Information for guest speakers
Guest speakers, or hosts of lab visits, often ask questions about the structure of the course, and the background of its students, that I hope are addressed in what follows.

Who will be in the audience?
Anyone in attendance can safely assumed to be either in the second or later semester of a doctoral program, or to have a doctorate, with a specialization in vision, or in a related area. This specialized "topics" course typically draws a handful (e.g. 6-12) of students taking the course for credit, as well as a few students who have taken the course in a prior year. Visitors on sabbatical, postdocs, or departmental faculty occasionally attend, as well.

What level of background can I safely assume students will have?
Everyone in attendance will have had, at least, a graduate course in vision. Students from the CNS department will have had a course that covers (1) elementary physiology (at the level of chapters from Kandel, Schwartz, & Jessel), supplemented by 8-10 review articles, (2) basic psychophysical concepts (e.g. "contrast sensitivity function", "interstimulus interval", "two alternative forced choice", etc.) and (3) computational models of early vision (e.g. lightness perception, texture segregation, contour grouping . . .) Some in attendance will have backgrounds going considerably beyond these basics.

How will/should my presentation differ from a colloquium?
(1) I do not advertise presentations. You, or anyone from your lab, are welcome to attend any sessions held here. Web postings and word of mouth mean that, occasionally, a visitor will show up to listen to a particular speaker's presentations. I therefore ask speakers to "pitch" their talk not to the casual generalist, but to individuals who either have, or are pursuing, advanced training in vision.
(2) The class meets on a day before your presentation for one hour to discuss readings that you have suggested.
(3) You are asked to suggest required readings to be covered in advance of your presentation. I consider it my job to insure that students taking the course for credit actually read that material. Most others will do so in any case, because they are motivated.
(4) Most importantly: Please do not feel that you must present primarily new ("latest and greatest") research material exclusively. It's not that we mind that (!), but this is a class, and it is entirely appropriate to present tutorial background, methodological detail, or any other ancillary stuff that you feel is worth transmitting to the next generation of researchers.

What, and how much, should I suggest for readings?
The idea here is: More is more. Many speakers simply suggest one or two recent research articles from their labs, and that is fine. If it seems appropriate, though, and you have the time, please send an "augmented" list, using such designators as "background", "core", or "supplementary" to indicate the utility of specific articles. An example of a reading list generated by a previous course with a similar structure can be found by clicking here.

What can I do to make Ennio's life easier?
As you've no doubt figured out, the major difficulty in organizing this course consists in organizing the course. "Easiest" would be for you to do the following, soon, and in a single pass:
(1) Send me an exact title for your presentation, or, if you prefer, just indicate the topic.
(2) Send me, in electronic form, the complete references for readings. (Yes, we've all heard that you were featured on the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK, but it would be so much easier if you could provide the particulars!)
(3) Tell me if you'll need any unusual audiovisual resources; if so, just HOW unusual?
(4) If possible, send electronic copies or links  to all "core" readings. If electronic copies are not available, send paper via snail mail to:
    Ennio Mingolla
    Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems
    Boston University
    677 Beacon Street
    Boston, MA 02215
    TEL: 617-353-9485
    FAX: 617-353-7755
    email: ennio@cns.bu.edu

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