Understanding intelligence is one of the greatest scientific quests ever undertaken—a challenge that demands an interdisciplinary approach spanning psychology, neural science, philosophy, linguistics, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI). A focus on computation is at the center of this quest—viewing intelligence, in all of its forms, as a kind of sophisticated and adaptive computational process. But the kind of computation necessary for intelligence remains an open question; despite striking recent progress in AI, today's technologies provide nothing like the general-purpose, flexible intelligence that we have as humans.
We believe that intensifying the dialog between these fields is needed for transformative research on understanding and engineering intelligence, focused on two key questions: How can advances in machine intelligence best advance our understanding of natural (human and animal) intelligence? And how can we best use insights from natural intelligence to develop new, more powerful machine intelligence technologies that more fruitfully interact with us?
NYU Minds, Brains, and Machines is a new campus initiative to focus research and educational opportunities around these topics. The project was initiated by FAS Dean Antonio Merlo via a FAS-wide conference about the relationship between human and machine intelligence. Current priorities includes a hiring cluster which connects several academics units at NYU including Psychology, the Center for Data Science, the Center for Neural Science, and the Flatiron Institute.
The current directors of the initiative are Brenden Lake and Todd Gureckis.
The colloquium series for Fall 2021 showcases some of the most exciting work at the intersection of human and machine intelligence. Lectures will be held in person when possible.
Date | Speaker | Location |
---|---|---|
Tues, Oct 26, 11am-12:15pm | Kelsey Allen (DeepMind) | Zoom only |
Tues, Nov, 2, 11am-12:15pm | Ishita Dasgupta (DeepMind) | Zoom only |
The listing here describes several open and recently filled positions related to or as part of the initiative.
Faculty Cluster HireThe Provost's office at NYU has approved a cluster hire aiming to build excellence in the area of Minds, Brains, and Machine. The cluster hire includes joint positions between various units at the center of this intellectual challenge including Psychology, the Center for Data Science, the Center for Neural Science, and the Flatiron Institute.
Current cluster solicitations:
Completed cluster hire solicitations:
The NYU Center for Data Science invites positions annually for the highly prestigious CDS Faculty Fellows position. These positions act somewhat between a post-doc and a faculty position allowing innovative researchers to explore collaborations across multiple NYU units, with Data Science acting as the hub. Several past hirings for these positions have gone to researchers working at the core of Minds, Brains, and Machines.
Current faculty fellow solicitations:
Here is a convenient listing of a few researchers working in this area along with a brief description of their research interests:
The Glushko Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Honors Thesis in Minds, Brains, and Machines is awarded annually to an NYU student who has conducted an Honors thesis in computational cognitive science or otherwise at the intersection of human and machine intelligence. Students in the Department of Psychology are eligible to apply if they complete an honors thesis or other independent thesis project.
The winning thesis will be the one demonstrating the greatest academic excellence and creativity using computational methods to inform aspects of intelligent behavior.
Two recipients will receive a monetary prize of $500 and will be recognized at their department’s Undergraduate Honors Ceremony in the Spring. In exceptional circumstances more than two prizes may be awarded in a single year. The Department will invite the winners to present their thesis in the following academic year (at a brown bag series, research lab meeting, etc.).
Students in Center for Data Science, Center for Neural Science, Linguistics, or Psychology who would like their thesis considered for this prize should have their faculty sponsor notify Todd Gureckis (todd.gureckis@nyu.edu) by April 1 of the spring semester (theses completed in the previous fall are still eligible for the spring).