Computer Science

Open, Seminar—Fall

Geospatial data is information associated with locations on the surface of the Earth and can include a variety of different types of data used in environmental science, such as sample collection locations at a field-study site, the areal extent of a forest biome, or the output generated by global climate models. The analysis of geospatial data also allows social scientists to identify disparities in access to natural resources or exposure to pollutants and hazards and has been critical to the study of environmental justice. This course provides an introduction to foundational concepts in physical geography and geodesy, cartography and geostatistics, along with practical experience in geospatial data analysis using open-source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Although we will focus primarily on environmental applications, the skills learned in this course can be utilized in many natural and social-science disciplines, as well as to help you avoid getting lost!

Faculty

• Bernice Rosenzweig

Open, Small Lecture—Fall

Our existence lies in a perpetual state of change. An apple falls from a tree, clouds move across expansive farmland, blocking out the sun for days; meanwhile, satellites zip around the Earth, transmitting and receiving signals to our cell phones. Calculus was invented to develop a language to accurately describe the motion and change happening all around us. The ancient Greeks began a detailed study of change, but they were scared to wrestle with the infinite; so it was not until the 17th century that Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, among others, tamed the infinite and gave birth to this extremely successful branch of mathematics. Though just a few hundred years old, calculus has become an indispensable research tool in both the natural and social sciences. Our study begins with the central concept of the limit and proceeds to explore the dual processes of differentiation and integration. Numerous applications of the theory will be examined. Weekly group conferences will be run in hands-on workshop mode. This course is intended for students interested in advanced study in mathematics or sciences, students preparing for careers in the health sciences or engineering, and any student wishing to broaden and enrich the life of the mind. 

Faculty

• Daniel King

Open, Lecture—Fall

Variance, correlation coefficient, regression analysis, statistical significance, and margin of error—these terms and other statistical phrases have been bantered about before and seen interspersed in news reports and research articles. But what do they mean? How are they used? And why are they so important? Serving as an introduction to the concepts, techniques, and reasoning central to the understanding of data, this course will focus on the fundamental methods of statistical analysis used to gain insight into diverse areas of human interest. The use, misuse, and abuse of statistics will be the central focus of the course; and specific topics of exploration will be drawn from experimental design theory, sampling theory, data analysis, and statistical inference. Applications will be considered in current events, business, psychology, politics, medicine, and many other areas of the natural and social sciences. Statistical software will be introduced and used extensively in this course, but no prior experience with spreadsheet technology is assumed. Group conferences, conducted in workshop mode, will serve to reinforce student understanding of the course material. This course is recommended for any student wishing to be a better-informed consumer of data, and strongly recommended for those planning to pursue advanced undergraduate or graduate research in the natural sciences or social sciences. 

Faculty

• Daniel King

Open, Seminar—Fall and Spring

Calculus is the mathematical gift that keeps on giving—thank you, Newton and company! In this course, students will expand their knowledge of limits, derivatives, and integrals with concepts and techniques that will enable them to solve many important problems in mathematics and the sciences. By the end of the course, students will be able to judge whether answers provided by engine services such as WolframAlpha or ChatGPT are correct. Topics will include differentiation review, integration review, integration with non-polynomial functions, applications of integration (finding area, volume, length, center of mass, moment of inertia, probability), advanced techniques for integration (substitution, integration-by-parts, partial fractions), infinite sequences, infinite series, convergent and divergent sums, power series, differential equations and modeling dynamical systems, and, time permitting, parametric equations of a curve and polar coordinates. Students will work on a conference project related to the mathematical topics covered in class and are free to choose technical, historical, crafty, computational, or creative projects.

