Author: Crystal Mills

11/10 COGS & SLHS Colloquium: Dr. Samuel Mathias

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The Cognitive Science Program and the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department are co-hosting a talk on 11/10!   

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Mathias, Professor of Psychology from the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School

Time & Location: 4PM, Friday November 10, 2023, in McHugh Hall Room 206

Talk Title: “Genetic and environmental influences on hearing, cocktail-party listening, and cognition”

Abstract: Everyday hearing requires solving the cocktail-party problem, or segregating and attending to the relevant parts of complex auditory scenes. There are huge individual differences in cocktail-party listening abilities. People with clinical hearing loss generally struggle with cocktail-party listening due to impaired basic auditory sensitivity; however, others experience similar difficulties despite having “normal” sensitivity. Conventional wisdom says that such individual differences are due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors, although the specific factors and their relative weights are poorly understood. This talk will describe preliminary work and future plans to identify specific genetic and environmental factors influencing hearing abilities, including basic auditory sensitivity and cocktail-party listening. We will also discuss how these abilities relate to cognition, with a view towards leveraging these relationships to better understand the distinct and shared etiologies of presbycusis, cognitive decline, and dementia.

Meetings: If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Mathias during the day before his talk or in dinner on Friday evening, please email Crystal: crystal.mills@uconn.edu. Thank you!

IBACS Fall 2023 Call for Seed Grant Applications

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The Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS) is pleased to announce a new call for applications to its seed grant fund.  

The seed grant program is intended to fund research consistent with the IBACS mission. Large Seed Grant applications (>$10,000 but <$25,000) are time-limited to accommodate GA assignment; the Fall deadline is October 2nd, 2023 (due to the 1st falling on a weekend). Please submit letters of intent as soon as possible, but at least 2 weeks prior to the seed grant application deadline (by 9/15/23), to allow time for review and feedback prior to submission of the full proposal. 

A reminder that our Spring deadline will be April 1st, 2024. Small Seed Grant applications (<$10,000) are accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted.

Seed funding is intended to support direct research costs such as supplies, participant fees, animal costs, and student support. Review criteria seek innovative, novel, and collaborative projects in the field of brain and cognitive sciences.  Postdocs can also apply, with a faculty mentor as co-PI. Undergraduates are directed to separate academic/summer funding. Full details on the seed grant program, including applications (letter of intent and full seed app) and allowable costs, please check our website. 

The Institute also invites applications for affiliate memberships.  

Any questions should be directed to the Institute Coordinator, Crystal Mills at crystal.mills@uconn.edu or (860) 486-4937. 

Welcome Back!

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IBACS is pleased to welcome our affiliates back to the 2023/2024 academic year! We are excited to embark on yet another year of cross-disciplinary and collaborative research.   

Please find below some very important Fall 2023 reminders and updates:  

Fall 2023/Spring 2024 Large & Small IBACS Seed Grant Funding  

Effective Sept 1, 2023, we call for Seed Grant applications from affiliates to fund interdisciplinary research consistent with the IBACS Mission. Large Seed Grant (>10K) applications are time-limited to accommodate GA assignment. Fall deadline is October 2nd 2023; Spring deadline is April 1st 2024. Small Seed Grant applications (<10K) are accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted. Seed funding is intended to support direct research costs such as supplies, participant fees, animal costs, and student support. Review criteria seek innovative, novel, and collaborative projects in the field of brain and cognitive sciences. Postdocs can apply, with a faculty mentor as co-PI. Undergraduates are directed to separate academic/summer funding. For more information on the Seed Grant and other funding programs, including allowable costs, please check our website.

IBACS Publication Awards   

The IBACS Publication Award provides a lump-sum up to $1.5K to cover full publication costs, or up to 50% of the costs with a $3K cap on IBACS contribution. The application process is rolling and will close once funds are exhausted. Please visit our award page for more information, including eligibility requirements and the form to apply.     

Summer Graduate Fellowships   

IBACS Summer 2024 graduate fellowship application opens on December 1, 2023, and will close January 30, 2024. Details can be found on the webpage.   

Undergraduate Research Awards 

We will be offering IBACS Undergraduate Research Grants this academic year and during the summer. Please note that our dates have changed from past cycles. The academic year application is now open – the Fall application will close on September 18, 2023, and the Spring app will close on February 6, 2024. A separate email with more information will be sent out soon. Our Summer 2024 application will open on December 1, 2023 and close on January 30, 2024. Please visit our undergraduate fellowships page for more information, including deadlines and instructions, as they become available.  

