Microprocessor Systems: Design & Application
Course Website
Fall 2017

"Introduction to digital design using programmable logic and microprocessors. Combinational and sequential logic. Finite state machines. Hardware description languages. Field programmable gate arrays. Microcontrollers and embedded system design. Students gain experience with complex digital system design, embedded programming, and hardware/software trade-offs through significant laboratory and project work." Source

Advanced Systems Engineering
Fall 2017

"The first semester focuses on the connections and distinctions between continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems and their representation in the time and frequency domains. Topics include impulse response, convolution, continuous and discrete Fourier series and transforms, and frequency response. Current applications, including filtering, modulation and sampling, are presented and simulation techniques based on both time and frequency domain representations are introduced." Source.

Experimental Engineering
Course Website
Spring 2017

"The primary purpose of the course is to teach basic instrumentation and measurement techniques; good lab report practice; technical report writing; analysis and presentation of data; the usage of experimental results for engineering design purposes; and the beginnings of professional practice." Source

Engineering Mathematics
Spring 2017

"Applications of differential equations, linear algebra, and probability to engineering problems in multiple disciplines. Mathematical modeling, dimensional analysis, scale, approximation, model validation, Laplace Transforms." Source

Chemical and Thermal Processes
Spring 2017

"The basic elements of thermal and chemical processes, including: state variables, open and closed systems, and mass balance; energy balance, First Law of Thermodynamics for reactive and non-reactive systems; entropy balance, Second Law of Thermodynamics, thermodynamic cycles and efficiency." Source

Digital Electrical and Computer Engineering
Course Website
Fall 2016

"This course provides an introduction to elements of digital electronics, followed by an introduction to digital computers. Topics in digital electronics include: Boolean algebra; combinational logic; sequential logic; finite state machines; transistor-level implementations; computer arithmetic; and transmission lines. The computer engineering portion of the course includes computer architecture and micro-architecture: levels of abstraction; assembly-language programming; and memory systems." Source

Engineering Systems, Engineering Systems Practicum
Fall 2016

"An introduction to the concepts of modern engineering, emphasizing modeling, analysis, synthesis, design, and control. Applications to mechanical and electrical systems." Source

Introduction to Engineering Design and Manufacturing
Spring 2016

"Design problems are, typically, open-ended and ill-structured. Students work in small teams applying techniques for solving design problems that are, normally, posed by not-for-profit clients. The project work is enhanced with lectures and reading on design theory and methods, and introduction to manufacturing techniques, project management techniques and engineering ethics." Source

Autonomous Vehicles
Course Website
Fall 2015

"Interdisciplinary introduction to design and programming in the context of small autonomous vehicles. Topics and activities include: energy and sustainability; applied mechanics; sensors and actuators; constructing chemical, mechanical and electrical systems; embedded software development in C; a design competition." Source

Advanced Latin Readings: Apuleius & Pliny the Elder
Fall 2017

"By the end of the class, students should have improved Latin reading abilities, a familiarity with the style of Apuleius and its differences from Classical Latin, and an understanding of the genre of the Ancient Novel." Source.

Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Spring 2017

"Described as Late Antiquity or the Early Middle Ages, the period from Constantine to Charlemagne (roughly 300 to 800 AD) represents an age of vibrant and dynamic cultural transition sometimes viewed as a crucible for the blending of Roman, barbarian and Christian cultural elements. Using the major primary sources and the standard modern accounts for the period, this course will examine the key categories in which cultural change presents itself to the historian—the political devolution of the Roman Empire and development of ‘successor’ states, the movement of migrant peoples, the interaction of diverse religious practices and the consolidation of the Catholic Church, material and social changes in urban society, reorientation of economy and land use, and the transmission of an intellectual culture through art and literature that was both heir to Classical tradition and aware of its own novelty." Source.

Intermediate Latin
Fall 2017

Ovid's Metamorphoses: Minerva and Arachne; Deucalion and Pyrrha; Cupid, Apollo, and Daphne.

Principles of Computer Science
Fall 2017

"Introduction to principles of computer science. Information structures, functional programming, object-oriented programming, grammars, logic, logic programming, correctness, algorithms, complexity analysis, finite-state machines, basic processor architecture, and theoretical limitations." Source.

Intro to Biology and Computer Science
Course Website
Fall 2015

"This course introduces fundamental concepts from the core course Computer Science 5 using biology as the context for those computational ideas. Students see both the intellectual and practical connections between these two disciplines and write computer programs to explore biological phenomena. Biology topics include the basics of biochemistry, the central dogma, population genetics, molecular evolution, metabolism, regulation, and phylogenetics. Computer science material includes basic data types and control structures, recursion, dynamic programming, and an introduction to automata and computability." Source.

Differential Equations/Linear Algebra II
Fall 2016

"General vector spaces and linear transformations; change of basis and similarity. Applications to linear systems of ordinary differential equations, matrix exponential; nonlinear systems of differential equations; equilibrium points and their stability." Source.

