The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CT IBACS), is inviting graduate students to apply to the IBACS-BIRC Research Assistantships in Neuroimaging (IBRAiN) Program. 

The CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS) is offering graduate assistantships of 10 hours per week during the Fall (2020) and Spring (2021) semesters at the Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC). During the first year, assistants will be trained in neuroimaging methods, data science, and reproducibility. Assistants will spend the remaining allocated hours at BIRC, supporting users of BIRC facilities. This could involve helping design and implement experimental procedures for fMRI, EEG, tDCS, TMS etc., recruitment and prepping of participants, data analysis, or overseeing use of equipment by others. Applicants will be expected to commit to the full duration of the assistantship (Fall & Spring). Funds may be available during Summer 2021 to enable IBRAiN students to pursue their own research at BIRC. IBRAiN students also receive an allocation of 20 hours of MRI time to be used at BIRC during the course of the fellowship.

We anticipate awarding one 10-hour assistantship starting Fall 2020, joining the existing IBRAiN students who have already completed their first year at BIRC and are starting their second year on the program.

The deadline for receipt of applications will be midnight on February 21, 2020

Priority may be given to applicants whose research will involve, or has involved, neuroimaging methods (fMRI, dEEG, tDCS, or TMS), and who will incorporate these methods into their master’s or dissertation research. Subject to funding and other constraints, these assistantships could be renewed for a further year. Please refer to the full details here. 

Students can apply both to this program and to the IBACS Graduate Fellowship program (details here).

We are excited to announce and invite you to the 11th ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT LANGUAGE FEST on Sat, May 2nd, 2020 in Oak Hall.

Language Fest is a University-wide research conference that brings together the full community of language researchers at UConn, including undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty, for a day of sharing results, ideas, methodologies and fostering future interdisciplinary collaborations.

We are excited to announce that our Keynote Speaker this year will be Dr. Alfonso Caramazza, the Daniel and Amy Starch Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

In addition to the Keynote, data blitz, and poster session, we are also pleased to announce a new item to this year’s program: the Language Fest Graduate Symposium, a cohesive cluster of graduate student presentations that showcase the community’s interdisciplinary approach to the Language Sciences. If you are a graduate student or undergraduate student working on language, please start thinking about presenting a poster about your project(s) at the conference!

Further details about the program and submission process will follow in Jan/Feb 2020.

For general inquiries about Language Fest, please contact: Katherine.Vlahcevic@uconn.edu.

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

UConn LangFest Organizing Committee

Jennifer Mozeiko

Erika Skoe

Umay Suanda

Cynthia Boo

Elizabeth Collins

Crystal Mastrangelo

Ashley Parker

Yanina Prystauka

Amanda Wadams

Noelle Wig

Kara Vlahcevic

Professor, Educational Psychology 

University of Connecticut

 2131 Hillside Rd., Unit 3007

Storrs, CT 06269-3007

860-486-2754

Office: Tasker 2

On behalf of the Neag School of Education Learning Sciences Search Committee, we invite you to participate in candidate visits . . .

 

Dr. Vanessa Vongkulluksn

Search Candidate, Learning Sciences

 

The Learning Sciences Search Committee is pleased to welcome Dr. Vanessa Vongkulluksn as a candidate this week on Thursday, December 5, 2019.  She is currently the School-based Research Lead and a Postdoctoral Scholar at The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology, Department of Educational Studies’ Research Laboratory for Digital Learning.  Vanessa holds a Ph.D. degree in Urban Education Policy from the University of Southern California, with a concentration in Educational Psychology and Quantitative Methods. She has focused her research on examining factors that impact learning and motivation in technology-integrated contexts. Her additional research interests include the development of digital literacy skills and their influence on children’s academic motivation and achievement in technology-rich learning environments. She has over five years of experience in school-based research and statistical analyses of data related to learning, cognition, and motivation.

 

Dr. Vongkulluksn will give both a research presentation (10:30-11:30, Tasker 12) and co-facilitate a teaching discussion (9:00 am – 10:00 am, 340D) which are described below.  We hope that students and faculty alike can come to one or both of these events. The teaching discussion is intended to be an opportunity to reflect on a shared problem of practice that teachers in higher education wrestle with.  Please come to one or both of these events!

