caroly@bucasb.bu.edu (12/01/90)
(please post)
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* GRADUATE PROGRAM IN *
* COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS (CNS) *
* AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY *
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Gail A.Carpenter & Stephen Grossberg, Co-Directors
The Boston University graduate program in Cognitive and Neural Systems
offers comprehensive advanced training in the neural and computational
principles, mechanisms, and architectures that underly human and
animal behavior, and the application of neural network architectures
to the solution of outstanding technological problems.
Applications for Fall, 1991 admissions and financial aid are now
being accepted for both the MA and PhD degree programs.
To obtain a brochure describing the CNS Program and a set of application
materials, write or telephone:
Cognitive & Neural Systems Program
Boston University
111 Cummington Street, Room 240
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 353-9481
or send a mailing address to: caroly@park.bu.edu
Applications for admission and financial aid should be received by
the Graduate School Admissions Office no later than January 15.
Applicants are required to submit undergraduate (and, if applicable,
graduate) transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and Graduate
Record Examination (GRE) scores. The Advanced Test should be in the
candidate's area of departmental specialization. GRE scores may be
waived for MA candidates and, in exceptional cases, for PhD candidates,
but absence of these scores may decrease an applicant's chances for
admission and financial aid.
Description of the CNS Program:
The Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS) Program provides advanced training
and research experience for graduate students interested in the neural and
computational principles, mechanisms, and architectures that underly human
and animal behavior, and the application of neural network architectures
to the solution of outstanding technological problems. Students are
trained in a broad range of areas concerning cognitive and neural systems,
including vision and image processing; speech and language understanding;
adaptive pattern recognition; associative learning and long-term memory;
cognitive information processing; self-organization; cooperative and
competitive network dynamics and short-term memory; reinforcement,
motivation, and attention; adaptive sensory-motor control and robotics;
and biological rhythms; as well as the mathematical and computational
methods needed to support advanced modeling research and applications. The
CNS Program awards MA, PhD, and BA/MA degrees.
The CNS Program embodies a number of unique features. Its core curriculum
consists of eight interdisciplinary graduate courses each of which
integrates the psychological, neurobiological, mathematical, and computational
information needed to theoretically investigate fundamental issues concerning
mind and brain processes and the applications of neural networks to technology.
Each course is taught once a week in the evening to make the program available
to qualified students, including working professionals, throughout the Boston
area. Students develop a coherent area of expertise by designing a program
that includes courses in areas such as Biology, Computer Science, Engineering,
Mathematics, and Psychology, in addition to courses in the CNS core curriculum.
The CNS Program prepares Ph.D. students for thesis research with scientists
in one of several Boston University research centers or groups, and with
Boston-area scientists collaborating with these centers. The unit most
closely linked to the Program is the Center for Adaptive Systems. The
Center for Adaptive Systems is also part of the Boston Consortium for
Behavioral and Neural Studies, a Boston-area multi-institutional
Congressional Center of Excellence. Another multi-institutional
Congressional Center of Excellence focussed at Boston University is the
Center for the Study of Rhythmic Processes. Other research resources
include distinguished research groups in dynamical systems within the
mathematics department; in theoretical computer science within the Computer
Science Department; in biophysics and computational physics within the
Physics Department; in sensory robotics, biomedical engineering, computer
and systems engineering, and neuromuscular research within the Engineering
School; and in neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and neuropharmacology at the
Medical School.