Connectionists: GRA positions available - please forward

[Alexei V. Samsonovich]

Dear Colleague: 

As a part of a research team at KIAS (GMU, Fairfax, VA), I am searching for graduate students who are interested in working during one year, starting immediately, on a very ambitious project supported by our recently funded grant. The title is “An Integrated Self-Aware Cognitive Architecture”. The grant may be extended for the following years. The objective is to create a self-aware, conscious entity in a computer. This entity is expected to be capable of autonomous cognitive growth, basic human-like behavior, and the key human abilities including learning, imagery, social interactions and emotions. The agent should be able to learn autonomously in a broad range of real-world paradigms. During the first year, the official goal is to design the architecture, but we are planning implementation experiments as well. 

We are currently looking for several students. The available positions must be filled as soon as possible, but no later than by the beginning of the Spring 2006 semester. Specifically, we are looking for a student to work on the symbolic part of the project and a student to work on the neuromorphic part, as explained below. 

A symbolic student must have a strong background in computer science, plus a strong interest and an ambition toward creating a model of the human mind. The task will be to design and to implement the core architecture, while testing its conceptual framework on selected practically interesting paradigms, and to integrate it with the neuromorphic component. Specific background and experience in one of the following areas is desirable: (1) cognitive architectures / intelligent agent design; (2) computational linguistics / natural language understanding; (3) hacking / phishing / network intrusion detection; (4) advanced robotics / computer-human interface. 

A neuromorphic candidate is expected to have a minimal background in one of the following three fields. (1) Modern cognitive neuropsychology, including, in particular, episodic and semantic memory, theory-of-mind, the self and emotion studies, familiarity with functional neuroanatomy, functional brain imaging data, cognitive-psychological models of memory and attention. (2) Behavioral / system-level / computational neuroscience. (3) Attractor neural network theory and computational modeling. With a background in one of the fields, the student must be willing to learn the other two fields, as the task will be to put them together in a neuromorphic hybrid architecture design (that will also include the symbolic core) and to map the result onto the human brain. 

Not to mention that all candidates are expected to be interested in the modern problem of consciousness, willing to learn new paradigms of research, and committed to success of the team. Given the circumstances, however, we do not expect all conditions listed above to be met. Our minimal criterion is the excitement and the desire of an applicant to build an artificial mind. I should add that this bold and seemingly risky project provides a unique in the world opportunity to engage with emergent, revolutionary activity that may change our lives. 

Cordially, 

Alexei Samsonovich


-- 
Alexei V. Samsonovich, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor
George Mason University, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study
4400 University Drive MS 2A1, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, U.S.A.
Office: 703-993-4385, fax: 703-993-4325, cell: 703-447-8032
<http://www.krasnow.gmu.edu/alexei/index.html>