[ACT-R-users] CogModel notes: ICCM09/CogSci09/BRIMS09/Workshop/TiCS/Books/Positions

Frank Ritter frank.ritter at psu.edu
Sat Apr 4 20:03:39 EDT 2009


[Please forward as/what is appropriate, such as to students' mailing
lists, and for calenders of events, or people who are interested in
these topics.]

This is based on the International Cognitive Modeling Conference
mailing list, which I maintain.  I forward messages about twice a
year, a few more close to ICCMs. The first announcement is driving this
email, the announcement of the call for papers at ICCM 2009.  If you would
like to be removed, please just let me know.  I maintain it by hand to
keep it small.

cheers,

Frank Ritter                 frank.e.ritter at gmail.com
http://acs.ist.psu.edu       http://www.frankritter.com


1. ICCM 2009 Conference Announcement, 24-26 July 2009, Manchester, UK,
    paper deadline Tuesday 14  April 2009
    http://web.mac.com/howesa/Site/ICCM_09.html

2. CogSci 2009 Tutorials and Workshops [tentative schedule]
    http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2009/tutorials.html

3. AISB 09 Convention, 6-9 April 2009, program available
    http://www.aisb.org.uk/convention/aisb09

4. Soar Workshop, June 22-26, 2009

5. BRIMS 09 Conference Program, 31 March -2 April 2009, program and soon papers
    http://www.brimsconference.org

6. Summer School in Cognitive Science, 6-23 July 2009
    http://nbu.bg/cogs/events/ss2009.html

7. CHI Workshop on Challenges in Evaluating Usability and User Experience
    in Reality Based Interaction  [program and papers available]
    http://faculty.euc.ac.cy/gchristou/workshop/

8. Workshop on Spatial Cognition, 14-16 May 2009
    http://www.mindmodeling.org/msc/

9. Model Comparison Challenge, to be held at ICCM, due 15 May 2009
    http://www.hss.cmu.edu/departments/sds/ddmlab/modeldsf/letter.html

10. Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality, 15-22 July 2009
     http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/SummerInstitute.

11. Topics in Cognitive Science [new journal]
     http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/journal_topics.html

12. Principles of Synthetic Intelligence PSI: An 
Architecture of Motivated Cognition [new book]
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/CognitivePsychology/CognitivePsychology/?view=usa&ci=9780195370676


13. Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors [new book]
 
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/booksorderform.cws_home/715493/bookorderform1_1

14. Paper on making intelligent agents understandable
     http://acs.ist.psu.edu/papers/haynesCR09.pdf

15. Junior research opening at USC/ICT

16. Post-doc at RPI

17. Post-doc at Penn  (not Penn State)
     http://www.acasa.upenn.edu/postdoc_1_22_07.htm

18. Graduate fellowship at Gronigen
 
http://www.rug.nl/bureau/expertisecentra/azis/az/producten/ubboe/ubboinshort

19. Job in Pittsburgh on cognitive work analysis
     http://resilientcognitivesolutions.com/aboutrcs_careers.php#cogsyseng

20. Wii Bit of Fun at Rice University Has Serious Intent
     http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/news2008-12-09-wii.shtml
     [From ACM Tech Review]

***************************************************

1. ICCM 2009 Conference Announcement
     24-26 July 2009, Manchester, UK, paper deadline  Tuesday 14  April 2009
     http://web.mac.com/howesa/Site/ICCM_09.html

ICCM is the premier international conference for research on
computational models and computation-based theories of human
behavior. ICCM is a forum for presenting, discussing, and evaluating
the complete spectrum of cognitive models, including connectionism,
symbolic modeling, dynamical systems, Bayesian modeling, and cognitive
architectures. ICCM includes basic and applied research, across a wide
variety of domains, ranging from low-level perception and attention to
higher-level problem-solving and learning.

