergent structures which none of the individuals in the group may understand or even perceive. His laboratory is currently exploring interactions between perceptual and conceptual learning, methods for learning abstract concepts using computer simulations, the perception of similarity and analogy, and group behavior from a complex systems perspective. Indiana Archives of Cognitive Science The Cognitive Science Program has recently launched a new project to create a new undergraduate cognitive science web forum. This new project, named the Indiana Archives of Cognitive Science (IACS), provides information about the field of cognitive science, profiles of cognitive science programs across the nation, information about undergraduate and graduate study, and much more. The production team is seeking any students who are interested in helping with this project. Individuals with web design and HTML experience are especially encouraged to participate. If you are interested in participating, please contact Michael Amlung at mamlung@indiana.edu For more information please contact: Michael Amlung Cognitive Science Program Intern Executive Editor, IACS mamlung@indiana.edu Proposals Sought The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Cognition and Decision Program, seeks proposals to advance the understanding of higher cognitive processes, especially problem solving and decision making, through a combination of experimentation, computational and/or mathematical modeling. Contact: Jerome R. Busemeyer, Manager, Cognition & Decision Program Air Force Office of Scientific Research http://www.afosr.af.mil/ Jerome.Busemeyer@afosr.af.mil Voice: 703-696-8421, Fax: 703-696-8449 Faculty Honors The Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP) elected three IU faculty members (all members of the Cognitive Science program) to Fellowship in this illustrious society: Jerry Busemeyer, Linda Smith and Joe Steinmetz, constituting 1/3 of this year¹s honorees (a maximum of nine can be elected annually). In addition, David Huber, a former psychology graduate student of Rich Shiffrin's received this year's Young Investigator Award from the SEP. Photo Gallery of Cognitive Science Program Events A new photo gallery has been created to demonstrate interesting photos taken in various Cognitive Science Program activities. Have a look and share our fun!