[D-multisensory] Announcement: FIAS Summer School - Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems (05-27. Aug. 2006, Frankfurt/Main, Germany)

[Raul Muresan <raulmuresan@personal.ro>]

Announcement and Call for Applications:

Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) Summer School:

Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems

We invite applications for a three-week summer workshop that will be
held in Frankfurt, Germany from Saturday, August 5 to Sunday, August
27, 2006. The application deadline is Saturday, April 15, and
application instructions are described at the bottom of this document.


FACULTY:

Larry ABBOTT, Columbia University, USA
Ad AERTSEN, University of Freiburg, Germany
Dana BALLARD, University of Rochester, USA
Emery BROWN, Harvard and MIT, USA
György BUZSÁKI, Rutgers University, USA
Yves FRÉGNAC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Wulfram GERSTNER*, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, France
Rainer Goebel, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Claudius GROS, Goethe University, Germany
Wolfgang MAASS, FIAS, Germany and Technische Universität Graz, Austria
Bartlett MEL, University of South California, USA
Gordon PIPA, FIAS and Max-Planck Institute, Germany
John RINZEL*, New York University, USA
Wolf SINGER, FIAS and Max-Planck Institute, Germany
Andrey SOLOV’YOV, FIAS, Germany
Jochen TRIESCH, FIAS, Germany and UC San Diego, USA
Christoph VON DER MALSBURG, FIAS, Germany
Carl VAN VREESWIJK, René Descartes University, France

*invited


GOALS:

There is a deficiency in the exchange of ideas between theoretical
physicists and experimental biologists.  This arises from
different background knowledge bases and viewpoints, even when
addressing the same problem.  The aim of the FIAS Summer School on
Theoretical Neuroscience and Complex Systems is to provide a bridge
linking experimentalists and theorists.  The school also addresses
the challenge of further developing theoretical sciences and
transferring existing concepts into the interdisciplinary field of
neuroscience.  This transference will be highly dependent on the
successful training of students so that they can bridge the different
fields.  Applicants will work on projects that they themselves
propose, and to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations, each student
will be assigned a “working-group” comprising one experimental
neuroscientist, one theoretical neuroscientist, and one theoretical
physicist. 


FORMAT:

The three-week summer workshop will include a preschool that will take
place at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research in
Frankfurt.  During these three days, theoretical physicists will
be trained in basic concepts of neuroscience, experimental
neuroscientists will be trained in basic concepts of network theory and
complex systems, and theoretical neuroscientists will be trained in
experimental neuroscience.  The first two days of the summer
school will be used to introduce the main concepts of neuronal systems
and information processing.  The second week is devoted to the
characterization and analysis of neural recordings, as well as to the
description and modeling of neurons, synapses, and small networks. The
third week introduces approaches for modeling higher cognitive
functions.  Throughout, participants work on projects that they
themselves propose, and this work will be carried out in collaboration
with an interdisciplinary working-group comprising one experimental
neuroscientist, one theoretical neuroscientist, and one theoretical
physicist.  Lectures will be held in the mornings from
Monday-Friday, while students will work on their projects in the
afternoons from Monday-Wednesday.  Intra-group progress reports
will be presented on Wednesday and Friday evenings.  A preview of
the following week’s lectures will be provided on Thursday afternoons
to ensure that all participants are comfortable with the material to be
discussed.  Saturdays will be devoted to “theory in practice,” and
participants will have the chance to visit actual research
laboratories: MPIH (Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research) in
Frankfurt and the Honda Research Institute in Offenbach. Each Sunday
will be reserved for recreational opportunities, and on the final day
of the summer school, the projects will be presented.

The scientific program will cover the following areas:

•    Neuroanatomy

•    Neurophysiology 

•    Basics in modeling of neurons 

•    Realistic models of neural microcircuits

•    Abstract models of higher-level functions

•    Outlook to other complex systems


LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENTS:

FIAS is a Foundation of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University and is
located on the natural science campus, Riedberg, in Frankfurt am Main.
It also has close collaboration with the Faculty of Natural Sciences at
the J.W. Goethe-University and the Max Planck Institutes for Brain
Research and Biophysics.  The preschool will take place at the
Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research.  Students and Lecturers
will stay in the Marriott Courtyard Frankfurt Nordwestzentrum. The
hotel is located very close to the FIAS Institute and has excellent
access to the public transport system. 


FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT:

FIAS organizes the summer school and covers the accommodation and the
cultural Program. Students have to pay a registration fee of
150€.  Students from Easter European countries or students in
general who need support for their travel expenses can apply for
reimbursement and a waiver for the registration fee.  Please
indicate this in your application if you are considering applying for
reimbursement.  We will also need an estimation of your travel
expenses. 


HOW TO APPLY:

Students who have a bachelor, a master, a Ph.D., or other equivalent
degrees can apply for this summer school.  To apply, please
provide two letters of recommendation, a curriculum vitae, as well as a
one page description of a small project she/he is planning to work on
during the course. The project proposal should outline the basic idea
as well as problems the student might have faced so far.  Based on
the proposal, the committee will group students to teams and assign
interdisciplinary faculty to each individual team. 

Information about applying and the summer school in general can be
found at the website: http://www.fias.uni-frankfurt.de/neuro_school/

A copy of the summer school announcement can be downloaded from:
http://www.fias.uni-frankfurt.de/neuro_school/FIAS_summerschool_Poster_A2.pdf

Application will include:

* First name, last name, affiliation, valid e-mail address
* Two letters of recommendation
* Curriculum Vitae
* Project proposal (max. one page)
* Request for reimbursement of travel expenses (if applicable)

Please send your documents in an electronic format to: neuro_school@fias.uni-frankfurt.de
    
The application deadline is Saturday, April 15, 2006.
Applicants will be notified by e-mail by May 1, 2006.

For further information, please contact: 

Denise Meixler (neuro_school@fias.uni-frankfurt.de)
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
Max-von-Laue-Str. 1
60438 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

tel: +49 69 798 47601
fax: +49 69 798 47611

www.sentimente.ro
Singur? Peste 180.000 utilizatori pentru tine!