Multivariable Calculus
Fall 2016

"Linear approximations, the gradient, directional derivatives and the Jacobian; optimization and the second derivative test; higher-order derivatives and Taylor approximations; line integrals; vector fields, curl, and divergence; Green’s theorem, divergence theorem and Stokes’ theorem, outline of proof and applications." Source.

Intro To Linear Algebra
Spring 2016

"Theory and applications of linearity, including vectors, matrices, systems of linear equations, dot and cross products, determinants, linear transformations in Euclidean space, linear independence, bases, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and diagonalization." Source.

Intro To Differential Equations
Spring 2016

"Modeling physical systems, first-order ordinary differential equations, existence, uniqueness, and long-term behavior of solutions; bifurcations; approximate solutions; second-order ordinary differential equations and their properties, applications; first-order systems of ordinary differential equations." Source.

Probability and Statistics
Fall 2015

"Sample spaces, events, axioms for probabilities; conditional probabilities and Bayes’ theorem; random variables and their distributions, discrete and continuous; expected values, means and variances; covariance and correlation; law of large numbers and central limit theorem; point and interval estimation; hypothesis testing; simple linear regression; applications to analyzing real data sets." Source.

Calculus
Fall 2015

"A comprehensive view of the theory and techniques of differential and integral calculus of a single variable; infinite series, including Taylor series and convergence tests. Focus on mathematical reasoning, rigor and proof, including continuity, limits, induction. Introduction to multivariable calculus, including partial derivatives, double and triple integrals." Source.

Electromagnetic Theory and Optics
Fall 2016

"An introduction to electromagnetism and optics. Maxwell’s equations are discussed in differential and integral form. Maxwell’s equations are then used to develop an introduction to the field of optics. Beyond the presentation of Maxwell’s equations, selected topics include Gauss’s and Stokes’s theorems, the wave equation including the Poynting vector, electromagnetic energy, basic circuits, diffraction, Snell’s law, interference, and the physical origin of the index of refraction. Applications include fusion, circuit elements, motors, diffraction gratings and thin films." Source.

Mechanics and Wave Motion
Spring 2016

"Classical mechanics is introduced beginning with inertial frames and the Galilean transformation, followed by momentum and momentum conservation in collisions, Newton’s laws of motion, spring forces, gravitational forces, and friction. Differential and integral calculus are used extensively throughout. Work, kinetic energy and potential energy are defined, and energy conservation is discussed in particle motion and collisions. Rotational motion is treated, including angular momentum, torque, cross-products, and statics. Other topics include rotating frames, pseudoforces, and central-force motion. Simple harmonic and some nonlinear oscillations are discussed, followed by waves on strings, sound, and other types of waves, and wave phenomena such as standing waves, beats, two-slit interference, resonance, and the Doppler effect." Source.

Special Relativity
Fall 2015

"Einstein’s special theory of relativity is developed from the premises that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames and that the speed of light is a constant. The relationship between mass and energy is explored and relativistic collisions analyzed. The families of elementary particles are described." Source.

Physics Laboratory
Fall 2015

"This course emphasizes the evidence-based approach to understanding the physical world; students design, conduct, and interpret experiments to give quantitative answers to physical questions. Topics are drawn from a broad range of physics subjects, with applications to other technical fields." Source.

Critical Inquiry: Socratic Dialogues
Spring 2016

"We’ll explore some of the early, “Socratic” dialogues in which Plato presents the ethical thought of Socrates, together with some contemporary secondary literature on this material. Our focus will be on conceptions of ethical virtue and vice, and on the relation between virtue and the virtuous person’s happiness or eudaimonia. These works give us an opportunity to reflect on important questions in ethics, and also to consider the value and methods of philosophy as a discipline, and we’ll approach them with both of these aims in view." Source.

Chemistry in the Modern World
Spring 2016

"Chemistry plays a powerful role in addressing an array of current and future global and societal challenges. This course examines contemporary applications of chemistry to describe innovative advances in such areas as energy, medicine, technology, materials, to name a few. These applications illustrate such fundamental concepts as molecular and electronic structure in dictating chemical and physical properties; intermolecular forces, phase behavior, thermodynamics, electrochemistry, kinetics, and equilibria." Source.

Chemistry Laboratory
Spring 2016, Fall 2015

"Applications of thermodynamics, equilibria, electrochemistry, structure/property relationships, synthesis, and spectroscopy." Source.

Biostatistics
Spring 2016

"Statistical techniques for analyzing biological data, including parametric, non-parametric, and randomization methods. Statistical aspects of experimental design with an emphasis on analyzing data." Source.

Biology Laboratory
Spring 2016

"Investigations in physiology, biochemistry, ecology, molecular biology, and other areas of experimental biology." Source.

Introduction to Academic Writing– Hospitality: Host and Stranger
Fall 2015

"A seminar devoted to effective writing strategies and conventions that apply across academic disciplines. The course emphasizes clarity, concision, and coherence in sentences, paragraphs, and arguments." Source.