Thursday, February 26, 2009

Colloquium: Ho-Lin Chen

You are cordially invited to attend this School of Informatics Colloquium.

Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Persimmon Room, IMU

Ho-Lin Chen, California Institute of Technology, will present, "Robust Collective Behaviors Using Error-Prone Units."

Abstract:
There are many spectacular examples of collective behaviors in nature, ranging from the coordination of cells in a body to colonies of ants and bees to the whole ecological system. In many engineering applications such as molecular programming, swarm robotics and networking, we are also interested in controlling complicated collective behaviors using simple rules. One major challenge is to create a robust system since every unit is only loosely controlled. Performing error correction in such systems requires techniques different from the traditional methods since there is no centralized computation. In systems with collective behaviors, errors must be detected and corrected locally. In this talk, I will describe error correction methods in a collective behavior system called self-assembly. Self-assembly is the process where simple unit assemble into large, complex structures by themselves using simple local primitives. I will also describe a general framework on testing the validity of such error correction designs and some open problems for future research.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Colloquium: Laurie Santos

Please join us for the first talk in this semester's Cognitive Science Colloquium Series:

March 9, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Psychology Building 101

Laurie Santos, Yale University, will present, "The Evolution of Irrationality: Insights from Non-Human Primates."

Student Academic Center Workshops

The Student Academic Center will offer the following free workshops. Workshops are open to all students, and you do not need to sign up in advance to attend. However you are advised to arrive early to get seating. Questions may be directed to Sharon Chertkoff, Outreach Coordinator, Student Academic Center, 855-7313.

Monday, 3/2/09, Improving Reading Speed, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Briscoe Academic Support Center

Tuesday, 3/3/09, How To Ace Your Next Exam, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Teter TEF 258

Wednesday, 3/4/09, How To Ace Your Next Exam, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Ballantine Hall 231

Monday, 3/9/09, Emergency Test Preparation: A Systematic Approach to Cramming, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Forest Academic Support Center

Tuesday, 3/10/09, How To Master Essay Exams, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Teter TEF 258

Wednesday, 3/11/09, How To Master Essay Exams, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Ballantine Hall 231

Tuesday, 3/24/09, Making Groups Work for You, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Teter TEF 258

Wednesday, 3/25/09, Making Groups Work for You, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Ballantine Hall 231

Colloquium: Johan Bollen

You are cordially invited to attend this colloquium:

Date: Friday, February 27, 2009
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Informatics East (I2), Room 130

Johan Bollen, Los Alamos National Laboratory, will present, "Network models of science."

Abstract:
The dynamics of science as a social system have largely been studied from its final products, namely publications and the citations that they carry. While this approach has led to considerable progress in modeling scientific communication, it is also subject to particular disadvantages such as the effects of publication delays and sampling errors. In this presentation I outline a research program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to study scientific activity from large-scale usage data logs that contain the online trails that scientists leave behind when they search and download articles from online services. From this data we construct models of scientific traffic that represent the collective flow of activity within the scientific community. The resulting usage graphs underpin efforts to map and detect scientific trends as well as advanced methods of evaluating the network status of various resources. I will provide an overview of these efforts and highlight recent results followed by a discussion of future research in this emerging domain.

Lecture: David Scott

You are cordially invited to attend the Flury Lecture.

Tuesday, March 3
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Swain East 140
Reception following the talk will be held at the Statistics House, 309
N. Park Avenue at 5:30 p.m.

David Scott, Noah Harding Professor of Statistics, Rice University, will present, "A Statistician Looks At Uncertainty."

Abstract:
Modern science relies on ever more complex models to understand data. Presenting the confidence of model predictions is a grand challenge. Faced with potentially hundreds or thousands of parameters, scientists often perform sensitivity analyses in order to assess the robustness of model predictions. Such one-at-a-time calculations are useful but limited. Visualization techniques can provide a fuller picture, but the availability of immersive technologies is still expensive and not commonplace. We examine some simple data and discuss the presentation of uncertainty. Avenues for research are described.

