Cognitive Science @ University of Toronto

The 2008 University of Toronto Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind is scheduled for March 1-2, 2008, on the theme of "mind embodied, embedded, extended, and expanding" and featuring the keynote speaker Prof. Andy Clark of the University of Edinburgh. Students of cognitive science and its cognate disciplines are encouraged to submit original papers on this theme. For more detail, see the call for papers.

August 2007

Prof. Ian Spence of the Psychology Department is appointed to the Director of the Cognitive Science Program.

March 2007

Dr. Linda B. Smith, Chancellor's Professor at Indiana University, gave the Year of Languages lecture for the Cognitive Science Program on March 23rd at University College.

November 2006

Avital Pekker has won a UofT Project Open Souce Open Access Student Experience Award. Congratulations to Avi!
This year's Graham Lecture at the University College is to be delivered by the renowned cognitive scientist Geoffrey Hinton in the Computer Science Department at the University of Toronto:

How the brain learns representations

Geoffrey Hinton

November 6, 4:30 p.m.
UC Room 140, 15 King's College Circle, University of Toronto

September 2006

CASA has set up a brand new website.
The program has established its robotics lab for teaching and student robotics projects. There is also an active cognitive robotics reading group associated with the lab. Please contact Dr. Jun Luo if you would like to use the lab or in general get involved.

July 2006

Important: the course codes for CogSci courses have been changed. The new codes are:
- UNI250 Introduction to Cognitive Science (formerly JUP250)
- UNI301 Exploring Artificial Intelligence (formerly JUP301)
- UNI302 Bases of Cognition (formerly JUP302)
- UNI401 Advanced Cognitive Science (formerly JUP450)
Calendar Erratum: Please note that the following in the 2006-2007 Cognitive Science Program requirement for the major program under Cognitive Science (Arts Program) and for the specialist program under Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence (Science program):
```
     Third or Fourth Year:
     UNI450H1
```
should be
```
     Third or Fourth Year:
     UNI401H1
```

April 2006

Tristan Nixon was awarded the University College Merit Award for 2006 in recognition of his service to the Cognitive Science Program. Congratulations to Tristan!
Adam Golding was adwarded the Ada Lovelace OSOTF II Scholarship for Excellence in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence sponsored by Hari's Database Analysis and Consulting Ltd.
The UofT Provost's Office has awarded the Cognitive Science Program an Instructional Technology Courseware Development Fund grant to Dr. Jun Luo's Robotics Enhancement of the Cognitive Science Curriculum proposal.

March 2006

The 2nd UofT Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind (UTism II), featuring guest speaker Terrence Deacon of University of California at Berkeley and speakers from four Canadian universities, was held on March 11 and 12 at University College. More than 150 participants attended this student-organized event.

February 2006

The 2nd UofT Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind (UTism II) is to take place on March 11 and 12 at University College. Registration online is now open. A press release is available here.

January 2006

First CogSci Movie Night of the semester, featuring the Matrix, is on January 31 in UC 175 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

December 2005

The Faculty of Arts and Science submitted the Academic Initiative Fund proposal for a Centre for Mind and Consciousness to the Provost.

October 2005

An Academic Intiative Fund proposal for a Centre for Mind and Consciousness, spearheaded by Prof. Evan Thompson of Philosophy and Prof. Phil Zelazo of Psychology, was submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Science.

September 2005

A town-hall meeting for the cognitive science community at UofT was held on September 22rd at University College. Faculty members from Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Faculty of Information Studies, and Cognitive Science brainstormed possible cognitive science initiatives and resolved to make a proposal to the UofT Academic Initiative Fund.
Course website for JUP301: Exploring Artificial Intelligence is up.
Welcome back to school! We are looking forward to an exciting new academic year. News about the program and announcements of events will be posted here as well as through the our mailing list. Stay tuned.

July 2005

Prof. Evan Thompson, internationally well-known for his work in cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and phenomenology, joined U of T. He will be teaching philosophy courses required by the Cognitive Science Program (such as Minds and Machines) and will play an important role in the efforts towards strengthening the program. Welcome Evan!
Thanks to donations from the CQuest lab and the Faculty of Information Studies, we have acquired a computer that will be used for programming the Lego MindStorms robots.

June 2005

On June 13th, U of T cognitive scientist Brian Cantwell Smith was guest on the NPR program The Connection along with Marvin Minsky and Paul Davies to comment on the ethics of creating consciousness.

May 2005

Five new sets of Lego MindStorms Robotics Invention System arrived. They will be used in JUP301 Exploring AI in Fall 2005. They are also available for students who would like to play with them during the summer. If interested, please contact Jun for details.

April 2005

2005-2006 Arts and Science Calendar published with new CogSci courses listed. Students currently in the program are also advised to take a look at the moderately streamlined new program requirements.
Leo Trottier received the University College Merit Award for 2005. Congratulations to Leo!
Our 2005 graduates Kaya de Barbaro and Leo Trottier have been admitted to the Cognitive Science Department at UCSD for graduate studies. Congratulations to Kaya and Leo!

March 2005

New Cognitive Science Courses: JUP301 Exploring AI and JUP302 Bases of Cognition are approved and will be offered in 2005-2006.

Cognitive Science Program ?University of Toronto
15 King's College Circle ?Toronto M5S 3H7
Phone: 416-978-8746 ?Fax: 416-971-2027