Graduate Training in Cognitive and Neural Systems at B.U.

[Boston University - Cognitive and Neural Systems]

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	     	    GRADUATE TRAINING IN THE 
	DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS (CNS) 
	              AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

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The Boston University Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems
offers comprehensive graduate training in the neural and computational
principles, mechanisms, and architectures that underlie human and
animal behavior, and the application of neural network architectures
to the solution of technological problems.

Applications for Fall, 1998, admission and financial aid are now being
accepted for both the MA and PhD degree programs.

To obtain a brochure describing the CNS Program and a set of
application materials, write, telephone, or fax:

DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS 
Boston University
677 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215

617/353-9481 (phone) 
617/353-7755 (fax)

or send via e-mail your full name and mailing address to the 
attention of Mr. Robin Amos at:
			
			amos at cns.bu.edu
					
Applications for admission and financial aid should be received by the
Graduate School Admissions Office no later than January 15.  Late
applications will be considered until May 1; after that date 
applications will be considered only as special cases.

Applicants are required to submit undergraduate (and, if applicable,
graduate) transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and Graduate
Record Examination (GRE) scores. The Advanced Test should be in the
candidate's area of departmental specialization. GRE scores may be
waived for MA candidates and, in exceptional cases, for PhD
candidates, but absence of these scores will decrease an applicant's
chances for admission and financial aid.

Non-degree students may also enroll in CNS courses on a part-time
basis.

Stephen Grossberg, Chairman 
Gail A. Carpenter, Director of Graduate Studies

Description of the CNS Department:

The Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS) provides
advanced training and research experience for graduate students
interested in the neural and computational principles,
mechanisms, and architectures that underlie human and animal
behavior, and the application of neural network architectures to
the solution of outstanding technological problems. Students are
trained in a broad range of areas concerning cognitive and
neural systems, including vision and image processing; speech
and language understanding; adaptive pattern recognition;
cognitive information processing; self-organization; associative
learning and long-term memory; cooperative and competitive
network dynamics and short-term memory; reinforcement,
motivation, and attention; adaptive sensory-motor control and
robotics; and biological rhythms; as well as the mathematical
and computational methods needed to support modeling research
and applications. The CNS Department awards MA, PhD, and BA/MA
degrees.

The CNS Department embodies a number of unique features. It has
developed a curriculum that consists of interdisciplinary
graduate courses, each of which integrates the psychological,
neurobiological, mathematical, and computational information
needed to theoretically investigate fundamental issues
concerning mind and brain processes and the applications of
neural networks to technology. Additional advanced courses,
including research seminars, are also offered. Each course is
typically taught once a week in the afternoon or evening to make
the program available to qualified students, including working
professionals, throughout the Boston area. Students develop a
coherent area of expertise by designing a program that includes
courses in areas such as biology, computer science, engineering,
mathematics, and psychology, in addition to courses in the CNS
curriculum.

The CNS Department prepares students for thesis research with
scientists in one of several Boston University research centers
or groups, and with Boston-area scientists collaborating with
these centers. The unit most closely linked to the department is
the Center for Adaptive Systems (see page 2).  Students
interested in neural network hardware work with researchers in
CNS, at the College of Engineering, and at MIT Lincoln
Laboratory.  Other research resources include distinguished
research groups in neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and
neuropharmacology at the Medical School and the Charles River
Campus; in sensory robotics, biomedical engineering, computer
and systems engineering, and neuromuscular research within the
College of Engineering; in dynamical systems within the
Mathematics Department; in theoretical computer science within
the Computer Science Department; and in biophysics and
computational physics within the Physics Department.

In addition to its basic research and training program, the
department conducts a seminar series, as well as conferences and
symposia, which bring together distinguished scientists from
both experimental and theoretical disciplines.

The department is housed in its own new four-story building
which includes ample space for faculty and student offices and
laboratories, as well as an auditorium, classroom and seminar
rooms, a library, and a faculty-student lounge.

