Online courses directory (2511)

This course will guide graduate students through the process of using rapid prototyping and CAD/CAM devices in a studio environment. The class has a theoretical focus on machine use within the process of design. Each student is expected to have completed one graduate level of design computing with a full understanding of solid modeling in CAD. Students are also expected to have completed at least one graduate design studio.

This course analyzes contemporary Chinese politics, both pre-Communist and Communist. It focuses on the process of modernization and political development of Chinese civilization. Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject at greater depth through reading and individual research.

This course focuses on one particular aspect of the history of computing: the use of the computer as a scientific instrument. The electronic digital computer was invented to do science, and its applications range from physics to mathematics to biology to the humanities. What has been the impact of computing on the practice of science? Is the computer different from other scientific instruments? Is computer simulation a valid form of scientific experiment? Can computer models be viewed as surrogate theories? How does the computer change the way scientists approach the notions of proof, expertise, and discovery? No comprehensive history of scientific computing has yet been written. This seminar examines scientific articles, participants’ memoirs, and works by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to provide multiple perspectives on the use of computers in diverse fields of physical, biological, and social sciences and the humanities. We explore how the computer transformed scientific practice, and how the culture of computing was influenced, in turn, by scientific applications.

This course is an introduction to the design, analysis, and fundamental limits of wireless transmission systems. Topics to be covered include: wireless channel and system models; fading and diversity; resource management and power control; multiple-antenna and MIMO systems; space-time codes and decoding algorithms; multiple-access techniques and multiuser detection; broadcast codes and precoding; cellular and ad-hoc network topologies; OFDM and ultrawideband systems; and architectural issues.

This participatory seminar focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching science and engineering in higher education. It is designed for graduate students interested in an academic career, and anyone else interested in teaching. Students research and present a relevant topic of particular interest. The subject is appropriate for both novices and those with teaching experience.

15.431 Entrepreneurial Finance examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up ventures and the early stages of company development. The course addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the company; and how should funding, employment contracts and exit decisions be structured. It aims to prepare students for these decisions, both as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. In addition, the course includes an in-depth analysis of the structure of the private equity industry.

This class investigates cognitive science and technology as it is applied to the industrial design process. The class introduces prototyping techniques and approaches for objective evaluation as part of the design process. Students practice evaluating products with mechanical and electronic aspects. Evaluation processes are applied to creating functioning smart product prototypes. This is a project oriented subject that draws upon engineering, aesthetic, and creative skills. It is geared toward students interested in creating physical products which encompass electronics and computers, aimed at including them in smart scenarios. Students in the class will present readings, learn prototyping skills, create a product prototype, and complete a publication style paper.

The course applies molecular biology and reverse genetics approaches to the study of apoptosis, or programmed cell death (PCD), in Drosophila cells. RNA interference (RNAi), or double stranded RNA-mediated gene silencing, will be used to inhibit expression of candidate apoptosis-related genes in cultured Drosophila cells. Teams of 2 or 3 students will design and carry out experiments to address questions about the genes involved in the regulation and execution of PCD in this system. Some projects involve the use of DNA damaging agents or other cytotoxic chemicals or drugs to help understand the pathways that control a cell's decision to undergo apoptosis. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication are provided.

Statistical Physics in Biology is a survey of problems at the interface of statistical physics and modern biology. Topics include: bioinformatic methods for extracting information content of DNA; gene finding, sequence comparison, and phylogenetic trees; physical interactions responsible for structure of biopolymers; DNA double helix, secondary structure of RNA, and elements of protein folding; considerations of force, motion, and packaging; protein motors, membranes. We also look at collective behavior of biological elements, cellular networks, neural networks, and evolution.

The purpose of this seminar is to examine systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions into civil wars during the 1990's. These civil wars were high on the policy agenda of western states during the 1990's. Yet, these interventions were usually not motivated by obvious classical vital interests. Given the extraordinary security enjoyed by the great and middle powers of the west in the Cold War's aftermath, these activities are puzzling.

This course provides an introduction to nonlinear dynamics and chaos in dissipative systems. The content is structured to be of general interest to undergraduates in engineering and science.