The proceedings of the 2007 conference are available from
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/iccm2007.org/iccm_2007_proceedings_and_papers

***************************************************

2. CogSci 2009 Tutorials and Workshops [tentative schedule]
    http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2009/tutorials.html

Tutorials - All full-day unless otherwise indicated.

   Quantum Information Processing Theory
   Jerome R. Busemeyer & Zheng Wang      jbusemey at indiana.edu

   Dynamic Field Theory: Conceptual Foundations 
and Applications in the Cognitive and 
Developmental Sciences
   Gregor Schoner, Vanessa Simmering, & Christian Faubel   Gregor.Schoner at rub.de

   EPAM/CHREST Tutorial: Fifty Years of Simulating Human Learning
   Fernand Gobet & Peter Lane         Fernand.Gobet at brunel.ac.uk

   CogSketch Tutorial (half-day)
   Kenneth D. Forbus                forbus at northwestern.edu


Accepted Workshops - All full-day unless otherwise indicated.

   ACT-R Workshop
   Anderson, Bothell, Lebiere, & Taatgen   ja at cmu.edu

   Large-Scale Cognitive Modeling using Model Integrated Computing
   Scott Douglass & Jonathan Sprinkle    scott.douglass at mesa.afmc.af.mil

   New Developments in the Cognitive Science of 
Religion. Hosted by the International
       Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR)"
   Armin Geertz, Luther Martin, Robert McCauley          awg at teo.au.dk

   Aspects of the Self in VR: Implications for Design
   Vanja Kljajeviç & Kamilla Jóhannsdóttir             vkljjvic at memphis.edu

   Bridging the Gap Between Computational and Empirical Approaches to Reference
   van Deemter, Gatt, van Gompel, & Krahmer               e.j.krahmer at uvt.nl

   Intuitive Pedagogical Reasoning: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
   Patrick Shafto & Noah Goodman                   p.shafto at louisville.edu

   Swarm Cognition Workshop
   Vito Trianni & Elio Tuci                 vito.trianni at istc.cnr.it

   Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition
   William Gregory Sakas & Rens Bod               sakas at hunter.cuny.edu

   WICS: Merging professional development and 
science: Constructing a successful grant proposal 
(half-day)
   Feldman, van Hell, Kroll, & Rajaram              lf503 at albany.edu

******************************************************************

3.  AISB 09 Convention, 6-9 April 2009, program available
      http://www.aisb.org.uk/convention/aisb09

The AISB'09 Convention will be organised by Nick Taylor at Heriot-Watt
University in Edinburgh, 6th-9th April 2009. Its theme is Adaptive and
Emergent Behaviour and Complex Systems.  It is made up up of workshops
and symposiums.

   Killer Robots or Friendly Fridges: the Social Understanding of
   Artificial Intelligence
   Prof Greg Michaelson (Heriot-Watt University)
   Prof Ruth Aylett (Heriot-Watt University)

   New Frontiers in Human-Robot Interaction
   Prof Kerstin Dautenhahn (University of Hertfordshire)

   2nd Swarm Intelligence Algorithms and Applications Symposium (SIAAS-09)
   Dr Aladdin Ayesh (De Montfort University)

   Evolutionary Algorithms for the Design and Understanding of Complex Systems
   Prof David Corne (Heriot-Watt University)
   Dr Pier Frisco (Heriot-Watt University)

   2nd Perada Workshop on Pervasive Adaptation
   Dr Emma Hart (Napier University)
   Dr Nick Taylor (Heriot-Watt University)

   PERSIST Workshop on Intelligent Pervasive Environments
   Ms Sarah McBurney (Heriot-Watt University)
   Ms Eliza Papadopoulou (Heriot-Watt University)

   Social Networks and Multi-Agent Systems Symposium (SNAMAS-09)
   Dr Guido Boella (University of Turin)
   Dr Leendert van der Torre (University of Luxembourg)
   Dr Harko Verhagen (Stockholm University)

   Symposium on Behaviour Regulation in Multi-Agent Systems
   Dr Nir Oren (King's College London)

