COSYNE 2013: Call for Workshop Proposals

[Tomas Hromadka <tomas.hromadka@xxxxxxxxx>]

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        Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne)

        MAIN MEETING               WORKSHOPS
        Feb 28 - Mar 2, 2013       Mar 3 - 5, 2013
        Salt Lake City, Utah       Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah

                    http://www.cosyne.org

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                    CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS

PROPOSAL DEADLINE:
    Preference will be given to proposals received by September 14,
2012; additional proposals received by October 26, 2012 will be
considered only if space is available.

The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange
of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems
neuroscience. A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne
meeting (www.cosyne.org). The goal is to provide an informal forum for
the discussion of important research questions and challenges.
Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing
approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged.

This year we would like to foster increased participation from
experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate
widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply.

The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of
empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters
collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals
that differ substantially in content, scope, and/or approach from
workshops of recent years (examples available at www.cosyne.org).

Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing,
motor planning and control, functional neural circuits, motivation,
reward and decision making, learning and memory, adaptation and
plasticity, neural coding, neural circuitry and network models, and
methods in computational or systems neuroscience.

Please note that in an effort to reduce the overlap between workshops,
speakers are strongly discouraged from presenting talks at more than one
workshop.


WORKSHOP DETAILS:
    There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. Each workshop
is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people.
    The workshops will be split into morning (8:00-11:00 AM) and
afternoon (4:30-7:30 PM) sessions.
    Workshops will be held at Snowbird, a ski resort located 30 miles
(typically less than an hour) from the Salt Lake City airport. Buses
from the main conference will be provided.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Deadline: September 14, 2012

Format: plain text only---please no attachments---email to:
cosyne13workshops@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jessica Cardin, Tatyana Sharpee)

Proposals should include:
    - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2
organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated.
    - A title.
    - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and
accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted
group of participants.
    - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed
speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed
speakers.
    - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be
limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please
explain why.
    - A *brief* resume of the workshop organizer along with a *brief*
list of publications (about half a page total).

WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS RESPONSIBILITIES:
    - Coordinate workshop participation and content.
    - Moderate the discussion.

SUGGESTIONS:
    Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are
those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have
short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have
plenty of breaks. We strongly recommend fewer than 10 talks.

WORKSHOP COSTS:
    Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at
www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for
workshop speakers. All workshop speakers are expected to pay for
workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register
early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One
complimentary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop.
For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to
one of the organizers or split evenly between them.


COSYNE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
    General Chairs:  Nicole Rust (Penn) and Jonathan Pillow (UT Austin)
    Program Chairs:  Peter Latham (UCL) and Marlene Cohen (U Pittsburgh)
    Workshop Chairs: Jessica Cardin (Yale) and Tatyana Sharpee (Salk)
    Publicity Chair: Kanaka Rajan (Princeton)

COSYNE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
    Anthony Zador (CSHL)
    Alexandre Pouget (U Rochester)
    Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme)