IU Cognitive Science News

2011-08-15T13:51:00.002-04:00

Professor Peter Todd was awarded a prestigious grant from the Mellon Foundation to study food from the perspective of cognitive science, please check out this link:

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/19234.html

2011-07-25T09:44:00.001-04:00

"Causal Graphical Models for Computational Social Science"

Speaker: David Jensen (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
When: Thursday July 28, 3:00-4:30pm
Where: Informatics East room 130

Abstract: Over the past 25 years, a surprising and impressive body of work has accumulated on algorithms for inferring causal dependence from observational data. This work has shown how patterns of observed statistical dependence can constrain the space of possible joint causal models, often to the point of uniquely identifying specific causal dependencies. Most of this work has been limited to very simple types of data, typically independent and identically distributed instances. Recently, my students and I have begun to extend this work to the analysis of more complex models whose causal dependencies also have spatial and temporal extent. This work draws on graphical models, social network analysis, statistical relational learning, and quasi-experimental design. I will describe some of this work, and provide an extended historical example of how it could significantly alter the practice of computational social science.

Bio: David Jensen is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Knowledge Discovery Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His current research focuses on causal discovery in relational data, computational social network analysis, fraud detection, and privacy. He serves on the Executive Committee of the ACM Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining and on the program committees of the International Conference on Machine Learning and the International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. He is an associate editor of the ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data. He received the 2011 Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Natural Science at UMass. From 1991 to 1995, he served as an analyst with the Office of Technology Assessment, an agency of the United States Congress. He received his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis in 1992.
http://kdl.cs.umass.edu/people/jensen/

2011-03-28T15:12:00.001-04:00

The third annual Midwest Undergraduate Cognitive Science Conference is on April 2nd -- In ONE WEEK!!

We are looking forward to a great conference next Saturday. The schedule of talks and abstracts has been POSTED! Check it out on our schedule page:
http://mucsc.info/schedule.php

A few people have asked about parking -- There is free parking at the Fee Lane Garage, located on South Fee Lane near the Kelley Graduate School. Here is a map -- http://mucsc.info/images/map.jpeg

(http://mucsc.info) Cognitive Science Program (http://cogs.indiana.edu) Indiana University, Bloomington cogsconf@indiana.edu

Follow us on Twitter (@MUCSC) and "Like" us on Facebook!
Latest News and Updates on our Tumblr: http://mucsc.tumblr.com

Career events: January/February 2011

2011-01-19T11:13:00.000-05:00

There will be two notable career events on campus this January/February:

First event:
For all students: Internship Fair will be held on Wednesday, January 26, from 10a.m to 3p.m., in the Alumni Hall at Indiana Memorial Union

Second event:
For students interested in computers: there will be Spring Career Fair hosted by School of Informatics and Computing, on Wednesday, February 16, from 11a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Alumni Hall at Indiana Memorial Union

Undergraduate Cognitive Science Conference,Spring 2011

2010-11-23T10:20:00.002-05:00

The Indiana University Student Organization for Cognitive Science and the Indiana University Cognitive Science Program are pleased to announce the Midwest Undergraduate Cognitive Science Conference on the weekend of April 2-3, 2011 in Bloomington, Indiana.
This conference is organized to provide the next generation of cognitive scientists an opportunity to present their research to their peers from across the Midwest.
We are pleased to have two plenary speakers presenting their research:
Linda Smith, Professor of Psychology at Indiana University, will be delivering her plenary address on Saturday, April 2nd, 2011.
Larry Yaeger, Professor of Informatics at Indiana University, will be delivering his plenary address on Sunday, April 3rd, 2011.

Undergraduate students who wish to present a poster or talk should visit the submissions page on the MUCSC website. Here you will find more information on abstract requirements and the submission form. The deadline for submissions is February 4th, 2011. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by the program committee and notifications will be sent via e-mail beginning February 28th, 2011.

Posters will be showcased during a 1.5 hour session and presenters must be present to answer questions. New to this year's conference, poster presenters have an opportunity to give a one minute teaser to their poster presentation prior to the poster session. The event, MUCSC RUCKUS (pronounced mʌ•kʌs rʌ•kʌs), will be a fast-paced, fun introduction to the numerous posters that will be presented by students across the Midwest. Participation is optional but encouraged for all poster participants. For more information, visit the MUCSC website or email cogsconf@indiana.edu.

Also new to this year's conference is the MUCSC Question of the Week, where students and faculty can engage in discussing various topics from all areas within cognitive science. In the coming weeks, we will request professors from the Midwest to submit questions that will be posted to our MUCSC Tumblr beginning in January. These questions can be commented on by anyone, but discussion will be moderated by the program committee. The most discussed questions will be featured at the conference on Sunday, April 3rd during a live discussion. ***If you would like to submit a question, we encourage you to reply to to us with your question. Most likely this question will be featured on our Tumblr! Thank you in advance for any submissions!***

Registration is free and required by all attendees. Students may register by visiting the registration page. Submitters of an abstract for a poster presentation or talk will automatically be registered as a conference attendee. Transportation and lodging arrangements will be the responsibility of the participants. Travel information and hotel suggestions are located on the MUCSC website.

Further details will be announced as the conference date grows closer. To be placed on our mailing list, send a message to listserv@indiana.edu with the body "subscribe cogsconf-l". If there are any questions please contact cogsconf@indiana.edu.

Cognitive Science Picnic

2010-08-24T10:33:00.004-04:00

This year our annual Cognitive Science Picnic will take place on Sunday, August 29th.
For detailed information, please e-mail: cogsadv@indiana.edu

Cognitive Science Fall2010 Colloquium Series

2010-08-24T10:30:00.001-04:00

We have an excellent lineup for this semester’s Cognitive Science Colloquium Series:

9/13/2010: Michael Richardson, Colby College

9/20/2010: Roger Ratcliff, Ohio State University

10/11/2010: Hod Lipson, Cornell University

10/18/2010: Ennio Mingolla, Boston University

11/08/2010: Mark Newman, University of Michigan

As always, you can find up-to-date information, and titles/abstracts for the talks as they come in at: http://www.indiana.edu/~clcl/Q733_WWW/

2010-07-12T13:59:00.000-04:00

This week's SRL meeting will feature a talk by lab alumnus Christopher Conway, currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Louis University. The title and abstract of his talk are given below -- all are invited and welcome to attend.

Friday, July 16
1:30 - 3:00
Psy 128 (conference room)

Experience-Dependent Effects on Sequential Learning and Language
Christopher M. Conway
Dept. of Psychology, Saint Louis University

For most higher organisms, the order in which events occur is of paramount importance (e.g., spoken language; music; motor skills). In our previous research with healthy adults (Conway, Bauernschmidt,
Huang, & Pisoni, 2010) and deaf children with cochlear implants (Conway, Pisoni, Anaya, Karpicke, & Henning, in press), we have shown that domain-general sequential learning abilities -- the cognitive
and neural processes involved in learning about the proper ordering of events and stimuli -- are important for successful language acquisition and processing. Furthermore, a period of auditory deprivation early in development appears to hinder such learning abilities (Conway, Pisoni, & Kronenberger, 2009). Here we present findings from three new research strands that further illustrate the nature of experience-dependent effects on sequential learning and language, including: 1) the impact of deafness on verbal versus non-verbal sequential learning skills; 2) the effectiveness of using computerized sequence training to improve learning and language; 3) and the use of event-related potential recordings to explore the electrophysiological brain mechanisms of sequential learning across development. Overall, these findings both increase our understanding of the role of experience in the development of these fundamental learning abilities as well as suggest new ways to capitalize on neurocognitive plasticity to enhance sequential learning in order to improve language functions.

2010-07-02T15:37:00.002-04:00

Dear Cognitive Science Bloggers,
Just a reminder that Monday is our national holiday, and the IUBLA offices will be closed. Advising in Cognitive Science will resume on July 12. With questions, please contact the Office of the Registrar at UBLA, of course after the July 4th Holiday. Have a nice long weekend, happy Fourth!

Green initiatives event on campus

2010-04-07T09:47:00.001-04:00

Join other IU students for an outdoor festival on April 11th at Dunn Meadow from 2:00-6:00. to celebrate the launch of 2010's Sustain IU series of events as well as to showcase green initiatives and events on campus.

LIVE MUSIC and FREE FOOD all afternoon!! And we'll be selling some sweet shirts for $5

Musical Acts:

The Olympians
David Campbell II
Alexander the Great
White Roberts
On the House

Sponsored by RHA and Greeks Go Green

Robotics Open House coming up!

2010-03-31T15:56:00.001-04:00

The robotics groups led by Professors Randall Beer, Kris Hauser, Selma Sabanovic, and Matthias Scheutz invite you to a Robotics Open House to be held on April 16th 2010 from 4-7pm at the R-House Living Lab (919 E. 13th Street, Bloomington IN 47408). This event showcases work from research education in robotics, human-robot interaction, and cognitive science including live demonstrations and computer simulations. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
More information on demos forthcoming!!! For last year’s line-up, check out the Cognitive Science Robotics Open House website.
http://www.indiana.edu/~rhaus/Welcome.html

Have a great safe spring break!

2010-03-15T09:02:00.004-04:00

Dear Cognitive Science students,

I wish you a fun and safe spring break.

Here are some "warning" tips from the Washington Post:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-overload/2010/03/spring_break_can_kill_you_so_s.html

Most of all - try to relax and renew your energy for the rest of spring sememster and before fall registration (starting early April).
Izabela Kenney
your undergraduate advisor

2010-03-15T09:01:00.000-04:00

Dr. David Kemmerer
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
and Department of Psychological Sciences
Purdue University

Monday, March 22, 2010
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141
To further investigate the neural substrates of lexical and conceptual knowledge of actions, we administered a battery of 6 tasks to 226 brain-damaged patients with widely distributed lesions in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. The tasks probed lexical and conceptual knowledge of actions in a variety of verbal and non-verbal ways, including naming, word-picture matching, attribute judgments involving both words and pictures, and associative comparisons involving both words and pictures.

Summer Jobs Fair-April 7

2010-03-15T08:51:00.002-04:00

Summer Jobs Fair will take place this year on April 7, Wednesday, from 1 to 4pm in Alumni Hall, Indiana Memorial Union. The event is sponsored by the Indiana University Career Development Center: IUCareers.com

Harnessing the Power of Social Media- Lecture

2010-03-15T08:48:00.001-04:00

Lei Tang

Arizona State University

Tuesday, March 23rd 2010

1:00-2:00 p.m.

IMU Dogwood Room
Harnessing the Power of Social Media
Social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr enable people of all walks of life to express their thoughts, voice their opinions, and connect to each other anytime and anywhere. The boom of social media has spawned new research to study human interactions and collective behavior on an unprecedented scale. It is reshaping business models, providing trend analysis, aiding counter-terrorism efforts, and acting as grassroots information sources. In this talk, Lei Tang will discuss opportunities and research thrust, as well as future directions of computing with and mining social media

Business Networking Event, Friday, February 26

2010-02-22T09:54:00.000-05:00

Want to….

Refine your job seeking skills?

Meet with representatives of Fortune 500 Companies?

Get your resume critiqued?

Gain the latest in business fashions?

Opportunity to network?

Business Networking Event

WHAT: “COMPETING ON A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: MARKETING YOURSELF”

WHEN: FRIDAY, FEBRUAR 26, 2010

WHERE: WILLKIE AUDITORIUM

TIME: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Refreshments will be served

Summer Camp Jobs Fair, February 24

2010-02-22T09:51:00.002-05:00

Attend the Indiana University SUMMER CAMP JOBS FAIR

The 50th Annual Indiana University Summer Camp Jobs Fair will be held Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at the Indiana Memorial Union's Alumni Hall from
11:30-3pm. OVER 60 different camp representatives from across the
United States will be in attendance to recruit IU students for summer work. Get paid, gain experience and meet new friends. Working at summer camp is great opportunity for college students to enhance their transferable skills in youth work, communication, problem solving, leadership, and event planning. Working at a camp can be an invaluable experience to have on a resume! For more information, please contact Julie Knapp at julknapp@indiana.edu or visit the website at www.indiana.edu/~campfair to see participating camps.

"Check Your Label" symposium -February 5th

2010-01-27T10:53:00.002-05:00

The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University presents “Check Your Label: Elements of Conscious Consumerism” on Friday, February 5. This symposium, to be held at the IU Auditorium in the heart of campus, will offer perspectives on the local and global impact of our buying choices.

Speakers will discuss successful business models that offer options for sustainable living for all workers on the supply chain, and will offer inspiring stories of operating a thriving business with a goal of social change.

Please register online for the Check Your Label symposium. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at IU Auditorium at 1:30pm.
https://kelley.iu.edu/ugrad/secure/precollege/checkyourlabel/

Godel, Escher, Bach reading group on line

2010-01-26T11:15:00.001-05:00

There's an online reading group for Godel, Escher, Bach on Tumblr (appropriately called
Godel, Escher, Bach, Tumblr). Thought some people would be interested:

http://godelescherbach.tumblr.com/

Sign up to be a contributor:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform

Call for papers- IU Linguistics Club

2010-01-19T08:40:00.001-05:00

Call for Papers
Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers Online (vol. 10)
Deadline: February 15, 2010

The IULC will continue to accept submissions for Volume 10 of its Working Papers Online. The deadline for Volume 9 is February 15, 2010.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members from all departments are encouraged to submit original papers in linguistics.
Submissions resulting from term papers written for classes or as a result of independent studies are welcome.

Students are particularly encouraged to submit manuscripts that they intend to publish in a journal in the future and to use the IULC Working Papers Online as a stepping stone to a full-fledged journal submission through the review and revision process.

We accept both paper submission and electronic submission.
For detailed instructions on submission, please see our website at https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at iulcwp@indina.edu.

Abbie Hantgan
Associate Editor
IULC Working Papers Online
Department of Linguistics
Indiana University
https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

New SOCS website

2010-01-14T11:21:00.002-05:00

IU SOCS: http://www.indiana.edu/~iusocs/

Student Organization for Cognitive Science
HomePeopleEventsiCogSciMUCSC
What is SOCS?The Student Organization for Cognitive Science (SOCS) aims to provide a community for burgeoning Cognitive Science students at Indiana University. We organize several events throughout the year, including:

movie nights
professor dinners
TED parties
discussion groups
Please check our events page for a constantly updated calendar of SOCS activities and Cognitive Science Program colloquia and lectures.