   Workshop on Matching and Meaning
   Dr Fiona McNeill (University of Edinburgh)

   Affective Bodily Expression
   Dr Nadia Berthouze (University College London)
   Dr Marco Gillies (Goldsmiths College London)

   Affect Mental States Symposium: From Emotion to Reason (AMSS-09)
   Dr Aladdin Ayesh (De Montfort University)

   2nd AISB Symposium Computing and Philosophy
   Dr Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths College London)

   Persuasive Technology and Digital Behaviour Intervention
   Dr Judith Masthoff (University of Aberdeen)
   Dr Floriana Grasso (University of Liverpool)

******************************************************************

4.  Soar Workshop

Once again we are planning for a Soar Workshop (29!). The current plan is to
hold the workshop in Ann Arbor at the CSE Building at the University of
Michigan on June 22-26. We are still planning the details, but this year we
may emphasize advanced tutorials on the new extensions of Soar and HLSR (on
23-24) along with an introductory tutorial on June 22 and shrink the
workshop to the 25-26.

***************************************************

5. BRIMS 09 Conference, 30 March -2 April 2009
    http://www.brimsconference.org
  [noted because papers will be available online]

Sundance Resort, Utah

Tutorials on Cognitive Crash Dummies and IMPRINT held: March 30, 2009

Invited Speakers

   Dr. John Anderson                        Barry G. Silverman, Ph.D.
   Carnegie Mellon University        University of Pennsylvania

   Michael Baranick                        Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, Ph.D.
   National Defense University       George Mason University

BRIMS provides an outstanding opportunity for scientific and technical
exchange on research and application in human behavior representation
with the larger modeling and simulation community.  BRIMS enables
modeling and simulation research scientists, engineers, application users, and
technical communities to meet, share ideas and experiences, identify gaps in
current capabilities, discuss new research directions, highlight
promising technologies, and showcase applications. The program includes
papers, posters, demos, symposia, panel discussions, and tutorials on
topics related to the representation of individuals, groups, teams and
organizations in models and simulations.  All submissions are peer-reviewed.

Schedule: http://brimsconference.org/schedule/
[papers will be available online approximately 10 April]

***************************************************

6. Summer School in Cognitive Science, 6-23 July 2009
    http://nbu.bg/cogs/events/ss2009.html

The New Bulgarian University is announcing the 
16th Summer School in Cognitive Science which 
will be held from July 6 till July 23, 2009 in 
Sofia, Bulgaria.

The summer school features advanced courses for 
graduate students and young researchers in a 
variety of areas, including embodied cognition, 
brain functions and development, computational 
cognitive neuroscience, collective behavior, 
creativity, analogy-making, cognitive modeling 
and neural networks, individual differences, 
animal cognition, etc.

The summer school this year will be extraordinary 
good and the lecturers include famous researchers 
like Michael Spivey, Rob Goldstone, Randall 
O'Reilly, Adele Diamond, Tom Ward, Roger 
Thompson, Edward Necka. This is a unique chance 
to learn about the latest developments and big 
challenges first hand.

In addition, the participants in the Summer 
School will be able to attend the Second Analogy 
Conference at no additional cost.

Decisions for admission are made on a case by 
case and first come first served bases. Therefore 
the earlier you apply the better. We have 
applicants from all over the world and almost 
half of the places in the summer school are 
already filled in, so hurry up!

For more information: http://nbu.bg/cogs/events/ss2009.html
e-mail: school at cogs.nbu.bg

***************************************************

7.  CHI Workshop on Challenges in Evaluating Usability and User Experience
       in Reality Based Interaction
     http://faculty.euc.ac.cy/gchristou/workshop/  [papers and program are up]

CHI 2009 Workshop: Challenges in Evaluating Usability and User
Experience in Reality Based Interaction
4 April 2009

The emergence of Post-WIMP interfaces led to new ways of interacting
with technology. However, there are still no integrated ways of
evaluating the usability and user experience of these
interfaces. Developers and designers are left to discover their own
evaluation methods. This approach presents problems, as methods used
in each case may provide results that are neither valid nor
meaningful. Thus, the time is ripe to integrate the methods that have
been developed for evaluating interfaces that belong to the RBI
umbrella.