LABORATORY AND COMPUTER FACILITIES

The department is funded by grants and contracts from federal
agencies which support research in life sciences, mathematics,
artificial intelligence, and engineering. Facilities include
laboratories for experimental research and computational
modeling in visual perception, speech and language processing,
and sensory-motor control and robotics. Data analysis and
numerical simulations are carried out on a state-of-the-art
computer network comprised of Sun workstations, Silicon Graphics
workstations, Macintoshes, and PCs.  All students have access to
X-terminals or UNIX workstation consoles, a selection of color
systems and PCs, the Boston University connection machine and
network of SGI machines, and standard modeling and mathematical
simulation packages such as Mathematica, VisSim, Khoros, and
Matlab.  The department maintains a core collection of books and
journals, and has access both to the Boston University Libraries
and to the many other collections of the Boston Library
Consortium.  In addition, several specialized facilities and
software are available for use.  These include:

Computer Vision/Computational Neuroscience Laboratory

The Computer Vision/Computational Neuroscience Lab is comprised
of an electronics workshop, including a surface-mount
workstation, PCD fabrication tools, and an Alterra EPLD design
system; a light machine shop; an active vision lab including
actuators and video hardware; and systems for computer aided
neuroanatomy and application of computer graphics and image
processing to brain sections and MRI images.

Neurobotics Laboratory

The Neurobotics Lab utilizes wheeled mobile robots to study
potential applications of neural networks in several areas,
including adaptive dynamics and kinematics, obstacle avoidance,
path planning and navigation, visual object recognition, and
conditioning and motivation. The lab currently has three Pioneer
robots equipped with sonar and visual sensors; one B-14 robot
with a moveable camera, sonars, infrared, and bump sensors; and
two Khepera miniature robots with infrared proximity detectors.
Other platforms may be investigated in the future.

Psychoacoustics Laboratory  

The Psychoacoustics Lab houses a newly installed, 8 ft. x 8 ft.
sound-proof booth.  The laboratory is  extensively equipped to
perform both traditional psychoacoustic and experiments using
interactive auditory virtual-reality stimuli.  The major
equipment dedicated to the psychoacoustics laboratory includes
two Pentium-based personal computers; two Power-PC-based
Macintosh computers; a 50-MHz array processor capable of
generating auditory stimuli in real time; programmable
attenuators; analog-to-digital converters; digital-to-analog
converters; a real-time head tracking system; a special-purpose,
signal-processing hardware system capable of generating
ÒspatializedÓ stereo auditory signals in real time; a
two-channel oscilloscope; a two-channel spectrum analyzer;
various cables, headphones, and other miscellaneous electronics
equipment; and software for signal generation, experimental
control, data analysis, and word processing.

Sensory-Motor Control Laboratory  

The Sensory-Motor Control Lab supports experimental studies of
motor kinematics. An infrared WatSmart system allows measurement
of large-scale movements, and a pressure-sensitive graphics
tablet allows studies of handwriting and other fine-scale
movements.  Part of the equipment associated with the lab is
shared with and housed in the Vision Lab.  Equipment includes a
40-inch monitor that allows computer display of animations
generated by an SGI workstation or a Pentium Pro (Windows NT)
workstation.  A second major component is a helmet-mounted,
video-based, eye-head tracking system (ISCAN Corp, 1997).  The
latterÕs camera samples eye position at 240Hz and also allows
reconstruction of what subjects are attending to as they freely
scan a scene under normal lighting.  Thus the system affords a
wide range of visuo-motor studies.

Speech and Language Laboratory

The Speech and Language Lab includes facilities for
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog software.  The Ariel
equipment allows reliable synthesis and playback of speech
waveforms.  An Entropic signal processing package provides
facilities for detailed analysis, filtering, spectral
construction, and formant tracking of the speech waveform. 
Various large databases, such as TIMIT and TIdigits, are
available for testing algorithms of speech recognition.  For
high speed processing, the department provides supercomputer
facilities to speed filtering and data analysis.

Visual Psychophysics Laboratory

The Visual Psychophysics Lab occupies an 800-square-foot suite,
including three dedicated rooms for data collection, and houses
a variety of computer controlled display platforms, including
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) Onyx RE2, SGI Indigo2 High Impact,
SGI Indigo2 Extreme, Power Computing (Macintosh compatible)
PowerTower Pro 225, and Macintosh 7100/66 workstations.
Ancillary resources for visual psychophysics include a
computer-controlled video camera, stereo viewing glasses,
prisms, a photometer, and a variety of display-generation,
data-collection,  and data-analysis software.

