Undergraduate Program in Cognitive Science Spring 2015

Size and Make-up of Majors 51 COGS majors By year: –10 seniors –14 juniors –12 sophomores –15 freshmen By major: –COGS: 19 –COGS/CSCI: 23 –COGS/GSAS: 3 –Other COGS duals: 6 (MATH, PSYC, CSYS, DIS, STS)

Curriculum

COGS Core Courses Behavioral Neuroscience or Intro to Cognitive Neuroscience Sensation and Perception (Structure of Language no longer offered) Knowledge and Rationality (Metaphysics & Csns and Phil of AI no longer offered) Cognitive Modeling (LISP for AI no longer offered) -> can use Intelligent Virtual Agents or Affective Computing as substitute) Intro to AI -> can use Game AI or Learning & Advanced Game AI as a substitute)

Senior Thesis Find a Faculty Member to do your Thesis with: Your Thesis Faculty Advisor Fill out thesis form with Thesis Faculty Advisor (bring to Registrar before add deadline) Thesis Faculty Advisor will lay out requirements of thesis –Meetings –Literature Research –Experimental Research –Write-Up You do not have to do thesis in last semester

Online Courses Udacity (~40 courses, mostly CSCI, self-paced, wide variety of course lengths)Udacity –Introduction to AI, Artificial Intelligence for Robotics, The Design of Everyday Things Coursera (500+ courses; wide variety)Coursera –Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Computational Neuroscience, Natural Language Processing, etc. EdX (100+ courses, various fields)EdX Possibility of getting 1-2 credits Independent Study for successful completion of courses (Add Deadline: Friday, 2/6)

Wednesday Issues in Cognitive Science Seminar It is possible for undergraduates to receive 1 credit through the Issues in Cognitive Science Lecture Series: –Write 1 page response paper about talk for 6 talks of your choice –Register for COGS 2940/4940 “Issues in Cognitive Science” –Restricted to COGS majors or minors or dual majors with PHIL or PSYC

Speakers This Semester February 4, Stanislas Dehaene, College of France –“Reading the Brain”, Streaming Video February 11, Michael Ramscar, Cog. Sci. Researcher, Univ. of Tubingen –“The Myth of Cognitive Decline”: Cognitive Models of Lifelong Learning February 25, Ennio Mingolla, Northeastern University –“Lifting the Shroud of Visual Attention”: Neural Network Models of Visual Perception March 4, Shyam Kumar, Professor of Lally School, RPI Corporate Strategies: A Cognitive Perspective –March 11, Lael Schooler, Professor of Psychology, Syracuse University –Mathematical Models of Psychological Decision-Making April 8, Peter Fox, Tetherless World Constellation Chair, RPI April 22, Jun Zhang, University of Michigan –Meta-Game Theory: Thinking about thinking about thinking … All other talks this semester are by COGS graduate students For a complete schedule of speakers go to Speaker Series off of Cognitive Science department home pageSpeaker Series If you think of a potential speaker, let me know!

Research

Undergraduate Research Cog Sci students are strongly encouraged to do hands-on research Undergraduate Research Program (URP) – –Fill out URP form:URP form You have to write a 500 word proposal! for course credit (deadline = course add deadline = February 6) –Also fill out an Independent Study/URP Registration formIndependent Study/URP Registration form for $ (February 13) Research can be used for Senior Thesis

Summer URP (SURP) at RPI Competitive program –Applications reviewed by multiple faculty $4000 stipend for 10-week summer research Need to find faculty member willing to support research efforts during 10-week period Deadline: February 20! SURP

Other Summer Programs Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Program in Vision Science, University of RochesterUndergraduate Summer Fellowship Program in Vision Science Probably others as well … Usually applications are due sometime in February, so this is a good time to look at summer programs!

Other Programs … Visiting Undergraduate Research Program, University of IndianaVisiting Undergraduate Research Program –Highly selective year-long program for seniors –Work directly with faculty member

Overview Research Groups and Labs Cognitive Factors in Human Performance –(Dr. David Mendonca) Linguistic Agents –(Dr. Marjorie McShane and Dr. Sergei Nirenburg) CogWorks Lab –(Dr. Wayne Gray) RAIR Lab –(Dr. Selmer Bringsjord) Sim Lab –(Dr. Mei Si) Visual Reasoning –(Dr. Bram van Heuveln)

Visual Reasoning Research Page

Paperwork Declare or add Cognitive Science Major –Fill out Change of Major formChange of Major form –Curriculum Coordinator: Betty Osganian (Sage 4301) 1 credit for Issues in Cognitive Science lectures –Fill out Independent Study formIndependent Study form COGS 2940/4940 “Issues in Cognitive Science” Senior Thesis –Find thesis advisor –Fill out Thesis Registration formThesis Registration form URP –Fill out URP formURP form –For credit: Fill out Independent Study form as wellIndependent Study form Credits to be determined by project advisor Deadline = Course Add Deadline: Friday, 2/6 –For $ (URP matches up to $400): Find faculty member with $! Deadline: Friday, 2/13