Faculty

• Melvin Irizarry-Gelpi

Intermediate, Seminar—Year

Rarely is a quantity of interest—tomorrow’s temperature, unemployment rates across Europe, the cost of a spring-break flight to Fort Lauderdale—a simple function of just one primary variable. Reality, for better or worse, is mathematically multivariable. This course will introduce an array of topics and tools used in the mathematical analysis of multivariable functions. The intertwined theories of vectors, matrices, and differential equations and their applications will be the central themes of exploration. Specific topics to be covered will include the algebra and geometry of vectors in two, three, and higher dimensions; dot and cross products and their applications; equations of lines and planes in higher dimensions; solutions to systems of linear equations, using Gaussian elimination; theory and applications of determinants, inverses, and eigenvectors; volumes of three-dimensional solids via integration; spherical and cylindrical coordinate systems; and methods of visualizing and constructing solutions to differential equations of various types. Conference work will involve an investigation of some mathematically-themed subject of the student’s choosing.

Faculty

• Bruce Alphenaar

First-Year Studies—Year

Our everyday experiences with the world around us give us an intuitive knowledge of some of the principles of physics; however, many areas of contemporary physics study the unseen—literally! This course will guide students through the core principles needed to understand modern physics and to think like a physicist. As we develop our knowledge of physics, we will study puzzles, thought experiments, and toy models of the real world to uncover the nature of our universe. Unlike traditional introductory physics courses, we will start with the modern formulations of classical mechanics, which lay the groundwork for how physical theories, including quantum mechanics, have been developed over approximately the last 100 years. We will also see how forces, such as the electromagnetic force and gravity, can be understood as field theories acting everywhere in space. As we develop our physics toolbox, we will focus on building a deep and intuitive understanding of the material, including the fundamental mathematics needed to study physics. This course will be mathematically rigorous; and while prior exposure to calculus will be helpful, a deep interest in mathematical reasoning will be essential. This seminar will focus on understanding the real-world physics at play. Work in this course will largely consist of problem sets designed to develop thinking and showcase progress over the course of the year. Biweekly in fall, students will have individual conferences with the instructor to explore a physics topic while developing skills to read and analyze research articles. In alternate weeks, students will meet for group conferences as problem-solving sessions. Occasionally, we will conduct a lab during group conference so students can experience the physics that they are studying. Biweekly in spring, students will meet with the instructor for individual conferences.

Faculty

• Sarah Racz

Open, Seminar—Year

Our everyday experiences with the world around us give us an intuitive knowledge of some of the principles of physics; however, many areas of contemporary physics study the unseen—literally! This course will guide students through the core principles needed to understand modern physics and to think like a physicist. As we develop our knowledge of physics, we will study puzzles, thought experiments, and toy models of the real world to uncover the nature of our universe. Unlike traditional introductory physics courses, we will start with the modern formulations of classical mechanics, which lay the groundwork for how physical theories, including quantum mechanics, have been developed over approximately the last 100 years. We will also see how forces, such as the electromagnetic force and gravity, can be understood as field theories acting everywhere in space. As we develop our physics toolbox, we will focus on building a deep and intuitive understanding of the material, including the fundamental mathematics needed to study physics. This course will be mathematically rigorous; and while prior exposure to calculus will be helpful, a deep interest in mathematical reasoning will be essential. This seminar will focus on understanding the real-world physics at play. Work in this course will largely consist of problem sets designed to develop thinking and showcase progress over the course of the year.

Faculty

• Sarah Racz

Open, Small Lecture—Fall

What makes linguistic communication possible? Do other primates “talk”? How do we understand messages from one another despite uncertainty and noise? In this course, we will consider central questions about language: Are we the only ones who have it? When did we learn it? How does artificial intelligence mimic it? This course will start with an introduction to comparative research with other species (nonhuman primates, whales, and insects), allowing students to consider many possible forms of communication. Next, we will look at humans. What can studies with babies and children tell us about the nature of our communication system? Finally, we will explore how large language models, such as ChatGPT, produce text that might look and feel like human writing. What have these models learned, and how should we study them? Students should come prepared to engage with the topic of communication from multiple perspectives, including empirical/scientific and critical. Through weekly small-group conferences, students will develop projects that relate the course to their collective interests, such as learning and communicating in Toki Pona (a philosophical artistic-constructed language), researching the limits of artificial intelligence language models, observing and analyzing children’s communication, or designing a behavioral intervention study that implements and evaluates different communication practices.

Faculty

• Sammy Floyd