Lecture: George Kampis

The Philosophy Department would like to invite you to an endowed lecture this Friday.

Friday, February 27
4:00 p.m.
Ballantine 109

George Kampis, Department Head, History and Philosophy of Science at Eötvös University in Budapest, and the Director of the Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science will present, "Comparing Minds: Big Questions, Small Answers."

Abstract:
The difficulties of comparative cognition (as well as of epistemology) stem from the fact that we want to "compare" the known to the unkown. In the case of epistemology, we want to validate knowledge (which we know) against reality (which we don't know). In comparative cognition, we use human and animal data and theories (which we know) to talk about the minds of other species (which we don't know). This sounds like an impossible mission - and some say it is, both ways. In the first part of the lecture I discuss some of the methodological problems of the "big question", together with some optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for comparative cognition. Down on the road, however, we get into some smaller and more readily tractable issues, such the acqusition, preservation and the handling of high quality data to support the analysis - as often the latter seem to turn around having bad (or insufficient) data or bad (or insuffiecient) use of data. In the second part of the lecture, I will talk about the efforts of a new ESF project (Evolution of Social Cognition: Comparisons and integration across a wide range of human and non-human animal species (CompCog), which comprises 28 laboratories from 11 countries in Europe), where I work on the Comparative Mind Database module. Besides working on more conceptual issues, we endeavour to develop techniques and a support system for dealing with experiments, data, and conceptualizations in an operational, standardizable, community accessible way. The hope certainly is that by working on those small problems we can directly or indirectly also contribute to the discussion on the big ones.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for February 25

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, February 25.
Time: 12:10-1:10 p.m.
Place: Psychology Conference Room (Room 128)

"Measuring Visual Word Processing Efficiency" will be presented by Joe Houpt, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University.

Abstract:
Visual word perception is a fundamental part of reading and as such has been the focus of much attention in cognitive psychology. Many of the most influential studies of word perception have focused on the efficiency of word perception, but have used different baselines of comparison. This inconsistency has led to diverging models of visual word perception. In this paper we use the workload capacity coefficient measure of efficiency to address this inconsistency. This measure has the advantage of using the predicted performance of a standard processing model as a baseline. Based on these analyses, we find evidence higher efficiency in word processing than the baseline model, as well as better than non-words and upside-down non-words. Some participants showed increased efficiency for pseudoword processing, although the effect was not as regular as the word processing efficiency.

Lecture: Duane Nykamp

Please join us for the following Biocomplexity Institute Seminar.

Tuesday, February 24
4:00-5:00 p.m.
(Refreshments at 3:30 p.m.)
Swain West 238

Duane Nykamp, Math, University of Minnesota, will present, "Toward a Second Order Description of Neuronal Networks."

Abstract:
The complexity of the activity of large numbers of neurons and their interconnectivity creates a challenge for understanding computations within the brain. The high dimensionality of the activity patterns and connectivity patterns, combined with the difficulty of estimating them from limited data sets, is a tremendous obstacle to an analysis of the relationships between the connectivity and the behavior of the network.

To address this complexity, I present a kinetic theory approach toward distilling complicated network connectivity into a simplified description of its second order statistics and then estimating what network behaviors result. Moreover, to connect the theoretical analysis with experiment, I present a connectivity analysis through which one may be able to constrain estimates of the connectivity statistics from experimental data while explicitly controlling for effects of hidden neurons. By linking the simplified network analysis to network structure in the brain, the connectivity analysis combined with the kinetic theory analysis could prove to be a powerful combination for probing relationships between network connectivity patterns and behavior.

Lecture: Wil Cunningham

Social Psychology Seminar Series

Friday, February 27
3:30 pm
Psychology Building, Room 128

This week's talk will be given by Wil Cunningham from Ohio State University. Wil is a social cognitive neuroscientist, and his research clearly involves all three areas. The main goal of his work is to understand the cognitive and motivational processes that underlie emotional responses. He focuses on the affective evaluations that guide thought and behavior. Wil uses theories and methods from both social psychology (e.g., models of attitudes) and from cognitive neuroscience (e.g., biological models of emotion; fMR/EEG methods). He has applied his research to the study of prejudice, decision-making, political attitudes, morality, and affective development in children. In his talk on Friday, Wil will present research that demonstrates that the relationship between amygdala activation and the valence of information depends upon chronic and contextual motivational goals.