The Midwest Undergraduate Cognitive Science Conference (MUCSC) is an annual SOCS event. Last year the conference attracted young scholars from several midwestern universities. Professor Douglas Hofstadter presented the keynote address. Planning for MUCSC 2009 is underway, and abstracts must be submitted by February 28, 2010. For more information, see the MUCSC site.

iCogSci is an online resource for undergraduate Cognitive Science students and features the Indiana Undergraduate Journal of Cognitive Science. SOCS members are highly encouraged to participate in the journal review process and to contribute in whatever ways possible.

E-mail ListTo subscribe to our mailing list, please send a message with "subscribe socs-l" to listserv@indiana.edu. We also recommend you subscribe to Cognoscente, the departmental mailing list, by sending "subscribe cognoscente" to listserv@indiana.edu

Conference Opportunity for COGS Undergraduates

2010-01-12T09:09:00.001-05:00

African American Dance, Choral, and IU Soul auditions

2010-01-11T13:14:00.001-05:00

This week the African American Arts Institute is holding auditions for the Spring 2010 semester for The African American Dance Company, The African American Choral Ensemble and IU Soul Revue.

Audition details are as follows:

African American Dance Company

January 12, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Room A217

This company’s repertoire consists of original choreography based on a fusion dance styles including modern, jazz, contemporary, African and Latin American dance forms.
Audition Description:
A short warm-up followed by a dance combination given by the Director. Please do not bring prepared dance routines. Dance specialties will be evaluated at the end of the auditions. No dance experience is required. Audition dress must be dance attire: Leotards, tights, jazz shoes or bare feet. Men may wear sweat-pants. No Street wear, tight pants or shorts.

African American Choral Ensemble

January 13, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Room A219

The ensemble’s repertoire includes spirituals, folk forms, traditional and contemporary gospel music and formally composed works of African American composers.

Audition Description:
Vocalists are to bring one prepared piece with or without accompaniment.

IU Soul Revue and AAAI Band

January 14, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, Grand Hall
The ensemble delivers the sounds of timeless R&B, Soul, Funk, and contemporary urban black popular music.
Audition Description:
Vocalists
Prepare a one piece a cappella or bring a recording to accompany your solo. You will be asked to match pitches and harmonize.
AAAI Band
Instrumentalists - bring your instrument and be prepared to solo and accompany in a combo setting on an R&B, Soul, or Gospel piece. Drums and Amplifiers provided.

Come try out for one of these great ensembles!
Please visit our website at www.indiana.edu/~aaai or call the AAAI Marketing Office at (812)855-5427

Cognitive Science Spring'10 Colloquium Series

2010-01-11T11:21:00.004-05:00

Spring 2010 Schedule- Cognitive Science colloquium series

Selected Mondays @ 4pm

Room 101, Psychological and Brain Sciences

1/25/10 Sian Beilock, University of Chicago
Title: TBA

2/22/10
Mary Hayhoe, University of Texas at Austin

Title: TBA

3/22/10 Lynn Nadel, University of Arizona
Title: TBA

3/29/10 Lawrence Marks, Yale University
Title: TBA

4/5/10 Asif Ghazanfar, Princeton University
Title: TBA

4/19/10 Teenie Matlock, University of California, Merced
Title TBA

A Talk in Bioinformatics

2010-01-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

Center for Bioinformatics Research Special Talk

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Dogwood Room, Indiana Memorial Union

3:00-4:00 p.m.

Admission Free

Yaoqi Zhou

IUPUI-School of Informatics

Director & Professor, Bioinformatics

From sequence to structure, to function, and back again: Integrating knowledge-based approaches with physical intuitions for protein folding, binding, and design

Abstract: Most biological activities are directed and/or regulated by proteins made of a gene-specified sequence of 20 amino-acid residue types. As a result, function or malfunction of specific proteins is responsible for almost all diseases. Proteins perform their function through their unique, self-assembled (folded) three-dimensional structures and through their specific binding to small molecules, to DNA/RNA (e.g. transcription factors that regulate gene expressions), or to other proteins (e.g. molecular recognition in signal transduction). Thus, how to predict the structure of a protein from its amino-acid sequence, discover the function from its structure and, then, design the sequence from its function or structure are the most essential problems in structural biology. In this talk, I will illustrate how the coupling of physical intuitions with learning from structural databases can go a long way toward untangling the complex relation between sequence, structure and function of proteins.

Biography: Trained as a theoretical physicist in a chemistry department, Dr. Zhou's research area moved to chemical engineering and computational biophysics during post-doctoral studies, and to bioinformatics when he became an independent researcher as an assistant professor at State University of New York at Buffalo in 2000.

His multidisciplinary training allows him to approach bioinformatic problems from the angle of physics. A recent example is the development of a knowledge-based energy function (called DFIRE) for proteins using the principle of physics rather than pure statistical information of protein structures. His group developed many freely available bioinformatic tools including SPARKS and SP3 for fold recognition and structure prediction, SPEM for multiple sequence alignment, SPINE for secondary and accessible surface area prediction, PINUP for binding-site prediction, MC2 for module identification from network of protein-protein interactions, and THUMBUP for topology prediction of transmembrane helical proteins.

Spring 2010 Internship Fair

2010-01-06T11:34:00.002-05:00

Internship Today. Job Tomorrow.
The Career Development will hold their largest career fair of the year, the 2010 Internship Fair, at the end of this month, on Wednesday, January 27th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Alumni Hall, Indiana Memorial Union. To learn more, visit www.IUCareers.com

Win trip to Africa this spring

2010-01-06T10:33:00.000-05:00

Win a Trip with Nick Kristof

Are you a college or university student with a yearning to see the best and worst of the world? Nicholas D. Kristof, Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, invites students to write an essay and/or make a video to enter to win a reporting trip to Africa in the spring of 2010. Check out Nick's video about the trip and his announcement about the contest. Deadline for contest entries is January 18, 2010.

Find Nick’s regular blog at nytimes.com/ontheground.

Sincerely,

Kandace Rusnak
Education Manager – IN, OH, Western PA
The New York Times
Office: 888.725.3777
Cell: 440.610.5285
Kandace.rusnak@pcfcorp.com

Spring 2010

2009-12-30T12:04:00.004-05:00

Spring 2010 coming soon. Mark your calendars: classes begin January 11th!
I hope you are having a nice and healthy break.

Spring 2010 Class on Meditation, Buddhism, and Sustainability

2009-10-28T11:02:00.000-04:00

Meditation, Buddhism, and Sustainability
Spring 2010 (1st eight weeks only)
CLLC L100 / Class 11743
Credit Hours: 2.0
T/R 6:50p - 8:20p
Instructor: Doug Hanvey (dhanvey@indiana.edu)

In this highly experiential course you will learn the practice of Buddhist meditation, or “mindfully allowing what is.” In addition to meditating, you will read, discuss, and write about several core concerns of Eastern philosophy, including the nature of consciousness, time, and self, and the ultimate goal of spiritual enlightenment. Our final topic will be to explore the question, “How might Buddhist teachings and meditation practices help in planting the seeds for a truly peaceful and sustainable world?” This will not be an easy “activity” class (or in this case “non-activity class”). You might even discover that meditation is more rigorous than you thought it would be, and the philosophical ideas you will learn about may turn your world upside down and inside out (which is also the fun of it). You will explore yourself at the deepest levels of your being and be challenged intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, perhaps even physically. But as a saying goes, “Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.”

The Program in Neuroscience is pleased to present

2009-09-22T13:31:00.002-04:00

A talk by Joshua W. Brown, Ph.D.Department of Psychological & Brain SciencesProgram in Neuroscience,Cognitive Science Program Indiana University-Bloomington

“Combined functional neuroimaging and computational neural modeling of medial prefrontal cortex in cognitive tasks”

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
4:00 p.m.Psychology Building, Room 101

Hearing-Loss Simulation as a Tool for Understanding the Role of Audibility in Hearing Impairment

2009-09-22T13:22:00.001-04:00

Charlotte M. Reed
Ph.D.Senior Research Scientist
Research Laboratory of Electronics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wednesday, October 7, 2009Time: 4:00 p.m.Location: IU Speech & Hearing Center, Room C141This presentation is part of an Advanced Knowledge Seminar funded by the IU Institute for Advanced Study.

Comparisons of performance between normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners are intrinsically complicated by the difference in absolute thresholds between the two groups. One approach towards making more valid comparisons between NH and HI listeners is through the use of functional simulations of hearing loss in which stimuli are equated for both sound-pressure level and sensation level in both groups of listeners. This talk will present an overview of a research program using hearing-loss simulation to examine the role of threshold elevation and audibility in the speech-reception and psychoacoustic abilities of HI listeners. The hearing-loss simulation paradigm employs a combination of spectrally-shaped masking noise and multi-band expansion which is applied to stimuli presented to NH listeners. The research includes a study of the release of masking for speech using interrupted versus continuous noise backgrounds, as well as a variety of psychoacoustic measurements addressed towards understanding these results.

MathMatters GrowIndiana Americorps Tutors Wanted!

2009-09-16T14:53:00.004-04:00

Call Out Meetings!

Looking for students interested in tutoring Elementary and Middle school students in areas of Math and Science. To gain more information please attend one of our call out meetings at the following times:

Sept. 16 10:00am or 3:00pm (Room 2110 Education Building)
Sept. 18 5:00pm (Room 2110 Education Building)
Sept 21 6:00pm (Ballantime Rm 006)

Please contact Zach Horwitz (zhorwitz@indiana.edu or Andrew Cloran(acloran@indiana.edu)with any questions that you may have. Thank you!

Colloquium: Christopher Kello

2009-09-15T11:53:00.001-04:00

You are invited to the following School of Informatics and Computing Colloquium.

Christopher Kello, University of California, Merced, will present, "Critical Branching Neural Computation."

Friday, September 18, 2009
3:00 p.m.
Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Abstract:
Brain networks transmit and process information via action potentials (i.e. spikes) generated by neurons and transmitted via synapses. Spiking activity, as quantified by sums of spikes over neurons, cannot overly expand or contract over time. Stability is achieved in the balance, and can be expressed in terms of critical branching. I present a spiking neural network model with a local tuning algorithm that converges spiking dynamics to their critical branching point. The model is used as a liquid state machine to examine its computational capacity as defined by the effects of perturbations (e.g. environmental inputs) to spiking dynamics. The model exhibits maximal capacity near the critical branching point, as well as power law distributions and fluctuations in spiking activity. These power laws are observed in various measures of neural and behavioral activities, suggesting that critical branching may indicate and illustrate a general principle of cognition.

The Business Minors

2009-09-15T11:39:00.000-04:00

You are cordially invited to a workshop to learn about the various Business minors available to all IUB students.

September 22, 2009
3:00-4:00 p.m.
BU 736

This advising seminar will be presented by the Kelley School Undergraduate Advisors. All students, staff, and faculty are welcome to attend!

Colloquium: Jennifer Lentz

2009-09-15T09:30:00.003-04:00

You are cordially invited to the following SPHS colloquium.

Jennifer Lentz, Assistant Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University, will present, "Temporal Asymmetry in the Auditory System."

September 28
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141

Abstract:
In the natural world, many communication and environmental signals are temporally asymmetric in time. One perceptual consequence of this temporal asymmetry is that sounds with a temporally increasing intensity profile (rising) tend to have more perceptual salience than
sounds that decay in time. Using psychophysical data obtained from our lab, I will discuss how behavioral experiments can be used to elucidate the auditory mechanisms responsible for the perceptual differences between rising and decaying sounds. I will also discuss the impact of hearing loss on this perception, which can, but does not always, impair the perception of temporal asymmetry.

Student Academic Center Workshops

2009-09-15T09:27:00.002-04:00

Student Academic Center Workshops for the weeks of 9/4 through 09/23/09

All of the workshops are free, and you do not need to register ahead of the scheduled time to attend. However it is wise to arrive 5 to 10 minutes early at some locations because of the limited seating capacity associated with the rooms. All workshops begin at 7:00 p.m and end at 8:00 p.m.

Monday, 9/14, How to Succeed in Accounting A100, Briscoe Academic Support Center, 7:00-8:00 pm

Tuesday, 9/15, Building Bridges, Not Walls: Learn to Communicate with your Instructor, Teter TEF260, 7:00-8:00 pm

Wednesday, 9/16, Building Bridges, Not Walls: Learn to Communicate with your Instructor, Ballantine Hall 109, 7:00-8:00 pm

Monday, 9/21, The Balancing Act: Getting Good Grades and Having Fun Too, Forest Academic Support Center, 7:00-8:00 pm

Tuesday, 9/22, Tips to Get Your Money’s Worth Out of Your Textbooks, Teter TEF260, 7:00-8:00 pm

Wednesday, 9/23, Tips to Get Your Money’s Worth Out of Your Textbooks, Ballantine Hall 109, 7:00-8:00 pm

For further information, contact:
Sharon Chertkoff, Ph.D.,
Basic Skills and Outreach Coordinator
Student Academic Center
Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
855-7313

Seminar: Kathryn Mari Lenz

2009-09-13T13:40:00.000-04:00

You are invited to hear Kathryn Mari Lenz, graduate student in the Sengelaub Laboratory, present her Ph.D. Dissertation talk for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology and Neural Science entitled, "Mechanisms mediating the effects of maternal care on the masculinization of spinal motoneurons."

