The Research Institute of Applied Cognitive Science (RIACS) at SIAS was founded by Dr. Ningyuan (Wayne) Yang, the inventor of memory engine and a cognitive psychologist. RIACS is one of the pioneering research institutes in the area of applied cognitive science.

Dr. Yang graduated from Peking University, he obtained his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from New York University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Research Institute of Cognitive Science (IRCS) at University of Pennsylvanian, then a researcher associate at the Center for Study of Language Information (CSLI) and the Educational Program of Gifted Youth (EPGY) at Stanford University. He worked as a human-factor engineer at Vitria Technology, a public company in Silicon Valley. Before joined SIAS, he founded Mintel Learning Technology Inc. in America and INIT Technology in Beijing respectively.

Memory engine technology invented by Dr. Yang was a great breakthrough in application of cognitive science in the area of human learning. It can drive human memory to work at a speed far above the biological limit of human brain; it can also enhance the memory power of human brain after extensive usage. Millions of English learners international wide, include thousands of SIAS students, have benefited from products based on memory engine technology.

Research Areas at RIACS
Research activities at IRCS cover the following topics:
    1) The theory of system behavior for success and its application.
    2) Learning ability, creativity and educational reform.
    3) Exploit of the potentials for individuals and organizations.

Courses Offered by RIACS
Dr. Yang offers several courses to develop students’ ability for learning and success. These courses include “Successful English”, “Success of Life Management” and “Ability of English Learning”, etc.

Services Offered by RIACS
    1) Popular public lectures offered by Dr. Yang: “Successful College Life,” “Successful English Learning”, “Successful English Test-taking”, “Practice of Organizational Qualities”, and “My Dreamful College” and ”Learning-ability Centered Education”.
    2) Learning Ability Center (LAC): We offer various seminars and workshops to help SIAS students and teachers to enhance their ability of English learning and action power.
    3) Research Group for Learning-Ability Centered Education: A research group to explore systems, technologies, methods and workflows to enhance the learning ability of students inside and outside of classroom.
    4) Forums of Applied Cognitive Science: An open forum for teachers and students to discuss issues related to applications of cognitive science in education.  Topics include philosophy, religion, sociology，political science，cognitive science, management science, developmental psychology, education and eastern-western cultures, etc.

While we actively explore and build a learning-ability centered educational model, we also established collaborations national and international wide to reduce learning burden of the students by promoting their learning ability and creativity. Our goal is to initiate an educational reform to build an innovative and effective learning environment to help the students meet the challenges from our information era. Such a system will also serve as a unique competitive power for SIAS University.

Location: 5th fl. of Administration Building

Phone: 0371-6248-8075