Title: Motivation and the Amygdala: Goals Shape Activation

Abstract:
Although early research implicated the amygdala in the automatic processing of negative information, more recent research suggests that it plays a more general role in the processing of the motivational relevance of various stimuli. In several studies, we demonstrate that relationships between valence and amygdala contextually vary due to chronic and contextual goals. Implications for the social neuroscience of prejudice will be explored.

Lecture: James D. Miller

The SRL lab meeting this week will hear a presentation from IU's own Professor James Miller. The title and abstract for his talk are given below, along with a few references for more information; all are invited and welcome to attend.

Friday, February 27
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Psychology Building 128

James D. Miller, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Communication Disorders Technology, Inc.

The Speech Perception Assessment Training System (SPATS) was originally developed for the Hearing Impaired. Based on experience with 80 ESL-learners with 12 different L1's, SPATS has been modified to meet their needs and is called SPATS-ESL. SPATS-ESL will be described and results from 30 ESL-learners, who used the system near the end of its evolution will be described. All participants had TOEFL scores (pbt) near or well above 500 and had significant perceptual problems prior to training. All improved in proportion to the time spent with SPATS-ESL. The order of difficulty appears to be syllable nuclei, syllable codas, syllable onsets, and sentences. As a whole, the results are consistent with the notion that near-native speech perception can be achieved with 20-30 hours of training, (administered in 20-90 minute doses) with SPATS-ESL. A caveat is that a few ESL-learners may require more time to master the extended vowel system used in SPATS-ESL. The lecture will include the author's musings on the basics of perceptual learning, what is involved in learning a new phonetic system, the nature of lexical access, and the "comprehension" method of second-language instruction touted in the 1970's.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Course: Volcanoes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Students! Interested in an exciting new way to take an introductory science course in a spectacular mountain setting? Through the support of the Collins Living-Learning Center, the Dept. of Geological Sciences, and the College of Arts & Sciences, we will be again offering our introductory-level "expeditions" science course, directed at both science and non-science students, and taught in the mountains of the eastern Sierra Nevada.

The course, entitled "Volcanoes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada: Geology and Natural Heritage of the Long Valley Caldera," is open to all students on the IU campus. The course will be taught by Michael Hamburger, professor of Geological Sciences. The class offers a hands-on, inquiry-oriented introduction to the geological and ecological setting of one of the most beautiful and environmentally diverse areas of the western U.S.

Students can register for the class either as GEOL-G 188 or Collins Living-Learning Center (CLLC-L 130). Both listings are eligible for COLL TOPICS and N & M sciences credit. The course will be taught in the first summer session, and will include a prerequisite seminar-style class during the second half of the spring semester (GEOL-G 190, CLLC-L 100), followed by a 2-week field trip to the Sierras, May 16 - 30.

If you are interested, take a look at our course web site (http://www.indiana.edu/~sierra/)
where you'll find course information, some great photos from last year's field course and on-line application information.

Please contact Professor Michael Hamburger (hamburg@indiana.edu) with any questions about the class.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Career Development Events

There are a number of Career Development Events coming up here at IU Bloomington. The Career Development Center offers a number of services to students at no charge. Check them out!

