cut and paste
I've been typing all day, so I'm gonna just cut and past something that everyone would be interested in any ways... my mission statement for the next few years (actually a letter of intent for the J. Armand Bombardier Internationalist Fellowship application). The format is off, Blogger doesn't like 'tables' but all the same... enjoy.
I am applying for the Internationalist Fellowship in efforts to fund my postgraduate education. My undergraduate degree (B.Sc Honors Psych) exposed me to the biological and evolutionary motives for human behaviour, but left me with more questions than answers. The University of Liverpool (Liverpool, UK) offers a 12 month taught MSc in Evolutionary Psychology. Evolutionary psychology is the study of the phylogenetic history and adaptive functions of the mind. Researchers attempt to understand the purpose of human mind by examining past and present patterns that pervade our natural world. The research group at Liverpool is one of the most experienced and diverse in existence, and the largest operating within Europe. This unique collection of perspectives provides candidates with an excellent introduction into the fledgling field of evolutionary psychology through training in the relevant areas; evolutionary theory, human/primate evolutionary history, human/primate cognition and discipline specific statistical and research methods.
The MSc program is divided into 3 semesters with specific topics covered in each. Successful completion of the MSc requires completion of all nine modules:
Semester 1: Sept - Dec 2007
1: Fundamental Concepts in Evolutionary Theory 2: Primate Behavioural Ecology 3: Human Behavioural Ecology 4: Research Methods I
Semester 2: Jan - May 2007
5: Cognitive Evolution 6: Neuropsychology 7: Research Methods II 8: Statistics Course
Semester 3: May - Aug 2007
9: Research project (Projects involve 2-3 months data collection written up as a 20,000-word thesis
An area of personal interest is the notion of time perception in humans and our nearest extent relatives (and the associated temporal displays like music, language etc.). It can be argued that our species’ unique concept and awareness of time has contributed to our tremendous success, and as such has attracted a great deal of academic attention in recent years. Equally appealing are the dynamics of human mate choice. When humans choose potential mates, the decision is based upon a myriad of cues, at both the conscious and subconscious levels. Isolating these cues and highlighting their evolutionary significance is also a growing field of research. The MSc program from Liverpool will enable me to successfully explore the above avenues at the PhD level and beyond. Upon completion of my Masters, I intend to apply to relevant PhD programs at St. Andrews University (St. Andrews, Scotland) or The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) to continue my academic career, with the ultimate goal of becoming a university professor.
In efforts to make myself a well-rounded individual and gain practical experience in my field, I am currently an Honorary Research Assistant (a glorified volunteer) with the University of Liverpool. Under Dr. Robin Dunbar, member of the Evolutionary Psych research group at Liverpool, I am gathering data on the social interactions within feral goat populations on the Isle of Rum, off the northwest coast of Scotland. Rum is a small and mountainous island with one village community of roughly 25 people. However, the study is conducted on the far side of the island, based out of a hunting bothy that lacks electricity or heating. The isolated nature of the project requires special attributes from its participants; independence, resilience (the climate is severe), physical stamina, and a sound mental state. Also, one must interact well with the locals (Scottish National Heritage employees) as our survival and general experience depends on a warm, reciprocal relationship. The skills I’ve brought to and learnt on Rum are fully transferable to any pursuit be it academic or personal.
While my education will be gained from various foreign institutions, as it is a perfect way to simultaneously develop a career and see the diversity the world has to offer, I plan to return to Canada once sufficiently ‘learned’. As a professor it is my hope that the theories and factual knowledge I will possess (as well as life experience) can go a long way towards educating and motivating generations of Canadian students. As citizens of one of the most diverse and fortunate countries it is our responsibility to put such an advantage to good use – realizing personal potential while developing a deep knowledge and respect for the international community.
I am applying for the Internationalist Fellowship in efforts to fund my postgraduate education. My undergraduate degree (B.Sc Honors Psych) exposed me to the biological and evolutionary motives for human behaviour, but left me with more questions than answers. The University of Liverpool (Liverpool, UK) offers a 12 month taught MSc in Evolutionary Psychology. Evolutionary psychology is the study of the phylogenetic history and adaptive functions of the mind. Researchers attempt to understand the purpose of human mind by examining past and present patterns that pervade our natural world. The research group at Liverpool is one of the most experienced and diverse in existence, and the largest operating within Europe. This unique collection of perspectives provides candidates with an excellent introduction into the fledgling field of evolutionary psychology through training in the relevant areas; evolutionary theory, human/primate evolutionary history, human/primate cognition and discipline specific statistical and research methods.
