Date: Fri 8 Jan 1988 22:29-PST From: AIList Moderator Kenneth Laws Reply-To: AIList@SRI.COM Us-Mail: SRI Int., 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 Phone: (415) 859-6467 Subject: AIList V6 #6 - Cognitive Science Programs To: AIList@SRI.COM Status: RO AIList Digest Saturday, 9 Jan 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 6 Today's Topics: Education & Psychology - Cognitive Science Programs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 5 Jan 88 05:19:51 GMT From: mnetor!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utai!tjhorton@uunet.u u.net (Timothy J. Horton) Subject: cognitive science programs - summary of responses This is a summary of responses to a question posed in comp.ai a few weeks ago, about (university) programs in cognitive science. The original question in- cluded the following (slightly fixed) information (and some misinformation?): MIT: Department of Brain and Cognitive Science Brown: Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 12 Faculty Fields of study: Linguistics, Vision, Reasoning, Neural Models, Animal Cognition UCSD: interdisciplinary PhD in Cognitive Science exists a Dept of Cognitive Science is in the works undergraduate program in Cog Sci currently offered by psychology emphases in Connectionism, Psychology, AI, Linguisitics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Social Cognition Stanford: Graduate Program in Cognitive Science Psychology (organizing dept), Linguistics, Computer Science, Philosophy Rochester: interdisciplinary PhD in Cognitive Science UC Berkley: Cognitive Science Program, focus on linguistics Princeton: interdisciplinary program in Cognitive Science Toronto: Undergraduate Major in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence Michigan: no current program in Cognitive Science, but some opportunities University of Western Ontario: Center for Cognitive Science Edinburgh: department of Cognitive Science (formerly School of Epistemics) focus on linguistics Sussex: School of Cognitive Science --------------------- RESPONSES (partially EDITED) --------------------------- From: "Donald A. Norman" at UCSD >At UCSD, we are indeed in the process of establishing a Department of Cognitive >Science. We are now hiring, but formal classes will not start until the Fall >of 1989. We will have both an undergraduate and a PhD program. We now have >an Interdisciplinary PhD program: students enter some department, X, and join >the interdisciplinary program after completing the first year requirements of >X. They then receive a "PhD in X and Cognitive Science." We have about 20 >students now and have given out about 3 PhDs. > The strengths are in the computational understanding of cognition, with >strong emphasis in psychology, AI, linguisitics, neuroscience, philosophy, and >social cognition. PDP (connectionism) is one of the strengths at UCSD, and >the approach permeates all of the different areas of Cognitive Science, even >among those of us who do not directly do work on weights, algorithms, or >connectionist architectures > Yes, there is a Cognitive Science Society. It hosts an annual conference >(the next one will be in Montreal). It publishes the journal "Cognitive >Science." You can find out about it by writing the secretary treasurer: > Kurt Vanlehn vanlehn@a.psy.cmu.edu > Department of Psychology > Carnegie-Mellon University > Pittsburgh, PA 15213 ----- From: Jeff Elman at UCSD (taken from comp.ai) >The University of California, San Diego is considering the establishment of a >Department of Cognitive Science ... The Department will take a broadly-based >approach to the study of cognition. It will be concerned with the neurological >basis of cognition, individual cognition, cognition in social groups, and >machine intelligence. It will incorporate methods and theories from a wide >variety of disciplines including Anthropology, Computer Science, Linguistics, >Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology. ----- From: Tom Olson at Rochester >The University of Rochester has an interdisciplinary Ph. D. in Cog Sci, >basically a bridge between Comp. Sci., Psych and Philosophy. I don't know >much about how it is organized. If you're interested, you might write to >alice@cs.rochester.edu or lachter@cs.rochester.edu who are among the first >students in the program. Presumably we're strong in linguistics, vision, >connectionism, and inexact ("probabilistic") reasoning. >PS Connectionism is not fading at San Diego as far as I know. ----- From: Michael McInerny at Rochester >Here at the UofRochester (Hi Neighbor!), we have an "interdisciplinary" >Cog Sci dept. that includes fac. from Comp Sci, Psych, Philosophy, and >Neuroscience. I'm a grad student enrolled in the program, via the Comp >Science dept., which means I have to get my own committee together, >and build my own program, on top of passing regular CS stuff like Quals. >I understand there is an undergraduate major in the dept too. ----- From: William J. Rapaport at SUNY >State University of New York at Buffalo has several active cognitive science >programs. What follows is a slightly outdated on-line information sheet on >two of them. [contact the author (or myself) for the full text. The description reads in part: "(the group's) activities have focused upon language-related issues and knowledge representation... "] >The newest is the SUNY Buffalo Graduate Studies and Research Initiative in >Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, whose Steering Committee is currently >planning the establishment of a Cog and Ling Sci Center and running a >colloquium series. For more information, please contact me. In addition, >let me know if you wish to be on my on-line mailing list for colloquium >announcements. ----- From: Marie Bienkowski >Princeton University has an excellent