Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!ucsd!sdics!norman From: norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A. Norman) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: programs in cognitive science Summary: Opportunities in cognitive science Message-ID: <580@sdics.ucsd.EDU> Date: 23 Jul 88 16:56:59 GMT References: <88Jul16.231948edt.388@neat.ai.toronto.edu> Reply-To: norman@sdics.UUCP (Donald A. Norman) Distribution: all Organization: UC San Diego Department of Cognitive Science Lines: 86 > One wonders what all these cognitive science graduates are going to >do after graduation. > > John Nagle As the proud chair of the newly formed Department of Cognitive Science at UCSD, John's cleverness deserves some response. We expect our graduates to be in heavy demand -- just as our current undergraduates with degrees in "Psychology & Cognitive Science" and our present PhDs with degrees in "X and Cognitive Science" have been. X is any one of linguistics, computer science, psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, or neuroscience. Eventually, as cognitive science departments proliferate, there will be academic jobs in these departments. For the moment, the graduates are welcomed by departments in all of the X fields listed above, for these people have the traditional skills plus a wider, richer perspective on the problems of studying human, animal, and/or artificial cognition. Industry already seeks these people: we have a thick collection of job announcements from industry explicitly asking for people trained in cognitive science. No, not just expert systems stuff, but human-machine interaction, design in general, training systems, CSCW (Computer support of Cooperative Work) projects -- at places like BBN, HP, Tektronix, IBM, Xerox, Apple, DEC, ATT, Bellcore, NASA, small software houses, large research labs, military research labs, industrial labs, ... It is my belief that well trained good people will always find opportunitiess, regardless of the formal title of their training. ====================================================================== And now for the advertisement. Here is a short description of what is happening at UCSD. UCSD has established a Department of Cognitive Science, effective July 1, 1988. It will offer both an undergraduate degree and a PhD in cognitive science. Students will not be accepted until the 1989/90 academic year: The 1988/80 academic year will be spent in developing the graduate and undergraduate curriculum and in submitting these to the appropriate university and state bodies for formal approval to offer degrees. The initial faculty are: Elizabeth Bates Aaron Cicourel Jeff Elman Gilles Fauconnier David Kirsh Jean Mandler Donald Norman (chair) Martin Sereno In addition, the steering committee voted to offer appointments to the following four people: their appointment files are now being evaluated by the appropriate university academic and administrative committees: Edwin Hutchins Marta Kutas Helen Neville David Zipser Recruiting of new faculty is expected to continue at a slow, but steady pace for the next several years. The department will cover all aspects of cognition, with a special emphasis on computational models, especially following the PDP tradition. The department feels strongly that cognition must be studied at all levels, including the biological basis, behavior, and social interactions and structure, with both emperical observations and theory. Don Norman Donald A. Norman Department of Cognitive Science C-015 University of California, San Diego La Jolla, California 92093 INTERNET: danorman@ucsd.edu INTERNET: norman@ics.ucsd.edu BITNET: danorman@ucsd.bitnet ARPA: norman@nprdc.arpa UNIX:{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!ics!norman