About

Neuromatch Academy is run by volunteers to provide an accessible online computational neuroscience summer school developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative stemmed from organizers of the CoSMo summer school and the Neuromatch online conference.

The Academy aims to replicate certain key features of traditional summer schools such as:

• Lectures by expert neuroscientists
• Intensive tutorials and hands-on research projects
• Networking with other students, TAs, and faculty mentors
• Help with professional development and research skills
• Socializing

But it also has a special focus on:

• "Mind matching" -- algorithmically matching students, TAs, and faculty mentors to ensure productive interactions around shared interests
• Meta-modeling -- explicitly discussing the "why" and "how" of selecting models and methods, beyond just the technical details
• Being for whoever, wherever -- little to no fee, TA groups across multiple time zones (some with multiple languages available), and publicly released course materials

For more on the origin and ethos of the school, please see our Mission Statement.

The Structure

The school will take place over three weeks (July 13-31, 2020), with 6+ hours of lectures and practical work per day.

Participants will fall into different categories:

• Observer vs. Interactive: Observers will have access to the course materials including lectures and tutorials but will not participate in TA pods, projects, or targeted mentoring. Interactive students will receive the full Neuromatch Academy experience.
• Beginner/Intermediate vs. Intermediate/Advanced: Different goals will be provided for students with different skill sets to facilitate individualized learning.

The school aims to have several thousand students, with roughly one-third participating as interactive students. The ratio of TAs to interactive students will be about 1:6-8. TAs will be matched to students based on research interests, time zones, languages and skill level.

Finances

The school is generously supported by many sponsors. The most up-to-date list of formal sponsors can be found on the main page.

Costs of running the school are minimal because it is virtual. The main costs include:

• TA compensation (this comprises >80% of costs)
• Software subscription and other tech needs
• Conference and financial management services

A small fee for full-time students/academics on the Interactive track may be applied to offset costs (with fee waivers available).

After the school

The impact of the school will extend beyond its three weeks. This will occur through:

• Course materials hosted online, available to everyone
• Publications, including in a special issue of the NBDT journal
• Future iterations of the school, as a complement to traditional in-person summer schools

Who we are

The school is organized and run by an extensive team of volunteers. Executive committee members include:

• Megan Peters (University of California, Irvine) - Chair
• Eric DeWitt (Champalimaud Research) - Co-Chair
• Brad Wyble (Pennsylvania State University) - Co-Chair and Chair of Diversity
• Emma Vaughan (IBRO-Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo) - Administrative Chair
• Konrad Kording (University of Pennsylvania)
• Gunnar Blohm (Queen’s University) - Chair of Curriculum
• Paul Schrater (University of Minnesota) - Chair of Projects
• Sean Escola (Columbia University) - Chair of Fundraising & Development
• Patrick Mineault - Chair of Technical
• Grace Lindsay (University College London) - Chair of Communication & Outreach
• John Murray (Yale University) - Chair of Faculty Recruitment
• Carsen Stringer (HHMI Janelia Research Campus) - Chair of TA Recruitment
• Alex Hyafil (Centre de Recerca Matemàtica) - Chair of Regional/Timezone/Language
• Aina Puce (University of Indiana, Bloomington) - Chair of Student Recruitment
• Athena Akrami (Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, UCL) - Chair of Mentor Recruitment

Contact

neuromatchacademy@neuromatch.io | @neuromatch