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CCS 2008 Institute
Cognitive Sciences News
CCS 2008 Institute: Understanding Others
The Center for Cognitive Sciences is excited to announce its 2008 Institute: Understanding Others. The Institute will be held Thursday, September 18 and Friday, September 19, 2008 at the Johnson Great Hall in the McNamara Center. This event is co-organized by Dr. Jeanette Gundel and Dr. Maria Sera. Further information regarding registration and talk abstracts will be forthcoming. Please contact Ellen Seagren cogsci@umn.edu, Jeanette Gundel gunde003@umn.edu or Maria Sera sera@umn.edu with any questions. We look forward to a dynamic conference.
Fall Courses
Topics in Language and Cognition - Linguistics 8920
Instructor, Jeanette Gundel
Time: F 12:30-3:00
Place:229 Nolte Center (stay tuned for possible room change)
This course examines topics in Language and Cognition from a linguistic perspective. The Fall 2008 offering will focus on two main topics: (1) language and theory of mind (i.e. the interaction between language and the attribution of mental states to others) and (2) sentence processing, with specific focus on neuro-imaging studies. Other topics may be included later, depending on student interest.
To coincide with the theme of this year's CCS Summer Institute, 'Understanding Others', the first half of the class will be devoted to language and theory of mind. Additional specific topics will depend upon student interest.
This course serves as an elective for the major in Cognitive Science. It also serves as an elective for the minor in Cognitive Science for students who are not Linguistics majors. The only formal prerequisite for the course is Introduction to Linguistics (Ling 3001/5001), a requirement which can be waived with permission of the instructor.
Course requirement: readings and a final paper/project.
For more information, contact Jeanette Gundel, gunde003@umn.edu
Machine Learning methods in Modeling Human learning (Psy 5993-034)
University of Minnesota, Fall Semester, 2008 http://www.schrater.org
Instructors: Paul Schrater (schrater@umn.edu) Adam Johnson
Meeting time : Friday 2-3:30pm Place: Elliott Hall 204
Recent advances in machine learning provide a powerful set of new tools to understand human learning. Understanding the computational principles and fundamental problems faced by attempts to produce artificial agents provides a framework for developing models of human abilities. Because of its intrinsic importance to human behavior, learning is a central problem for researchers interested in development, neuroscience, cognition and behavior, and artificial intelligence. We will study three interrelated issues where cognitive scientists have begun using machine learning tools to study learning. In particular, we will look at the role of structure learning, causal analysis, and hierarchy in explaining difficult-to-model aspects of human learning.
Format: Discussion of journal articles led by seminar members. Students can sign up for 1-3 credits. Students who register for 2 or 3 credits will prepare a term paper or term project on a related topic.
Opportunities
CCS mini-grant opportunity
CCS Student Associate members now have an opportunity to apply for the CCS mini-grant. The applications for the mini-grant, which awards up to $500, are reviewed thrice yearly. The next application deadline is September 30th. For more information, please see http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/docs.htm (the grant application is the first document listed). Applications received between deadlines will be reviewed as funding and time allows.
If you are not currently an associate member and are interested in becoming one, please see http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/membership.html for details. If you are an affiliate and want to "upgrade" your membership, please submit a completed application.
Fulbright Scholarships
The Graduate School Fellowship Office is pleased to announce five Fulbright Information Sessions for students who are interested in conducting research abroad during the 2009-10 academic year. Excellent opportunities are available to over 140 countries. Applicants must be U.S. citizens. The UM campus application deadline is Monday, September 8, 2008. Those who would like to attend should go to the following link to reserve a place at one of the five meetings: http://www.grad.umn.edu/fulbright/
Members Making Headlines
Congratulations to CCS Faculty Member Dr. Maria Gini, along with Dr. John Collins and CSE alumus Dr. Wolf Ketter. They received a Best Paper Award for the paper entitled, "Flexible Decision Support in a Dynamic Business Network," at the Smart Business Network conference last week in Beijing, China. The conference focused on issues surrounding the development of smart business networks. In the paper, Collins, Gini, and Ketter describe the design of a service oriented architecture that facilitates flexible managerial decision making in dynamic business networks. They have tested this architecture in the MinneTAC trading agent, designed to compete in the Supply Chain Trading Agent Competition.
Congratulations to CCS member Kathleen Vohs (Carlson School of Management), for being named one of the five 2008 SAGE Young Scholars. The award - new this year - is granted by the Foundation for Social and Personality Psychology and SAGE Publications to recognize outstanding early career researchers in personality and social psychology.
More info @ 
http://www.csom.umn.edu/?showcontent=108563&display=102&templateID=5024