The MSc program is divided into 3 semesters with specific topics covered in each. Successful completion of the MSc requires completion of all nine modules:
Semester 1: Sept - Dec 2007
1: Fundamental Concepts in Evolutionary Theory 2: Primate Behavioural Ecology 3: Human Behavioural Ecology 4: Research Methods I
Semester 2: Jan - May 2007
5: Cognitive Evolution 6: Neuropsychology 7: Research Methods II 8: Statistics Course
Semester 3: May - Aug 2007
9: Research project (Projects involve 2-3 months data collection written up as a 20,000-word thesis
An area of personal interest is the notion of time perception in humans and our nearest extent relatives (and the associated temporal displays like music, language etc.). It can be argued that our species’ unique concept and awareness of time has contributed to our tremendous success, and as such has attracted a great deal of academic attention in recent years. Equally appealing are the dynamics of human mate choice. When humans choose potential mates, the decision is based upon a myriad of cues, at both the conscious and subconscious levels. Isolating these cues and highlighting their evolutionary significance is also a growing field of research. The MSc program from Liverpool will enable me to successfully explore the above avenues at the PhD level and beyond. Upon completion of my Masters, I intend to apply to relevant PhD programs at St. Andrews University (St. Andrews, Scotland) or The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) to continue my academic career, with the ultimate goal of becoming a university professor.
In efforts to make myself a well-rounded individual and gain practical experience in my field, I am currently an Honorary Research Assistant (a glorified volunteer) with the University of Liverpool. Under Dr. Robin Dunbar, member of the Evolutionary Psych research group at Liverpool, I am gathering data on the social interactions within feral goat populations on the Isle of Rum, off the northwest coast of Scotland. Rum is a small and mountainous island with one village community of roughly 25 people. However, the study is conducted on the far side of the island, based out of a hunting bothy that lacks electricity or heating. The isolated nature of the project requires special attributes from its participants; independence, resilience (the climate is severe), physical stamina, and a sound mental state. Also, one must interact well with the locals (Scottish National Heritage employees) as our survival and general experience depends on a warm, reciprocal relationship. The skills I’ve brought to and learnt on Rum are fully transferable to any pursuit be it academic or personal.
While my education will be gained from various foreign institutions, as it is a perfect way to simultaneously develop a career and see the diversity the world has to offer, I plan to return to Canada once sufficiently ‘learned’. As a professor it is my hope that the theories and factual knowledge I will possess (as well as life experience) can go a long way towards educating and motivating generations of Canadian students. As citizens of one of the most diverse and fortunate countries it is our responsibility to put such an advantage to good use – realizing personal potential while developing a deep knowledge and respect for the international community.
posted by Ian at 3:56 PM
4 Comments:
Great write up Ian! Will you get a chance to call today? We've got a care package ready to go in the mail but want to see if there are any last minute items you may need before sending.
i'm content with it in it's current form... i said what i needed to say and followed the guidelines laid out.
Hi Ian!
I just wanted to leave a quick message and let you know I've been in the middle of a Midterm storm for what seems like 2 months now.
Regardless, I think about you every day and am thrilled to hear you're still ripping your pants and listening to TOOL. You're still you.
I'll write you a big email over reading week, and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Hey man,
This stuff isn't exactly what you're interested in, but I went to some talks, and you would have been there if you could, so i thought i would share the contents.
and before i forget, you will be doing your post-doc with robert zatorre at mcgill. check him out if you haven't yet.
everything i'm about to say is in the context of a standard model of interval timing with a pacemaker, accumulater switch, and reference memory. I assume you are familar with these sorts of models, but if not, i'll send a paper i wrote.
anyway, I don't know if you know who tam5en taylor is, but i checked out her phd defence. She's interesed in timing, and timing models, though she didn't really stick to any i was familiar with. she had individuals press a button when they had read 'hard' words as well as 'easy' words, and found that 'hard' words took longer to react to. The button pressing was to take place 1 second after the word was presented (the participants had to estimate a second). she was measuring subjective time in other words.she argued that attentional constraints when processing hard words caused pulses to slip past the accumulator. I personally think that the switch doesn't close until the word is process, and that is why you are getting longer subjective measurements of one second. (this is what i got in the drunken argument about with those profs the night me and macshak when drinking).
anyway, the wierd thing that she has found is that there are carry over effects on trials, even with a 6 second intertrial interval.I can't remember the specific patterns, but they made no sense in light of priming literature. I'm going to have a meeting with her to discuss it further, and when i get the pattern down, i'll better explain myself.
The other crazy talk was on the fractal nature of time. basically if you take a 1000 measurements of something (rt's from a button press upon tone presentation for example), and you plot those responses over time, patterns emerge that look like a waveform. This guy was doing fourier analysis on the stuff and basically claimed that they make no sense, but they are definately present in the data. I think that they are the result of different regions and groups of neurons ossillating. he then presented a nature paper that showed that slime mold over many trials could learn a maze, by placing food at one end, over several trials it found the shortest route. the argument is that slime mold doesn't have networks of neurons, but that somehow it harnessed these osscilations to learn.
I'll hunt down the guys name for you so you can read some more.
take care buddy
~ed
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