Graduate Training Opportunities in Mind Brain and Computation Center for Mind, Brain, and Computation Stanford University

Key Questions about Mind and Brain How does the brain, process, represent, and use information when we perceive, think, act, and remember? How does it learn to do these things better? How can our knowledge help us help improve people’s lives? Answering these questions requires a convergence of disciplines: –Neuroscience –Engineering –Computer Science –Medicine

Basic Tenets Cognitive states are emergent consequences of processes taking place within and between neurons distributed widely within and across brain regions Understanding these states, what supports them, and their roles in cognition requires convergent use of advanced quantitative and computational ideas combined with experimental investigations.

Some Relevant Labs/Projects at Stanford McClelland/Newsome: –Computational models and physiological investigations of decision and choice. Shenoy/Sahani (UCL): –Decoding activity of many single neurons to understand motor control and enable neural control of prostheses. Ng: –Neurally inspired machine learning methods for better models of visual cortex and better tools for machine vision. Huguenard: –Synchronous oscillatory activity in the thalamocortical system related to attention, sleep, and epilepsy Boahen: –Implementation of neural mechanisms of processing and learning in silico. Baccus: –Dynamic predictive coding in the retina: experimental and computational investigations.

Current List of Training Faculty Director: –Jay McClelland, Psychology Co-Director: –Krishna Shenoy, Electrical Engineering Steering Committee Members: –Daphne Koller, Computer Science –William Newsome, Neurobiology –Brian Wandell, Psychology Other Training Faculty: Stephen Baccus, Neurobiology Kwabena Boahen, Bioengineering Karl Deisseroth, Bioengineering and Psychiatry Scott Delp, Mechanical Engineering Gary Glover, Radiology Kalanit Grill-Spector, Psychology Trevor Hastie, Statistics John Huguenard, Neurology Eric Knudsen, Neurobiology Brian Knutson, Psychology Robert Malenka, Psychiatry Samuel McClure, Psychology Vinod Menon, Psychiatry Teresa Meng, EE & CS Tirin Moore, Neurobiology Andrew Ng, Computer Science Jennifer Raymond, Neurobiology Terence Sanger, Neurology Mark Schnitzer, Biological Sciences Carla Shatz, Biological Sciences and Neurobiology Stephen Smith, Molecular & Cellular Physiology Richard Tsein, Molecular & Cellular Physiology Sebastian Thrun, CS &EE Anthony Wagner, Psychology Bernard Widrow, Electrical Engineering

MBC/IGERT Graduate Training Program Program and its activities are open to all interested graduate students at Stanford Goals –Increase integration across the community –Attract outstanding students and faculty to the university –Provide increased training funds for graduate students Activities –New courses –Bi-weekly seminar series (kickoff soon!) –Annual retreat –Encourage (and fund) students to pursue personalized training programs leading to research projects that bridge computational and experimental methodologies.

Integrative IGERT/MBC Training Programs Student develops integrated training and research plan with primary research advisor and complementary co-advisor. Plan should include specialized course series providing convergent background needed (partial overlap with required coursework encouraged) Plan should culminate in a trans-disciplinary research project stretching the student beyond the usual boundaries of his home Ph. D. program. Approved plans eligible for support from the MBC’s NSF IGERT grant. Foreign travel and

Want to be Involved? Send mail to to get on the distribution Attend the kickoff meeting and bi-weekly seminar Monday evenings. Visit the MBC website: Send to me,