Monday, September 14
2:00 p.m.
Psychology Building Room 128

Summary:
Early experience shapes the neural and behavioral development of individuals. Early maternal care is one such experience, regulating development and exerting a lifelong impact on the nervous system, behavior, and disease. Maternal care in rodents is known to regulate the development of many neurobehavioral systems, influencing adult stress, anxiety, learning and memory, maternal, and sexual behaviors. Reductions in maternal licking behavior produce deficits in male copulatory behavior or offspring and underlying alterations in the development of the motoneurons controlling penile reflexes. The goal of this dissertation was to explore the mechanisms through which maternal care alters the development of these motoneurons, with a focus on sensory afferents from the licked skin as well as the hormone, oxytocin. Using anatomical, immunohistochemical, and endocrine techniques, it was determined that both sensory afferents and oxytocin are likely mediators of the effects of maternal care on the sexual differentiation of spinal motoneurons in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus. These results suggest that these mechanisms may act in concert to shape neural and behavioral development of offspring, and illustrate that the sexual differentiation of the nervous system is shaped by early life experience.

Call for Papers: IULCWP Online

2009-09-13T13:39:00.000-04:00

Call for Papers
Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers Online (vol. 9)
Deadline: October 15, 2009

The IULC will continue to accept submissions for Volume 9 of its Working Papers Online. The deadline for Volume 9 is October 15, 2009.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members from all departments are encouraged to submit original papers in linguistics. Submissions resulting from term papers written for classes or as a result of independent studies are welcome.

Students are particularly encouraged to submit manuscripts that they intend to publish in a journal in the future and to use the IULC Working Papers Online as a stepping stone to a full-fledged journal submission through the review and revision process.

We accept both paper submission and electronic submission. For detailed instructions on submission, please see our website at:
https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

If you have any questions, please do npt hesitate to contact us at iulcwp@indina.edu.

Announced by:
Abbie Hantgan
Associate Editor
IULC Working Papers Online
Department of Linguistics
Indiana University
https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for September 16

2009-09-13T13:37:00.001-04:00

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, September 16
12:10-1:10 p.m.
Psychology Conference Room (room 128)

"Geometric Figures in the Human Imagination" will be presented by Francisco Lara-Dammer, Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition (CRCC), Indiana University.

Abstract:
This talk proposes a plausible mental representation of simple geometric shapes such as points, lines, and circles when they are imagined by people (as opposed to being drawn on an external medium such as paper). The representation is simulated with a computer program whose purpose is to model geometric discovery. A consequence of the construction of mental figures is that it facilitates some tasks (like analogy making and remembering) but can make other tasks difficult (it makes humans susceptible to illusions and errors). The mental plane, as I call the place in the brain where this imagery occurs, has some similarities to other systems of the brain such as the auditory system. I will give some examples illustrating their similarities.

Lecture: Alessandro Vespignani

2009-09-13T13:31:00.000-04:00

You are invited to the following Networks and Complex Systems Talk.

September 14
6:00 p.m.
Wells Library 001

"Predicting the behavior of techno-social systems: Planning for pandemic outbreaks in real time" will be presented by Alessandro Vespignani, Professor of Informatics, Adjunct Professor of Physics and Statistics, Indiana University.

Abstract:
We live in an increasingly interconnected world where infrastructures composed by different technological layers are interoperating with the social component that drives their use and development. Examples are provided by the Internet, the social Web, the new WiFi communication technologies and transportation and mobility infrastructures. The multi-scale nature and complexity of these networks are crucial features in the understanding of techno-social systems and the dynamical processes occurring on top of them. I will review the recent advances and challenge in this area and how we can look forward to new forecasting infrastructures in the context of techno-social systems. As a foremost example I will review the recent development and the major roadblocks in the computational approach to the prediction and control of emerging diseases. In particular I will discuss the global epidemic and mobility (GLEaM) computational platform and its use in the early stages of the recent H1N1 outbreak to provide real-time projections and scenarios on the unfolding of the epidemic.

Undergrad Research Opportunity

2009-09-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

If you are still looking for a research opportunity for the current Fall semester or are already thinking about the Spring semester, and are interested in the opportunity described below, please contact alrossi@indiana.edu or colallen@indiana.edu for more information.

We welcome applications from qualified students who are interested in animal cognition research -- specifically, social cognition in dogs. The student will be involved in a broad range of research activities from theoretical work to experimental work; activities may include data coding and entry, data collection and preparation of experiments.

The undergrad research opportunity provides academic credits for research credit hours.

Students will have to take and pass the on-line IACUC test at http://research.iu.edu/rschcomp/BIACUC/Education/educ.html

For more information, please contact:
Alejandra Rossi
Cognitive Science Program
Indiana University-Bloomington
alrossi@indiana.edu

or Professor Colin Allen
Cognitive Science Program
Indiana University-Bloomington
colallen@indiana.edu

Career Development Center News

2009-09-11T10:42:00.002-04:00

Here is a complete list of offerings through the Career Development Center. This resources is free to all students. They offer help with interest and skills assessment, resume and cover letter writing, mock interviews, and more. They have an extensive career library, and they have trained advisors to assist you. We encourage you to take advantage of this great resource before your senior year!

_______________

COME VISIT US AT THE MARKETING BLITZ!

The Career Development Center will host various booths on campus during the month of September. Stop by to learn about the services and events being offered by our center for Fall 2009. The first 350 visitors at each booth get a free employer-sponsored t-shirt!

9/9/09, 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., Student Involvement Fair (Sponsored by Enterprise Rent-A-Car)
9/22/09, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m., Jordan Hall Lobby (Meet employers from Cook Medical)

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

RESUME SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

9/10/09: Procter & Gamble (Scientific Research & Development Division)/Ph.D. Level Scientists
9/30/09: Nielsen/Analyst, Professional Services
10/2/09: Blue Vista Capital Management/Real Estate Analyst
10/5/09: General Mills/Business Management Associate, Business Management Associate Internship
10/14/09: WestPoint Financial Group/MassMutual
10/20/09: Walgreen's/Retail Management Internship, Retail Management Trainee
10/21/09: Enterprise Rent-A-Car/Summer Management/Sales Intern, Sales/Management Trainee

Submit your resume and learn more about these and other positions through myIUcareers.

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FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS

Don't forget to check the full-time, part-time, and internship postings on myIUcareers. Below is a preview of what is currently available:

Full-time positions:

* Insight Global, Inc, Sales/Account Manager-Fall 2009
* Taylor Sportswear - A Division of T.I.S., Production Artist
* The Buckle, Management Development Program
* Mesirow Financial, Senior Programmer Analyst

Internships:

* Target Stores, Executive Intern
* WestPoint Financial Group/MassMutual, Financial Services Internship
* Student Conservation Association, Expense Paid Conservation Internships
* BLASTmedia, Media Relations Intern

Part-time positions:

* IU Campus Bus Service, Customer Information Specialist (Non-Work Study)
* Indiana Geological Survey, Publication Layout Assistant (Non-Work Study)
* IU School of Education - Cultural Immersion Projects, Office Assistant (Work-Study)
* IU Swain Hall Library, Library Assistant I (Work-Study)

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

PROCTER & GAMBLE CONSUMER & MARKET KNOWLEDGE INFORMATION SESSION
Thursday, September 10, 7:30 p.m.
Kelley School of Business, BU202

Do you have an inherent interest in people, an intense curiosity to understand why people behave as they do...and want to drive those insights to action!

Procter & Gamble's Consumer & Market Knowledge (CMK) function is uniquely responsible for championing the voice of the consumer and being on the forefront of market trends, making CMK people critical leaders on multi-functional business teams. Our core work is the integration of consumer, shopper, and market understanding to catalyze business growth.

P&G CMK is looking for individuals from diverse educational backgrounds who are strong analytical thinkers and creative problem solvers, and are able to influence others via excellence in both verbal and written communication.

Topics will include:

* Internship (Junior) and Full-time employment (Seniors) opportunities
* What is CMK?
* What skills drive success in CMK?
* Careers in CMK
* How to apply

This opportunity is open to all majors.

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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GLOBAL CAREER SERIES: EAST ASIA CAREER NIGHT
Tuesday, September 15, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave.

Join IU Alumni and career professionals who specialized in East Asian studies and now work in careers that draw on their knowledge of East Asian languages and culture! Panelists will share their experiences abroad; provide tips on how to maximize your time here at IU, and offer strategies for Americans seeking international work. There will be time set aside to network with the panelists and other students with similar goals and interests. This night should be especially useful for students in international studies, area studies, languages, journalism, and other majors focused on global careers.

* Kara Abramson, Washington, DC, Congressional Executive Commission on China
* Joe Coleman, Indiana University, Former AP Bureau Chief in Japan
* Jen Pearl, Grad Student, Indiana University, Internship in Public Relations, Beijing, China
* Jim Walsh, Bloomington, Indiana, taught English as a second language in China

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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MARKETING YOUR SCIENCE DEGREE, PRESENTED BY ELI LILLY
Tuesday, September 15, 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Chemistry Building, CH 122

Join representatives from Eli Lilly and the Career Development Center for an information session/workshop. Gain valuable insight into what employers look for in potential hires, and resume building strategies and techniques. In addition, learn more about Eli Lilly and positions that are available.

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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APPOINTMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA)
Wednesday, September 16, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave.

This is your chance to learn about working for the National Security Agency (NSA). On September 16, a NSA recruiter will hold 15-minute individual appointments to answer your questions and provide information about career opportunities with the NSA.

The National Security Agency is a federal government agency that coordinates certain domestic and foreign communications challenges, including the collection of foreign secure communications and the protection of U.S. secure communications.

Sign up for a time slot through your myIUcareers account under the "On Campus Interviews" tab.

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

For more information on these and other events, visit www.iucareers.com and sign in to your myIUcareers account.

When you're looking for jobs, be sure to check the job listings (by using the "search jobs" feature) as well as the Interviews and Events tabs to find jobs that will have on-campus interviews.

BENEFITS OF myIUcareers:

Participate in on-campus interviews for internship and full-time employment/Access online postings for part-time, internship, fellowship, and full-time positions/View the IU Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services calendar of interviews and events and RSVP for workshops and employer information sessions/ Obtain contact information for employers actively partnered with the Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services

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

Katie Lloyd
Senior Assistant Director, Student Services
Career Development CenterArts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
625 N. Jordan Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: 812.855.9136Fax: 812.855.2121
lloydk@indiana.eduwww.IUCareers.com

Themester Event: Film Viewing and Discussion

2009-09-09T12:54:00.000-04:00

The Indiana University College of Arts And Sciences Presents a Themester 2009 Event Sponsored by the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.

“(RE)PRESENTING RACE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM”

Free and Open to the Public

“Do the Right Thing”
(20th year anniversary)
Showing: September 17, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Byron Craig)
Plot: On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence. Runtime: 120 minutes

“The Spook Who Sat by the Door”
Showing: October 8, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Dr. Michael T. Martin)
Plot: A black man plays Uncle Tom in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American Revolution.

“Nothing But a Man”
Showing: November 12, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Dr. Audrey T. McCluskey)
Plot: A devil-may-care young man is drawn to a grounded young woman. They part. He realizes he prefers stability to freedom. They reconcile. Runtime: 95 minutes

Seminar: Edward Castronova

2009-09-08T21:33:00.001-04:00

You are invited to the IU Department of Telecommunications Seminar (T600) Series.

Friday, September 11, 2009
12:30-1:45 p.m.
RTV226

Edward Castronova, IU Department of Telecommunications, will present, "An Evolutionary Theory of Media Effects."

Abstract:
This paper provides several formal models of social change in which media may or may not have an effect. The models are all based on evolutionary theory, which proposes that society changes as people adopt different ?types? or cultural variants on behavior. Such types have fitness that determines whether they grow or fade in the social jungle. When media is introduced into the jungle, we explore three kinds of possible media effects. First, does media affect the system?s state, that is, the number of types? Second, does it change the fitness of different types? Third, does it change the system?s resting point, it?s long-run equilibrium? We find that in introducing media to a general model of cultural evolution changes very little. Specifically, we show that even if a media effect can be demonstrated for individuals, it is generally not the case that these individual effects translate into a major social effect. We then explore two deeper refinements of the general model, one for the case of violence, and another for the case of social norms. We find that media is unlikely to affect violence, but very likely to affect social norms. We conclude with caveats and directions for future research.

New SPHS Master's Degree

2009-09-08T21:28:00.000-04:00

The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences of Indiana University is proud to announce a new master’s degree track, funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs, focusing on training Spanish-speaking individuals to work with the Latino community as speech-language pathologists. The program is called Speech Therapy Education, Practicum, and Services for Latino Children and Families (STEPS), and more information is available at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~sphs/bilingual.html

Please note that an undergraduate degree in speech-language pathology is NOT necessary. Student funding is available to those who qualify.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Melanie Mazur, mmazur@indiana.edu, 812-855-3605
or Dr. Raquel Anderson, raanders@indiana.edu, 812-855-4161

Student Involvement Fair

2009-09-08T21:18:00.001-04:00

You are invited to the Student Involvement Fair.

September 9, 2009
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
In the parking lot outside of the IMU hotel

This fall the Office of Service-Learning, Service-Learning Orientation will be combined with the Student Activities Office’s Student Involvement Fair. All 25 Advocates for Community Engagement (ACE) agencies will join other area agencies where students can provide service during the semester. ACE Community Partner tables will receive special identification so that service-learning students will recognize them. ACEs will assist students in completing preliminary paperwork necessary to start their service experience. Students can select site-specific orientation and training dates and can schedule their service hours for the semester around their class and work commitments in consultation with agency representatives.

Colloquium: Edward Castronova

2009-09-08T21:14:00.000-04:00

Please join us for the School of Informatics and Computing Colloquium Series.

Speaker: Edward Castronova, Telecommunications, IUB

Date: Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Virtual Worlds As Petri Dishes

Abstract: Controlled experiments are an important empirical method and have led to amazing advances in the natural sciences. In the social sciences, controlled experiments are typically possible only at the micro level: 100 college students as subjects, doing things for a couple of hours, in return for pizza money. Yet most of our pressing problems (terrorism, global warming, hunger) live at the macro level. Massively multiplayer online games have a macro level: Millions of people spend years making choices with deep emotional investment, and those choices create clearly visible persistent macro structures, structures that seem quite similar to parallel real-world structures (markets, cities, hierarchies, networks). Early research suggests the similarities are not an illusion. Unlike the real world, but like petri dishes, virtual worlds can be finely tweaked and closely observed. Does this new technology herald the onset of rapid advance in social science, a "golden age" not unlike natural science from 1650 to today? What are the prospects for building virtual worlds for research? Finally, what are the first steps toward testing out such a notion?

