Support for the 2012 International Congress of Neuroethology

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests partial support for US young investigators -- graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and assistant professors -- to attend the 10th International Congress of Neuroethology (ICN), to be held on August 5-10, 2012, at the University of Maryland in College Park. Topics to be covered at the meeting include sensory processing and perception, multisensory signaling, locomotion and motor control, behavioral endocrinology, and genetic control of behavior. Some sessions will highlight new technologies, such as automated analysis of complex behaviors emerging in animal groups and optogenetics. The program is designed to incorporate discussion of brain function at different levels of analysis (from biophysics to field behavior) using a wide range of tools and techniques (including those drawn from physics, mathematics, signal processing, molecular biology, genomics, field observations, psychophysics, and neurophysiology) and examined in a diversity of species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. These different approaches are bound together by a common fundamental goal: to uncover neural, computational, and design solutions to natural biological problems that, once identified, can more easily pursued in other species or implemented technologically. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Support of this conference will increase knowledge of neural mechanisms of behavior and will help identify technological solutions to neural and behavioral problems. By providing networking and mentoring activities, the conference will promote education and career development of young investigators. By providing outreach, the conference will increase public understanding of science.