For all sciences, whether field-based or where a significant body of theory exists, or in engineering where best practices have been determined, information technology and computational methods help suggest hypotheses, make predictions, or build artifacts. Many scientists and engineers face issues involving the conditions under which scientific models hold, as in ecology, computational chemistry, astronomy, weather prediction, or bridge building. Even scientists whose work is primarily in the laboratory or in the field spend time searching for information on the Web or in data archives, and using predictive models when analyzing and visualizing data and comparing their own data with data collected by others.

Similarly, many computer scientists and mathematicians work on real-world scientific problems that cannot easily be solved using off-the-shelf software or by formulaic mathematical scripts. The scientific domains hold many interesting examples of these problems. This program will bring together students in the sciences, computer science and mathematics around real world problems in science. It will provide an introduction to the practice, history and process of using information technology and modeling in ways applicable to further study of the sciences, or of the computer and mathematical sciences.

Science students will gain a general understanding of how information technology and computational methods are transforming the study and practice of science. Computer science and math students will learn how to collaborate with scientists and learn about scientific computing. Freshmen and others prepared and motivated to begin studies in computer science or mathematics will prepare for entry-level programs in those areas, e. g. , Computer Science Foundations to be offered winter and spring.

Have you wondered about the ways languages work? Do you think about how thoughts get translated into language? Have you explored differences between natural languages (such as English or French) and artificial languages (such as computer programming languages)? Do you know in what ways computer languages are similar to natural languages and the ways in which they differ?

In this program, we will explore these questions by studying natural and artificial languages, learning a computer language, and designing a language. Specifically, students will study the structure and function of human language through an introduction to the field of linguistics. This will involve a study of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, metaphor and pragmatics. Students will learn Logo, a computer language that makes pleasing designs using simple geometry in a step-by-step process. We will work on the connections between natural and artificial languages, and consider the implications of language design. We will explore some specific issues in case studies including, for example, scientific nomenclature and Esperanto. We will also explore the functions of language and the intersection of culture and language. Finally, students will work collaboratively on a language design project.

How is the World Wide Web affecting the structure and function of today's political and social movements? How are strategies for political organizing and social protest changing in a technological environment and a globalizing media culture that are themselves rapidly changing? These and related questions will be at the heart of this spring quarter program, which will explore the both the history and current status of selected political and social movements in the U.S and abroad.

The analytical emphasis in this exploration will be on the role of communications media in the formation and function of mass movements. The program will combine readings in the history of social movements and social media with instruction and practice in web research and web publishing. Students will structure their own intensive research projects on a cause or organization of their choosing.

This program structures an opportunity for students and faculty to place contemporary political and social movements on the web into their historical context. It will allow us to examine what worked and did not work within mass movements in the past, how digital technologies are affecting contemporary movements, and what we may learn about our own times to make online activism successful now and in the future.