The core curriculum in perceptual science (http://perceptualscience.rutgers.edu)
offers training in multidisciplinary approaches to modern perceptual science and
integrating computational techniques with the study of human perception. The curriculum augments training in the
student's home degree program with additional foundational courses, laboratory
courses, and interdisciplinary research. Students are typically enrolled in doctoral programs in psychology, computer science, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, and anthropology. However, students from any graduate program related to perceptual
science may participate. The core curriculum in perceptual science,
developed with the support of an IGERT grant from the National Science
Foundation, addresses the shared goal of computer scientists, cognitive
scientists, and engineers to develop perceptual models that will both enhance
our understanding of human perception and guide the development of modern
perceptual technologies. These technologies include sophisticated systems
for automated recognition of images, objects, faces, and scenes, as well as
intelligent devices, computer interfaces, and virtual environments that must be
used by people to carry out a variety of real-world tasks. Students
are prepared for research careers in perceptual science in academic, industrial,
or government settings.
Years 1 and 2 of the core curriculum
establish foundational knowledge, beginning with a bootstrapping course in
Computational Thinking (Computer Science 503) for noncomputer science majors,
followed by a one-semester course in the fundamentals of Computational Modeling
(Computer Science 504) for all students. Courses in Sensation and
Perception (Psychology 514) and Computational Perception (Psychology 515),
taken by all students, teach properties and models of human perception,
emphasizing the perception of color, shape, depth, texture, surfaces, and scenes,
along with their neurophysiological underpinnings. The foundational
courses are supplemented by electives in computer science, psychology,
cognitive science, mathematics, and statistics, with individual programs of
study developed to allow students to concurrently meet course requirements of
their degree programs. Year 3 includes a laboratory sequence (Perceptual
Science 521, 522) that provides opportunities for hands-on interdisciplinary
projects in a supervised setting, as well as an optional external internship in
local industry, both designed to prepare students for interdisciplinary thesis
research co-advised by faculty specialists in human perception and
computational modeling. Research
is carried out in state-of-the-art laboratories where students will work with
faculty advisers from different disciplines to pursue research from multiple
perspectives. Key research topics
include: animate motion; multisensory
integration; stereoscopic vision; perception of shape and objects; eye
movements; attention; visual communication; computational depiction; machine
and human learning; and human-computer interaction and design.
