Award Abstract #0732155
Annual Telluride Workshop on Neuromorphic Cognition 2007-2012

NSF Org:	SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Initial Amendment Date:	August 23, 2007
Latest Amendment Date:	June 18, 2008
Award Number:	0732155
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Soo-Siang Lim SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2007
Expires:	August 31, 2012 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$527050
Investigator(s):	Timothy Horiuchi timmer@isr.umd.edu (Principal Investigator) Shihab Shamma (Co-Principal Investigator) Ralph Etienne-Cummings (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of Maryland College Park 3112 LEE BLDG COLLEGE PARK, MD 20742 301/405-6269
NSF Program(s):	SLC ACTIVITIES
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 7704, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	7704

ABSTRACT

The Telluride Workshop on Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering

Neuromorphic engineers design and fabricate artificial neural systems whose detailed architecture, design, and computational principles are based on those of biological nervous systems. Over the past 12 years, this research community has focused on the understanding of low-level sensory processing and systems infrastructure; efforts are now expanding to apply this knowledge and infrastructure to addressing higher-level problems in perception, cognition, and learning.

The annual three-week intensive Workshop (held in Telluride, Colorado) consists of background lectures (from leading researchers in biological, cognitive, computational, engineering and learning sciences), practical tutorials (from state-of-the-art practitioners), hands-on projects (involving established researchers and newcomers/students), and special interest discussion groups (proposed by the workshop participants). For researchers in this community, this is the premier workshop for training students, initiating collaborations, and in-depth discussions on scientific issues.

In this workshop and through the Institute for Neuromorphic Engineering (INE), the mission is to promote interaction between senior and junior researchers; to educate new members of the community; to introduce new enabling fields and applications to the community; to promote on-going collaborative activities emerging from the Workshop, and to promote a self-sustaining research field.

Specific Goals for the period of 2007-2012: While there is no question that the Workshop has been very successful in its mission, three new challenges have been identified for the Workshop: 1) with a rapidly expanding community in both the U.S. and Europe, the Workshop experience needs to reach more people without increasing the size of the Workshop, 2) as larger and more challenging projects are tackled, more opportunities for group interactions are needed throughout the year, and 3) as more complex questions are asked at the system-level, more voices from cognitive neuroscience are needed.

To meet these new challenges, a new version of the Workshop is envisioned with: 1) an expanded theme to focus on Perception, Cognition, and Learning, 2) an expanded constituency, educational mandate and research focus to incorporate members of the NSF Science of Learning Centers (SLC), 3) to create a two-part Workshop series (to allow yearlong collaborations and deeper investigation into large scale projects), one held in the U.S. and funded by U.S. resources and the other held in Europe and supported by European resources and 4) a modified Workshop schedule to emphasize training at the beginning of the workshop to provide a needed focus on education for both beginners and experts alike. The infusion of new researchers (from the SLCs) that focus on learning at multiple scales (from synapses to classroom) will provide the needed knowledge, new collaborations, and new perspectives to move the community towards cognitive-level neuromorphic systems.

Broader impact of the Workshop to the public: The Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop will continue its tradition of public interaction. In particular, there will be a continuation of the educational program for K-12 students (based on neuromorphic/robotics design kits), undergraduate and graduate students (Workshop courses, new classes/lectures at participants? universities and REU), and to established researchers (exposure to new areas in the field). The workshop will also continue to educate the Telluride community with public lectures on the latest developments/issues in the field.

Recruitment of minorities and women to the field will be continue by organizing lectures at various Universities, particularly HBCUs (Morgan State U., MD, Lincoln U., PA, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, and others). By sending presenters to institutions local to their home universities, minimal funding will be required and provide the most likely connections for future collaborations. The Institute for Neuromorphic Engineering, currently housed at the University of Maryland (College Park, MD), will arrange the logistics. The lectures and other teaching materials developed at the workshop will also be made available to all interested parties and posted on the INE website.

Lastly, the workshop will continue to develop the researchers and leaders for the emerging field of biologically-inspired systems, cognitive/learning systems, robotics and implantable electronics. Various agencies and governments have recognized that smart devices (such as interactive humanoid robots) that mimic living organisms will have great academic and commercial value in future.

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