First Announcement

First Announcement and Call for Participation
Conference on Goal-Directed Neural Systems
Nedderman Hall, University of Texas at Arlington
Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4, 2006

Sponsors:
Texas Special Interest Group (SIG) of the International Neural Network Society (INNS)
Metroplex Institute for Neural Dynamics (MIND)
University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)

Conference Theme:
The conference focuses on both biological and artificial neural networks that are capable of forming autonomous goals and proactively interacting with their environments to pursue those goals. This includes generating hypothesis about the external world, testing their hypotheses by actions on the environment, and perceiving and evaluating the consequences of their actions. The conference is partially a continuation of the Workshop on Intentional Systems after the 2005 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in Montreal.

Confirmed Speakers:
Paul Werbos, National Science Foundation
Donald Wunsch, University of Missouri at Rolla
Robert Kozma, University of Memphis
Leonid Perlovsky, Air Force Bedford Research Laboratories
Daniel Levine, University of Texas at Arlington
Frank Lewis, University of Texas at Arlington
Risto Miikkulainen, University of Texas at Austin
Gerhard Werner, University of Texas at Austin
Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna, Texas A&M University
Yoonsuck Choe, Texas A&M University
Derek Harter, Texas A&M University at Commerce
Horatiu Voicu, University of Texas Medical Center at Houston

Registration and Fees:
Conference registration is
$90 for employed non-members of INNS or MIND (other than invited speakers);
$50 for employed INNS or MIND members;
$30 for students who are not MIND or INNS members;
$15 for students who are MIND or INNS members

We will attempt to set up on-line registration through a MIND web site under construction. But meanwhile registration can be paid at the conference, or by a check made out to “MIND” and sent to:

Professor Daniel S. Levine
Department of Psychology
501 South Nedderman Drive
University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, TX 76019-0528

Hotel:
A block of rooms is available for the nights of Thursday, November 4, through Saturday, November 6, at the Arlington Hilton at 2401 East Lamar Boulevard (about 3 miles northeast of the UTA campus meeting site). The conference rate is $85 a night plus 15% tax and $.90 assessment fee. You can reserve a room at this rate through October 27 by calling the hotel at 817-640-3322 and identifying yourself as an attendee of the Neural Network Conference at UTA.