1. Projected Enrollments: Cognitive Science Enrollments in the First Five Years

The length of the proposed program in cognitive science will vary depending on the student’s background and on whether the student already has a master’s degree in one of the cognitive science disciplines. Given the absence of a cognitive science program elsewhere in this region, the unique comparative perspective of the proposed program, the world-class facilities at USL-NIRC, and the exciting work now being done at the University (for example, on growing in-vitro neurons), we expect the program to attract many highly qualified applicants.

Many current students or recent USL graduates have expressed strong interest in the program. We anticipate a steady enrollment of at least five to nine people per year.

Initial enrollments will include a mixture of students who have earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. By the third year of the program, we anticipate producing two to three students; and by the fifth year of the program, five or more students will be produced annually.

Three distinct populations are likely to provide students for this program. As indicated earlier, the first of these populations constitutes students already at USL, in its graduate and undergraduate programs. A number of these students are familiar with the faculty involved in the program and have been introduced to cognitive-science related areas. Many will want to deepen their understanding of cognitive science.

A second source of students for the program will be students interested in working with primate cognition. Over the course of the past four years, over 30 undergraduate and graduate students or post-graduate research fellows from other universities have visited the New Iberia Research Center to pursue research projects in primate cognition and related areas. These visitors have come from within the state (Tulane University) as well as outside of it (e.g., University of Pittsburgh; Washington University; SUNY-Albany), and even from other countries (e.g., the University of Stirling in Scotland; the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands). The attraction of USL-NIRC to these students is easy to understand: NIRC is one of the few such facilities available in the United States. The availability of a cognitive science program at USL will attract students who are already familiar with this rare resource.

Finally, interdisciplinary research projects now under way will enhance the national visibility of cognitive science research at the University. This work coupled with the addition of expertise in neural models at the Center for Advanced Computer Studies will attract our third population, students looking specifically for a cognitive science program. The proposed program redresses persistent difficulty in attracting such students to Louisiana schools.

In particular, the program provides an attractive alternative for undergraduates at other Louisiana institutions to pursue further graduate studies in this area. Due to developing contacts between our faculty and cognitive scientists at other Louisiana institutions that will include exchanges of talks and joint projects, many of these undergraduate students will naturally look to USL for further graduate training.
 

2. Financial Support: Sources of Support for Cognitive Science Students

The program budget (see Part VIII) includes assistantships and a fellowship to support graduate students. On the assumption that fellows and assistants will normally be supported for four years, we are budgeting one fellowship (at $12,000 per annum) and three Ph.D. assistantships (at $10,000 each per annum) in the first year. An additional three assistantships will be budgeted for the second year. Two new assistantships will become available in the third and fourth years. Thus, funding to support eleven students is feasible by the fourth year.

Additional funding will become available as faculty obtain grants that include support for research or teaching assistants. Many of the faculty involved with this proposed program have successfully sought grant monies from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund.