COGS Alum Emily Kaufman ’16 Stands Up to Online Hate

Posted on by

“A proud Husky alumna, Kaufman works as an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. A leading authority on hate, extremism, antisemitism and terrorism, the center’s researchers, including Kaufman, monitor the online presence of groups and organizations in order to expose and disrupt them, to educate law enforcement about the workings and actions of the groups, and to help the public identify and deal with extremist threats.”

The Extremist Watchdog: Meet the Husky Who Tracks Online Hate

COGS Major Irene Soteriou ’23 Named A Truman Scholar

Posted on by

“Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.”

UConn Junior named A Truman Scholar 

COGS Major Connor Rickermann ’23 Partners with Bike Walk Bolton

Posted on by

“The positive experience also led to a second partnership with Bike Walk Bolton, UConn Service Learning, and Anthropology 3340 – rising senior Connor Rickermann ’23 (ENG/CLAS), a dual degree computer science engineering and cognitive sciences major, worked with the group on an economic impact project, helping to collect data on how people use the Hop River Trail, what users like and dislike about the trail, what amenities and commodities exist along the trail, and how awareness can be heightened to the benefit of both trail users and local businesses.”

For Popular Trail, There’s Light at the End- and the Beginning, and the Middle- of the Tunnel

COGS Major Rose Pacik-Nelson ’23 receives Gilman Scholarship

Posted on by

“The Gilman Scholarship is congressionally funded through the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs at the State Department. The funding supports broadening student participation in study abroad programs and encourages travel to diverse locations around the globe, along with intensive language study and internship experiences.”

UConn Produces and All-Time High 17 Gilman Scholars

Cog Sci Major Evan Zysman

Posted on by

A senior in the Cog Sci major, Mr. Evan Zysman, was first author on a poster presentation this month at the Boston University Conference on Language Development. BUCLD is widely considered the most prestigious (and selective) conference in the field of child language acquisition. Evan will now be first author on a paper to be published in the conference proceedings.

COGS & SLAC Talk on 12/16: Jonathan Peelle

Posted on by

The Cognitive Science and SLAC programs invite you to a talk on 12/16! 

 

 

 

Speaker: Dr. JonathanPeelle, an Associate Professor from theCenter for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University.

Time & Location: The talk will begin at 4PM, Friday December 16th, 2022, in the Dodd Center Konover Auditorium. Light refreshments will be available at 3:15PM. Please RSVP in advance. Virtual Attendance options are provided in the form. 

Talk Title:“Cognitive consequences of acoustic challenge during spoken communication”

Abstract: Everyday communication is full of acoustic challenges, including background noise, competing talkers, or assistive devices. How do listeners understand speech in the midst of this noise? Evidence from multiple sources is consistent with a shared resource framework of speech comprehension in which domain-general cognitive processes supported by discrete regions of frontal cortex are required for successfully understanding speech. These increased cognitive demands can be captured using behavior, pupillometry, and functional brain imaging. Although frequently studied in the context of hearing loss, these principles have broader implications for our understanding of how auditory and cognitive factors interact during spoken language comprehension.

Bio: Jonathan is a cognitive neuroscientist who studies the neuroscience of human communication, aging, and hearing impairment at the Center for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University. He also has two podcasts: “The Brain Made Plain” where he interviews cognitive neuroscientists about their work, and “The Juice and the Squeeze” in which he and a co-host talk about different aspects of being in academia.

 

 

Cognitive Science Student Abroad Travel Award Program

Posted on by

The Cognitive Science Program is excited to announce that it will be continuing the Cognitive Science Study Abroad Travel Award Program for another year!  

  

Travel awards are available to UConn undergraduate students majoring or minoring in Cognitive Science. Priority will be given to students attending the Interdisciplinary Ethnography Field Summer School in Mauritius, the Neuroscience Study Abroad Summer Program in Salamanca, Spain, and UConn Brain & Behavior in Tel Aviv, Israel. Courses taken through these summer programs can be counted towards the Cognitive Science degree. The Cognitive Science program is willing to review other international travel scenarios on a case-by-case basis. 

 

This award program operates with a rolling deadline. Once funds are exhausted, the application will close. 

 

Deadline:  Students may apply for the COGS travel award at any time. However, travel awards will be contingent on (a) applying and being accepted into a study abroad program and (b) sharing an official acceptance notification with us.  