Affiliated Laboratories

Affiliated CAS/CNS faculty have additional laboratories ranging
from visual and auditory psychophysics and neurophysiology,
anatomy, and neuropsychology to engineering and chip design.
These facilities can be used in the context of faculty/student
collaborations.
 
1997-98 CAS MEMBERS and CNS FACULTY:

Jelle Atema 
Professor of Biology
Director, Boston University Marine Program (BUMP) 
PhD, University of Michigan 
Sensory physiology and behavior.

Aijaz Baloch 
Research Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Boston University
Neural modeling of role of visual attention in recognition,
learning and motor control, computa-tional vision, adaptive
control systems, reinforcement learning.

Helen Barbas 
Associate Professor, Department of Health Sciences
PhD, Physiology/Neurophysiology, McGill University
Organization of the prefrontal cortex, evolution of the neo-
cortex.

Jacob Beck 
Research Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Psychology, Cornell University
Visual perception, psychophysics, computational models.

Daniel H. Bullock 
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems 
and Psychology
PhD, Psychology, Stanford University
Real-time neural systems, sensory-motor learning and control,
evolution of intelligence, cognitive development.

Gail A.Carpenter 
Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and Mathematics 
Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Cognitive 
and Neural Systems
PhD, Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Pattern recognition, categorization, machine learning,
differential equations.

Laird Cermak 
Director, Memory Disorders Research Center
Boston Veterans Affairs Medical Center  
Professor of Neuropsychology, School of Medicine 
Professor of Occupational Therapy, Sargent College
PhD, Ohio State University
Memory disorders.

Michael A. Cohen 
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems 
and Computer Science
PhD, Psychology, Harvard University
Speech and language processing, measurement theory, neural
modeling, dynamical systems.

H. Steven Colburn 
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology
Audition, binaural interaction, signal processing models of
hearing.

Howard Eichenbaum 
Professor of Psychology
PhD, Psychology, University of Michigan
Neurophysiological studies of how the hippocampal system is
involved in reinforcement learning, spatial orientation, and
declarative memory.

William D. Eldred III
Associate Professor of Biology
PhD, University of Colorado, Health Science Center
Visual neural biology.

Bruce Fischl 
Research Associate of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University
Anisotropic diffusion and nonlinear image filtering,
space-variant vision, computational models of early visual
processing, and automated analysis of magnetic resonance images.

Paolo Gaudiano 
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University
Computational and neural models of robotics, vision, adaptive
sensory-motor control, and behavioral neurobiology.

Jean Berko Gleason 
Professor of Psychology
PhD, Harvard University
Psycholinguistics.

Sucharita Gopal 
Associate Professor of Geography
PhD, University of California at Santa Barbara
Neural networks, computational modeling of behavior, geographical
information systems, fuzzy sets, and spatial cognition.

Stephen Grossberg 
Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Professor of Mathematics, Psychology, and Biomedical 
Engineering
Chairman, Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Director, Center for Adaptive Systems
PhD, Mathematics, Rockefeller University
Theoretical biology, theoretical psychology, dynamical systems,
and applied mathematics.

Frank Guenther 
Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University
Biological sensory-motor control, spatial representation, and
speech production.

Catherine L. Harris
Assistant Professor of Psychology
PhD, Cognitive Science and Psychology, 
University of California at San Diego
Visual word recognition, psycholinguistics, cognitive semantics, 
second language acquisition, computational models.

J. Pieter Jacobs 
Visiting Scholar, Cognitive and Neural Systems
MMA, MM, Music, Yale University
MMus, Music, University of Pretoria
MEng, Electromagnetism, University of Pretoria
Aspects of motor control in piano playing; the interface between 
psychophysical and cognitive phenomena in music perception.

Thomas G. Kincaid 
Professor of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, College 
of Engineering
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Signal and image processing, neural networks, non-destructive testing.

Nancy Kopell 
Professor of Mathematics
PhD, Mathematics, University of California at Berkeley
Dynamical systems, mathematical physiology, pattern formation in 
biological/physical systems.

Jacqueline A. Liederman
Associate Professor of Psychology
PhD, Psychology, University of Rochester
Dynamics of interhemispheric cooperation; prenatal correlates of 
neurodevelopmental disorders.

