Troy, N.Y. — A new doctoral program in cognitive science will be implemented this fall at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The New York State Department of Education has approved the program.

The advanced degree will place special emphasis on developing next-generation “intelligent” systems. Research largely will focus on human perception, attention, motor control, memory, language, problem solving, and reasoning to model, enhance, predict, and measure human intelligence and performance.

Students will work in Rensselaer’s state-of-the-art laboratories, such as CogWorks Lab, the Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Lab, and the Institute’s new Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory.

“Rensselaer’s new Ph.D. program will train the next generation of researchers in a field which encompasses advances in psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, anthropology, and computer science,” says Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson. “Graduates will be able to work at the top of their fields in a broad range of areas, including health, defense, education, and entertainment.”

“This program in cognitive science will enable students to prepare for myriad career opportunities,” says John Harrington, dean of humanities and social sciences. “Those opportunities are as varied as engineering automated air and road traffic-control systems and enhancing data-mining techniques for faster breakthroughs in health and medicine, to creating more effective electronic tutors for schoolchildren, and developing new sophisticated interactive software for any number of applications.”

The advanced degree will build on a number of successful research collaborations in “intelligent” robotics, spearheaded by Selmer Bringsjord, cognitive science chair and internationally recognized expert in the fields of artificial intelligence and logic.

Those projects include PERI (psychometric experimental robotic intelligence) and Brutus1. PERI, the first-known robot capable of passing part of a standard IQ test, could allow cognitive scientists to accurately measure intelligence. Brutus1 is an “intelligent” system that can generate short stories based on the notions of deception and evil.

The program also will incorporate research headed by Brett Fajen, assistant professor of cognitive science. Fajen uses powerful graphics in virtual-reality systems to research human responses to changing conditions, such as steering a ship to avoid an oncoming iceberg. The goal is to improve training by improving virtual-reality environments, such as in learning how to navigate an airplane, or for simulated surgical exercises to improve remote surgery.

In addition, students will focus on the development of integrated cognitive systems, represented in the principal work of Wayne Gray, director of the Cognitive Science Ph.D. Program. The research investigates the interplay of cognition, perception, and action with each other and with the task environment.