Biography: Edward Castronova is Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington. Castronova is a founder of scholarly virtual world studies and an expert on the societies of large-scale online games. Among his academic publications on these topics are two books: Synthetic Worlds (University of Chicago Press, 2005) and Exodus to the Virtual World (Palgrave, 2007). Professor Castronova teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on the design of games, the virtual world industry, and the management of synthetic societies. He has created two virtual worlds: Arden, a small-scale example of a Shakespearean virtual world, and Greenland, a large-scale futuristic MMOG. Outside his academic work, Professor Castronova makes regular appearances in mainstream media (60 Minutes, the New York Times, and The Economist), gives keynotes at major conferences (Austin Game Conference, Digital Games Research Association Conference, Interactive Software Federation of Europe), and consults for business (McKinsey, Vivendi, Forrester). In the longer run, Professor Castronova aims to develop virtual worlds for studying human society. That is, he is trying to design games that can serve as macro-scale Petri dishes.

Colloquium: Veit Stuphorn

2009-09-08T17:36:00.002-04:00

Please join us for the CogSci colloquium next Monday.

Monday, September 14
4:00 p.m.
PY 101

Veit Stuphorn, Johns Hopkins University, will present, "Should I go? Medial frontal cortex and the decision whether or not to act."

Abstract:
Cognitive control of behavior depends on neural mechanisms for initiating and inhibiting movements. Motor-related regions in medial frontal cortex, in particular supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas (SMA, pre-SMA), are widely considered to play a central role in movement initiation and inhibition. To test this hypothesis, we recorded from neurons in SMA and pre-SMA of monkeys performing a countermanding task. Temporal analysis of neural activity and behavior in this task allowed us to test whether neuronal activity is sufficient to control movement initiation or inhibition. Surprisingly, almost all movement-related neurons in SMA and pre-SMA failed to exhibit time-locked activity changes predictive of movement execution. These cells were therefore not sufficient to initiate movements. Furthermore, the activity of most these cells was contingent on the expectation of reward and therefore was also not necessary for movement initiation. We found a small number of neurons that were more active during successful response cancelation. However, only a minority of these putative inhibitory cells responded early enough to be able to influence the cancelation of the movement. This set of findings suggests that the movement-related activity in pre-SMA and SMA is neither sufficient nor necessary to control movement initiation. These results are remarkably similar to recent findings in the supplementary eye field (SEF), despite a number of mechanical differences in the two effector systems. This suggests that the functional organization of the frontal motor system follows broadly parallel principles. In general, the activity in the medial frontal cortex might represent the motivation to generate a particular action if it is necessary to obtain a reward. This signal would serve as a link between reward representation and action execution and could guide action selection during deliberate voluntary decision making.

Themester Colloquium: Robert Richards

2009-09-08T17:26:00.001-04:00

Please join us for one of the opening Themester events through the College of Arts and Sciences! We are pleased to present a Colloquium speaker through the Department of History & Philosophy of Science at Indiana University.

Friday, September 11, 2009
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Ballantine 013

Robert Richards, Morris Fishbien Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, University of Chicago, will present, “Darwin’s Metaphysics of Mind and the Continuity of Nature.”

Abstract:
Prior to publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, naturalists, whether they were Aristotelians, Cartesians, Kantians, or Associationists assumed a disjunction between man and the rest of the living world. Darwin and many other British naturalists in the Associationist tradition of David Hume and Jeremy Bentham did not believe an insurmountable intellectual barrier existed between animals and man—but humans did exhibit considerably larger intellectual capacity. In the moral sphere, however, virtually all naturalist assumed a deep divide between animal instinct and human moral behavior. Darwin had to demonstrate two propositions for his theory to be successful: that man’s big brain could derive from modest animal antecedents and that moral behavior could arise out of animal antecedents. He solved both problems in a similar way, one that is now being rediscovered in contemporary science. Both Darwin’s conclusion and modern evolutionary science have dramatic implications for any religious solution to his problems.”

Jewish Studies Fall Welcome Dessert

2009-09-08T13:29:00.002-04:00

All undergraduate students are invited to the Jewish Studies Fall Welcome Dessert.

Tuesday, September 22
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Hoosier Room on the mezzanine floor (around the corner from the East Lounge)
Indiana Memorial Union

This dessert is an informal gathering of Jewish Studies students, Jewish Studies faculty, and all students interested in Jewish Studies.

No RSVP required; just drop by between 4:30-6:00.

Note: Jewish Studies is the study of the Jews and Judaism. Students from all personal and academic backgrounds are welcome to take Jewish Studies courses and pursue the Jewish Studies major, certificate, and Hebrew minor.

Graduate Program in Developmental Psychology

2009-09-08T13:26:00.000-04:00

Graduate student positions in Developmental Psychology are available at Queen’s University.

The core faculty members in the developmental program within the Department of Psychology (Drs. W. Craig, S. Fitneva, T. Hollenstein, E. Kelley, V. Kuhlmeier, M. Sabbagh) have research interests in language, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Each of our program members also has interests that extend beyond the traditional borders of Developmental Psychology into areas such as Animal Cognition, Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, Psychophysiology, and Applied Developmental Psychology (e.g., autism, bullying, developmental disorders, child eyewitness).

To this end, there is active collaboration with researchers in programs outside of the area, and students in the Developmental Program are encouraged to take part in and initiate these cross-disciplinary collaborations at the Masters and Ph.D. level. Area labs are well funded by university, federal and private grants, and students frequently receive top honours in federal funding competitions.

Please see the Developmental Program Website to find out more about specific research projects happening in the developmental program and the Graduate Studies in Psychology Website for specifics regarding applications and timelines, or contact Dr. Valerie Kuhlmeier by e-mail (vk4@queensu.ca).

Department of Psychology
Queen's University
62 Arch St., H351
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 CANADA
Phone: 613-533-2491
Fax: 613-533-2499
http://psyc.queensu.ca/asdstudies/index.html

Social Psychology Seminar: Lile Jia

2009-09-08T10:25:00.003-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for a Social Psychology Seminar.

Friday, September 11
3:30 p.m.
Psychology Building, Room 128

This week's talk will be given by Lile Jia, one of our own graduate students. Lile will talk about his recent research that investigates the relation of psychological temporal distance and creative cognition/insight problem solving. This work has been recently blogged by The Atlantic and has attracted a good deal of attention. Below you will find the title and a brief abstract of this talk. I hope that you all can make it to the talk.

Title: Lessons from a Faraway Land: The Effect of Spatial Distance on Creative Cognition

Abstract:
Recent research (Forster, Friedman, & Liberman) has identified temporal distance as a situational moderator of creativity. According to Construal Level Theory (Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007), temporal distance is just one case of the broader construct of psychological distance. In the present research, we investigated the effect of another dimension of psychological distance, namely spatial distance, on creative cognition and insight problem solving. In two studies, we demonstrate that, when the creative task is portrayed as originating from a far rather than a close location, participants provide more creative responses (Study 1) and perform better on a problem solving task that requires creative insight (Study 2). Both theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed.

Announced by Professor Steven J. Sherman

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for September 9

2009-09-08T10:21:00.000-04:00

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, September 9.
12:10-1:10 p.m.
Psychology Conference Room (room 128)

"Limitations to teaching 2 + 2 = 4: Knowledge of traditional arithmetic hinders understanding of mathematical equivalence" will be presented by Nicole McNeil, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame.

Abstract:
Why do children sometimes fail to learn new information, even after substantial amounts of experience or instruction? Several prevailing accounts suggest that learning difficulties are caused by something that children lack (e.g., working-memory resources or proficiency with prerequisite skills). In contrast, others argue that difficulties are caused, at least in part, by something that children have--existing knowledge. In this talk, I will focus on children's difficulties with mathematical equivalence (i.e., the concept that the two sides of an equation are equal and interchangeable), and I will present evidence that children's existing knowledge of arithmetic contributes to these difficulties. I will discuss how this evidence informs our understanding of theoretical issues related to cognition and development, as well as practical issues related to learning and instruction in the domain of mathematics.

2009-10 IU Ethics Bowl Team

2009-09-04T08:38:00.002-04:00

The Poynter Center Announces Openings for the 2009-10 IU Ethics Bowl Team.

Each year the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at IU sponsors one team consisting of five undergraduate students to travel and compete in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The competition begins with ten regional matches in the fall that feed the national competition, held in the early spring. The Central States regional, in which the IU team competes, will be on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Marian College in Indianapolis.

The Ethics Bowl competition is presented annually by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics as a method of involving students in deliberating about and seeking to resolve difficult cases and situations. The national competition, which draws together the top 32 teams from the regional rounds, will be held on March 4, 2010 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics in Cincinnati, Ohio. IU won the national competition last year and in 2004.

At the national competition, the 32 participating teams compete in three rounds in the morning. The teams are given thirteen complex ethical and policy cases to study in advance of the competition, though they are not told what questions they will be asked about any case. For each match, one team is required to present a view on a case and then respond to questions from the opposing team and judges. Then the roles are reversed, and the opposing team presents an argument surrounding a different case, after which they respond to questions. Teams are evaluated at the end of each match for the quality of their arguments, responses, and counter-responses. The top eight teams advance to the quarterfinals, which are held in the evening.

Interested students should send their name, year, major (or possible major), along with a
statement of interest by e-mail, to:

Prof. Richard Miller (miller3@indiana.edu)
Director, Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions
IUB

Please reference Ethics Bowl in the subject line.

Applications will be reviewed starting on September 21, 2009. Students should include information about their coursework and background in ethics, along with any questions about the Ethics Bowl team that they may have. Team members meet twice a week from around late September until the November regional event. If they are successful in being selected to participate in the national competition, they will again meet twice a week from the time second semester starts until the March 4 event.

See the web site, http://poynter.indiana.edu/ethicsbowl.shtml for more information about the event and about previous teams.

SOCS Call-out Meeting

2009-09-04T08:06:00.002-04:00

The Student Organization for Cognitive Science (SOCS) invites all students interested in Cognitive Science and related fields to the call-out meeting on Thursday, September 10, from 5-7 p.m. We'll discuss our semester plans over some free pizza. (Many thanks to the Cognitive Science Program!)

When: Thursday, September 10, 5-7 p.m.
Where: IMU Faculty Room (above the University Club, by Whittenberger Auditorium)
What: Discussion of semester activities and free pizza
Who: Majors and non-majors welcome!

The Student Organization for Cognitive Science (SOCS) organizes a variety of activities including Professor dinners, movie nights, TED parties, and discussions.

For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~iusocs
To be added to our mailing list: send 'subscribe socs-l' to listserv@indiana.edu

Contact:
Jaimie Murdock
SOCS President
jammurdo@indiana.edu

Public Service: Middle Way House

2009-09-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

You are invited to consider the following volunteer opportunity within the Bloomington community.

Middle Way House Domestic Violence Training for Volunteers

Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., September 12, September 26, December 5

First United Methodist Church, Room 218-219, 219 E. 4th Street
(4th and Washington Streets; across from the downtown post office in Bloomington)

Middle Way House is seeking take out new volunteers to help maintain the level of service that they provide - change to provided to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Both women and men are strongly encouraged to attend the training event. There are volunteer opportunities in over 20 take out different program areas including: crisis line, childcare, tutoring, legal advocacy, community reception, and youth mentoring.

This training is a prerequisite for those interested in volunteering with our agency, but it is also very appropriate for anyone interested in learning more about the dynamics of gender and domestic violence.

For more information, please call (812) 337-4510 or send e-mail to desiree@middlewayhouse.org

Career Development Center Events

2009-09-02T13:06:00.002-04:00

The Career Development Center offers a variety of resources. We urge students to take advantage of what they provide before becoming seniors.

* COME VISIT US AT THE MARKETING BLITZ!
* UPCOMING CAREER FAIRS
* EMPLOYER IN RESIDENCE – RESUME CRITIQUES WITH TOTAL QUALITY LOGISTICS (TQL)
* RESUME SUBMISSION DEADLINES
* FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS
* REGISTER NOW! NEW ASCS COURSE FOR FALL 2009
* GLOBAL CAREER SERIES
* GRADUATE SCHOOL SERIES
* NETWORKING NIGHT SERIES
* UPCOMING INFORMATION SESSIONS
* MARKETING YOUR SCIENCE DEGREE, PRESENTED BY ELI LILLY
* FINANCIAL SERVICES CAREERS…WHY NOW?!
* FACULTY AND STAFF DIVISION OF IUCAREERS.COM LAUNCHED

For more information, go to:
www.IUCareers.com

Career Development CenterArts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
625 N. Jordan Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-9136

Counseling and Psychological Services

2009-09-02T13:04:00.001-04:00

The IU Health Center Counseling and Psychological Services offers a wide variety of health-related services. They will be providing a number of student seminars including topics such as

* Student Success

* Coping Skills

* Homesick Support

* Life Skills.

Please visit or call for more information:
IU Health Center Counseling and Psychological Services
4th floor, 600 N. Jordan Avenue
(812) 855-5711
healthcenter.indiana.edu/caps.html
Division of Student Affairs

Colloquium: Sharlene Newman

2009-08-31T19:35:00.000-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for a Colloquium presented by the SPHS Department and the SPHS PhD Organization.

Monday, September 14, 2009
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141
Brief reception to follow in room C108

Sharlene Newman, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Indiana University, will present, "Neuroimaging Studies of Syntax."

Abstract:
When most of us think of grammar we think of the endless number of rules we were forced to learn in grade school. However, to understand the importance of grammar all we need to do is read the papers of some of our students that are filled with grammatical errors; errors that make it incredibly difficult to understand the intended message. In this talk I will focus on one aspect of grammar: syntax. There have been a number of neuroimaging studies that have attempted to localize syntactic processing to the inferior frontal gyrus. I will discuss the problems that have been encountered in doing so as well as some of the data from my lab.

Computational Linguistics

2009-08-28T16:12:00.002-04:00

We are pleased to announce the following computational linguistics (CL) opportunities, as we start the semester.

