Month: September 2020

IBACS Meet & Speak on 10/10

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The CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS) invites you to our annual “Meet and Speak” event on Saturday, October 10th. During this event, we hope to showcase more of the interdisciplinary work that our affiliates do, so in addition to having our recent seed recipients to speak, we have asked some specific faculty affiliates from various disciplines to speak as well. These faculty will give up to 10-minute presentations describing, in accessible language, the research they have carried out, or propose carrying out in relation to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Graduate students affiliated with the Institute will be providing short “datablitz” style presentations about their involvement in IBACS seed-funded or fellowship-supported research. Following the graduate student blitz, there will be a panel discussion to commemorate our 5-year anniversary. The panel will discuss questions such as the following: What does brain science/cognitive science mean to you? What are the challenges to progress that particularly excite you? What are the opportunities for progress? Where is brain science/cognitive science heading, or where should it head?   Following the panel discussion, we shall have a keynote by Dr. John Gabrieli, MIT. According to Google Scholar, he is in the top 10 most cited individuals in Cognitive Neuroscience. His talk is entitled “Environmental Influences on Human Brain Development”. More information about Dr. Gabrieli is below.

This event will be held virtually on Zoom. Please note that the majority of the talks will be pre-recorded and played during the event, although attendees can ask questions to the speakers live. The panel discussion and Keynote Speaker talk will both be live. The program is attached and also available on our website.  Zoom details will come soon – please visit this webpage for the most up-to-date information.

This event will provide an opportunity to learn more about the diverse research that IBACS affiliates are engaged in, and will provide a forum for cross-disciplinary networking. We hope you can join us on October 10th to celebrate our 5-year anniversary!

 If you are interested in attending all or part of this event, please pre-register by Friday, October 2nd. Note that pre-registration is just to give us an idea of the number to expect over Zoom.

 

 

About John Gabrieli:

Bio: John Gabrieli is the director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute. He is an investigator at the McGovern Institute, with faculty appointments in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, where he holds the Grover Hermann Professorship. He also has appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is the director of the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative. Prior to joining MIT in 2005, he spent 14 years at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology and Neurosciences Program. He received a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a BA in English from Yale University.
 

Talk title: Environmental Influences on Human Brain Development 

Abstract: Neuroimaging provides new views on how environmental factors influence human brain development.  I will review findings about associations (1) among family socioeconomic status (SES), brain anatomy, and academic performance; (2) between early language experience and brain function and structure; and (3) between stress and brain function and how those can be altered by mindfulness training.

Announcing IBACS Undergraduate Awards

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IBACS is happy to announce the fifth year of the undergraduate research grant program!

The application period for the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 research grant program opens today, Tuesday, September 1st, 2020, and the deadline for applications will be 11:59 pm on Monday, February 22nd, 2021. Note that the academic year applications will now be reviewed on a rolling basis and awards will be made until funds are exhausted, or up until the application deadline. In other words, apply early! 

It is expected that applicants will be conducting research with IBACS faculty members, focusing on any research area associated with the IBACS mission.  Faculty sponsors will need to supply a letter of recommendation. Once the applicant lists the faculty advisor of the project in the form, an email will be sent to the faculty member with directions for how to submit the letter.  Applicants must fill out the online application, and also submit via the online application, a relatively short research plan (maximum of 6,000 characters, approximately 3 pages) and a budget that explains in detail how the funds will be spent. The application link is listed below. It is recommended that the student first compose the research plan and budget using a word processing program, and then upload the final versions on to the website.

THIS PROGRAM IS NOT MEANT TO PROVIDE DIRECT FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO STUDENTS. Instead, it is meant to provide support for the research. The account will be set up with the faculty sponsor after the award is given. It is expected that there will be ten awards of up to $1,000 during the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 academic year. The funding is meant to defray the research-related costs such as materials & supplies, minor equipment, software, animal or participant-related costs. The budget should reflect these expenditures.

 Recipients cannot apply for another grant within the same academic year, however, are eligible for the summer research grant program, provided that they are still a UConn student at the time. Please note that the application period for the summer research grant program will open on Monday, February 22nd, 2021, and the deadline for applications will be 11:59 pm on Friday, March 12th, 2021. 

All recipients are encouraged to present their work at the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Poster Exhibition.

 The IBACS undergraduate award academic year applications are reviewed based on the following criteria:

  • The project description is well written and clearly explains the project.
  • The project clearly focuses on a research area associated with the IBACS mission.
  • The budget is itemized, appropriate to the project described, and reports the total cost of the project (even if it exceeds the funding requested).
  • The advisor is familiar with the student’s project and rates the student’s work to date highly. 
  • Where project applications are equally meritorious, the reviewers will take note of how the student’s project will contribute to the advisor’s research goals.
  • The student and his/her project meet the eligibility criteria.
  • The student has secured research compliance approval(s) if necessary for the project. No award will be issued until documentation of approval(s) is received.

       IBACS Fall 2020/Spring 2021 Application: https://quest.uconn.edu/prog/ibacs_undergraduate_research_grant_-_fall_2020spring_2021/

       Please visit our website for more information. 

      Call for IBACS Seed Grant Applications

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      The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CT IBACS) is pleased to announce a new call for applications to its seed grant fund. Full details (and forms for the required letter of intent) can be found on the Institute website. 

       The seed fund is intended to fund activities in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (broadly construed) that are likely to lead to applications for external funding, or which otherwise contribute to the mission of the Institute. Successful applications will typically involve collaborations that require expertise across laboratories and traditional disciplinary boundaries. The Institute does not usually fund research that might normally be considered to fall within the scope of a single lab or discipline. 

      Applications for small grants (<$10,000) can be submitted at any time; applications in excess of $10,000 should be submitted by October 1st.  

      Please submit letters of intent as soon as possible, but at least 2 weeks prior to the seed grant application deadline (by 9/17/20), to allow time for review and feedback. 

      The Institute also invites applications for affiliate memberships.