This workshop will further the understanding of the challenges
relating to evaluation methods specific to RBIs, and will identify
effective practical responses to these challenges. We will enhance and
promote the collaboration between researchers and practitioners that
work in the field of design and evaluation of RBIs by
cross-pollinating the work done in the RBI constituent interaction
styles. We invite submissions in the following topics:

     * Case studies of evaluations that applied a specific measure or
       evaluation method to RBI applications.

     * Experimental studies of evaluation methods that hold potential
       for use in applied RBI settings.

     * Conceptual frameworks that enable the evaluation of RBIs through
       subjective and objective measures.

     * Studies that provide connections between user experience and
       usability measures in RBI contexts.

ORGANIZERS AND COMMITTEE

ORGANIZERS
  GEORGIOS CHRISTOU, European University Cyprus
  EFFIE LAI-CHONG LAW, ETH Zurich
  WILLIAM GREEN, Philips Research Europe
  KASPER HORNBÆK, University of Copenhagen

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
  Greg Dunn, Philips Research Europe
  Jettie Hoonhout, Philips Research Europe
  Robert Jacob, Tufts University
  Frank E. Ritter, Penn State University
  Orit Shaer, Wellesley College

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, contact Georgios Christou at g.christou at euc.ac.cy
***************************************************

8.  Workshop on Spatial Cognition, 14-16 May 2009
     http://www.mindmodeling.org/msc/

I am pleased to announce a workshop, Modeling 
Spatial Cognition, to be held in Scottsdale, AZ, 
14-16 May 2009.

Information on the workshop, including 
registration and a list of presenters and 
abstracts, is available: 
http://www.mindmodeling.org/msc/

The workshop is open to anyone interested in 
spatial cognition, modeling of complex cognitive 
processes, and specifically modeling spatial 
cognitive processing. Please feel free to forward 
this information to others who may want to attend.

"Gunzelmann,Glenn F Civ USAF AFMC 711 HPW/RHAC" 
<Glenn.Gunzelmann at mesa.afmc.af.mil>


***************************************************
9. Model Comparison Challenge
    http://www.hss.cmu.edu/departments/sds/ddmlab/modeldsf/letter.html

We write to invite you to participate in a Modeling Comparison Challenge:
"Predicting Cognitive Performance in Open-ended Dynamic tasks".  The goal of
the challenge is to advance the state of the art in cognitive modeling by
evaluating alternative cognitive models against human performance in a
common dynamic task. The task captures in an integrated manner some of the
key aspects of human cognition including the detection of temporal
regularities and the ability to control dynamic systems.

The description of the challenge and the information for participation
(including data, task environment, references and documentation) can be
found on the challenge web site:

http://www.cmu.edu/ddmlab/modeldsf

Please send an E-mail to: DSFChallenge at gmail.com to register as soon as
possible.  You must be registered before submitting your model. The most
important dates are:

The Modeling Comparison Challenge will be the focus of a symposium at the
Behavior Representation In Modeling and Simulation (BRIMS-2009) on April 1,
2009 in Sundance, Utah.

Deadline for model submissions is May 15, 2009.

Announcement of the challenge results is June 1, 2009.

The results and winner(s) will be presented at a symposium at the
International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (ICCM 2009) in Manchester, UK
on July 24th-26th, 2009.  One representative for each of the 3 best models
will be invited to present at the ICCM symposium.  Their expenses will be
covered for up to US$2000.

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to receiving your models!
Christian Lebiere, Coty Gonzalez, Walter Warwick.

***************************************************

10. Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality, 15-22 July 2009
     http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/SummerInstitute.