1. We have our a listserv (COMPLING-L), to manage CL announcements & discussions, and many CL announcements are sent only to this listserv. Details on how to subscribe are at the end of this announcement.

2. We are continuing a CL discussion group this semester, a forum for presentations and discussions. Anyone who has work-in-progress (at any stage) can present their work in this informal setting and receive feedback. It's great for students to get feedback, and it's great for all of us to become more aware of the different types of CL-related work being done here at IU.

We are planning on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m., and we will meet in Memorial Hall (MM) 401. Our first, organizational meeting will be this coming Tuesday, September 2.

If you want to subscribe to COMPLING-L, send an e-mail message to listserv@indiana.edu with the following command in the body:
subscribe CompLing-l

You'll receive an email confirming your subscription, as well as details on how to post messages, etc.

Announced by:
Professor Markus Dickinson
Indiana University
Department of Linguistics
317 Memorial Hall
Bloomington, IN 47405

Seminar: David McCarty

2009-08-28T16:03:00.000-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for the opening presentation of the Logic Seminar Series for 2009-2010.

David McCarty, IU Philosophy Department, will present, "On Pure Syntax."

Wednesday, September 2
4:00 p.m.
Ballantine Hall 018

Abstract:
The talk offers a close and detailed examination of the question, "Is there support in mathematical logic for the claim that there is pure syntax, that is, formal or natural languages whose elements are naturally devoid of denotational meaning?" Results of the examination are brought to bear on familiar assumptions in cognitive science and computability theory.

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

To join the mailing list of logic-related activities at IU, please write to Larry Moss (lsm@cs.indiana.edu).

WonderLab's "Science Night Out"

2009-08-28T16:00:00.000-04:00

WonderLab's annual gala, Science Night Out, is coming up on Friday, September 11 at the Bloomington Convention Center. This event raises essential operating funds for the museum, funds that are even more critical in this year as grant resources have become more scarce.

WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology is a critical outreach partner to many IU-based NSF grants. It provides crucial resources for K-12 education and teacher training, and is a tremendous asset for our own families, our area schools and for Indiana University students seeking service learning opportunities.

I would therefore like to strongly encourage you to join me in purchasing a ticket for WonderLab's Science Night Out annual gala. WonderLab is a private non-profit educational organization, and tickets are tax-deductible in large part. The deadline to purchase tickets (September 4 ) is right around the corner. Guests must be 21 years old or older. For information about the evening and the ticket-order form follow this link: http://wonderlab.org/membersndonors/fundraising.shtml

Here is what to expect in a nutshell: Science Night Out will be hosted by Coach Tom and Joani Crean and will have a theme of "WonderLab Untamed." The evening will kick off with a cocktail hour featuring live animals from across the globe, delicious hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, and one of Bloomington's largest silent auctions. A gourmet dinner and spectacular live auction will follow.

Please consider joining me at this important and truly enjoyable event for WonderLab!

Announced by:
Armin P. Moczek
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
Indiana University

Mini-Symposium at IUPUI Sept. 11

2009-08-28T15:55:00.002-04:00

You are cordially invited to attend the following Mini-Symposium:

Neuropsychiatric Conditions Affecting Military Personnel

September 11, 2009
1:00-5:00 p.m.
Walther Hall (R3 Building) Room 203
(Stark Neurosciences Research Institute; IUPUI)

PLEASE REGISTER (NO COST) AT:
http://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_eg0xW2j7bmVXC3q&SVID=Prod

DEADLINE: MONDAY SEPT. 7

SCHEDULE

1:00 Welcome
1:05 Research Presentation 1: Aimee Mayeda, MD, Chief, Psychiatry and Mental Health, Indianapolis VA Medical Center

1:30 Research Presentation 2: Andrew W. Goddard, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, IU School of Medicine

2:00 Breakout Session 1 – Identifying collaborative opportunities
a. Biogenic Amines-coleaders Val Watts and Gerry Oxford
b. Amino acids and channels- leader Ted Cummins
c. Neuromodulators (peptides, endocannabinoids)-coleaders Ken Mackie and Eric Barker

2:30 Coffee Break
2:45 PM Summary of Breakout Session 1 – led by Breakout session leaders

3:00 Research Presentation 3: Andrew Saykin, Psy.D., Raymond C. Beeler, Professor of Radiology Director, IU Center for Neuroimaging
3:30 Research Presentation 4: Vicenta Salanova MD FAAN, Professor of Neurology, Director of Indiana University Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, IUSM

4:00 Breakout Session 2 – Identifying collaborative opportunities
a. PTSD/anxiety/mood disorders -coleaders Anantha Shekhar and Steve Herman
b. Alcoholism and Substance Abuse- coleaders Julia Chester and Andrew
Chambers
c. Epilepsy and cognitive sequalae-leader TBA

4:35 Summary of Breakout 2 – led by Breakout session leaders
4:55 Closing remarks
5:00 Dismiss

Organizing Committee:
Eric Barker, Purdue
Ken Mackie, IU Bloomington
Gerry Oxford, IUSM
Anantha Shekhar, IUSM
Val Watts, Purdue

Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP)

2009-08-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

Attention Sophomores and Juniors:

The Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP) will be accepting applications from September 1 – October 1. Apply online at www.indiana.edu/~lamp

Are you interested in majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences but also learning about business, management and leadership? Do you enjoy studying multiple points of view? If you answered “yes” then LAMP might be the right place for you. What is LAMP you ask? LAMP is an honors interdisciplinary program offered by the College of Arts and Sciences in cooperation with the Kelley School of Business. It allows students the opportunity to have a major in the College but take classes in the business school that enhance management and leadership skills. LAMP students are drawn from the full range of majors within the College—from Biochemistry to Theater & Drama. Students can complete either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science, and many LAMP students pursue a double major.

At LAMP students don’t just learn inside the classroom, we provide a wide variety of co curricular programs for students to get involved in. During any given week a student could attend a Master Class with the CEO of Clorox, have lunch with the Sudan Desk Officer from the US State Department , and attend a workshop on preparing for a career fair. We encourage students to pursue all their passions, whether that is multiple majors, overseas study, or internship experience. We are here to make sure that students can get the most out of their 4 years at Indiana University.

Come Learn More About LAMP at an Information Session
Wednesday, September 2nd at 5:00 p.m. in Ballantine 015
Tuesday, September 8th at 6:00 p.m. in Woodburn 106
Wednesday, September 16th at 5:00 p.m. in Ballantine 015

If none of the above times work for you, please feel free to schedule an appointment with the LAMP academic advisor by calling, (812) 856-4966. For the most up to date information regarding the application and frequently asked questions, visit the LAMP website at www.indiana.edu/~lamp.

Stephanie J. Gray
Assistant Director of Student Services and Academic Advisor
Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP)
Wylie Hall 245
100 South Woodlawn Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone (812) 856-4966
Fax (812) 856-4672
lamp@indiana.edu

Cognitive Science Colloquium Series

2009-08-27T20:58:00.000-04:00

The schedule for our Cognitive Science Colloquium Series for this year is now finalized, and it looks like we have an outstanding group of speakers coming to visit, speaking on a wide range of research that will be relevant across the Cognitive Science Program. I have pasted the schedule of speakers below. As always, you can find updated titles and abstracts at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~clcl/Q733_WWW/

Fall 2009
9/7/09: Mark McDaniel, Washington University in St. Louis
9/14/09: Veit Stuphorn, Johns Hopkins University
10/12/09: Mark Steyvers, University of California, Irvine
10/19/09: Michelene Chi, Arizona State University
10/26/09: Michael Mozer, University of Colorado

Spring 2010
1/25/10: Sian Beilock, University of Chicago
2/22/10: Mary Hayhoe, University of Texas at Austin
3/22/10: Lynn Nadel, University of Arizona
3/29/10: Lawrence Marks, Yale University
4/5/10: Asif Ghazanfar, Princeton University
4/19/10: Teenie Matlock, University of California, Merced

Announced by:
Michael N. Jones, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Psychology, Informatics, and Cognitive Science
Indiana University, Bloomington
http://psych.indiana.edu/faculty/pages/mjones.asp

Lecture: Gyorgy Buzsaki

2009-08-27T20:56:00.000-04:00

The Biocomplexity Institute, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and the Program in Neuroscience at Indiana University-Bloomington are pleased to present the following talk.

Gyorgy Buzsaki, M.D., Ph.D., Board of Governors Professor, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, will present, "Cell assembly sequences in the service of cognition."

Friday, September 4, 2009
3:30 p.m.
Psychology Building, Room 101

Hosts: James Glazier [glazier@indiana.edu] and Olaf Sporns [osporns@indiana.edu].

Lecture: James L. Goodson

2009-08-27T20:54:00.001-04:00

The Program in Neuroscience "N650 Neuroscience Fall 2009 Colloquium Series," Indiana University-Bloomington, invites you to the following talk.

James L. Goodson, Ph.D., Department of Biology, Indiana University-Bloomington, will present “Birds of a Feather: Evolution of Sociality and the Social Brain.”

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Psychology Building, Room 101

Abstract:
Species-typical group size (sociality) is a profoundly important aspect of behavior, but little research has focused on relevant neural mechanisms. This likely reflects limited tractability, since wide ranges of species-typical group sizes are difficult to accommodate in experimental settings and sociality is difficult to isolate for comparative study. For instance, rodent species that differ in sociality also tend to differ in other aspects of behavior and ecology that can influence neural and endocrine mechanisms, and even the socially-diverse songbirds offer few opportunities for highly controlled comparisons. The family Estrildidae (finches, waxbills and munias) is a remarkable exception. Estrildids are all monogamous, exhibit long-term pair bonds, and show biparental care. However, even within very specific ecological niches, estrildids display an extraordinary diversity in sociality, ranging from territorial male-female pairs to groups of dozens or hundreds of colonially breeding pairs. Fortuitously, this family also includes the most socially tractable laboratory songbird, the highly gregarious zebra finch. In a series of experiments, we have exploited the tractability of the estrildid family to demonstrate that vasopressin- and oxytocin-like neuropeptide systems, which are best known for their pair-bonding and maternal functions in mammals, exert a potent influence on avian sociality and are targeted by selection in reliable ways as species-typical group sizes evolve.

Lab Talk: Winona Snapp-Childs

2009-08-27T20:50:00.001-04:00

The Speech Research Lab meeting this Friday (8/28) will feature a talk by IU postdoctoral fellow Winona Snapp-Childs on her research into relationships between perception and motor coordination. Her title and abstract are given below; all are invited and welcome to attend.

Friday, August 28
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
PY 128

Winona Snapp-Childs, Indiana University, will present, "The Role of Perception in Coordinated Rhythmic Movement."

Abstract:
Coordinated rhythmic movements are fundamental and familiar forms of behavior (e.g. walking, running, drumming, and the like). Previous work has shown that bimanual rhythmic movement coordination is specifically structured. There are two forms of coordination that people can easily and spontaneously produce: 0° and 180°. Other coordination patterns can, but must, be learned. More recent studies have suggested that such movements are coupled perceptually (rather than neurally). I will present studies that provide evidence for the role of perception in coupling movements and investigate the perceptual information that is used. A non-linear dynamical model of perceptually-coupled rhythmic coordination will also be described briefly together with data that support the model.

Health Professions and PreLaw

2009-08-27T20:47:00.000-04:00

Are you interested in even the possibility of attending law or medical school in the future? If so, these meetings should be considered mandatory!

1. PRELAW ORIENTATION with Frank Motley, Dean of Admission IUB Law School and HPPLC Director/Prelaw Advisor Mac Francis: Tuesday, September 8, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. (Quiet latecomers welcome). Law School Room 123 (corner of 3rd and Indiana).

2. PREMED ORIENTATION with Dr. Rachel Tolen, HPPLC Assistant Director and Premed Advisor: Tuesday, September 15, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Indiana Memorial Union, Whittenberger Auditorium.

These meetings are sponsored by IU’s Health Professions and Prelaw Center (HPPLC), located across from the Union in Maxwell Hall 010. Get to know this office. They are dedicated to helping you become a well-prepared and successful applicant to professional school. Freshmen are strongly encouraged to meet with a preprofessional advisor.

ALL STUDENTS, including those who cannot attend the above meetings:

1. Register for your area’s email list. Go to www.hpplc.indiana.edu, and click the link for “Email Lists.” It takes 20 seconds. You will receive email only for your area of interest and year in school.

2. Review the material for your area at the above address.

3. Take a look at the HPPLC calendar of preprofessional events: http://www.hpplc.indiana.edu/events.php. Try to attend as many of these events as possible!

4. Make an individual appointment to meet with a preprofessional advisor. Just call 812.855.1873. You may also email HPPLC directly at hpplc@indiana.edu.

Announced by the Preprofessional Advisors at HPPLC

Lunch Speaker: Nicole McNeil

2009-08-27T13:25:00.001-04:00

We have a special guest cognitive lunch speaker for our first Cognitive Lunch of the year.

Wednesday, September 9
12:10-1:20 p.m.
Psychology Building Room 128

Nicole McNeil, head of the Cognition, Learning, and Development Lab at the University of Notre Dame, will present, "Limitations to teaching 2 + 2 = 4: Knowledge of traditional arithmetic
hinders understanding of mathematical equivalence."

Abstract:
Why do children sometimes fail to learn new information, even after substantial amounts of experience or instruction? Several prevailing accounts suggest that learning difficulties are caused by something that children lack (e.g., working-memory resources or proficiency with prerequisite skills). In contrast, others argue that difficulties are caused, at least in part, by something that children have--existing knowledge. In this talk, I will focus on children's difficulties with mathematical equivalence (i.e., the concept that the two sides of an equation are equal and interchangeable), and I will present evidence that children's existing knowledge of arithmetic contributes to these difficulties. I will discuss how this evidence informs our understanding of theoretical issues related to cognition and development, as well as practical issues related to learning and instruction in the domain of mathematics.

Colloquium: Sharlene Newman

2009-08-27T13:23:00.001-04:00

You are cordially invited to the following Speech and Hearing Sciences Colloquium.

September 14, 2009
4:00-5:00 p.m.
SPHS, Rm C141

Dr. Sharlene Newman, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Indiana University, will present "Neuroimaging Studies of Syntax."

