1. State of the Program Undergraduate Program in Cognitive Science
Spring 2017

2. State of the Program
Everything is Awesome!

3. Size and Make-up of Majors
59 active COGS majors (33 M, 26 F)
By year (active only)
9 seniors
10 juniors
20 sophomores
14 freshmen
By major:
COGS: 26
COGS/CSCI: 28
COGS/GSAS: 1
Other COGS duals: 4 (PSYC, CSYS, DIS)

4. Curriculum

5. COGS Core Courses
Intro to Cognitive Neuroscience (or Behavioral Neuroscience)
Sensation and Perception
Metaphysics & Consciousness (Knowledge and Rationality and Phil of AI no longer offered)
Cognitive Modeling (or Programming for AI and Cog Sci or Intelligent Virtual Agents or Affective Computing)
Intro to AI (or Game AI or Learning & Advanced Game AI as a substitute)

6. Senior Thesis
Find a Faculty Member to do your Thesis with: Your Thesis Faculty Advisor
Fill out thesis form with Thesis Faculty Advisor (bring to Registrar before add deadline)
Thesis Faculty Advisor will lay out requirements of thesis
Meetings
Literature Research
Experimental Research
Write-Up
You do not have to do thesis in last semester

7. Online Courses
Udacity (~40 courses, mostly CSCI, self-paced, wide variety of course lengths)
Introduction to AI, Artificial Intelligence for Robotics, The Design of Everyday Things
Coursera (500+ courses; wide variety)
Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Computational Neuroscience, Natural Language Processing, etc.
EdX (100+ courses, various fields)
Possibility of getting 1-2 credits Independent Study for successful completion of courses (Add Deadline: Monday, 1/30)

8. Wednesday Issues in Cognitive Science Seminar
It is possible for undergraduates to receive 1 credit through the Issues in Cognitive Science Lecture Series:
Write 1 page response paper about talk for 6 talks of your choice
Register for COGS 2940/4940 “Issues in Cognitive Science”
Restricted to COGS majors or minors or dual majors with PHIL or PSYC

9. Speakers This Semester
February 8, Bolek Szymanski, Computer Science, RPI
Social Cognitive Networks
February 15, Selmer Bringsjord, Cognitive Science, RPI
“Is Westworld Our (Near) Future?”
April 12, Ashok Goel, Georgia Tech
Computational Design and Creativity
April 19, Gary Latham, School of Management, University of Toronto
Goal Setting and Organizations
March 11, Liane Gabora, Psychology, University of British Columbia
Cognitive Models for Creativity
All other talks this semester are by COGS graduate students
For a complete schedule of speakers go to Speaker Series on the Cognitive Science department home page
If you think of a potential speaker, let me know!

10. Research

11. Undergraduate Research
Cog Sci students are strongly encouraged to do hands-on research
Undergraduate Research Program (URP)
Fill out URP form:
You have to write a 500 word proposal!
for course credit (deadline = course add deadline = January 30)
Also fill out an Independent Study/URP Registration form
for $ (February 3)
Research can be used for Senior Thesis

12. Summer URP (SURP) at RPI
Competitive program
Applications reviewed by multiple faculty
$4000 stipend for 10-week summer research
Need to find faculty member willing to support research efforts during 10-week period
Deadline: February 17!
SURP

13. Other Summer Programs
Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Program in Vision Science, University of Rochester
June 5-August 5
Deadline: February 15

14. And Another One …
Visiting Undergraduate Research Program, University of Indiana
Highly selective year-long program for seniors
Work directly with faculty member
Deadline: April 3

15. And Another One …
Summer Computing Research Experience in Data Science UMass Amherst
$5,000 stipend for 10 weeks
Deadline: January 27!

16. And Another One …
Summer Workshop in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware
June 5-16
Travel, Stipend, Room and Board provided
Deadline: March 1, 2017

17. Overview Research Groups and Labs
PandA Lab
(Dr. Brett Fajen … represented by Sean Barton, grad student)
CogWorks Lab
(Dr. Wayne Gray … represented by John Lindstedt and Catherine Sibert, grad students)
RAIR Lab
(Dr. Selmer Bringsjord … represented by Naveen Sundar … post-doc?)
Sim Lab
(Dr. Mei Si … represented by Zev Battad, grad student)
Visual Reasoning
(Dr. Bram van Heuveln)

18. Visual Reasoning
Research Page

19. Paperwork Declare or add Cognitive Science Major
Fill out Change of Major form
Curriculum Coordinator: Betty Osganian (Sage 4301)
1 credit for Issues in Cognitive Science lectures
Fill out Independent Study form
COGS 2940/4940 “Issues in Cognitive Science”
Senior Thesis
Find thesis advisor
Fill out Thesis Registration form
URP
Fill out URP form
For credit:
Fill out Independent Study form as well
Credits to be determined by project advisor
Deadline = Course Add Deadline: Monday, 1/30
For $ (URP matches up to $400):
Find faculty member with $!
Deadline: Friday, 2/3