It is our pleasure to announce the eighth Summer Institute on Bounded
Rationality in Psychology and Economics, which will take place from
July 15 to 22, 2009 at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development
in Berlin.  The objective of the Summer Institute is to introduce
graduate students and young researchers to the study of
bounded, ecological, and social rationality, that is, how people make
decisions when information and time is limited and the future is
uncertain. This year, the evening lecture will be given by Nobel
laureate Reinhard Selten.

Talented graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from around the
world are invited to apply by March 31, 2009. We will provide all
participants with stipends to cover part of their travel and
accommodation expenses. Details on the Summer Institute and the
application process are available at
http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/SummerInstitute.

Please pass on this information to potential candidates from your own
department or institute.

Sincerely,

Gerd Gigerenzer & Vernon Smith
From: "Schooler, Lael" <schooler at mpib-berlin.mpg.de>
To: <act-r-users at act-r.psy.cmu.edu>

******************************************************************

11. Topics in Cognitive Science
     http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/journal_topics.html

I am very pleased to announce that the first 
issue of topiCS, Topics in Cognitive Science, has 
been published. Hard copies should be on their 
way to all of our members. In the meantime, all 
members and everyone else in the world can 
download articles from the Wiley InterScience 
website. The "everyone else in the world" bit 
will change for future issues, but it holds for 
now so we should try to publicize this as widely 
as possible.

Make sure that your campus librarian knows that 
topiCS is bundled with CSj and that both journals 
are being published by Wiley-Blackwell and not 
Erlbaum and not Taylor & Francis.

Wayne

====================================
topiCS - Topics in Cognitive Science
     the newest publication of the Cognitive Science Society

Submissions and reviews
     http://www.editorialmanager.com/topics/

topiCS homepage
     http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/journal_topics.html
Cognitive Science Society homepage
     http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org

  http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121673067/home

Founding & Executive Editor
     Wayne D. Gray     email: grayw at rpi.edu
     Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Journal Managing Editor
     Caroline Verdier
     Indiana University
     Eigenmann 819
     1910 E. 10th St.     Bloomington, IN 47406-7512
     phone: 812-855-4883
     fax: 812-855-1086    email: topicsj at indiana.edu

***************************************************

12.  Principles of Synthetic Intelligence PSI: An 
Architecture of Motivated Cognition [new book]
 
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/CognitivePsychology/CognitivePsychology/?view=usa&ci=9780195370676

Although computational models of cognition have 
become very popular, these models are relatively 
limited in their coverage of cognition-- they 
usually only emphasize problem solving and 
reasoning, or treat perception and motivation as 
isolated modules. The first architecture to cover 
cognition more broadly is Psi theory, developed 
by Dietrich Dorner. By integrating motivation and 
emotion with perception and reasoning, and 
including grounded neuro-symbolic 
representations, Psi contributes significantly to 
an integrated understanding of the mind. It 
provides a conceptual framework that highlights 
the relationships between perception and memory, 
language and mental representation, reasoning and 
motivation, emotion and cognition, autonomy and 
social behavior. It is, however, unfortunate that 
Psi's origin in psychology, its methodology, and 
its lack of documentation have limited its 
impact. The proposed book adapts Psi theory to 
cognitive science and artificial intelligence, by 
elucidating both its theoretical and technical 
frameworks, and clarifying its contribution to 
how we have come to understand cognition.


***************************************************

13. Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors
 
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/booksorderform.cws_home/715493/bookorderform1_1

Beverly Park Woolf
<bev at cs.umass.edu>

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA 

Description

The book shows how to build systems that assess a 
student's knowledge and are adaptive to each 
student's learning needs. It describes cognitive 
science, multimedia, learning technology, 
adaptive tutors, intelligent information systems 
and user modeling. Dr. Woolf taps into 20 years 
of research on intelligent tutors to bring 
designers and developers a broad range of issues 
and methods. The book describes multidisciplinary 
approaches to using computers for teaching, 
reports on research, development, and real-world 
experiences, and discusses web-based learning 
systems.