Please join us!

Kelley Activity Fair

2009-08-27T13:19:00.002-04:00

All students interested in Business are welcome to attend the Kelley Activity Fair.

Thursday, September 10
2:00-5:00 p.m.
Kelley Graduate Side
CG 0034 and 0036 (lowest level)

Meet people from several Kelley student organizations in one location. Organizations include:
Alpha Kappa Psi
Alternative Spring Break
Business Honors
Civic Leadership Development
Emerging Economies
Kelley School Diversity Council
Student Business Ambassadors
Kelley Student Government
Women in Business
and many more!

Refreshments will be provided. Bring a reusable bottle!

SPACKLED - An IU Study Group

2009-08-24T13:50:00.000-04:00

You are cordially invited to join SPACKLED, an IU study group for the Philosophy/Psychology of Animal Cognition, Knowledge, Learning, Evolution, and Development.

We meet on a roughly bi-weekly schedule. Each meeting we discuss some recent pre-circulated papers on animal cognition.

For more information, you may visit our web site:
http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/spackled/

Please email Colin Allen at colallen@indiana.edu if you have any questions.

College and Life-Long Learning Workshops

2009-08-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

These free workshops, offered by the Student Academic Center, focus on a variety of college-level learning strategies. They are scheduled on Tuesday evenings from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in Teter Academic Support Center TEF260 and Wednesday, 7:00-8:00 p.m. in Ballantine Hall BH 109. Check out our current College and Life Long Learning workshop schedules. Prior registration is NOT required for these workshops.

SCHEDULE

DATE PLACE WORKSHOP TITLE

TUE 9/1, WED 9/2 TEF 260, BH 109 Spring Into School with Effective Study Goal Setting
TUE 9/8, WED 9/9 TEF 260, BH 109 Where Does Time Go? Strategies to Beat Procrastination
TUE 9/15, WED 9/16 TEF 260, BH 109 Building Bridges, Not Walls: Learn to communicate with Your Instructor
TUE 9/22, WED 9/23 TEF 260, BH 109 Tips To Get Your Money's Worth Out of Your Textbooks
TUE 9/29, WED 9/30 TEF 260, BH 109 Note Taking Made Easy: Lectures and Power Point
TUE 10/6, WED 10/7 TEF 260, BH 109 College Thinking: Become a Better Memorizer
TUE 10/13, WED 10/14 TEF 260, BH 109 How to Ace Your Next Exam
TUE 10/20, WED 10/21 TEF 260, BH 109 How to Master Essay Exams
TUE 10/27, WED 10/28 TEF 260, BH 109 Making Groups Work for You
TUE 11/3, WED 11/4 TEF 260, BH 109 Motivating Yourself to Achieve Success!
TUE 11/10, WED 11/11 TEF 260, BH 109 Matching Your Learning Preferences to Academic Course Demands
TUE 11/17, WED 11/18 TEF 260, BH 109 May Day! May Day! Managing Stress?
TUE 12/1, WED 12/2 TEF 260, BH 109 Eyes of the Prize: Preparing for Success After College
TUE 12/8, WED 12/9 TEF 260, BH 109 How to Cope with Your Finals

"Study Smarter" Workshops

2009-08-24T09:38:00.001-04:00

This series of free workshops is offered at each of the residential Academic Support Centers. Students need not live in the residential halls to attend the workshops.

The workshops occur on Mondays from 7:00-8:00 p.m. at either Forest or Briscoe Academic Support Centers.

Many of these workshops are directed to helping students with the learning of specific disciplines, for example, such as math, foreign language learning, sciences. Other workshops focus on helping students with the learning of subject specific courses, for example, "How to Succeed In Accounting A100."

In addition there are workshops devoted to helping students plan ahead to raduate/professional school. Check out our current Study Smarter workshop schedules. Prior registration is NOT required for these workshops.

SCHEDULE

DATE PLACE WORKSHOP TITLE

9/14 BRISCOE ASC How to Succeed in Accounting A100
9/21 FOREST ASC The Balancing Act: Getting Good Grades and Having Fun Too
9/28 BRISCOE ASC Learning from Your Returned Exam
10/5 FOREST ASC Information Management for Large Lectures
10/12 BRISCOE ASC Overcoming Procrastination Now
10/19 FOREST ASC Improving Reading Speed
10/26 BRISCOE ASC Emergency Test Preparation: A Systematic Approach to Cramming
11/2 FOREST ASC How to Succeed in Accounting A100
11/9 BRISCOE ASC Regrouping After Midterms: Multiplying Your Time
11/16 FOREST ASC Using Memory in Mastering Course Material
11/30 BRISCOE ASC Beating Test Anxiety
12/7 FOREST ASC Catching Up in a Course When All Hope Seems Gone

Call for Papers: Preparing for “The New Normal”

2009-08-21T14:33:00.001-04:00

We invite you to participate in the 15th Annual Indiana University Undergraduate Research Conference at IU Bloomington.

Friday, November 20, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Students are encouraged to submit an abstract and participate in this year’s conference, especially since it will be held in the Indiana Memorial Union. Please note that undergraduate research presenters and their faculty mentors’ registration fees are being covered by the University Graduate School.

The IU Undergraduate Research Conference (IUURC) annually rotates across IU campuses. This year, The University Graduate School is pleased to host the 15th annual conference on Friday, November 20 in Bloomington. Dr. Roosevelt Johnson, an IU alum, a Fellow of the AAAS Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity (Capacity Center) and an Executive on Loan from the National Science Foundation is our keynote speaker this year. He will talk about the issues and opportunities undergraduates will need to consider as they “Prepare for ‘The New Normal’”.

Abstract Submission Deadline: October 23, 2009

Conference Registration Deadline: November 6, 2009

The Indiana University Undergraduate Research Conference (IUURC) is dedicated to the promotion of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity performed in partnership with faculty or other mentors as a vital component of undergraduate education at Indiana University. The conference is open to all disciplines including (but not limited to): visual and performing arts, humanities, natural and physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, business and economics, education, and nursing. For more information, visit the IUURC website at http://www.crl.iupui.edu/IUURC

Conference Theme - The IUURC steering committee presents the 2009 conference theme to unify and focus discourse on a topic that touches all undergraduate researchers: Preparing for “The New Normal”. In an era of great uncertainty, a plethora of opportunities exist for those who optimize across multiple dimensions. The goal is to explore how new and original research advances our knowledge in all aspects of academia, health care, industry, and technology; and, provides solutions to the problems and limitations impacting an era marked both by uncertainty and opportunity.

Conference Speaker – Each year the IUURC Steering Committee invites a special speaker to talk about a topic that would be of interest to undergraduate researchers. This year’s keynoter is Dr. Roosevelt Y. Johnson. He serves as a Fellow of the AAAS Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity (Capacity Center) and as an Executive on Loan from the National Science Foundation.

Research Roundtables – These events are recommended for students who are the beginning stages of their research projects or who are not making other, more formal presentations. All students delivering oral or poster presentations must also participate in the research roundtables. These are more informal presentations of research ideas or results by students for open discussion with other students and faculty in their discipline.

Abstract Preparation and Submission – Participants may give an oral or poster presentation. However, all participants must also present in a research roundtable. Abstract preparation directions are on the conference website. Abstracts are to be submitted online at http://crl.iupui.edu/IUURCRegistration/index.asp
All abstracts will be approved by the campus liaisons after submission online, and students will be notified by email of their acceptance to the conference.

Registration Procedures and Costs – The registration fee for those attending the conference with lunch is $24. For those attending sessions only, without the luncheon, the registration fee is $10. The campuses will pay for students presenting oral papers or posters, so the students themselves do not pay. All conference attendees need to register in
advance at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=QeMVN5FKl8l2UChcCK2Y9g_3d_3d

Campus Liaisons:
IU BLOOMINGTON
Yolanda Treviño, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean of Indiana University Graduate School
(812) 855-5697, ytrevino@indiana.edu

IU EAST
Mary Blakefield, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs
(765) 973-8522, mblakefi@indiana.edu

IPFW FORT WAYNE
Jihad Albayyari, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and External Support
(260)481-6391, albayyaj@ipfw.edu

IUPUI INDIANAPOLIS
Elizabeth Rubens, M.Ed
Director of Undergraduate Research Programs, Center for Research and Learning
(317) 274-4590, erubens@iupui.edu

IU KOKOMO
Kathy Holcomb, Ph.D. Director, Center for Research and Creative Activity
(765) 455-9452, kmholcom@iuk.edu

IU NORTHWEST
Michael S. LaPointe, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
(219) 980-7106, mslapoin@iun.edu

IU SOUTH BEND
Erika L. Zynda Office of Research
(574) 520-4181, ezynda@iusb.edu

IU SOUTHEAST
Walter F. Ryan, Ph.D. Dean of Research
(812) 941-2539, wryan@ius.edu

Basic Mediation Training

2009-08-21T14:26:00.000-04:00

Are you interested in constructive conflict resolution, restorative justice, and the mediation process? The Community Justice & Mediation Center (CJAM) invites you to attend Basic Mediation Training.

September 12, 13, 19, and 20
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
IU Maurer School of Law, Room 214

“Basic Mediation Training” is a great tool to add to the lifelong toolbox of community members interested in healing community harm, resolving neighbor-to-neighbor conflicts, alternative dispute resolution, criminal justice issues, or helping youth.

Participants who complete CJAM’s “Basic Mediation Training” are eligible to work as CJAM volunteer mediators; however, any community member interested in learning basic mediation skills is also welcome to participate.

Tuition for the training is $200, although a sliding scale is considered when applicable, and scholarships are available for those unable to afford the fee. Registration forms are available at www.cjam.org or by emailing training@cjam.org.

CJAM is a not-for-profit community leader in collaborative decision-making and conflict resolution, and CJAM’s experienced mediators have facilitated the resolution of a wide variety of community conflicts such as Victim-Offender Reconciliation, neighbor-to-neighbor and landlord-tenant disputes, and school and workplace disagreements among many others.

For information about “Basic Mediation Training” or other CJAM services, please visit www.cjam.org or contact the CJAM office at 812-336-8677.

Community Justice & Mediation Center
(812) 336-8677
www.cjam.org

2009 Fall Jobs Fair

2009-08-20T13:21:00.002-04:00

The Career Development Center will hold the Fall Jobs Fair as follows:

Friday, August 28, 2009
9-11 a.m. (work-study students only)
1-3 p.m. (all students)
Indiana Memorial Union, Alumni Hall

Looking for employment on or off campus? Local Bloomington and on-campus employers will be looking for part-time employees at the Fall Jobs Fair! (Only students awarded work-study should attend from 9-11 a.m.; all students welcome at the afternoon fair.)

Students, to view a list of attending employers, please log in to your myIUcareers account.

Changes to Extended-X Grade Replacement Policy

2009-08-20T13:18:00.001-04:00

In April, the Bloomington Faculty Council amended the Extended-X grade replacement policy effective Spring Term 2010. The two important changes are:

1. The elimination of the restriction that the course to be replaced must have been taken in the first 45 hours of coursework;

2. Students must now apply for the grade replacement by the Pass/Fail deadline of the second iteration of the course, moved up from the previous Automatic W withdrawal deadline.

The Bloomington Office of the Registrar web site has been updated to reflect these changes.

Again, these two changes are effective Spring Term 2010. Although the Spring 2010 calendar is not yet posted on the Registrar's web site, please note that Pass/Fail deadlines for first eight-week, second eight-week, and term classes are included in the Official Calendar published there.

Berlin School of Mind and Brain

2009-08-18T14:39:00.001-04:00

The Berlin School of Mind and Brain is an international research school, located in the vibrant heart of Berlin. Founded in 2006 as part of Germany's Excellence Initiative, it offers a unique three-year interdisciplinary doctoral program in English in the mind/brain sciences.

Research within the School focuses on the interface between the humanities and the neurosciences. Of particular interest are research areas that fall on the borders between the mind sciences (e.g., philosophy, linguistics, behavioural and cognitive science, economics), and the brain sciences (e.g., neurophysiology, computational neuroscience, neurology, and neurobiology). Major topics of research within the program include: 'conscious and unconscious perception', 'decision-making', 'language', 'brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny', 'mental disorders and brain dysfunction', and the 'philosophy of mind'. However, research is not limited to these areas, and students are strongly encouraged to develop and work at their own initiative on any projects that are relevant to interdisciplinary questions relating to mind and brain.

The School is situated in the center of Berlin, on the grounds of the Charite, the largest medical campus in Europe. The city itself is a major center for culture, politics, media, and science and is globally recognized for its rich art-scene, museums, internationally renowned festivals, and a pleasant and highly affordable standard of living.

Each year the School accepts ten to fifteen doctoral candidates into its program. Here are some excellent reasons why students might wish to be considered for one of these highly sought after positions at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain:

* The School has a faculty comprised of 60 distinguished researchers, including four Max Planck directors, which cover the gamut of research in the mind and brain sciences.
* Research within the School is strongly embedded in the basic and clinical research conducted within the region allowing for strong synergistic research initiatives and opportunities. Hosted by the Humboldt University, the School's research program includes scientists from the Free University, the Technical University, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin), the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig), and the nearby universities of Potsdam and Magdeburg.
* Students acquire a strong foundation for interdisciplinary work by attending ten one-week classes during the first half of their doctoral program, which cover all fields relevant for mind/brain-related research, and allow students to explore research methods and topics that they have not been previously exposed to. Each doctoral candidate is assigned two professorial advisors – one from the brain sciences, one from the mind sciences – in order to maximize the interdisciplinary impact of their work.
* Students meet with leading international researchers via the School's Distinguished Lecture Series, interactions with its senior visiting faculty, as well as by attending international workshops and meetings. As part of the School's commitment to maximizing students' research opportunities, the School also encourages and provides assistance for students to spend time studying and conducting research abroad during the course of their doctoral candidacy.
* Extensive practical services to international doctoral candidates are available, including assistance with visa applications, matriculation, health insurance, local authorities, scientific soft skill courses, and language classes.