 

Research Presentation

Teaching and Learning in the 21^st Century: Affordances and Demands

5 December, 10:30-11:30

Gentry 340D

 

The widespread permeation of digital technology has brought new possibilities for supporting students in their learning process. At the same time, it gives rise to new skills students need in order to be successful both inside and outside the classroom. In this presentation, Dr. Vongkulluksn will discuss research that stand at this critical junction. She will describe her research that examined how technology affords new avenues for learner support and the psychological factors that are central to positive student experiences in digital environments. She will also discuss research that illustrated how students develop key 21^st century skills such as information literacy and self-regulation, as well as what educators can do to support these developmental processes. The two strands of her research work together to examine technology and learning from both sides: what a technologically-driven world demands and offers. They both are key to understanding how learning occurs in the modern era and how to leverage advance technology towards creating learning environments that lead to student success.

 

Teaching Discussion

Facilitating Inclusive Classroom Discussions:

How to Encourage Diverse Student Voices in Higher Education

5 December, 9:00-10:00

Tasker 12

 

One key goal in higher education is to help students express their ideas during classroom discussions and relate class content to their own personal and professional experiences. Participating in classroom discussions not only help students better understand class content, but also motivate students to find personal relevance in what is being covered in class. An important issue related to this teaching endeavor is how to help students from diverse backgrounds feel comfortable and confident about participating in classroom discussions, especially in sharing personal stories that may seem different from the typical narrative. A related issue is how to encourage typically quiet students to participate. Dr. Vongkulluksn and Dr Wilson will co lead a discussion on different approaches and strategies to tackle these issues. Creating an equitable and supportive classroom environment is essential to helping diverse students succeed in higher education.

We are excited to announce that the date of the IBACS 2020 Meet and Speak event will be March 28th. 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 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!

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 at the start of the summer period, 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 December 13, 2019.

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 2019 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.

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Science of Intelligence (SCIoI)
Cluster of Excellence   

********************************
   
*Early notice*
   
6 PhD and 5 Postdoc positions
   
Full call expected in November 2019.
   
Stay tuned for more information on application deadline and application procedure!
    
Cross-disciplinary research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, control, robotics, computer vision, behavioral biology, cognitive science, psychology, educational science, neuroscience, and philosophy.
   
Starting dates: Summer / Fall 2020
Duration: 3 years
Salary level: TV-L 13, 100%

What are the principles of intelligence, shared by all forms of intelligence, no matter whether artificial or biological, whether robot, computer program, human, or animal? And how can we apply these principles to create intelligent technology? Answering these questions – in an ethically responsible way – is the central scientific objective of the new Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence.

Researchers from a multitude of analytic and synthetic disciplines – artificial intelligence, machine learning, control, robotics, computer vision, behavioral biology, cognitive science, psychology, educational science, neuroscience, and philosophy – join forces to create a multi-disciplinary research program across universities and research institutes in Berlin.
   
Our approach is driven by the insight, that any method, concept, and theory must demonstrate its merits by contributing to the intelligent behavior of a synthetic artifact, such as a robot or a computer program. These artifacts represent the shared “language” across disciplines, enabling the validation, combination, transfer, and extension of research results. Thus we expect to attain cohesion among disciplines, which currently produce their own theories and empirical findings about aspects of intelligence.

Interdisciplinary research projects have been defined which combine analytic and synthetic research and which address key aspects of individual, social, and collective intelligence.
   
In addition, the Science of Intelligence graduate program promotes the cross-disciplinary education of young scientists on a Master, PhD, and postdoctoral level. All PhD students associated with the cluster are expected to join the Science of Intelligence doctoral program.    
    —
Zarifa Mohamad
Graduate Program
Science of Intelligence (SCIoI)
Technische Universitaet Berlin
Marchstraße 23
10587 Berlin, Germany
tel.: +49 30 314-22673
email: zarifa.mohamad@scioi.org