Tuesday, February 17
Networking Night: Writing, Editing, Publishing
Devault Alumni Center, 1000 E. 17th Street, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 17
The Washington Center
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 18
Global Careers - So, You Think You Want to Work Abroad?
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Friday, February 20
Making Art Work: 2009 Symposium on Careers in the Arts
Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts (FA Building), 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, February 24
Networking Night: Hospitality, Event Planning and Tourism
Devault Alumni Center, 1000 E. 17th Street, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 24
U.S. PIRG (United States Public Interest Research Group) (interview)
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 25
Summer Camp Jobs Fair
Alumni Hall - Indiana Memorial Union, 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 25
Federal Government Jobs: Where to Find Them and How to Apply
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 26
It’s Easy Being Green! - Sustainability Careers & The Green Job Market
Dogwood Room, Indiana Memorial Union, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 4
The 2009 Health Programs Fair, Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana Memorial Union - Alumni Hall, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 4
Interviewing 101
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 5
Resume Writing 101
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave., 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.iucareers.com

Beth Kreitl, MS, NCC
Associate Director, Student Services
Career Development Center
Arts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
812-855-9888
kbethany@indiana.edu
www.iucareers.com

Colloquium: Lisa Goffman

The following Colloquium will be presented by the SPHS Department and the SPHS PhD Organization.

Monday, March 9, 2009
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141
Reception to follow

Dr. Lisa Goffman, Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, will present, "Motor contributions to the acquisition of normal and disordered language."

Abstract:
The acquisition of language relies on perceptual and motor experiences and biases. While perceptual factors have received much attention, motor contributions to the normal and disordered development of language have been less well investigated, even in the face of increasing evidence that children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI) show concomitant gross and fine motor deficits. Our research program attempts to bridge this gap by directly measuring articulatory and manual movement output as children and adults engage
in various production tasks. The hypothesis is that motor and language capacities interact and that these interactions change over the course of development.

This talk will include two groups of studies. In the first, I will present findings that incorporate methodologies from speech motor control and from psycholinguistics to assess how grammatical, lexical, and phonological processing levels are linked to articulatory output. I will then turn to findings regarding speech and generalized motor deficits that have been identified in children with SLI. All of this work together will be applied to a model of developing speech production in which language and motor units both play critical and interacting roles.

Lecture: Jonathan R. Wolpaw

The Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University-Bloomington, is pleased to present the following talk.

Jonathan R. Wolpaw, M.D., Chief, Laboratory of Neural Injury and Repair, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health will present, "The CNS Mechanisms and Therapeutic Uses of a Simple Motor Skill."

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Psychology Building, Room 101

Monday, February 16, 2009

Seeking Presenters for ASCS-Q 294

The Career Development Center is looking for experienced juniors and seniors to share their advice with freshmen and sophomores in our ASCS-Q 294 (Basic Career Development) course.

If you've had experience with student organizations, volunteer work, internships, and/or study abroad programs, this is a great chance to inspire other students! The dates and times of the Q294 student panel sessions are:

Monday, March 2, 11:15 a.m. in Ballantine 319
Tuesday, March 3, 11:15 a.m. in Teter F256
Tuesday, March 3, 2:30 p.m. in Teter F258

Please contact Alexa Yarnelle (ayarnell@indiana.edu) with any days/times you may be available to be on a student panel.

Alexa Yarnelle
Assistant Director
Career Development Center and Arts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University, Bloomington
625 N. Jordan Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-0299

IUPUI Seminar: Zhong-Yin Zhang

Stark Neuroscience Seminar Series

Thursday, February 26
4:00 p.m.
Research 2 Building, Room 101
IUPUI

Zhong-Yin Zhang, Ph.D., Robert A. Harris Professor and Chairman, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, will present, "Chemical Biological Approaches to Cellular Signaling Mediated by Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases."

Colloquium: Tina Eliassi-Rad

You are cordially invited to attend this School of Informatics colloquium:

Friday, February 20, 2009
3:00 p.m.
Informatics East (I2), Rom 130

Tina Eliassi-Rad, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will present, "Classification in Sparsely Labeled Networks."