IBACS Meeting Support 

Please note that our mechanism for applying for meeting support is changing. Instead of applying through our small seed grant application, please visit our meeting support page. IBACS offers meeting, workshop, or conference support (either one-time or recurring) to IBACS affiliates and external/non-profit organizations. The event must relate to the Institute’s mission. The deadline is rolling and funds are limited, so the application will close once funds are exhausted.  

Travel Awards Program  

The IBACS Travel Award Program funds up to ten $500 awards to be used for meeting/conference travel expenses where data will be presented that was directly supported by IBACS. These awards are available to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-docs. This program operates with a rolling deadline. Please visit the travel award webpage for more information.      

Arjona Desks Available  

There are desk spaces available for graduate students and sponsored undergraduates working in IBACS-affiliated labs in Arjona 311. Please contact Crystal to sign out a desk.  

Arjona Meeting Space Available   

IBACS has some Arjona meeting spaces available for use by affiliates, including OWL/hybrid support. Room booking requests and OWL reservations should go through Crystal.   

IBACS Soapbox 

Have something you want to share with our affiliates? Please submit to the IBACS soapbox at soapbox.uconn.edu. Anyone can submit on topics such as events, courses, talks, funding opportunities, and more. Our soapbox is sent out on our listserv every Monday at 2pm.  

Refer a Colleague to IBACS  

The Institute is always looking to expand our base of University affiliates, helping researchers network and connect to generate collaborative research.  If you know of others in your department that would like to be affiliated with the Institute, please forward this email or recommend they check out the benefits of affiliation on our IBACS website.  

   

Best wishes for a safe and productive year ahead!  

  

John Salamone, Director of Communication and Outreach, IBACS  

Inge-Marie Eigsti, Director of Research, IBACS 

Emily Myers, Director of Training, IBACS 

Crystal Mills, Senior Institute Coordinator, IBACS  

Announcing *NEW* IBACS Leadership

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The IBACS executive committee is thrilled to announce the appointment of three new directors who will assume leadership of the Institute this fall. Their selection culminates from a major visioning process involving community feedback (2021-22), a University-wide request for nominations (fall 2022), a review of qualifications and candidates' willingness to serve, candidate interviews with the executive committee (winter 2023), and a final review of recommendations by the CLAS Dean Juli Wade. 

New IBACS Directors

Emily Myers, Director of Training
Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences;
Professor of Psychological Sciences; Perception, Action, and Cognition Research Program

Photo of Emily Myers

Our new Director of Training will work to connect and publicize UConn’s many outstanding training programs in the brain, cognitive, and neurosciences space. Myers will work with leadership of existing programs to build strengths and optimize use of shared resources. She will coordinate with departments to support and grow opportunities for cross-training (e.g., inter- disciplinary training programs that cross over traditional degree programs). She will also manage IBACS Graduate and Undergraduate Student Summer Award programs, and work with the Director of Research to support and coordinate graduate lines (RAs) for students working in our service cores.

John Salamone, Director of Communication and Outreach
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences; Behavioral Neuroscience Research Program

Our new IBACS Director of Communication and Outreach will manage the outward face of IBACS, including the curation of our website/media presence – both inside and outside the University. John will work to enhance integration and cooperation among departments, programs, and centers critical to the thriving brain, cognitive, and neurosciences space at UConn. This will include improving the coordination of related talk and seminar series, ListServs, etc. Salamone will work to engage new IBACS stakeholders, and to build new interdisciplinary connections and breadth of representation within the Institute and its initiatives. 

Photo of John Salamone

Inge-Marie Eigsti, Director of Research
Professor of Psychological Sciences; Clinical Research Program

Photo of Inge-Marie Eigsti

Our new Director of Research will work to support existing and promote new interdisciplinary research in the brain, cognitive and neurosciences space. Eigsti will strive to increase external funding and sustainability of IBACS-affiliated programs and service cores. She will manage the IBACS Seed Grant Programs and work with IBACS-affiliated service cores in support of their respective missions – including a newly refurbished EEG/eye-tracking lab, and our new Science Alliance Mobile (SAM), which will bring cutting-edge mobile research facilities to new off-campus test sites and outreach locations. She will organize speaker events, and work together with the Director of Training and Director of Communication/Outreach where missions overlap.

All three directors will begin their positions in Fall 2023 and serve three-year terms.