Audience

Professionals, graduate students, and others in 
computer science and educational technology who 
develop online tutoring systems to support 
e-learning.

Contents

Part I: Introduction To Artificial Intelligence and Education

Part II: Representation, Reasoning and Assessment

Part III: Technologies and Environments

Bibliographic & Ordering Information

Paperback, 480 pages, publication date: SEP-2008, Imprint: MORGAN KAUFFMAN

ISBN-13: 978-0-12-373594-2;  ISBN-10: 0-12-373594-7

Order Form:

  http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/booksorderform.cws_home/715493/bookorderform1_1

Price:  USD 69.95, GBP 39.99, EUR 57.95

Free copy

If you are thinking of adopting this book for 
your classes, go to http://textbooks.elsevier.com 
and register to use the site (create a username 
and password).  Once you are in the site, set 
author and search for Woolf on the orange banner 
on top. Go to the book site.  Then click a button 
on the right banner either E-Desk or Register 
Adoption and the site will ask you about where 
you want the copy sent. If you have any 
difficulty contact M.James at Elsevier.com

***************************************************

14. Paper on making intelligent agents understandable
     http://acs.ist.psu.edu/papers/haynesCR09.pdf

Haynes, S. R., Cohen, M. A., Ritter, F. E. 
(2009).  Design patterns for explaining 
intelligent systems.  International Journal of 
Human-Computer Studies. 67(1). 99-110. 

Explanation is an important capability for usable intelligent systems,
including intelligent agents and cognitive models embedded within
simulations and other decision support systems. Explanation facilities
help users understand how and why an intelligent system possesses a
given structure and set of behaviors. Prior research has resulted in a
number of approaches to providing explanation capabilities and
identified some significant challenges. We describe a design that can
be reused to create intelligent agents capable of explaining
themselves.  The design includes ways to provide ontological,
mechanistic, and operational explanations.  These designs inscribe
lessons learned from prior research and provide guidance for
incorporating explanation facilities into intelligent systems. Our
design is derived from both prior research on explanation tool design
and from the empirical study reported here on the questions users ask
when working with an intelligent system. We demonstrate the use of
these designs through examples implemented using the Herbal high-level
cognitive modeling language. These designs can help build better
agents-they support creating more usable and more affordable
intelligent agents by encapsulating prior knowledge about how to
generate explanations in concise representations that can be
instantiated or adapted by agent developers.

***************************************************

15.  Junior research opening at USC/ICT

We are looking to hire a junior researcher to focus on cognitive
architecture research within the context of our virtual human research
efforts.  The position would have primary responsibility over
envisioning the next-generation of cognitive architecture that would
support real-time multi-modal interactions with human users within
emotionally-evocative virtual simulations.  The candidate is expected
to collaborate closely with a multi-disciplinary research team
including research in emotion modeling, natural language processing,
and nonverbal behavior recognition and synthesis.  Below are listed
some research publications upon which the research is expected to
build.  Interested candidates should send a vita to me at
Gratch at Ict.usc.edu

Jonathan Gratch and Stacy Marsella, 
<http://people.ict.usc.edu/%7Egratch/Gratch_MICS06.pdf> 
The Architectural Role of Emotion in Cognitive 
Systems, in Integrated Models of Cognitive 
Systems, Wayne Gray (ed.), Oxford University 
Press, 2008.