 

Priority consideration will be given to students who (1) are members of a group that is underrepresented at the University of Connecticut; or (2) have overcome obstacles such as socioeconomic, educational, or other societal disadvantages (arising, for example, through prejudice and/or discrimination); or (3) have worked with such groups to help overcome these or other obstacles. 

 

Questions regarding the Cognitive Science Study Abroad Travel Award Program may be sent to the Cognitive Science Director, erika.skoe@uconn.edu. 

 

Please visit the Study Abroad Travel Award webpage for more information, including eligibility requirements and how to apply.  


Reminder: IBACS Summer Grad Fellowship Applications Due 12/2

Posted on by

The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CT IBACS) is inviting applications to its Graduate Fellowship Program.

These summer fellowships are intended for graduate students working on topics with relevance (broadly construed) to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. IBACS Graduate Fellows attend a short grant-writing workshop and will be expected to submit an application to the NSF GRFP, NRSA (pre- or post-doctoral fellowship), or equivalent.

Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, December 2nd, 2022.

Graduate students who are not US citizens are eligible to apply and are expected to work with their advisor to develop an external research proposal if they are not eligible for graduate fellowships. Students who were fellows in summer 2021 may apply if they submitted the external grant proposal they developed last year and it was not funded, with the expectation that they will revise their previous grant or develop a new one.

Please refer to the full details here before you apply. If you have any questions, please contact Crystal Mills at crystal.mills@uconn.edu. 

NEUROSCIENCE at STORRS: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Posted on by

Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to the 25th annual Neuroscience at Storrs event, which will be held on Tuesday November 8th and Wednesday November 9th 2022.  This event is hosted by the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, and it is the oldest cross-discipline neuroscience event on campus.  Please forward this message to any interested people.

DAY I. Tuesday November 8th 4:00 pm, Dodd Center Konover Auditorium  

Amanda Lauer Ph.D., Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University  

Title: “Role of the auditory brain-to-ear efferent feedback system in hearing across the lifespan”  

  

DAY II. Wednesday November 9th

Dodd Center Konover Auditorium  

3:00-3:45 Grad Student/Postdoc Data Blitz  

3:45-4:30 Trainee Career Panel  

4:30-5:30 Amy Newman Ph.D., Scientific Director, NIDA Intramural Research Program  

Title: “Novel and atypical dopamine transport inhibitors for the treatment of psychostimulant use disorders”  

Bousfield PSYC Atrium   

6:00-8:30 Poster Session and Reception  

 

CALL FOR POSTERS AND DATA BLITZ PRESENTATIONS: 

We will be hosting short-format podium presentations (data blitz) from grad students and postdocs (up to 8 possible 5-minute talks), and a poster session from grad students, postdocs, and undergrads. Students and postdoctoral fellows FROM ALL AREAS OF NEUROSCIENCE are enthusiastically encouraged to participate in the poster or data blitz presentations. Please sign up at: 

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fneuroscience.uconn.edu%2Fneuroscience-at-storrs-rsvp%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb19e263ac50f4cca8f1d08dab2cfbde1%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C638018902554103725%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=j4Ucn2eD7ATqzQqAvmXY%2FxOWom9k1OzmJJhN177dFDk%3D&reserved=0

INSTRUCTIONS: 

The website lists information about the event, and below that there are menus for entering information if you are either a) attending only b) presenting a poster, and c) presenting at the data blitz (limited numbers only). Please follow the link, scroll through the menu and enter the relevant information by Thursday November 3rd.  

Oct 21/22: Workshop “Conditional Thought and Talk”

Posted on by

Dear all:

We are pleased to announce our workshop

Conditional Thought and Talk: Semantic, Pragmatic, and Cross-linguistic Perspectives

held at the Heritage Room (Homer Babbidge Library, Room 4118) on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22.

organized by Mitch Green (Philosophy) and Magdalena and Stefan Kaufmann (Linguistics) as part of theSuppositional Thought and Talk project. The project explores conditional sentences and related expressions from different perspectives at the intersection between Linguistics, Philosophy and Psychology: their form and meaning across languages, their logical properties, and the reasoning behind their use and interpretation. We have assembled a group of top international experts on these topics for what we expect will be two stimulating days of presentations and discussions. For details on the program, as well as more background on the project, please check the workshop webpage, and keep checking back for updates.

The workshop will be in-person and open to all (subject to seating availability). Do drop us a line if you plan to attend. Let us know if you have any questions.

We gratefully acknowledge support for this event from UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the UConn Humanities Institute; the UConn Cognitive Science Program; and the National Science Foundation.

Best regards,

Stefan, Magda, and Mitch