[Eeglablist] Reminder Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) --Summer School: Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems

[Gordon Pipa]

Reminder for the Call for Applications for a three week summer course about
Complex Systems and Theoretical neuroscience at the Frankfurt Institute for
Advanced Studies (FIAS) 

Summer School: Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems. 
The application deadline is Saturday, April 15, 2006.


The course 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.


http://www.fias.uni-frankfurt.de/neuro_school/


FACULTY:

Laurence Abbott, Columbia Univ., USA 
Dana Ballard, Univ. Texas, Austin, USA 
Emery Brown, Harvard/MIT, Cambridge, USA 
Gyorgy Buzsaki, Rutgers University, Newark, USA 
Gustavo Deco, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain 
Yves Fregnac, CNRS, France 
Wulfram Gerstner, EPFL, Lausanne, Swizerland 
Rainer Goebel, Maastricht Univeriteit, Netherlands 
Claudius Gros, Uni. Frankfurt, Germany 
Aapo Hyvärinen, Univ. of Helsinki, Finland 
Christof Koch*, Caltech, USA 
Bartlett Mel, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA 
Wolfgang Maass, Technische Universität Graz , Austria 
Wolf Singer, MPI for Brain Research and FIAS, Germany 
Carl van Vreeswijk, CNRS, France 
Andrej Solov’yov, FIAS, Germany 
Jochen Triesch, UC San Diego, USA and FIAS, Germany 
Misha Tsodyks, Weizmann Institute, Israel 
Christoph von der Malsburg, Univ. of Bochum, Germany; USC, Los Angeles, USA 
Gordon Pipa, FIAS and MPI for Brain Research, Germany 
Ralf Galuske, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany 
Sergio Neuenschwander, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany 
Lars Muckli, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany 
Michael Wibral, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany 

*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 further developing
theoretical sciences and transfer 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. Each Sunday will be reserved
for recreational

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 EURO‚.
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/>
http://www.fias.uni-frankfurt.de/neuro_school/

A copy of the summer school announcement can be downloaded from:

http://www.fias.uni-rankfurt.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 at 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 ( <mailto:neuro_school at fias.uni-frankfurt.de>
neuro_school at 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


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Email:     Pipa at mpih-frankfurt.mpg.de	Webpage: http://www.pipa.biz

Institute: Gordon Pipa 
           Max-Planck institute for brain research
           department neurophysiology 
           Deutschordenstr. 46 
           60528 Frankfurt/Main Germany
           tel. +49-69-96769-289 	fax. -327

Privae:    Gordon Pipa 
           Ingelheimerstr. 20 		
           60529 Frankfurt Germany 
           tel. +49-69-97086652 	fax. +49-69-97086654