A Special Topics Course at MBL Woods Hole, MA

Directors: Gabriel Kreiman, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Tomaso Poggio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Course Dates: August 8 – August 29, 2019

Application Deadline: April 8, 2019

More information: 

https://cbmm.mit.edu/summer-school/2019

The basis of intelligence – how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines – is arguably the greatest problem in science and technology. To solve it, we will need to understand how human intelligence emerges from computations in neural circuits, with rigor sufficient to reproduce similar intelligent behavior in machines. Success in this endeavor ultimately will enable us to understand ourselves better, to produce smarter machines, and perhaps even to make ourselves smarter. Today’s AI technologies, such as Watson and Siri, are impressive, but their domain specificity and reliance on vast numbers of labeled examples are obvious limitations; few view this as brain-like or human intelligence. The synergistic combination of cognitive science, neurobiology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science holds the promise to build much more robust and sophisticated algorithms implemented in intelligent machines. The goal of this course is to help produce a community of leaders that is equally knowledgeable in neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science and will lead the development of true biologically inspired AI.

Set in the charming town of Woods Hole, there will be lectures and tutorials by leaders in the field. In addition, students will be working on cutting-edge projects with the help of faculty and teaching assistants. This course aims to cross-educate computer engineers and neuroscientists; it is appropriate for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty in computer science and/or neuroscience. Students are expected to have a strong background in one discipline (such as neurobiology, physics, engineering, and mathematics).

The Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM) [cbmm.mit.edu] will also be hosting an Evening Lecture Series, including speakers from both industry and academia, in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and cognitive science.

Invited faculty include Larry Abbott, Dorin Comaniciu, Bob Desimone, Jim DiCarlo, Winrich Freiwald, Sam Gershman, Asif Ghazanfar, Nancy Kanwisher, Boris Katz, Christof Koch, Gabriel Kreiman, Jeff Lichtman, Marge Livingstone, Josh McDermott, Tommy Poggio, Lorenzo Rosasco, Rebecca Saxe, Haim Sompolinsky, Liz Spelke, Max Tegmark, Josh Tenenbaum, Shimon Ullman, Matt Wilson, Patrick Winston, Jeremy Wolfe, among others.