FAQ

We are looking for early to mid-career scientists, engineers, or clinicians (e.g., junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, clinical residents, or fellows, advanced graduate or medical students).

Only U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or those working or enrolled in a program at U.S. institutions are eligible.

There are two main parts to the application. The first asks you to make an account for yourself and to identify at least two (2) recommenders so they can submit letters of recommendation. The second asks for your application, which includes a statement of interest, a curriculum vitae, and a (unofficial) transcript. At the conclusion of the application, there is a short demographic questionnaire, which will be used to evaluate the performance of our recruitment methods for the Course.

All parts of the application, including letters of recommendation, are due no later than March 1, 2017. Therefore, we recommend you complete at least the first part of the application (i.e. make an account) early, so you give your recommenders adequate time to write their letter.

You will receive an email from noreply@qemailserver.com account when your recommender submits their letter of recommendation.

The email will come from noreply@qemailserver.com. Please double check that the email is not in your spam/junk folder. If you still have not received the email after 24 hours, please contact summercourse@neurotechcenter.org.

Be sure to type your password in exactly. It is case sensitive. We recommend copying and pasting your password to ensure that you do not type it incorrectly (be sure not to copy an extra space before or after the password when doing this). If you still encounter trouble logging in, please contact summercourse@neurotechcenter.org and your password will be reset.

If you encounter any difficulty submitting your application, please email summercourse@neurotechcenter.org with your issue.

All decisions will be released by March 28, 2017. Accepted applicants will have approximately one (1) week to confirm their admittance to the Course; a $200 deposit and completed accepted student form is due no later than March 31, 2017 to confirm a spot in the Course.

Participants will be provided housing at University Heights College Suites (UH) for the duration of the program, unless they plan to commute from a local address each day. UH is located within a short, 2-minute walk to the site of the Course.

All participants will be provided with a meal stipend of $750 during the Course, distributed in 3 weekly installments during the Course. Your social security number will be required to provide you with a meal stipend, but for security reasons, we will NOT collect this information from you electronically. You will be asked to provide it upon your arrival to the Course, so be sure to have this information on hand when you arrive.

All travel to the Course (including transportation to and from the airport) is covered up to $650. Please see our reimbursement policy for instructions on the information you must keep in order to be reimbursed.

You will need to front the money for your travel expenses to Albany. After the Course is completed, you will be reimbursed (up to $650) for your travel. Please see our reimbursement policy for instructions on the information you must keep in order to be reimbursed.

You will need to provide University Heights College Suites with a room deposit of $200. This deposit will be returned after you move out, less any damage or cleaning charges if your room is not left in satisfactory condition.

You may need to pay for other expenses, including meals, if the $750 stipend is not sufficient for the duration of your stay.

We can reimburse all transportation, including travel to and from the airport (up to $650). Taxis to and from the airport as well as checked baggage can be reimbursed. Business class, first class, flight upgrades, or other perks cannot be reimbursed. Please see our reimbursement policy for instructions on the information you must keep in order to be reimbursed. For participants driving to the Course, round-trip mileage from your starting point to the location of the Course will be reimbursed at the federal rate. Parking is available free of charge at University Heights. Bus and train transportation may also be reimbursed, but business class or first class seats are not eligible for reimbursement.

In order to get reimbursed, you will need to provide proof of payment, such as the confirmation ticket showing a $0 balance (for air, train, and bus travel), or a receipt (for checked baggage or taxi rides). Please make sure you obtain and hold on to all receipts, including taxi receipts or baggage claim receipts. In addition, you must provide your credit card statement showing the charge. All irrelevant charges may be blacked out or otherwise redacted. Please note that only the person who pays for the travel can be reimbursed, so you should make the arrangements yourself.

You will be reimbursed after the Course concludes. You will be provided with an envelope at the conclusion of the Course to send any remaining information (e.g. receipts) back to NCAN for reimbursement. Please make sure you send this in as quickly as possible to ensure you reimbursed in a timely manner. A check for the total of your reimbursements will then be mailed to you. Due to processing time, you will likely receive your reimbursement in mid-to-late August or early September.

The Course runs from Monday, July 10, 2017 to Friday, July 28, 2017. You will be able to move-in to University Heights on Sunday, July 9, 2017. You should plan to depart Saturday, July 29, 2017 from the Course.

You are expected to attend all lectures, which typically run 9am to 4:30pm, Monday-Saturday. Lunch will be 12pm to 1:30pm each day. There will also be brief, 5-10 minute breaks in the morning and afternoon for you to stretch, snack, or mingle with the other participants and Course faculty. On select days, there will be catered lunches or dinners, where you may opt-in to join NCAN staff and Course faculty. Please note the Course does not cover the cost of these lunches.

The first week will include lectures on basic and foundational principles of adaptive neurotechnologies, covering a variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, engineering, computer science, and signal processing. The second week will include hands-on training exercises, where you will have the chance to work with Course faculty on three (3) representative adaptive neurotechnological experiments. The last week will be devoted to translational matters, including, but not limited to, commercial, ethical, funding, and regulatory issues. Case studies of four devices will be presented. You will also have the chance to present research proposals and obtain feedback from Course faculty during this final week. For more detailed information, a copy of last year’s schedule is available here. Please note that this year’s schedule may not be the same. In addition, please feel free to check out last year’s bibliography.