Stacy Marsella and Jonathan Gratch, 
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13890417>EMA: 
A Model of Emotional Dynamics, Journal of 
Cognitive Systems Research, vol 10(1), 2009, pp 
70-90

William Swartout, Jonathan Gratch, Randall Hill, 
Eduard Hovy, Stacy Marsella, Jeff Rickel and 
David Traum, 
<http://people.ict.usc.edu/%7Egratch/AI-mag06.pdf>Toward 
Virtual Humans, in AI Magazine, v.27(1), 2006

__________________________________________________________________________
Jonathan Gratch                                | http://www.ict.usc.edu/~gratch
Associate Director, Research Associate Professor | Phone:  (310) 448-0306
USC Institute for Creative Technologies          | Fax:    (310) 574-5725
13274 Fiji Way                                   | E-mail: gratch at ict.usc.edu
Marina del Rey, CA 90292                         |

***************************************************

16.  Post-doc at RPI

From: <http://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/pipermail/naacsos-list>

I am looking for a post-doctoral researcher, to join in a basic
research project investigating cognitive modeling, cognitive
architectures, and cognitive social simulation.

The starting date is August 1, 2009 (although a slight change,
say by a month, is also possible). This will be a full-time
research position, with the expectation that you devote 90% of your
time to project-related research work (not your own research
topics).

Prospective applicants should have a finished Ph.D degree.
They should have a background in computer science (the equivalent of a
BS in computer science), with strong Java programming skills,
and have prior exposure to psychology and cognitive science
(with background in cognitive architectures, human and machine
learning, motivation, or social psychological modeling preferred),
and other related areas.

Prospective applicants with expertise and interests in cognitive
science should apply by EMAILing  me: (1) a complete vitae, and
(2) samples of best prior writings (published papers), and also FAX
me (3) GRE/TOEFL scores (if available),  and  (4) copies of the transcripts
of the BS, MS, Ph.D programs previously attended.  Also send me the
reference letters (if available).

See the following Web page regarding my research (in the afore-described
areas and in other areas):   http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun

Two sample publications are downloadable from my Web site:
   R. Sun, E. Merrill, and T. Peterson, From implicit skills to
   explicit knowledge: A bottom-up model of skill learning. Cognitive
   Science, Vol.25, No.2, pp.203-244. 2001.
   http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/sun.cs01.pdf

   R. Sun, P. Slusarz, and C. Terry, The interaction of the explicit
   and the implicit in skill learning: A dual-process approach.
   Psychological Review, Vol.112, No.1, pp.159-192. 2005.
   http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/sun-pr2005-f.pdf

RPI is a top-tier research university.  The new CogSci department
has identified research as its primary missions. The department is
conducting research in a number of areas:   cognitive architectures,
cognitive modeling, human and machine learning, multi-agent
interactions and social simulation, neural networks and connectionist
models,  human and machine reasoning, cognitive engineering,
perception and motor control, and so on.

===============
Professor Ron Sun
Cognitive Science Department
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Carnegie 302A
Troy, NY 12180, USA
phone: 518-276-3409      email: rsun at rpi.edu

***************************************************

17. Post-doc at Penn  (not Penn State)
     http://www.acasa.upenn.edu/postdoc_1_22_07.htm

PostDoc position is available to help research FactionSim - a quick to
setup and use tool to see if local conflict or cooperation emerges in
diverse regional factions as users attempt alternative courses of
action. The successful postdoc candidate will help to further the
agent-based models of FactionSim, study its properties and validity,
and produce it as a highly usable tool for field training and analysis
on how to influence local factions to avoid conflicts and to
collaborate on the collective good. This research synthesizes several
years of the PIÕs work on many of the elements for assembling
FactionSim ? Lsim for leaders only (thick leader agents based on
descriptive agent-based models with subjective expected
utility-theoretic algorithms), Athena world diplomacy game that scales
up leaders and poses tests for heuristics to solve hard AI problems
(nested intentionality, campaign planning, negotiation), and most
recently a DARPA-sponsored regional conflict prototype that tested how
to bridge together a leader hierarchy with a social network of
followers (small world theory with thick leader agents influencing a
cellular automata model). It is time to bring all these pieces
together into a stable architecture focused on smaller scale conflict
and cooperation issues. This will permit us to solve some of the hard
simulation problems on a smaller scoped problem than Athena, and it
will offer the dual benefit of spinning off a regional faction
conflict tool. Despite efforts at simplicity, stochastic simulation
models for domains such as this rapidly become complex. As a result,
we have begun to add an experiment design and policy exploration front
end onto FactionSim coupled with a warehouse for analyzing and mining
the outcome space. Research is also needed on ways to reliably explore
and optimize search in intractably large simulation spaces.