This class discusses the origin of electrical, magnetic and optical properties of materials, with a focus on the acquisition of quantum mechanical tools. It begins with an analysis of the properties of materials, presentation of the postulates of quantum mechanics, and close examination of the hydrogen atom, simple molecules and bonds, and the behavior of electrons in solids and energy bands. Introducing the variation principle as a method for the calculation of wavefunctions, the course continues with investigation of how and why materials respond to different electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic fields and probes and study of the conductivity, dielectric function, and magnetic permeability in metals, semiconductors, and insulators. A survey of common devices such as transistors, magnetic storage media, optical fibers concludes the semester.

Note: The Magnetics unit was taught by co-instructor David Paul; that material is not available at this time.

This course provides a systematic presentation of the chemical applications of group theory with emphasis on the formal development of the subject and its applications to the physical methods of inorganic chemical compounds. Against the backdrop of electronic structure, the electronic, vibrational, and magnetic properties of transition metal complexes are presented and their investigation by the appropriate spectroscopy described.

The "Renaissance" as a phenomenon in European history is best understood as a series of social, political, and cultural responses to an intellectual trend which began in Italy in the fourteenth century. This intellectual tendency, known as humanism, or the studia humanitatis, was at the heart of developments in literature, the arts, the sciences, religion, and government for almost three hundred years. In this class, we will highlight the history of humanism, but we will also study religious reformations, high politics, the agrarian world, and European conquest and expansion abroad in the period.

This course covers models of individual decision-making under certainty and uncertainty. Applications include risk sharing and financial markets; contracts and information economics; village economies and national development; models with money and credit; trade, spatial economics and differentiated commodities.

This course is a survey of perceptual and cognitive aspects of the psychology of music, with special emphasis on underlying neuronal and neurocomputational representations and mechanisms. Basic perceptual dimensions of hearing (pitch, timbre, consonance/roughness, loudness, auditory grouping) form salient qualities, contrasts, patterns and streams that are used in music to convey melody, harmony, rhythm and separate voices. Perceptual, cognitive, and neurophysiological aspects of the temporal dimension of music (rhythm, timing, duration, temporal expectation) are explored. Special topics include comparative, evolutionary, and developmental psychology of music perception, biological vs. cultural influences, Gestaltist vs. associationist vs. schema-based theories, comparison of music and speech perception, parallels between music cognition and language, music and cortical action, and the neural basis of music performance.

This course provides a review of linear algebra, including applications to networks, structures, and estimation, Lagrange multipliers. Also covered are: differential equations of equilibrium; Laplace's equation and potential flow; boundary-value problems; minimum principles and calculus of variations; Fourier series; discrete Fourier transform; convolution; and applications.

Note: This course was previously called "Mathematical Methods for Engineers I."

This course is designed to provide both undergraduate and graduate students with a fundamental understanding of human factors that must be taken into account in the design and engineering of complex aviation and space systems. The primary focus is the derivation of human engineering design criteria from sensory, motor, and cognitive sources to include principles of displays, controls and ergonomics, manual control, the nature of human error, basic experimental design, and human-computer interaction in supervisory control settings. Undergraduate students will demonstrate proficiency through aviation accident case presentations, quizzes, homework assignments, and hands-on projects. Graduate students will complete all the undergraduate assignments; however, they are expected to complete a research-oriented project with a final written report and an oral presentation.

This course reviews momentum and energy principles, and then covers the following topics: Hamilton's principle and Lagrange's equations; three-dimensional kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies; steady motions and small deviations therefrom, gyroscopic effects, and causes of instability; free and forced vibrations of lumped-parameter and continuous systems; nonlinear oscillations and the phase plane; nonholonomic systems; and an introduction to wave propagation in continuous systems.

This course was originally developed by Professor T. Akylas.

This course provides a broad theoretical basis for system identification, estimation, and learning. Students will study least squares estimation and its convergence properties, Kalman filters, noise dynamics and system representation, function approximation theory, neural nets, radial basis functions, wavelets, Volterra expansions, informative data sets, persistent excitation, asymptotic variance, central limit theorems, model structure selection, system order estimate, maximum likelihood, unbiased estimates, Cramer-Rao lower bound, Kullback-Leibler information distance, Akaike's information criterion, experiment design, and model validation.