Abstract:
In this talk, I will address the problem of classification in partially labeled networks (a.k.a. within-network classification), where observed class labels are sparse. Recent techniques in statistical relational learning have been shown to perform well on network classification tasks by exploiting dependencies between class labels of neighboring nodes. However, relational classifiers can fail when unlabeled nodes have too few labeled neighbors to support learning (during the training phase) and/or inference (during the testing phase). This situation arises in many real-world tasks where observed labels are sparse (i.e., less than 10% of the total population). Examples include identification of suspicious blog postings, malicious web pages, and fraudulent cell phones. I will motivate a novel approach to within-network classification that combines aspects of statistical relational learning and semi-supervised learning to improve classification performance in sparse networks. Our approach works by adding "ghost edges" to a network, which enable the flow of information from labeled to unlabeled nodes. Through experiments on real-world data sets, we demonstrate that our approach performs well across a range of conditions where existing approaches, such as collective classification and semi-supervised learning, fail. On all tasks, our approach improves classification performance by up to 15% over existing approaches. Furthermore, our approach runs in time proportional to L*E, where L is the number of labeled nodes and E is the number of edges. I will conclude by placing this work in the context of my research program on role discovery in dynamic heterogeneous networks.

Scholars Day with IU Women's Basketball

In support of Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the IU Women’s Basketball Team, you are invited to join us for Scholars Day.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Assembly Hall
IU Women’s Basketball Team: IU vs. Michigan

Departments and student organizations attend the game (free with IU student ID, $3 for youth ages 3-18, $5 general public). Wear your group’s T-shirts, sweatshirts or jackets. Each group will be acknowledged at halftime.

Prizes for the organizations with the most representatives! (10 people minimum)

1st prize: Free pizza for members in attendance; department or organization advisor receives basketball signed by coaches and seniors of the IU women’s basketball team
2nd prize: Free IU women’s basketball t-shirts for each member in attendance
3rd prize: Signed team posters for each member in attendance

Come promote the achievements of our scholar-athletes, and celebrate all IU students! Questions? Contact event co-chair Krystie L. Herndon, kherndon@indiana.edu

2009 Health Programs Fair

The Health Professions and Prelaw Center invites you to:

The 2009 Health Programs Fair at Indiana University Bloomington

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Indiana Memorial Union – Alumni Hall

Co-Sponsored by: Applied Health Science, Biology, Chemistry, Human Biology, Kinesiology, Nursing, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Speech and Hearing Sciences

Come find out about career choices, educational opportunities, and campus resources related to the healthcare professions. Meet with representatives from medical schools and health professions programs from across the country. Find out about volunteer opportunities and student organizations.

For more information on the fair, and to view a list of schools and programs that were represented at the fair in 2008, please go to http://www.hpplc.indiana.edu/medicine/med-hpf.shtml.

Questions? Please contact the Indiana University Health Professions and Prelaw Center at hpplc@indiana.edu.

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for February 18

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, February 18.
Time: 12:10-1:10 p.m.
Place: Psychology Conference Room (Room 128)

"Unconfounding Stimulus - and Response - Related Processes and Determining Sensory-Motor Locus in Neural Recordings" will be presented by Jun Zhang, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Abstract:
When a neural signal (single neuron activity, ERP waveform, fMRI activation, etc) is being recorded simultaneously as the animal/human subject performs a behavioral task, a question arises as to whether the recorded neural signal reflects encoding/analysis of the stimulus, preparation/execution of the response, or the "decision" that translates a stimulus into a response. I will present several techniques that allow us to 1) unambiguously determine the "locus" along sensory-motor arc of the recorded neural activity based on their trial-by-trial correlation with behavior; 2) uniquely recover a stimulus-locked and a response-locked component in the recorded neural activity based on trial-by-trial variability in response time (RT). Applying 1) to single neuron recording data allows a refined analysis and characterization of LIP accumulation neurons in a random-dot motion discrimination task. Applying 2) to ERP data clarifies a long-standing debate in ERP literature concerning the so-called "P3 anteriorization" phenomenon for Go/Nogo tasks.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Brown Bag Lunch: Branden Fitelson

You are cordially invited to the following brown bag lunch.

February 20, 2009
1:00 p.m.
Goodbody Hall 130

Branden Fitelson, Dept. of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, will present, "The Wason Task(s) and The Paradox of Confirmation."