The postdoctoral position is primarily aimed at the FactionSim work
but may also include the other research strands, depending on the
interests of the candidate. For example, depending on his/her
orientation, the candidate may work closely with faculty who
collaborate with us from computer science, political science,
statistics, Wharton, and partnering universities. A version of
FactionSim is also being plugged into role playing games.

Candidates should have a PhD in electrical and systems, cognitive or
computer science, computational social dynamics, or related
discipline. Experience with gaming and simulation is highly desirable
as are interests in computational modeling of behavior. Salary will be
based on experience in relation to our standard postdoctoral scale.

ACASA is headed by Barry G. Silverman who is coordinating the research
efforts. Candidates interested in the position should email a vita and
a short statement about graduate training and research interests to
Barry Silverman.

Contact
Barry G. Silverman, Ph.D.
Professor of Engineering/ESE, Wharton/OPIM, and Medicine
Director, Ackoff Collaboratory for Advancement of the Systems Approach (ACASA)
Towne Bldg, Rm 251, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6315
basil at seas.upenn.edu               (215)573-8368

***************************************************

18.  Graduate fellowship at Gronigen

a 4-year PhD scholarship has become available at the Department of
Psychology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. This
scholarship is only applicable to holders of a non-Dutch passport. If
you happen to know someone who qualifies, who is interested in formal
approaches to cognition and who is looking for a PhD position, could
you ask him/her to contact me? (Obviously, if you yourself are
interested, feel free to contact me as well.)

The topic of the project can be either time perception or optimized
learning regimes (i.e., spacing).

Possible methodologies: computational/statistical modeling, EEG, TMS,
eye tracking, and more traditional behavioral experiments.

More information on the scholarship can be found here:
http://www.rug.nl/bureau/expertisecentra/azis/az/producten/ubboe/ubboinshort

Proposals for projects need to be in as soon as possible.
From: "Hedderik van Rijn" <D.H.van.Rijn at rug.nl>
[act-r mailing list]

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19. Job in pittsburgh on cognitive work analysis
     http://resilientcognitivesolutions.com/aboutrcs_careers.php#cogsyseng

... has an interest in decision making and how 
devices/software support that decision making, 
executing and applying cognitive work analyses, 
etc and has a real spark for the work.

The description of the position can be found here:

http://resilientcognitivesolutions.com/aboutrcs_careers.php#cogsyseng

***************************************************

20.  Wii Bit of Fun at Rice University Has Serious Intent
         http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/news2008-12-09-wii.shtml
        [From ACM Tech Review]

Rice University (12/09/08)

A Rice University research project is using the Nintendo Wii video
game console to codify learning systems for use in a variety of human
activities. Rice professors Marcia O'Malley and Michael Byrne have
received a three-year National Science Foundation grant to measure the
motions of people performing tasks such as playing paddleball or
flying a fighter jet using the accelerometer contained in the Wii's
Wiimote controller. The research builds on previous work by O'Malley,
the director of Rice's Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces Laboratory,
which used robots to treat stroke victims as part of a study to map
how people learn physical tasks. "We're already grabbing motion data
from the Wiimote," O'Malley says, "so soon we'll be able to measure a
range of motion and then turn it into a mathematical model." The goal
is to unite virtual reality and robotics in such a way that it allows
people to absorb information through the repetition of motor
pathways. The research into "cognitive modeling of human motor skill
acquisition" will focus on three types of learners--experts who learn
slowly but achieve their goals, novices who learn slowly and may never
reach proficiency, and those who are somewhere in the middle of
training and suddenly excel at the task.




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