The 2008 UCLA Neuroimaging Training Program Advanced Neuroimaging Summer School

The purpose of this two-week intensive summer school, presented by the UCLA Neuroimaging Training Program

(NITP), is to provide a solid foundation in state-of-the-art functional neuroimaging methods. The course will involve lectures from both UCLA faculty and a distinguished international group of lecturers, covering all aspects of neuroimaging data acquisition, experimental design, and data analysis. In addition, students will interact closely with these lecturers in hands-on laboratory exercises.

The 2008 NITP course will differ somewhat from the previous course in 2007. In particular, this year's course will be more heavily focused on data analysis. Rather than designing and implementing their own fMRI study, students will instead work in groups to analyze complete fMRI datasets.

The target audience is researchers at all levels of their careers (beyond undergraduate), including graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and PI's in neuroscience, broadly defined. Participants should have basic skills in statistics and computing; previous exposure to neuroimaging is preferable but not necessary. We expect to admit roughly 30 students this year. Students in the UCLA NITP training program are required to take this course in the summer before their second year, providing a strong foundation for their next year of training.

With generous support from the National Institutes of Health, this program will be offered for a very low registration fee to all accepted participants. In addition, there is limited free on-campus housing available for participants from other institutions.

This year's Summer School will be held contemporaneously with the IPAM Summer School on Mathematics in Brain Imaging. There will be some overlap between the lectures for the two courses (see the course schedule which highlights the overlapping sessions. There are a couple of differences between the courses:

• The IPAM course is strictly lecture-based, whereas the NITP course includes a combination of lectures and hands-on laboratory exercises.
• The IPAM course consists of one week focused on structural imaging and another week focused on functional imaging. The NITP course is more generally focused on functional imaging, with less emphasis on structural imaging and more coverage of physiology and experimental design.
• The IPAM course is targeted at individuals with a stronger background in mathematics, and will include afternoon lectures at a fairly high level of mathematical sophistication, whereas the afternoon NITP lectures will be more focused on practical applications.
• Participation in the NITP course is by application only and is limited to about 30 participants. The IPAM course will provide support for about 40-50 individuals, but others can register on a first come, first served basis.

Registration fees

The registration fees for this course are the same as those for the IPAM Mathematics in Brain Imaging course:

 

IPAM MBI Registration Fees

Eligibility

Any individual with an advanced degree, currently enrolled in an advanced degree program, or accepted to an advanced degree program for next year is eligible to apply for the course.  Research assistants who are not enrolled or accepted in an advanced degree program will not be considered.  The course is open to applicants from within the United States and from other countries.

Travel and housing

All students accepted to the NITP summer course (who do not live in Los Angeles) will receive free on-campus housing for the two weeks of the course, which includes dinner. Continental breakfast is also included in the IPAM registration fee. Students are responsible for all other expenses including travel expenses and other meals.

 

See the tentative Course Schedule

 

Submit a letter of reference for an applicant

NOTE: The application site is closed, but references will continue to be accepted until April 7.

 

For questions about the course or the application process, please contact nitpsummercourse@gmail.com