Our goal at LUCID is to provide graduate students from Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology and Educational Psychology departments with hands-on cross disciplinary training and experience working on problems at the intersection of machine learning, human cognition, and education, and to prepare trainees for both academic and non-academic career paths.
What kinds of problems do we work on? Any problem, in either pure or applied research, in which people are learning from machines (educational software, intelligent tutoring, second-language learning, MOOCs, etc.), machines are learning from people (crowd sourcing, social network analysis, emotion recognition, natural language processing, etc), or both. The aim is to train scientists who can advance understanding within each core discipline by applying information and insights from the others, and who can bring the central ideas from each field to bear on real-world issues.
How does the training program work? Trainees can enter through any of the core departments and complete all the usual requirements of their department. The training program enhances this traditional training through several additional mechanisms that are designed to promote cross-disciplinary learning without increasing time to degree. In addition to career training, our graduate students receive full tuition remission, a competitive stipend and benefits.
Who would be great candidates? We are looking for exceptional undergraduate or master’s students interested in pursuing these type of questions in their doctoral graduate experience. We believe science advances best when all minds contribute and all voices are heard. LUCID seeks minds and voices that have been historically marginalized in STEM fields, including those of women and members of under-represented minority groups.
For more information, visit LUCID.wisc.edu or contact Caitlin Iverson at ceiverson@wisc.edu. For instructions on applying to UW-Madison, visit wisc.edu/admissions.