For current class offerings, times, and additional information, visit the Office of the Registrar.

Applied Computing - Courses

In addition to completing the course requirements in the Applied Computing program and taking electives, students will select an area of concentration in one of three areas: Modeling and Simulation, Intelligent Systems, and Computer Network Design.

Core Courses

• CSC-520 Algorithms and Data Structures - Design and analysis of efficient algorithms. Implementation and manipulation of data structures, including linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, and graphs. Memory management. internal and external searching and sorting. Prerequisite CSC 281.
  
  
• CSC-543 Object-Oriented Analysis & Design - A study of object-oriented concepts and their use in systems development. The course analyzes abstractions called objects and develops analysis-level models of systems using objects. The properties of these object models are discussed and methods for systematic development of the models are studied. The translations of the analysis-level models into system design is performed to understand how systems can be realized in software implementations.
  
  
• CSC-546 Introduction to Computer Networks - An introduction to the basic concepts of computer networks. The architecture of data communication systems, the seven-layer model of a network, and the physical, data link, network, transport, and session layers are explored. Protocol algorithms are considered for the implementation of the various network layers.
  
  
• CSC-570 Database Management Systems - Examination of database management systems, distributed systems, evaluation and selection of computer systems, privacy and security, and performance evaluation. This course provides a fundamental exposure to relational architecture through exercises in Microsoft Access and Oracle 8, including an introduction to SQL
  
  
• CSC-600 Simulation and Modeling - Design and implementation of simulation models for systems design and analysis. Emphasis on discrete stochastic systems and real-world business and government problems including resource allocation, queuing, inventory control, and industrial production. Overview of principal simulation languages and their applicability to problem solving.
  
  
• CSC-610 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems - A geographic information system (GIS) is a system of hardware, software, data, people, organizations, and institutional arrangements for collecting, storing, analyzing, and disseminating information about areas of the earth. This course provides an introduction to GIS, GIS software, and applications of GIS.
  
  
• CSC-689 Informatics and Analytics - An overview of the principles of database representation, structure, storage, retrieval, and programming as they relate to the analysis and modeling of scientific problems. Subjects include XML and Web programming applications, search engines, metadata, resource description, intelligent systems, data mining and knowledge discovery, graphical representation, introduction to GIS issues and techniques, introduction to modeling and simulation techniques, overview of applications in biotechnology and environmental science, and ethics and informatics.
  
  
• CSC-691 Internship - Students participate in an internship at a place of their choice or with our industry and government affiliates such as Xerox, Intel, Institute for Defense Analysis, Mitretek, Northrop Grumman, Dept of Agriculture, NIST, Nextel, Office of Naval Research, Milvests Systems Technology, Anteon, Argon Engineering, , Automation Research Systems, and NIMA.
  
  
• CSC-694 Capstone Project - The capstone project addresses a problem, which is designed in collaboration with industry and government partners, allowing integration of knowledge and skills acquired in earlier parts of the program. The problem is designed to require a multidisciplinary and team approach.
  
  

Electives

• CSC-568 Artificial Intelligence - Application of computers to tasks usually thought to require human intelligence, such as game playing, problem solving, learning, pattern recognition, natural language understanding, and expert systems.
  
  
• CSC-689 Data Mining and Data Visualization - Scientific applied research increasingly needs a way to manage large amounts of data and extract conclusions. Graphical methods are essential in this environment in order to overcome the complexity and volume of data that needs to be analyzed. This course provides the knowledge and practical experience to find new ways to look at data. Current tools for data visualization and data mining will be applied to realistic problems.
  
  
• CSC-689 Decision & Risk Analysis - Topics vary by section, may be repeated for credit with different topic. Rotating topics include design and analysis of algorithms, expert systems, simulation and modeling, client server computing, and computer network design and analysis.
  
  
• CSC-689 Computer Network Design and Analysis - Design and analysis problems relating to computer communications networks. Capacity assignment techniques are applied to different network topologies. Queuing theory is used to allocate limited network resources. Network design algorithms, routing, and flow control techniques are investigated.
  
  
• CSC 689 Information Assurance and Network Security - Presents an overview of the field of computer network security and provides students with a general understanding of the security field and practical knowledge of the application of practices. Focuses on security fundamentals with emphasis on network security. Also covers applications and operating system security, security threats, information, risk, and security management technologies, techniques, and practices, cryptography, security architectures and models, and Internet, intranet, and extranet security issues.
  

Modeling and Simulation Concentration

• CSC-689 Computer Network Design & Analysis - Design and analysis problems relating to computer communications networks. Capacity assignment techniques are applied to different network topologies. Queuing theory is used to allocate limited network resources. Network design algorithms, routing, and flow control techniques are investigated.
  
  
• CSC-689 Grid Computing - Students learn about the networks of high-performance, distributed computing, and the middleware software currently being used in the scientific community. Included is an overview of e-science resources such as cluster managers, schedulers, graphical problem solving, and middleware tools. Students gain experience with grid software, performing basic operations in a grid environment, applying knowledge of grid computing to practical problems, and learning the benefits and limitations of current grid computing.
  
