The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $25 million award over 5 years to a new Science and Technology Center (STC) called the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. This STC will be a multi-institution collaboration, with a partnership between MIT and Harvard at its heart.

The startling triumphs of Deep Blue in chess and Watson in Jeopardy, coupled with news of driverless cars and drones making automated landings on aircraft carriers, not to mention the commercial splash made by Siri, make it clear that advances in machine learning have been profound. Nevertheless, it is clear that these specialized systems are not intelligent in the manner of humans or even mice. The new STC will combine neuroscience and cognitive science with computer science and engineering to renew an attack on this problem of intelligence in brains and machines.

Read the Press Release from Center for Brain Science, News, Harvard >