Cognitive Science program, although >there is no department by that name. They have active research programs >on automated tutoring, vocabulary acquisition, reasoning, belief revision, >connectionism (with Bellcore), computational linguistics, cognitive >anthropology, and probably more that I've missed. The main sponsoring >departments are Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics. > A good person to contact is bjr@mind.princeton.edu, who is, in real life, >a professor in the Psychology Dept. His p-mail address is: > Brian Reiser > Cognitive Science Laboratory > 21 Nassau St. > Princeton, NJ 08542 ----- From: Rodney Hoffman >There is an undergraduate program in Cognitive Science at Occidental College >(Los Angeles). The director is Saul Traiger ; >write to him for more information. ----- From: "Saul P. Traiger" at Occidental College >The following appeared in Ailist Digest last summer. Let me know if you'd >like more information. > Occidental College, a liberal arts college which enrolls approximately >1600 students, is pleased to announce a new Program in Cognitive >Science. The Program offers an undergraduate major and minor in Cognitive >Science. Faculty participating in this program include members of the >departments of mathematics, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. >[...] The undergraduate major in Cognitive Science at Occidental College >includes courses in mathematics, philosophy, psychology and linguistics. >Instruction in mathematics introduces students to computer languages, >discrete mathematics, logic, and the mathematics of computation. >Philosophy offerings cover the philosophy of mind, with emphasis on >computational models of the mind, the theory of knowledge, the philosophy >of science, and the philosophy of language. Psychology courses include >basic psychology, learning, perception, and cognition. Courses in >linguistics provide a theoretical foundation in natural languages, their >acquisition, development, and structure. For more information about >Occidental College's Cognitive Science Program: > Professor Saul Traiger ARPANET: oxy!traiger@CSVAX.Caltech.EDU > Cognitive Science Program BITNET: oxy!traiger@hamlet > 1600 Campus Road CSNET: oxy!traiger%csvax.caltech.edu@RELAY.CS.NET > Occidental College UUCP: {seismo,rutgers,ames}!cit-vax!oxy!traiger > Los Angeles, CA 90041 ----- From: Roy Eagleson at Western Ontario >"The Centre for Cognitive Science" at UWO is a community of professors, >research assistants, and graduate students from: Psychology, Computer Science, >Philosophy, Neurobiology, Engineering, and Library Science. In addition to >the related graduate and undergraduate courses offered by those faculties >and departments, there is an undergraduate course in Cognitive Science >offered through Psychology. We can send you more info if you want it. > >As for the Cognitive Science Society, you can drop them a line at: > Cognitive Science Society, > Department of Psychology > Carnegie-Mellon University > Schenley Park > Pittsburgh, PA 15213 >Zenon Pylyshyn was their President for 1985-86. ----- From: John Laird at Michigan >There is no formal undergraduate or graduate program in Cognitive Science >at this time. We will be offering an undergraduate course in Cognitive Science >next term, co-taught by AI, Psych., Ling., and Philosophy. We also have the >Cognitive Science and Machine Intelligence Lab. It is supported by three >colleges: Engineering; Business; and Literature, Sciences and the Arts. >The Lab sponsers a variety of Cognitive Science activities: talks, workshops, >research groups, etc. I expect that in a few years we will have undergraduate >and graduate programs in Cognitive Science, but for now, students must be in >a specific department and take cross-listed courses. ----- >From Professor Tom Perry, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver >The Cognitive Science Program does not yet have a graduate program, but one is >planned for the near future. At present, qualified students can do advanced >degrees under Special Arrangements. [...] > Cognitive Science Program > Department of Philosophy > Simon Fraser University > Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6 [Special arrangements means: "Exceptionally able applications, who wish to work for a Master's or Doctoral degree outside or between existing programs at Simon Fraser University, may apply to work under Special Arrangements. (the student) must have a well-developed plan of studies in an area which can be shown to have internal coherence and academic merit, and which the University has appro- priate expertise and interests among its faculty members ..."] ----- >From Donald H. Mitchell of Bendix Aero. Tech. Ctr >In 1985, the president of Northwestern University set aside a decent pot of >money and charged the Cognitive Psychology program to find a chairman for an >interdisciplinary Cognitive Science program. They aggressively set out and >brought dozens of big names in for show-and-tell. They made offers to >several; however, as far as I know, they never caught one. Maybe they have >one now? I do not know. >Northwestern has a small but high-quality group of Cognitive Psychologists >[...] The work is primarily on human cognition: verbal information processing >... human decision making... human expertise in game-playing, ... heuristic >search, and machine learning (genetic algorithms). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Timothy J Horton (416) 979-3109 tjhorton@ai.toronto.edu (CSnet,UUCP,Bitnet) Dept of Computer Science tjhorton@ai.toronto (other Bitnet) University of Toronto, tjhorton@ai.toronto.cdn (EAN X.400) Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 {seismo,watmath}!ai.toronto.edu!tjhorton ------------------------------ End of AIList Digest ********************