Save the Date: 25th Neuroscience at Storrs

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            The Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience Announces: 

                  The 25th Annual Neuroscience at Storrs 

A Two-Day Celebration of Molecular, Cellular, Behavioral, Cognitive & Systems Neuroscience 

                        November 8th and 9th 2022 

DAY I. Tuesday November 8th 4:00 pm

Dodd Center Konover Auditorium 

Amanda Lauer Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Title: “Role of the auditory brain-to-ear efferent feedback system in hearing across the lifespan”

DAY II. Wednesday November 9th

Dodd Center Konover Auditorium 

3:00-3:45 Grad Student/Postdoc Data Blitz

3:45-4:30 Trainee Career Panel

4:30-5:30 Amy Newman Ph.D., NIDA Intramural Laboratories

Title: “Novel and atypical dopamine transport inhibitors for the treatment of psychostimulant use disorders”

Bousfield PSYC Atrium

6:00-8:30 Poster Session and Reception

IBACS Summer Undergrad Research Grant Application Opens TODAY

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IBACS Summer 2022 Undergraduate Research Grant Program 

The application period for the summer research grant program opens TODAY, and the deadline for applications will be 11:59 pm on March 14th, 2022. 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, submit a relatively short research plan (maximum of 8 pages, not including references; 12pt Times New Roman, 1” margins, double spaced) and a budget that explains in detail how the funds will be spent. 

The budget should be constructed in the following manner:  The total award will be for up to $5,000. $3,500 should go to providing the student with a summer stipend, and it is expected that the student will spend at least 10 weeks of the summer working on this project at UConn.  Up to $1,500 can be allocated for any supplies or materials that contribute to the research, including software, participant costs and any animal expenses.  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. 

Students who received a Fall 2021/Spring 2022 IBACS grant are eligible for the summer award. However, students cannot take the summer IBACS award in combination with any other major summer award (e.g. SURF). Thus, a student can apply for multiple awards, but can only accept one. The results of the grant review will be given to the student awardees in time for them to make a decision about which grant they will accept, in case they receive more than one. 

The IBACS undergraduate award 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 Summer 2022 Application: https://quest.uconn.edu/prog/ibacs_undergraduate_research_grant_-_summer_2022/

 Please visit our website for more information, including important tax details. 

COGS & IBACS Colloquium: Dr. John Hale on 2/18

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The CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences and The Cognitive Science Program are excited to jointly host a talk by Dr. John Hale, professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Georgia.
 
Details can be found below but please note that the choice between an in-person or online talk online has not yet been made so please look out for further details. 
Time: 4pm, Friday, February 18
Talk Title: “Grammar, Incrementality and fMRI Timecourse”
If you have any questions or would like to meet with Dr. Hale, please contact Whit Tabor at whitney.tabor@uconn.edu. 

Save the Date: IBACS Meet & Speak 2022

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We are excited to announce that the date of the IBACS 2022 Meet and Speak event will be Friday, April 29th from 2-5pm. Our current plan to hold the event in-person, however, this may change. 
 
For those of you who are not familiar with the event, affiliated faculty (from the Storrs campus and UConn Health Center) will give presentations describing, in accessible language, the research they have carried out, or propose carrying out, with seed funding previously awarded by IBACS. Graduate students affiliated with the Institute will be performing short “datablitz” style presentations about their involvement in Seed Funded or related research. The event will also include a keynote talk by an internationally recognized speaker relevant to the brain and cognitive sciences community, TBD. The IBACS Meet & Speak 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.

Please save the date! A formal invite and details will be sent out as the event gets closer. Enjoy the rest of the semester and the upcoming holidays!

Reminder: IBACS Graduate Fellowship Applications Due 12/3

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The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CT IBACS) is inviting applications to its Graduate Fellowship Program.

These summer fellowships are intended for graduate students working on topics with relevance (broadly construed) to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. IBACS Graduate Fellows attend a short grant-writing workshop and will be expected to submit an application to the NSF GRFP, NRSA (pre- or post-doctoral fellowship), or equivalent, in the Fall.

Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, December 3rd, 2021.

Graduate students who are not US citizens are eligible to apply and are expected to work with their advisor to develop an external research proposal if they are not eligible for graduate fellowships. Students who were fellows in summer 2020 may apply if they submitted the external grant proposal they developed last year and it was not funded, with the expectation that they will revise their previous grant or develop a new one.

Please refer to the full details here.

Call for IBACS Graduate Student Fellowship Applications

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The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CT IBACS) is inviting applications to its Graduate Fellowship Program.

These summer fellowships are intended for graduate students working on topics with relevance (broadly construed) to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. IBACS Graduate Fellows attend a short grant-writing workshop and will be expected to submit an application to the NSF GRFP, NRSA (pre- or post-doctoral fellowship), or equivalent, in the Fall.

Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, December 3rd, 2021.

Graduate students who are not US citizens are eligible to apply and are expected to work with their advisor to develop an external research proposal if they are not eligible for graduate fellowships. Students who were fellows in summer 2020 may apply if they submitted the external grant proposal they developed last year and it was not funded, with the expectation that they will revise their previous grant or develop a new one.

Please refer to the full details here.