Opportunities & Announcements

MathDUG SUMS

The annual Symposium for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences (SUMS) is coming up on Saturday, March 9! The conference brings together students and faculty throughout the Northeast (and beyond!), and is a great place to get to know some of your peers in the math/science community. There will be four faculty speakers, who will give talks on this year's topic: "Math and Information." More specifically, they will be offering unique perspectives on disciplines such as cryptography, quantum computing, and information theory. In addition, we will have roughly 12 student speakers and a poster session.

If you are interested in presenting your own research in the form of a 20-minute talk or a poster, the deadline for submitting an abstract online is Saturday, February 23rd at noon. The submission form can be found on our website. Please note that we will be accepting talks on a rolling basis.

If you are interested in attending, please register as well! It only takes ~30 seconds. If you would be interested in hosting students from other universities, please send a quick email stating how many people you would be willing to host to sums@math.brown.edu (something on the order of "I can host x people" is plenty!).

We look forward to seeing you at SUMS!

Course Announcements

MCM 0230: Digital Media [26329] - Spring 2013

We are very excited to announce that DIGITAL MEDIA - a rich and exciting course in the Department of Modern Culture & Media - will be offered this term! The course will be co-taught by Professors Wendy Chun and Joshua Neves. Please spread the word and come check out the first meeting on January 23 at 1pm (Wilson 309).

Moving from video games to alternative art installations, from cyberpunk fiction and films to social media sites, the course focuses on the theory, history, politics and aesthetics of digital media. Special attention will be paid to the tensions between our perceptions of technology and its actual operations and to technology's intersections with social/cultural formations (gender, sexuality, race, global flows) and with issues of control and freedom.

Co-ordinates:
Lectures: M.W. 1:00-1:50 p.m., Wilson Hall, rm 309
Labs: T. 7-11 p.m., Granoff
Screenings: T 7-11, List 110
Sections: F. 11-11:50 a.m., 155 George Street, rm 106 (***more may be added***)

CLPS 1291 Computational cognitive science

Instructor: Thomas Serre (http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu)

Starts: Th 01/24 2:30pm Metcalf #107

Course details: https://canvas.brown.edu/courses/350884

Provides an introduction to computational modeling of cognition, summarizing traditional approaches and providing experience with state-of-the-art methods. Covers computational learning theory, pattern recognition and connectionists approaches as well as Bayesian probabilistic models, and illustrates how they have been applied in several key areas of cognitive science, including visual perception and attention, object and face recognition, learning and memory as well as decision-making and reasoning.

Focuses on modeling simple laboratory tasks from cognitive psychology. Connections to contemporary research will be emphasized highlighting how computational models may motivate the development of new hypotheses for experiment design in cognitive psychology.

Ideally suited for both students with a computational background interested in gaining exposure to cognitive neuroscience as well as students from the life sciences interested in developing MATLAB programming skills via hand-on assignments.

Relies heavily on the use of MATLAB programming language. Previous MATLAB experience highly recommended but not mandatory. Optional programming labs and tutorials as well as online lectures will be available but willingness to do extra work is expected for students with little programming background.

Open to both graduate and undergraduate students.