Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course -- Final Call for Applications

[Kenji Doya]

Dear Connectionists,

Many people asked us about the attendance fee of Okinawa Computational
Neuroscience Course. Fortunately, there will be no attendance fee;
the sponsor will provide the airfare to Okinawa and local expenses
for accepted students. Please find below the updated list of speakers.
Application deadline is September 10th.

Best wishes,
Kenji Doya

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			Call for Applications
	OKINAWA COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE
Bayesian Brain: Probabilistic Approaches to Neural Coding and Learning
		November 9-19, 2004. Okinawa, Japan.
			http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc
	Application deadline: September 10th, 2004

The aim of Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide
opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to
learn up-to-date neurobiological findings, and those with experimental
backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling.

We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to
participate in the course, to be held from November 9th through 19th
at Bankoku Shinryokan, a seaside conference facility that hosted 2000
Okinawa Summit.  The sponsor will provide lodging at the adjacent
beach resort, The Busena Terrace, and support for travel to Okinawa.

The special topic for this year's course is "Bayesian Brain:
Probabilistic approaches to neural coding and learning." Lectures by
leading theoretical and experimental neuroscientists will be given in
the morning and evening, and the afternoon will be open for free
discussions and student projects.  Each student will give a short
presentation of his/her current work at the beginning of the course
and present the summary of his/her project work at the end of the
course.

Those interested in attending the course should send the materials
below by the course web page, e-mail, or postal mail to the course
secretariat by SEPTEMBER 10TH. We will accept 30 students by
considering the matching of each student's background and motivation
to the course content, and also by considering the balance of members'
research disciplines, geographic origins, and genders.

This course is the second of the tutorial courses sponsored by the
Cabinet Office of the Japanese government as a precursory activity for
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. We hope that this course
will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental
neuroscientists to meet together and to explore the attractive nature
and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan.

********
	Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course (OCNC 2004)
	Bayesian Brain: Probabilistic Approaches to Neural Coding and Learning

Date:     November 9th to 19th, 2004
Place:    Bankoku Shinryo-kan (http://www.shinryokan.com)
Lodging:  The Busena Terrace (http://www.terrace.co.jp)

Sponsor:
	Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Project, Cabinet Office,
Japan
Co-sponsors:
	Japanese Neural Network Society
	Center of Excellence Program, Tamagawa University
	Center of Excellence Program, Kyushu Institute of Technology

Advisory Board:
	Sydney Brenner, Salk Institute
	Masao Ito, RIKEN Brain Science Institute
	Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute
	Susumu Tonegawa, MIT
	Torsten Wiesel, Rockfeller University

Co-organizers:
	Kenji Doya, Initial Research Project, OIST
	Shin Ishii, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
	Alexandre Pouget, University of Rochester
	Rajesh Rao, University of Washington

CONFIRMED LECTURES (titles with * are tentative)

Theoretical Foundations
	Kevin Murphy (MIT): Bayesian inference and learning*
	Shun-ichi Amari (RIKEN BSI):
		Statistical approach to neural learning and population coding

Neurobiological Foundations
	Adrienne Fairhall (Washington U.): Spike coding
	Alexandre Pouget (U. of Rochester): Population coding
	Barry Richmond (NIH): Neural coding*

Computational Modeling
	Anthony Bell (Redwood Neurosci. Inst.):
		Unsupervised machine learning with spike timings
	Peter Latham (Gatsby Comp. Neuro. Unit):
		Computing with population codes
	Wolfgang Maass (T. U. Graz): Liquid state machine*
	Bruno Olshausen (U. C. Davis):
		Representing what and where in time-varying images
	Rajesh Rao (U. of Washington):
		Bayesian computation in cortical networks*
	Emanuel Todorov (U. C. San Diego):
		Optimality principles in sensorimotor control
	Richard Zemel (U. of Toronto): Coding and decoding uncertainty

Experimental Approaches
	Karl Friston (UCL): Dynamic causal modeling
	David Knill (U. of Rochester):
		Bayesian models of sensory cue integration
	Konrad Koerding (UCL): Bayesian combination of priors and perception
	Tai-Sing Lee (Carnegie Mellon U.):
		Hierarchical Bayesian inference in visual cortex
	Jonathan Pillow (New York U.):
		Estimationg neuron models from spike trains*
	Michael Shadlen (U. of Washington): Decision making*

APPLICATION

Please send the following through the web application page
(http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc/), e-mail (ocnc at irp.oist.jp),
or postal mail to the secretariat below.

1) Name, 2) Date of birth, 3) Gender, 4) Nationality, 5) Affiliation,
6) Postal address, 7) Phone, 8) Fax, 9) E-mail, 10) Web page URL (if
any), 11) Educational background, 12) Work experience, 13) List of
publications, 14) Research interests (up to 500 words), 15)
Motivations for attending the course (up to 500 words), 16) Two
letters of recommendation.

The items 11) to 14) can be replaced by a CV. Letters of
recommendation should be sent directly to the secretariat from the
referee by e-mail or postal mail. Please note the names, affiliations,
and e-mail addresses of the referees in the application.

There will be no attendance fee. The sponsor will provide lodging,
meals, and travel support for accepted students.

SECRETARIAT

	Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course
	c/o Initial Research Project
	Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
	12-22 Suzaki, Gushikawa
	Okinawa 904-2234, Japan
	Phone: +81-98-921-3795
	Fax: +81-98-934-1401
	E-mail: ocnc at irp.oist.jp

For more information, please visit the web page:
	http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc

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----
Kenji Doya <doya at irp.oist.jp>
Initial Research Project, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
12-22 Suzaki, Gushikawa, Okinawa 904-2234, Japan
Phone:+81-98-921-3843; Fax:+81-98-921-3873
http://www.irp.oist.jp/