The Brown Lab at Oregon State University studies complex systems, particularly those in biology and neuroscience. The lab uses a mix of computational and theoretical tools to understand biological, neural, and cognitive processes. One example of a complex system is human word recognition. Words have similarities in sound (phonology), writing (orthography), and meaning (semantics). Taken together, this "mental lexicon" can be represented as a network, with nodes (words) joined by edges (relations) between them. The goal of the intern's project will be to determine if the structure of this graph can reveal anything about human performance in cognitive tasks.
The intern will work on building and analyzing network models relevant to human word recognition and will prepare material to present to both the mentor and the mentor's laboratory during group meetings. The intern will write computer code, analyze and display data, and produce slideshows to share with the mentor and the mentor's other research trainees.
At the end of this internship, the intern will have received an introduction to powerful theoretical and computational methods such as graph theory and machine learning. The intern will also have developed or improved their coding skills.
We strongly encourage students to apply who are from one or more systemically and historically excluded group, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered students, girls, BIPOC, first-generation college bound students, low-income/low-resourced students, students with disabilities, who are neurodivergent, and those who speak a primary language other than English.
This internship will take place in-person as permitted by Federal/State/Local/OSU guidelines. To reduce the risks of coronavirus exposure, mentors and interns will act in accordance with applicable COVID guidelines and procedures. Selected applicants will be required to review and sign a waiver agreement.
If you have any questions about the application, website technical issues and/or this position description, please contact Saturday Academy at ase@saturdayacademy.org. Do not contact the mentor directly. Contacting the mentor directly is grounds for disqualification of your ASE application.