Connectionists: Cosyne 2014: Call for workshop proposals

[Tomas Hromadka]

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        Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne)

        MAIN MEETING               WORKSHOPS
        Feb 27 - Mar 2, 2014       Mar 3 - Mar 4, 2014
        Salt Lake City, Utah       Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah

                    http://www.cosyne.org

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--------------     CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS      --------------


PROPOSAL DEADLINE: November 15, 2013.


PRE-PROPOSALS: In an effort to coordinate submissions, the organizers
are encouraged to submit a pre-proposal by October 15, 2013.
Pre-proposals will be shared among submitters. Pre-proposals are
requested but not required. The organizers may submit the full proposal
by its deadline.

A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting
(http://cosyne.org/). The goal is to provide an informal forum for the
discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial
issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and
alternative viewpoints are encouraged.

The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of
empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters
collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals
that differ substantially in content, scope, and/or approach from
workshops of recent years (examples available at cosyne.org).

Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing;
motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation,
reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and
plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and
methods in computational or systems neuroscience.

Please note that in an effort to reduce the overlap between workshops,
speakers are strongly discouraged from presenting talks at more than one
workshop.

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

-- There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel.
-- Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people.
-- The workshops will be split into morning (8:00-11:00 AM) and
afternoon (4:30-7:30 PM) sessions.
-- Workshops will be held at Snowbird, a ski resort located 30 miles
(typically less than an hour) from the Salt Lake City airport. Buses
from the main conference will be provided.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Deadline for pre-proposals: October 15, 2013
Deadline for proposals: November 15, 2013


Format: plain text only -- please no attachments email to:
cosyne14workshops at googlegroups.com (Robert Froemke, Tatyana Sharpee)

PRE-PROPOSALS should include:

-- Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (1-2 organizers per
session is preferred, please). A primary contact should be designated.

-- A title.
-- A brief (one paragraph) description of 1) what the workshop will
address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the
targeted group of participants.

-- Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers.
Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed speakers.

-- Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be
limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please
explain why.

-- A *brief* resume of the workshop organizer along with a *brief* list
of publications (about half a page total).

PROPOSALS should include the list of confirmed speakers in addition to
components required for a pre-proposal.


WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS RESPONSIBILITIES:

-- Coordinate workshop participation and content.
-- Confirm all speaker attendance.
-- Moderate the discussion.

SUGGESTIONS:

Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are
those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have
short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have
plenty of breaks. We strongly recommend fewer than 10 talks.

WORKSHOP COSTS:

Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at cosyne.org Please
note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. All
workshop speakers are expected to pay for workshop registration fees.
Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for
discounted registration rates. One complementary (free) organizer
registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers,
the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split
evenly between them.

COSYNE 2014 WORKSHOP CHAIRS: Robert Froemke (New York University) and
Tatyana Sharpee (Salk Institute)	

QUESTIONS: email: cosyne14workshops at googlegroups.com