Abstract:
I will sketch out the analogy between the Wason Task(s) and the Paradox of Confirmation. This will mainly involve going through some existing historical discussions concerning the analogy, and developing a precise framework for refining and critiquing the analogy. I will explain what I think is right about the existing literature, and also what I think is wrong with it (i.e., what I think the disanalogies are). Along the way, I will make various historical observations about confirmation theory and some of the contemporary evaluative assessments of the behavior of subjects faced with Wason Task(s).

Student Academic Center Workshops

The Student Academic Center will offer the following free workshops next week. Workshops are open to all students, and you do not need to sign up in advance to attend. However you are advised to arrive early to get seating. Questions may be directed to Sharon Chertkoff, Outreach Coordinator, Student Academic Center, 855-7313.

Monday, 2/23/09, Overcoming Procrastination Now, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Forest Academic Support Center

Tuesday, 2/24/09, College Thinking: Become a Better Memorizer, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Teter TEF 258

Wednesday, 2/25/09, College Thinking: Become a Better Memorizer, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Ballantine Hall 231

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Looking ahead to future registration

The Summer 2009 Schedule of Classes information is now available in OneStart, and on the Registrar's web site at:
http://registrar.indiana.edu/scheofclass.shtml

You may also watch for the Fall Schedule to be published some time in early March.

The new Academic Advisement Report (AAR) will appear on March 1. New views, and a new planning interface! The SIS Development Team is very excited about the upgrade, and it's all for you. The Registrar's Office will be available for telephone consultations about registration issues at 855-8200.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Colloquium: Padma Raghavan

You are cordially invited to attend the following colloquium:

Date: Friday, February 13, 2009
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Lindley Hall 102

Padma Raghavan, Pennsylvania State University, will present, "When Sparse Applications Meet Architectures."

Abstract: Many computational modeling and data mining applications involve sparse computations on seemingly unstructured data. Such sparse formulations have inherent advantages in scaling of computational and storage costs but they often do not map well to the underlying hardware. As we approach parallel computing at the petascale and beyond with ensembles of many core chip multiprocessors, a key challenge concerns sustainable power-aware performance scaling of such applications. Many opportunities for addressing this challenge lie where applications meet architectures, demanding their adaptive co-evolution. We will discuss this in the context of sparsity, structure, parallelism and power, toward enabling efficient systems for scientific discovery and engineering design.

Senior Scholarship Competition

IU COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNOUNCES THE SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION 2009-2010

For students majoring in the IU College of Arts and Sciences.

Application requirements:
• Full-time status both semesters of Academic Year 2009-2010
• You must plan to graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences at IU-Bloomington in May or August, 2010
• Signed application form (available from your academic advisor or online, see below)
• Two letters of recommendation from your professors in the College of Arts and Sciences
• Personal statement (400-500) words describing your interests, your experiences, your long-term goals and the way your plans for the next 3-5 years will affect these goals.
• Your résumé or CV

* Individual award amounts vary *

DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING ALL MATERIALS:
4:00 p.m. Friday, March 6, 2009

Submit all materials to:
Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Kirkwood Hall Room 012
Hours 8-12 and 1-4 each weekday

Complete information: http://coas3.coas.indiana.edu/recruiting/Scholarships/details.cfm?ID=125.

Application form:
http://www.indiana.edu/~college/undergrad/scholarships/application.pdf

Jobs in the Federal Government

Federal Government Jobs: Where to Find Them and How to Apply

Wednesday, February 25
6:00 – 7:15 p.m.
Career Development Center, Career Resource Library

Interested in working for the federal government? Attend this workshop to learn how to find opportunities and navigate the federal government hiring process. We will provide answers to the following questions:

Are all of the jobs in D.C.?
What sectors are growing?
What does the pay look like?
Are there federal government internships?
How do I find openings?
How do I create a federal resume?

RSVP online via your myIUcareers account.

Beth Kreitl, MS, NCC
Associate Director, Student Services
Career Development CenterArts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
812.855.9888
kbethany@indiana.edu www.iucareers.com

Synthetic Biology Call-Out Meeting

The announcement could be titled, "How to get a crash background in bioengineering."

