Our training program is built around the cognitive science Ph.D. degree at Indiana University. Trainees can receive either a stand-alone Ph.D. in Cognitive Science or a joint Ph.D. with Cognitive Science and another department. Please see the Cognitive Science web page for more information about these degree programs. The IGERT program adds several additional requirements and opportunities to the basic cognitive science degree.

• Cognitive Science Stand-Alone Ph.D.
• Joint Psychological and Brain Sciences + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint Neuroscience + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint Computer Science + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint Informatics + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint Physics + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint Philosophy + Cognitive Science Ph.D.
• Joint History and Philosophy of Science + Cognitive Science Ph.D.

All IGERT students must take the course Situated, Embodied and Dynamical Approaches to Cognitive Science, normally during their first semester in the program. This course provides a broad introduction to the growing importance of the concepts of situatedness, embodiment and dynamics in cognitive science. The course will cover both the key conceptual content and the historical development of these ideas. In addition, it will survey classic work in this area.

In addition, IGERT students must take at least two courses from the following list of approved electives:

• Artificial Life as an Approach to Artificial Intelligence
• Behavior-Based Robotics
• Biological and Artificial Neural Networks
• Biologically-Inspired Computing
• Brain Dynamics
• Complex Adaptive Systems in the Social Sciences
• Developmental Processes in Perception, Action and Cognition
• Evolution and Analysis of Brain-Body-Environment Systems
• Introduction to Complex Systems
• Introduction to Dynamical Systems in Cognitive Science
• Neural Networks as Models of Cognition
• Multi-Agent Modeling of Social Behavior
• Perception/Action

All IGERT students must take the Professional Development Seminar, normally during their second year in the program. The goal of this seminar is to engage the full panoply of issues facing the new faculty members that our students will become. Topics to be addressed include the ethical conduct of research, proposal writing and review, critical reading of the scientific literature, paper writing and reviewing, presentation skills, teaching, international perspectives, challenges facing underrepresented groups in science and issues in cross-disciplinary collaboration. The seminar will be organized as a series of presentations and discussions led by IGERT faculty, IGERT students, and invited guests both from within and outside the university. Whenever possible, the seminar topics will be integrated with other ongoing activities in the IGERT program.

All IGERT students are expected to actively participate in our IGERT colloquium series. A unique feature of our colloquium series is that it provides opportunities for extended interaction between IGERT students and external speakers. To make this possible, speakers are expected to stay for two full days. During this time, they will not only give a formal talk and visit related research labs, but they will also participate in a variety of activities specifically targeted at IGERT students. For example, time will be reserved after the formal talk for students to engage the speaker in more detailed discussion. In order to prepare students for this discussion, the extended seminar series will feature a critical discussion of one of the speaker's papers (suggested by the speaker themselves and lead by the faculty host for that speaker) during the week before their visit. In addition, trainees will have an opportunity to discuss broader issues with the speaker during a lunch hosted by the students.

During the summer between their first and second years, IGERT students will participate in an IGERT-supported research internship. In some cases, these internships will take place in the research labs of IGERT faculty at IU. However, through collaboratios with a variety of national and international research partners, we also offer the possibility for students to visit another institution during their internship.

During their second year in the program, as IGERT students continue to take courses, they will also begin a year-long research project grounded in their preliminary research in their first year and their summer research internship experience. These projects will be co-supervised by two IGERT faculty, either from different approaches within a research area or from different research areas. The main deliverable for the second year project will be a grant proposal written in either NSF or NIH format for which the student's research provides the preliminary data. Although not required, it is anticipated that this second year research project will often form the basis of a student's dissertation work.

In order to gain experience in designing and teaching a course, IGERT students team-teach an undergraduate course in the general area of situated, embodied and dynamical approaches to cognition under the supervision of an IGERT faculty member. With help from the faculty advisor, the students will need to collectively design the course, deciding on the material to be covered, how it will be organized, and who will present it. Each student will then be responsible for a 2-4 week section of the course, giving lectures and preparing and grading an assignment covering the material from that section.

Near the end of each academic year, we will hold an internal IGERT research showcase meeting. This meeting will consist of posters by IGERT students about their research. Not only will this meeting give all IGERT participants, as well as the larger Indiana University and Bloomington communities, a chance to familiarize themselves with all of the research being conducted within the IGERT program, but it will also give the IGERT students an opportunity to practice their presentation skills.