Alex Petrov's Teaching Page

Greetings!

Dr. Alexander A. Petrov
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Ohio State University

200B Lazenby Hall
1827 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Email: apetrov [at] cogmod.osu.edu
WWW: http://alexpetrov.com/
Tel: (614) 247-2734
Skype: apetrov1969

To Prospective Graduate Students

Dear Colleague,

We live in such exciting times! The most interesting thing in the Universe -- the human brain -- is begining to reveal its secrets. We know a great deal about the brain and a great deal about behavior. The time has come to forge a unified understanding about how the former gives rise to the latter. Cognitive science today is at a threshold analogous to where biology was shortly after the discovery of the DNA 50 years ago. The next 50 years will witness similar breakthroughs in cognitive neuroscience. If you are a bright, hard-working individual with an interest in these kinds of questions, you could do worse than spending a few years in my lab. I was introduced to this field over 10 years ago and never looked back. Who knows, you might find it just as exciting. There is plenty of unsolved problems for the both of us.

Computer models, particularly neural network models, are guaranteed to play a key role in this unified understanding. So, you will need solid background in computer science, mathematics, physics, or a related field. You do not need an undergraduate degree in psychology to do well as a graduate student in cognitive psychology. In fact, a computer science degree is a much stronger foundation as far as I am concerned. In my lab, you will have an opportunity to develop state-of-the art computational models and perform state-of-the art psychophysical experiments. The graduate program in psychology at OSU deserves your serious consideration.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Current Courses

I enjoy teaching and I consider the opportunity to interact with young, bright, and open-minded people among the major attractions of my academic career. I have come to realize, after some trial and error, that learning and not teaching is the critical activity in the classroom. What is important is what students do; what professors do only matters to the extent it influences students' behaviors and learning practices. Accordingly, I consciously try to promote active discussion in the classroom in addition to lecturing. I also try to motivate the students to invest the hours necessary to master the material after class by providing plenty of home assignments, midterm exams, and regular feedback.

During the spring quarter of 2008, I teach the following courses:

During the autumn quarter of 2008, I am scheduled to teach the following course:

During the winter quarter of 2008, I am scheduled teach the following course:

Past Courses

At one time or another, I have taught the following courses (in no particular order):

http://alexpetrov.com/teach/ Check the validity of this page's XHTML Check the validity of this site's Cascading Style Sheet Page maintained by Alex Petrov
Created 2004-06-14, last updated 2008-03-24