IU's International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team is recruiting students from all backgrounds to come together and synthesize new kinds of life. No background? No problem! We will show you everything you need to know to practice synthetic biology; just bring your excitement and great ideas.

Synthetic biology is a new field of biological research that combines science and engineering principles in order to design and build novel biological functions and systems. The iGEM Competition is focused on providing undergraduates with the tools to showcase their work. We will work through this spring and the summer in the lab, and travel to MIT in the fall to compete with over 100 schools from around the world, presenting our project.

Our next meeting will be a big brainstorming session:
iGEM Meet-up
Thursday, February 12
5:30 p.m.
Classroom Office Building, Room 118

For more information, visit:
The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM):
http://2009.igem.org/Main_Page
The Registry of Standard Biological Parts:
http://partsregistry.org/
OpenWetWare:
http://openwetware.org/

Monday, February 09, 2009

Student Academic Center Workshops

The Student Academic Center will offer the following free workshops next week. Workshops are open to all students, and you do not need to sign up in advance to attend. However you are advised to arrive early to get seating. Questions may be directed to Sharon Chertkoff, Outreach Coordinator, Student Academic Center, 855-7313.

Monday, 2/16/09, Learning from Your Returned Exam, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Briscoe Academic Support Center

Tuesday, 2/17/09, Note Taking Made Easy: Lectures and Power Point, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Teter TEF 258

Wednesday, 2/18/09, Note Taking Made Easy: Lectures and Power Point, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Ballantine Hall 231

Thursday, February 05, 2009

National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions

"Help Be Part of the Solution"

Climate change poses serious challenges for people and natural systems across the planet. Public and private policy decisions about global warming made in the next few years will have impacts lasting for generations. To engage national attention on this critical issue, the Human Biology Program at IU would like to invite you to a National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions.

WHEN: Febuary 5, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Georgian Room at the IMU

Bring your ink cartridges, cans, newspaper, cell phones, and any other recyclables!

UPDATED SPEAKER SCHEDULE (as of February 3):

10:00 a.m. - Vicky Meretsky, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
"The Conservation Landscape and Climate Change."

11:00 a.m. - Terry Usrey, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
"The Potential for Renewable Energy in Southern Indiana and Intro to Photovoltaic's."

12:00 p.m. - Steve Akers, RPS Environmental Operations
"Moving the IU-Bloomington Campus Toward Sustainability."

1:00 p.m. - Danilo Dragoni, Department of Geography
"The role of a temperate forest in south-central Indiana as a net carbon sink."

1:30 p.m. - Lisa Sideris, Department of Religious Studies
"Religious and Ethical Responses to Climate Change."

2:00 p.m. - Heather Reynolds, Department of Biology
"Biofuels: Challenge and Opportunity."

3:30 p.m. - Open mic on Global Warming

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Colloquium: Jim Koehler

You are cordially invited to attend the next talk in the Statistics Colloquium series.

Monday, February 9
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Persimmon Room at the Indiana Memorial Union

Jim Koehler, Google, will present, "Google, Data, and Statisticians."

Abstract: I'll provide a glimpse into the hidden life of statisticians inside of Google. I'll start by providing a general overview of Google's advertising system and the variety of roles for statisticians. Then I'll describe some specific business problems and how statistical methods contribute to their solutions. Finally, I'll introduce Google's efforts to partner with universities through the Google Online Marketing Challenge (student competition) and the Google University Research Awards.

Dr. Jim Koehler is Senior Statistician and technical lead in the Quantitative Marketing group at Google. His work focuses on casual modeling, experimental design, lifetime value models, and cross-sell models. He received a double A.B. in Statistics and Applied Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley in 1981 and a PhD in Statistics from Stanford University in 1990. He was a tenured Associate Professor in the Mathematics Department at the University of Colorado in Denver and has over ten years industry experience in Environmental Engineering, Telecommunications, Statistical Genetics, and Chemometrics.