Ennio Mingolla 
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems and Psychology
PhD, Psychology, University of Connecticut
Visual perception, mathematical modeling of visual processes.

Joseph Perkell
Adjunct Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Senior Research Scientist, Research Lab of Electronics and
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology 
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Motor control of speech production.

Alan Peters 
Chairman and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine
PhD, Zoology, Bristol University, United Kingdom
Organization of neurons in the cerebral cortex, effects of aging on the 
primate brain, fine structure of the nervous system.

Andrzej Przybyszewski 
Senior Research Associate of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Warsaw Medical Academy
Retinal physiology, mathematical and computer modeling of dynamical 
properties of neurons in the visual system.

Adam Reeves 
Adjunct Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Professor of Psychology, Northeastern University
PhD, Psychology, City University of New York
Psychophysics, cognitive psychology, vision.

Mark Reinitz
Assistant Professor of Psychology
PhD, University of Washington
Cognitive psychology, attention, explicit and implicit memory, 
memory-perception interactions.

Mark Rubin 
Research Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Research Physicist, Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CA (on leave)
PhD, Physics, University of Chicago
Neural networks for vision, pattern recognition, and motor control.

Elliot Saltzman 
Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Sargent College
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology 
and Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action
University of Connecticut, Storrs
Research Scientist, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT
PhD, Developmental Psychology, University of Minnesota
Modeling and experimental studies of human speech production.

Robert Savoy 
Adjunct Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Scientist, Rowland Institute for Science
PhD, Experimental Psychology, Harvard University
Computational neuroscience; visual psychophysics of color, form,
and motion perception.

Eric Schwartz 
Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems; Electrical, Computer 
and Systems Engineering; and Anatomy and Neurobiology
PhD, High Energy Physics, Columbia University
Computational neuroscience, machine vision, neuroanatomy, neural 
modeling.

Robert Sekuler 
Adjunct Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering,
BioMolecular Engineering Research Center
Jesse and Louis Salvage Professor of Psychology, Brandeis University
PhD, Psychology, Brown University
Visual motion, visual adaptation, relation of visual perception,
memory, and movement.

Barbara Shinn-Cunningham 
Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems 
and Biomedical Engineering
PhD, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Psychoacoustics, audition, auditory localization, binaural hearing, 
sensorimotor adaptation, mathematical models of human performance.

Louis Tassinary 
Visiting Scholar, Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Psychology, Dartmouth College
Dynamics of affective states as they relate to instigated and ongoing 
cognitive processes.

Malvin Teich 
Professor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering 
and Biomedical Engineering
PhD, Cornell University
Quantum optics, photonics, fractal stochastic processes, information 
transmission in biological sensory systems.

Takeo Watanabe 
Assistant Professor of Psychology
PhD, Behavioral Sciences, University of Tokyo
Perception of objects and motion and effects of attention on perception 
using psychophysics and brain imaging (f-MRI).

Allen Waxman 
Adjunct Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Senior Staff Scientist, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
PhD, Astrophysics, University of Chicago
Visual system modeling, mobile robotic systems, parallel computing, 
optoelectronic hybrid archi-tectures.

James Williamson 
Research Associate of Cognitive and Neural Systems
PhD, Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University
Image processing and object recognition.  Particular interests: dynamic 
binding, self-organization, shape representation, and classification.

Jeremy Wolfe 
Adjunct Associate Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School
Psychophysicist, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Surgery Dept.
Director of Psychophysical Studies, Center for Clinical Cataract Research
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Visual attention, preattentive and attentive object representation.

Curtis Woodcock 
Associate Professor of Geography; Chairman, Department of Geography
Director, Geographic Applications, Center for Remote Sensing
PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara
Biophysical remote sensing, particularly of forests and natural
vegetation, canopy reflectance models and their inversion,
spatial modeling, and change detection; biogeography; spatial
analysis; geographic information systems; digital image
processing.

Other Boston University faculty affiliated with the CNS Department 
are listed at the end of the brochure.


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DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS 
GRADUATE TRAINING ANNOUNCEMENT

Boston University
677 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215

Phone: 617/353-9481 
Fax:   617/353-7755 
Email: inquiries at cns.bu.edu 
Web: http://cns-web.bu.edu/
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