Important Note: This is not a job application but a mechanism to receive applications for the Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Workshop

We are accepting applications to the 2022 Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop. The Workshop has been running for over 25 years, and has been influential in shaping the field of neuromorphic engineering and serving as a forum connecting across disciplines such as artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive science, machine learning, robotics, computer vision, signal processing, and electrical engineering. The three week summer workshop will include background lectures on systems and cognitive neuroscience (in particular sensory processing, learning and memory, motor systems and attention), practical tutorials on emerging hardware, mobile robots, hands-on projects, and special interest groups. Participants are required to take part and possibly complete at least one of the proposed projects. They are furthermore encouraged to become involved in as many of the other activities proposed as interest and time allow. There will be two lectures in the morning that cover issues that are important to the community in general. Because of the diverse range of backgrounds among the participants, some of these lectures will be tutorials, rather than detailed reports of current research. These lectures will be given by invited speakers. Projects and interest groups meet in the late afternoons, and after dinner. The workshop focuses on topics related to perception, action and cognition; and projects this year will focus on developments in robotics, learning, audiovisual processing and computational/experimental aspects of systems that can accomplish goals with limited human intervention.

For more details, see the program website at https://sites.google.com/view/telluride-2022/home

PROGRAM DATES: June 26 - July 16, 2022, Telluride, Colorado

IMPORTANT DATES FOR APPLICATION

Application Website Open - February 18, 2022

Applications Due - April 15, 2022

Notification of Acceptance - April 15, 2022

2022 TOPIC AREAS:

The four topic area proposals for this year's workshop are: CLR: Continual Learning in Robotics Organizers: Bodo Rueckauer (Donders Center for Cognition), Yulia Sandamirskaya (Intel Labs), Gert Cauwenberghs (UC San Diego), Terrence Sejnowski (Salk Institute) Neuromorphics Tools and Techniques and Hardware (SpiNNaker 2 and FPAAs) Organizers: Jennifer Hasler (GeorgiaTech), Johannes Partzsch (TU Dresden), Terry Stewart(U of Waterloo), Bernhard Vogginger (TU Dresden) TAC: Neuromorphic Tactile Exploration Organizers: Chiara Bartolozzi (Italian Institute of Technology) and Elisa Donati (University of Zurich) AUD: Audio, visual and motor integration Organizers: Claire Pelofi (NYU), Malcolm Slaney (Google), Cornelia Fermüller, Ryad Benosman More details on the topic areas can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/telluride-2022/topic-areas

HOW TO APPLY:

Applicants should be at the level of graduate students or above (i.e. postdoctoral fellows, faculty, research and engineering staff and the equivalent positions in industry and national laboratories). We actively encourage women and minority candidates to apply.

Anyone interested in proposing or discussing specific projects should contact the appropriate topic leaders directly.

APPLICATION MATERIALS NEEDED:

Please fill out the standard cover letter template in this platform. Do not upload a cover letter document in its place. The form will allow you to enter the contact information for the writers of your recommendation letters. Please check the second check box to send the request to them. Contact email address. First name, Last name, Affiliation, valid e-mail address. Curriculum Vitae (a short version, please). Maximum one page summary of background and interests relevant to the workshop, including possible ideas for workshop projects. Please indicate which topic areas you would most likely join. Two letters of recommendation (uploaded directly by referees).

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Applications will be evaluated by the organizing committee according to the merits of the applicant's scientific qualifications and background, the strength of the proposed alignment to one or more topic areas, and the extent to which the applicant contributes a unique voice to a collaborative community committed to diverse viewpoints in all forms, including gender, race, affiliations, seniority, etc. Due to high interest in the workshop we expect a very competitive selection process, so please highlight in your application any information that makes clear how you can uniquely contribute to the success of our workshop and the neuromorphic research community.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS:

Notification of acceptances will be mailed after April 15th, 2022. Unless otherwise requested, the Workshop covers all your accommodations and facilities costs for the 3 weeks duration. You are responsible for your own travel to the workshop. Registration Fees: For expenses not covered by federal funds, a Workshop registration fee is required. The registration fee is 600USD and the lodging fee will not exceed 3000 USD per participant for the 3-week Workshop (exact amount will be determined based on lodging availability and the high cost of living in Telluride). These fees are expected from all participants at the time of acceptance. Travel and lodging scholarships will be available for applicants based on need. Applicants are encouraged to indicate any financial need in their application.

EUROPEAN APPLICANTS: There is an opportunity to apply for a fellowship through the EU funded NEUROTECH project (only for European students and postdocs). See https://neurotechai.eu/blog/2022/02/15/neurotech-fellowships-telluride-2022/ for more details.

LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENTS:

The Workshop will take place in the small town of Telluride, 2667m (9000ft) high in southwest Colorado, about 6 hours drive away from Denver (350 miles). There are several small airports (e.g. Montrose) close to Telluride. All facilities within the beautifully renovated public school building are fully accessible to participants with disabilities. Participants will be housed in ski condominiums, within walking distance of the school. Participants are expected to share condominiums. The workshop is intended to be very informal and hands-on. Participants are not required to have had previous experience in analog VLSI circuit design, computational or machine vision, systems level neurophysiology or modeling the brain at the systems level. However, we strongly encourage active researchers with relevant backgrounds from academia, industry and national laboratories to apply, in particular if they are prepared to work on specific projects, talk about their own work or bring demonstrations to Telluride (e.g. robots, chips, software). Wireless internet access will be provided. Technical staff present throughout the Workshop will assist with software and hardware issues. We encourage participants to bring along their personal laptop and relevant hardware. No cars are required. Given the small size of the town, we recommend that you do not rent a car. Telluride is surrounded by beautiful mountains, so we recommend bringing hiking boots, warm clothes, rain gear, and a backpack. Unless otherwise arranged with one of the organizers, we expect participants to stay for the entire duration of this three week workshop. The 2022 Workshop on Neuromorphic Engineering is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering, University of Maryland - College Park, Institute for Neuroinformatics – University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, University of Western Sydney and the Salk Institute.

Questions can be addressed to Emre Neftci (e.neftci@fz-juelich.de) and Mounya Elhilali (mounya@jhu.edu)