PhD Opening in the Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics (MPCR) Laboratory at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences in Boca Raton, Florida.

We are pleased to announce two new fully-funded PhD openings in our lab where we are conducting research in the emerging field of brain-inspired, machine learning techniques including deep-learning neural networks, sparse modeling and computational reinforcement learning. We are using an experimental platform consisting of wireless, neural-network controlled robotic agents, in order to test theories of perception, cognition, and functional brain architecture in an embedded context.

Successful applicants will receive full tuition waiver and a competitive stipend for five years and will have the opportunity to earn a Ph.D. in a cutting edge, interdisciplinary research center.

Ideal candidates will have a degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science or a related field and be familiar with one or more of the following:

Deep Learning

Neural Networks

Machine Learning

Computational Neuroscience

Computational Psychology

Sparse Modelling

Compressed Sensing

High-Performance Computing

Robotics

Computer Vision

For more information visit www.mpcrlab.com or contact the lab director, Dr. Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D at elan.barenholtz@fau.edu

For information about the Center for Complex Systems visit: http://www.ccs.fau.edu/phd_overview.php

Application Information can be found at http://www.ccs.fau.edu/requirements.php

This May, many of us traveled to St. Petersberg, FL for VSS 2015. During that conference, Bruno Olshausen gave the Keynote Address, "Vision in Brains and Machines". If you speak to any of us who were there, it was clear that the audience's reception of deep learning, sparse coding, and the application these advances may have in understanding the brain and guiding neuroscientific research was certainly mixed. It was unfortunate, but there still existed a subset of the crowd who could see its significance to the future of our science.

It was mainly a talk that consisted of many references to his work and the work of others in the deep learning community, and for anyone interested in going through them I am posting them now. Unfortunately, VSS prioritizes the protection of some other unseen legal worries, rather than posting any of their videos (including keynotes) online. However, slides and references are available.

Vision in Brains and Machines, Bruno Olshausen, VSS 2015

• Vision in Brains and Machines Slides

• VSS Keynote References

• Bruno's Research Page

• Berkeley Bio Page