Finally, there are good financial reasons for studying at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain:
* There are no tuition fees associated with the program.
* Administrative fees are very low. Administrative fees for attending the Humboldt University come to only approximately 250 euros per semester.
* The School offers generous scholarships to the best applicants. Students who were not successful in winning one of the school's own scholarships will receive support in obtaining alternative sources of funding (e.g. a research post within a university department or with one of the School's research groups, or help in finding alternative funding sources for a scholarship).
Recent progress in the neurosciences has opened up new and exciting avenues for research that raise challenging conceptual and ethical questions calling for an interdisciplinary approach. The Berlin School of Mind and Brain offers a unique research and training environment for doctoral candidates to work at this exciting interface between the sciences and the humanities.

For further information please contact:
Patrick Wilken
Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin
Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Luisenstraße 56
10099 Berlin
Germany
Web: http://www.mind-and-brain.de
Enquiries: admissions@mind-and-brain.de

Seminar: Steven J. Seay, Jr.

2009-08-13T08:41:00.001-04:00

You are invited to the following public seminar:

Steven J. Seay, Jr. will speak on his dissertation research for the PhD in Psychology and Neural Science: "Information Search Behaviors Associated with Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder."

Thursday, August 13, 2009
1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Room 128, Psychology Building

Abstract:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been shown to be associated with abnormalities in decision making on simple choice tasks. In this study, we applied the framework of the “fast and frugal heuristics” to investigate differences in multiattribute decision making associated with symptoms of OCD. Participants with varying levels of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms completed a multiattribute decision making task in which they could purchase decision relevant information from 5 differentially-useful sources. Our findings suggest that OC symptoms were associated with differences in response quality, as well as differences in the process used to update cue orders. Higher OC symptoms were associated with a greater number of errors on the task. Moreover, higher OC symptoms were related to a greater tendency to make choices that were inconsistent with the available cue information and to more frequently terminate search prior to encountering a discriminating cue. With regard to the process used to update cue orders, higher OC symptoms predicted reduced cue order perseveration, increased search order reorganization, and poorer fit of the Simple Swap heuristic for characterizing information purchases during later decision trials. Finally, OC symptoms were correlated positively with indecision, intolerance of uncertainty, perfectionism, and tendencies to maximize ideal outcomes and avoid regret. This study advances our understanding of multiattribute decision making in OCD and provides some of the first evidence linking individual differences in information search behavior to psychopathology.

Committee in Charge
Professor Richard J. Viken, Chairperson
William P. Hetrick, Ph.D.
Brian F. O'Donnell, Ph.D.
Peter M. Todd, Ph.D.

Themester at IU Bloomington

2009-08-10T15:16:00.001-04:00

IU Bloomington’s first-ever themed semester to focus on evolution, diversity, change

IU Home Pages Article By Jennifer Piurek
http://homepages.indiana.edu/web/page/normal/11559.html

Indiana University Bloomington will commence its first-ever themed semester this fall with Themester 2009: Evolution, Diversity and Change. More than 40 related courses will tie in with the themes of diversity and evolution to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

Themester is grounded in the undergraduate curriculum and will draw parallels between different disciplines by offering a range of courses, performances and discussions surrounding related topics, said IU Professor Jean Robinson, associate dean for undergraduate education for the College of Arts and Sciences and director of Themester.

"It's an opportunity to connect learning inside the classroom with outside the classroom and find exciting ways to get students-particularly undergraduates-more engaged in thinking about serious problems, issues and concerns," said Robinson.

Themester is designed to offer students multiple opportunities to connect to the theme, starting with the wide range of classes for undergraduates. In addition to the 46 Themester-related courses -- which will outlive the fall semester -- there will be related theatrical performances on campus and in the community; special gallery and museum exhibitions; and speaker and film series and panel discussions. Speakers will address issues that include evolutionary game theory, the evolution of apes and monkeys, and the tension between evolution and faith.

"We'll have a philosopher who does work on evolution and creationism; a religious scholar who tries to find a middle path for people who have strong faith beliefs to show how faith can live side-by-side with evolution; and at the end, we'll have federal appeals court Judge John E. Jones III (who presided in a Pennsylvania case that determined intelligent design was religion and couldn't be taught in schools)," Robinson said.

"Students need to be exposed to big questions and big ideas requiring interdisciplinary knowledge that does not conveniently fall within individual disciplines," said Bennett Bertenthal, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "Themester is an exciting opportunity to imbue in students the importance of studying major issues from multiple perspectives that are addressed through educational activities occurring in as well as outside the classroom. We fully anticipate that Themester will become a very popular program attracting students throughout the campus."

Cardinal Theater Company will stage Inherit the Wind, a play based on the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, during which a high school science teacher (John T. Scopes) was convicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in opposition with Tennessee law. IUB's Department of Theatre and Drama will do a staged reading of Palmer Park, about "white flight" from Detroit in the 1960s, which will also be staged by universities throughout the Big 10.

Speakers during IU's Themester include well-known evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (sponsored by Union Board) and Arthur Robson of Simon Fraser University who will give a public lecture titled "We Are Impatient Because We Die. But Why Do We Die?"

Special exhibitions will be on display at the IU Art Museum, Lilly Library, Kinsey Institute and Mathers Museum of World Cultures, while Myers Hall will have displays titled "Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle" and "Evolution" and Jordan Hall will display "Tropical Biodiversity."

"We don't want to shy away from controversy," said Robinson. "We embrace the idea that universities are communities where we need to explore ideas and consider lots of different sides and question things in a safe place."

For a complete schedule of Themester events, many of which are open to the public, go to this web site: http://themester.indiana.edu/index.shtml

Seminar: Karen J. Cruickshanks

2009-07-23T08:28:00.001-04:00

You are cordially invited to the following presentation which is part of an Advanced Knowledge Seminar funded by the IU Institute for Advanced Study.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
4:00 p.m.
IU Speech & Hearing Center, Room C141

"Hearing Impairment in Aging: A preventable, vascular disorder?" will be presented by Karen J. Cruickshanks, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin.

Abstract:
Hearing impairment is one of the most common health conditions affecting older adults. Once considered a normal part of aging, there is growing evidence that it is at least partially preventable. The Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study is a longitudinal, population-based study of hearing loss in Beaver Dam, WI. Hearing was measured by pure tone audiometry in 3753 participants in 1993-95 and at follow-up examinations in 1998-2000 and 2003-2005. Currently, this cohort is being re-examined for a 16-year follow-up study. During 2005-2008, the adult children of this cohort participated in the Beaver Dam Offspring Study, a study of sensory disorders and aging which included audiometric testing. In both studies, speech understanding also was measured using the Northwestern University #6 word lists. Data from these studies will be presented to summarize the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors with hearing impairment. These data suggest that vascular processes may play important roles in sensorineurological changes in aging auditory systems. On-going studies of inflammation and genetic factors will also be discussed. These on-going, large, epidemiological cohort studies are contributing important new insights into possible prevention approaches to reduce the burden of hearing impairment in older adults.

Graduate Program at the University of Trento

2009-07-21T15:08:00.001-04:00

Announcing a new Master's program in Cognitive Science at the University of Trento, Italy. The program comprises of two years. It is taught entirely in English by our international faculty. Students can choose between two tracks:
1) Cognitive Neuroscience track
http://international.unitn.it/mcs/cns-cognitive-neuroscience
2) Language and Multi-Modal Interaction track
http://international.unitn.it/mcs/lmi-language-and-multimodal-interaction

The first year aims to build the student's methodological/theoretical bases and the second provides the opportunity for hands-on research experience. This is quite unique, because normally students are not granted an opportunity to have access to fMRI, EEG, MEG, and eye trackers at the master's level, but rather have to wait to be Ph.D. candidates.

Our goal is to form a future generation of bright and young researchers, who can use this program as a springboard towards an academic career in neuroscience with a distinct advantage and will be used to an international and English-speaking environment by the time they start their Ph.D.

The application is a simple on-line procedure, which can be accessed via:
http://old.disi.unitn.it/edu/appform/login.xml
At this time, we can enroll European students only (deadline: 31 July 2009), as the deadline for non-EU candidates has already passed. You can find more information here:
http://international.unitn.it/mcs/two-year-master-program-cognitive-science

For more information, please contact:
Francesca Bacci
Master's Course Coordinator
mcs@unitn.it

EALC Placement and Proficiency Testing

2009-07-15T14:38:00.001-04:00

EALC Placement and Proficiency Testing for Fall

Here is information about the upcoming placement and proficiency tests for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. All testing is free. Please bring a picture ID and pencil.

CHINESE
Thursday, August 27
2:00 p.m.
Ballantine 148

JAPANESE
Thursday, August 27
2:00 p.m.
Ballantine 138

KOREAN
Thursday, August 27
2:00 p.m.
Goodbody 229

No prior registration is needed for Chinese and Japanese testing. For your results, please call the EALC department office the following day (855-1992). If you have studied Korean before and want to take it in Fall semester, please go to http://www.indiana.edu/~korean/ and fill out the online form for placement testing to be registered for this test.

For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~ealc/languages/placement.shtml

Discussion: Speech Research Lab

2009-07-14T09:21:00.001-04:00

You are cordially invited to join the Speech Research Lab this Friday for the following:

The SRL meeting this week will focus on discussion of the recent Child Development article, "The cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with low working memory" (Alloway et al. 2009).

Friday, July 17, 2009
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Psychology 128

Announced by:
Elizabeth Casserly
Graduate Student
Dept. of Linguistics
Speech Research Lab
Indiana University

Today! Career Center: U.S. Department of State

2009-07-14T09:18:00.001-04:00

U.S. Department of State Information Session (2 Sessions)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
12:00 - 1:30 p.m., SPEA Atrium (Lunch Provided)
6:00 - 7:30 p.m., Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave.

Please RSVP for the session of your choice through your “myIUcareers” account.

Career diplomat Brian Flora will discuss career and internship possibilities with the U.S. Department of State. Flora, a 35-year veteran of the Foreign Service, is a recruiter for the Department throughout the upper Midwest. The sessions will include a detailed discussion of the application procedure and will provide suggestions on how to prepare for a Foreign Service career. Both sessions will last approximately 45 minutes, with ample opportunity for questions.

The Department of State is the Federal agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy. The Department’s personnel represent the U.S. and protect its interests and citizens around the world. The State Department seeks high caliber employees with the skills and competencies needed to deal with the demands of the coming decades. It recruits a diverse group of individuals with knowledge not only in areas traditionally associated with diplomacy (such as history, political science, international relations, and economics), but also those with backgrounds in business, office management, public administration, natural sciences, communications, law, information management and security. Its 25,000 U.S. employees (Foreign Officers and Specialists and Civil Servants) serve domestically, primarily in Washington DC, and at 265 embassies and consulates in over 160 foreign countries.

U.S. Department of State Individual Appointments

Dr. Flora will be available for a limited number of one-on-one meetings for individuals that are interested in the Department of State and/or have decided to register for the Foreign Service Officers Test. The appointments will take place on Tuesday, July 14 between 2:00-5:30p.m. at the Career Development Center. If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Flora, please send your availability to Sara Pennington-Busick at pennings@indiana.edu.

Additional Information:

Foreign Service Officer Test
To start the Foreign Service application process, you must take the free Foreign Service Officer Test. It is given several times a year at testing centers throughout the U.S. and at many U.S. Embassies around the world. To register to take the FSOT, go to the State Department website at: www.careers.state.gov

U.S. Department of State Internship Program
For students who are still in the educational pipeline, or who intend to go on to graduate school, the Department of State has a robust fall, spring, and summer internship program that offers a variety of interesting and challenging jobs in Washington and overseas in U.S. Embassies and Consulates. For more information, please visit: http://careers.state.gov/students/programs.html.

Career Center Session: NSA

2009-07-14T09:01:00.002-04:00

National Security Agency (NSA) Information Session

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Avenue

Visit IUCareers.com and register through your "myIUcareers" account

As an NSA Language Analyst, your work has a powerful impact in providing the most complete and accurate Signals Intelligence picture to U.S. policymakers, military commanders, and Intelligence Community members. Working directly with the original written or spoken language, you are the first person to determine the relevance of intelligence collected, to analyze, and to put the information into context. You may even be called upon to research and understand a culture in which a specific language is spoken.

Career Paths in Foreign Language

NSA is particularly interested in individuals who are proficient in Asian or Middle Eastern languages. We are looking for those with the following language capabilities:
• Chinese
• Dari
• Farsi
• Pashto
• Russian
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Other languages of Sub-Saharan Africa

Language Instructor positions are also available in the following languages:
• Chinese
• Pashto
• Farsi

You may also take on additional research and reporting responsibilities, apply for field assignments abroad, or elect to teach at our National Cryptologic School using live language broadcasting via SCOLA (Satellite Communications for Learning Association). You'll also have the opportunity to learn new languages at our National Cryptologic School or through reimbursed language courses at prestigious local colleges and universities, and much, much more.

Lecture: Vera Gribanova

2009-07-13T08:51:00.001-04:00

You are cordially invited to the following Linguistics lecture.

Vera Gribanova, Department of Linguistics, University of California - Santa Cruz, will present, "Verb phrase ellipsis and the structure of the Russian verbal complex."

Monday, July 13, 2009
4:30 p.m.
Ballantine Hall 134

Abstract:
In this talk I explore how parts of Russian finite verbs are composed syntactically. One focus is on the evidence which suggests that finite verbs (despite being words in morphophonological terms) reflect a complex internal syntactic structure. Another focus is on the kinds of evidence that can help to detect that syntactic structure. One such piece of evidence is a previously un-noticed instance of Verb Stranding Verb Phrase Ellipsis in Russian. Two separate strands of literature -- one on verb movement (Bailyn, 1995, inter alia) and one on superlexical prefixation (Svenonius 2004, 2008, Fowler 1994, Babko-Malaya 2003, inter alia) --- suggest that Russian verbs move to a position between T and vP in canonical clauses, and that this position is an Asp projection. Identity conditions on the stranded verb in V-Stranding VPE, when probed carefully, can be understood to support these preliminary conclusions about the distribution of the parts of the verb across syntactic space. Before this can be demonstrated, however, the empirical properties of V-Stranding VPE must be carefully explored in order to a) distinguish the construction from argument drop, and b) understand the verb-matching properties of the construction. This investigation, in turn, opens the door to two research paths: the argument drop data lead to conclusions about syntactic restrictions on Russian argument drop, and the verb-matching investigation sheds light on the nature of ellipsis licensing conditions.

Journal Club: Adank et al.

2009-06-23T10:28:00.000-04:00

You are invited to join the members of the Speech Research Lab this Friday to discuss the article, "Comprehension of Familiar and Unfamiliar Native Accents Under Adverse Listening Conditions," Adank et al. (2009) from the April issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.

Friday, June 26
Psychology Room 128
1:30-3:00 p.m.

CFP: 2010 North American Summer School in Logic, Language, and Information

2009-06-22T20:11:00.002-04:00

The North American Summer School in Logic, Language, and Information is a week-long school that presents interdisciplinary work between the areas of logic, linguistics, computer science, cognitive science, philosophy and artificial intelligence. NASSLLI has run at Stanford (2002), IU (2003), and UCLA (2005), and in June 2010 it returns to Indiana University.

Proposals are invited for courses and workshops, and for associated events.

You can find out more about NASSLLI by seeing the full call at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~nasslli/

For more information, contact:
Professor Lawrence S. Moss
Department of Mathematics
Indiana University
831 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-8281
lsm at cs dot indiana dot edu

Summer Talk: Andrea Scharnhorst

2009-06-05T16:17:00.002-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for the following summer talk.

June 12, 2009
1:00 p.m.
Wells Library 001

"Why modelling science?" will be presented by Andrea Scharnhorst, Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Abstract:
Scholarly activity - or the social system of science - can be studied in very different ways, with ethnographic observations of "scientific tribes", with statistical analysis of scientific communication and with help of new visualization tools "mapping the scientific universe". In this talk I will ask what mathematical models from physics can add to these perspectives. Do we need complexity theory to understand science and will we ever be able to capture important aspect of creative processes such as in science by models though complex ones? I will also give examples of how models can be used at different levels: in measurement, as generators for hypotheses; and to develop and test scenarios.

If you would like to meet with Andrea during her visit June 3-30, please contact Mark Price at maaprice@indiana.edu

Two Philosophy-CogSci Conferences

2009-06-05T16:12:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, there will be two philosophy-cogsci related conferences here next week:

The 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology (June 11-14), and the North American Computing and Philosophy Conference (June 14-16). All are invited, and onsite registration will be available for both, but I'd like to encourage you to take advantage of the preconference rates.

For SPP, the deadline for pre-conference rate on registration is June 4, this Thursday. There's a preconference workshop on "animal neuroethics" on Thursday June 11, and the conference itself runs June 12-14. Also, the conference banquet will be Sunday evening in the Art Museum, which should provide a very nice venue. Registration may be accessed directly at https://www.confmanager.com/main.cfm?cid=1747&tid=32
or via the SPP conference web site at http://socphilpsych.org/localinfo.html

For NACAP, the deadline for pre-conference registration rate is June 10, Wednesday of next week. The registration page can be reached directly at https://www.confmanager.com/main.cfm?cid=1629&tid=32 or via the conference web site at http://ia-cap.org/na-cap09/

Program information for both conferences can be found at the conference web sites. I hope you'll join us for what promise to be some very interesting sessions.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Colin Allen
Professor, Department of History & Philosophy of Science Professor & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Cognitive Science Program Faculty Member, Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior Indiana University-Bloomington, College of Arts and Sciences http://mypage.iu.edu/~colallen/

Lecture: Lida Anestidou

2009-06-01T19:09:00.000-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for the following presentation.

“Animal Pain and Biomedical Research: Ethics and Practice” will be presented by Dr. Lida Anestidou, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, The National Academies.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Psychology Bldg, Room 101
1101 East 10th Street
4:00-5:30 p.m.

How are we to approach the ethical issues involved in using animals in biomedical research? Dr. Lida Anestidou, Program Officer at the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research at The National Academies, will address the issues Wednesday, June 10, in the Psychology Building, Room 101, from 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Dr. Anestidou, DMV and PhD in Biomedical Sciences, was a research instructor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center prior to coming to The National Academies. She has published numerous articles and presented at many conferences.

Dr. Anestidou’s presentation is supported by a New Frontiers in Arts and Humanities grant from the IU Office of the Vice Provost for Research and by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. The project is directed by Colin Allen, from the department of History and Philosophy of Science and the Cognitive Science Program, and Brian Schrag, the executive secretary of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, an international membership organization housed at the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions.

Dr. Anestidou’s presentation is prior to her participation in a pre-conference workshop on Animal Neuroethics on June 11. The workshop is part of the annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, June 12-14. Registration and program information for the conference and workshop can be found at http://www.socphilpsych.org/localinfo.html.

For further information, contact: Colin Allen, colallen@indiana.edu, 855-8916.

Career Development Center Update

2009-06-01T19:07:00.001-04:00

Please check the Career Development Center web site for information on:

* FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS
* DROP-IN ADVISING SUMMER SCHEDULE
* UPCOMING FALL 2009 CAREER FAIRS

FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS

Full-time positions:
* Indiana University Alumni Association, Web Programming Assistant
* Indiana House of Representatives/Republican staff/Communications Office, Press Secretary
* Maxim Healthcare Services, Healthcare Recruiter/Entry Level Sales Management
* Elkhart Public Library, Outreach Coordinator

Internships:
* City of Chicago, Student Intern
* The LaSalle Network, Marketing Intern
* IU Office of Creative Services, Web Developer Internship
* Indiana Sports Corporation, Sports Indiana Intern
* Girl Scouts of Tulip Trace Council, Non-Profit Management Intern

Part-time positions:
* IU Campus Bus Service, Campus Bus Operator (Non-Work Study)
* TownePlace Suites - Bloomington, Front Desk Representative (Non-Work Study)
* Boys and Girls Clubs of Bloomington/Ellettsville, Summer Camp Membership Desk Coordinator (Non-Work Study)
* Indiana Geological Survey, Computer Support Assistant (Non-Work Study)
* IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Mathers Museum Assistant (Work-Study)
* Community Kitchen of Monroe County, Inc., Kitchen Staff (Work-Study)

DROP-IN ADVISING SUMMER SCHEDULE (UNDERGRADUATES ONLY)

Drop-in advising is available without appointment Tuesday-Thursday from 1-3 p.m. in the Career Development Center. Drop-in appointments take 15-20 minutes. Career advisors answer general questions about majors or careers; critique resumes and cover letters; explain what resources are available on campus; and get students started on internship, job, and graduate school searches. If additional time is required, the advisor will help the student make an hour-long advising appointment.

FALL 2009 CAREER FAIRS

FALL JOBS FAIR
Friday, August 28, 9-11 a.m. (Work Study) and 1:00-3:00 p.m. (Non-Work Study) Indiana Memorial Union, Alumni Hall

RETAIL & DESIGN CAREER FAIR
Wednesday, September 23, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Indiana Memorial Union, Alumni Hall

LIFE SCIENCES CAREER FAIR
Thursday, October 8, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Grand Foyer, IU Auditorium

GOVERNMENT CAREER FAIR
Monday, October 19, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Indiana Memorial Union, Alumni Hall

For more information on these and other events, visit www.iucareers.com and sign in to your myIUcareers account. Benefits of myIUcareers: Participate in on-campus interviews for internship and full-time employment/Access online postings for part-time, internship, fellowship, and full-time positions/View the IU Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services calendar of interviews and events and RSVP for workshops and employer information sessions/ Obtain contact information for employers actively partnered with the Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services.

New Fall Course in Serious Games

2009-05-28T08:51:00.001-04:00

Announcing a new survey course in Serious Games from the School of Education.

EDUC-F 401 TOPICAL EXPLORATIONS IN EDUC (3 CR)
VT: SURVEY OF SERIOUS GAMES
29718 RSTR 02:30P-03:45P TR ED 1250 Appelman R
NOTE: 15 seats are being reserved for FIGS.

This is one of the new "hot" topics in the gaming arena. EDUC-F 401 is a beginning level survey course for any undergraduate who is interested in exploring the realm of Serious Games. "Serious Games" refers to game-like environments where learning is a primary outcome and meaningful play is the process for gaining understanding. This course examines the potential of using games & simulations for the purposes of instruction. It addresses the social phenomenon of these immersive environments for their cognitive and affective impact on the users. Students will play video games, reflect on their impact in instruction, and design their own serious games. Students will then work in interdisciplinary teams to test games, and to explore the tools and skills necessary to function within an authentic development pipeline.

NB: Courses in the School of Education are "Outside Hours" for students pursuing a degree in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Announced by:
Robert L. Appelman, PhD
Director: VX Lab for Game Play Analysis
Coordinator: Technology Education Program
Clinical Professor - IST
Indiana University School of Education
appelman@indiana.edu
http://www.indiana.edu/~games/F401/

SRL Talk: Nicholas Altieri, Andrew Kirk and David B. Pisoni

2009-05-27T11:13:00.000-04:00

The Speech Research Lab's next meeting will feature a talk by Nicholas Altieri, Andrew Kirk and Prof. David B. Pisoni of IU Bloomington. All are invited and welcome to attend.

Friday, May 29, 2009
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Psychology 128

" Can Visual-Spatial Working Memory Training Improve Lip-reading Ability? A first report of negative findings" will be presented by Nicholas Altieri, Andrew Kirk, and David B. Pisoni.

Abstract:
Decades of research on audiovisual speech perception has led to a large body work examining accuracy on visual-only speech recognition (i.e., lip-reading). In contrast to accuracy scores for auditory-only stimuli in quiet for normal hearing listeners, visual-only accuracy is highly variable and the sources of this variability in lip-reading skills remain unknown. The first goal of our recent study was to investigate whether cognitive functions such as attention, the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, and visual-spatial working memory skills correlate with lip-reading performance on CUNY sentences. Secondly, we investigated whether lip reading skills could be improved after several days of training on a visual-spatial working memory task. In our experiment, subjects participated in three days of visual-spatial working memory training in which they received either probabilistic-adaptive sequences or random sequences. We also assessed attention and inhibition using the Stroop color-word naming test, verbal working memory using forward and backward digit span, and lip-reading skills using visual only sentence recognition on separate days before and after training. The results failed to yield significant correlations between any of the cognitive factors and lip-reading ability. We also failed to find evidence that training facilitated visual-only accuracy. We are currently considering different approaches and several new training paradigms that might improve visual-only speech recognition. Suggestions on these matters would be greatly appreciated from the IU research community.

Lecture: Katalin Bimbo

2009-05-26T10:30:00.002-04:00

Please join us for a special logic talk.

"Nextand and Nallor" will be presented by Katalin Bimbo, University of Alberta Philosophy Department.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
3:00 p.m.
Ballantine 137

Abstract:
Various sets of connectives are known to be functionally complete for classical propositional logic -- including the singleton sets containing Nand or Nor. It is less well-known that the operator Nextand (introduced by Schoenfinkel) is sufficient for FOL as the only undefined logical constant. This talk is mainly concerned with the definition of operators like Nextand that turn out to be sufficient for FOL by themselves. There are four such binary operators. I define completely symmetric truth functions; the ternary completely symmetric truth functions give rise to 16 operators. (In order to provide a certain context, I will compare in the talk some of Peirce's and Sheffer's, as well as Schoenfinkel's and Quine's work.)

Exciting Fall Course: Mathematics from Language

2009-05-21T09:54:00.002-04:00

We invite you to consider an exciting Fall Term 2009 course option: MATH-M 385, Mathematics from Language.

Are you fascinated by grammar? Would you like to learn some advanced topics in math that are motivated by contemporary linguistics? If so, please consider M385. It's an introduction to a number of math topics chosen from abstract algebra, formal language theory, logic, and probability. The emphasis is on learning the math, but all of the examples are from linguistics. And although the class will teach you to do proofs, it is not super-rigorous. It's not even intended for math majors. The official prerequisite is MATH-M 118, and courses such as CSCI-C 241 and COGS-Q 250 would be good to have as well. The real prerequisite is an interest in the subject.

MATH-M 385 Mathematics from Language
Section 27130
1:00-2:15 TR
BH 231
Professor Larry Moss

Inquiries about the course may be directed to Professor Moss at lmoss@indiana.edu.

Lecture: Charles van den Heuvel

2009-05-21T08:54:00.001-04:00

You are cordially invited to join us for the following Summer Talk.

May 26, 2009
3:00 p.m.
Wells Library 030

"Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web in Research from a Historical Perspective: The designs of Paul Otlet (1868-1944) for telecommunication and machine readable documentation to organize research and society" will be presented by Charles van den Heuvel, Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Abstract:
Tim Berners-Lee describes in Weaving the Web (1999), his future vision of the World Wide Web in two parts. In the first one, nowadays called Web 2.0, people collaborate and enrich data together in a shared information space. In the second part, exchanges extend to computers, resulting in a “Semantic Web” (Berners-Lee 1999). Most historical studies of World Wide Web begin with the American roots of the Internet in ARPANET or follow a historiographical line of post war information revolutionaries, from Vannevar Bush to Tim Berners-Lee. This paper follows an alternative line. At the end of the nineteenth and in the first decades of the twentieth century various European scholars, like Patrick Geddes, Paul Otlet, Otto Neurath, Wilhelm Ostwald explored the organisation, enrichment and dissemination of knowledge on a global level to come to a peaceful, universal society. We focus on Paul Otlet (1868-1944) who developed a knowledge infrastructure to update information mechanically and manually in collaboratories of scholars. First the Understanding Infrastructure (2007) report, that Paul N. Edwards et al. wrote on behalf of NSF, will be used to position Otlet’s knowledge organization in their sketched development from information systems to information networks or webs. Secondly, the relevance of Otlet’s knowledge infrastructure will be assessed for Web 2.0 and Semantic Web applications for research. The hypothesis will be put forward that the instruments and protocols envisioned by Otlet to enhance collaborative knowledge production, can still be relevant for current conceptualizations of “scientific authority” in data sharing and annotation in Web 2.0 applications and the modeling of the Semantic Web.