  
• CSC-689 Data Mining & Visualization - Scientific applied research increasingly needs a way to manage large amounts of data and extract conclusions. Graphical methods are essential in this environment in order to overcome the complexity and volume of data that needs to be analyzed. This course provides the knowledge and practical experience to find new ways to look at data. Current tools for data visualization and data mining will be applied to realistic problems.
  
  

Intelligent Systems Concentration

• CSC-589 Neural Networks -- Presents different types of artificial neural networks and describes the basic mechanisms that underlie each network. Covers fundamental properties necessary to achieve autonomous behavior and how each type of network satisfies these properties. The knowledge of the mechanisms is applied to real problems using current software tools.
  
  
• CSC-568 Artificial Intelligence - Application of computers to tasks usually thought to require human intelligence, such as game playing, problem solving, learning, pattern recognition, natural language understanding, and expert systems
  
  
• CSC-689 Data Mining & Visualization -- Scientific applied research increasingly needs a way to manage large amounts of data and extract conclusions. Graphical methods are essential in this environment in order to overcome the complexity and volume of data that needs to be analyzed. This course provides the knowledge and practical experience to find new ways to look at data. Current tools for data visualization and data mining will be applied to realistic problems.
  
  

Computer Network Design Concentration

• CSC-689 Computer Network Design & Analysis - Design and analysis problems relating to computer communications networks. Capacity assignment techniques are applied to different network topologies. Queuing theory is used to allocate limited network resources. Network design algorithms, routing, and flow control techniques are investigated.
  
  
• CSC-689 Network Operations - The network operations course focuses on the acquisition, installation, management and operations of enterprise networks, with a major emphasis on the tools and technologies currently in use. The course makes use of SNMP-based tools, and other protocol specific packages to provide a “hands-on” experience in assessing network performance, security, extensibility, reliability, trouble reporting and handling, and cost of operation. Additional elements include segments on Network Operations Center (NOC) design and operations, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and life cycle management. The couse includes both laboratory and lecture sessions.
  
  
• CSC-689 Information Assurance & Network Security - Presents an overview of the field of computer network security and provides students with a general understanding of the security field and practical knowledge of the application of practices. Focuses on security fundamentals with emphasis on network security. Also covers applications and operating system security, security threats, information, risk, and security management technologies, techniques, and practices, cryptography, security architectures and models, and Internet, intranet, and extranet security issues

• Biotechnology - Courses

  In addition to completing the core course requirements in the Biotechnology program, students will select from elective courses that interest them.

  Core Courses

  • BIO-583 Molecular Biology - An in-depth study of gene structure and expression. Concepts are described and illustrated further with examples and discussion of classic and current papers from the scientific literature. Includes DNA, RNA and protein synthesis, regulation of gene expression in procaryotes and eucaryotes, nucleic acid structure, RNA processing, DNA binding proteins and transcription factors, oncogenes, transformation, mutations, DNA repair and recombination. Usually offered every spring. Prerequisite: BIO-356, CHEM-560 is recommended.
    
    
  • BIO-596 Topics in Biotechnology: Bioinformatics and Genomics -Analytical and computational techniques commonly used to draw biological inferences from molecular sequence data. The course will begin with an introduction to sequence retrieval and identification from the sequence databases (e.g., Genbank and EMBO), continue with pairwise sequence comparisons and will move onto multiple sequence alignments and conserved sequence pattern, recognition (e.g., gene identification in genomic data, RNA secondary structure prediction). The topic of phylogenetic analysis will be presented in detail (e.g., distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods). A series of student projects will involve the analysis of molecular sequence data using elementary programming skill sin, e.g., C++ and PERL, combined with the use of current software packages.
    
    
  • BIO-691 Internship - Each student will work in an internship of his or her choice or with our industry and government affiliates, such as: Alpha-Genics, Celera Genomics, Digene, GenVec, Bio Reliance, MedImmune, Human Genome Sciences, BSI Proteomics, Quality Biological.
    
    
  • BIO-690 Capstone Project - The capstone project addresses a problem, which is designed in collaboration with industry and government partners, allowing integration of knowledge and skills acquired in earlier parts of the program. The problem is designed to require a multidisciplinary and team approach.
    
    
  • CSC-589 Informatics & Analytics - The course provides an overview of the principles of information representation, structure, storage, and retrieval. Also covered are the contextual aspects of information and information systems and the principles and techniques of data and information analysis, XML and Web programming applications, metadata, graphical representation, introduction to GIS issues and techniques, and organizational development for informatics.
    
    
  • CSC-600 Simulation and Modeling - Design and implementation of simulation models for systems design and analysis. Emphasis on discrete stochastic systems and real-world business and government problems including resource allocation, queuing, inventory control, and industrial production. Overview of principal simulation languages and their applicability to problem solving.
    
    
  • CHEM 560 Biochemistry I and 2 - Includes: origin of life; review of structures and functions of subcellular components and intracellular transport; water and hydrogen bonding; structures and functions of amino acids, peptides, and proteins; chemical synthesis, architecture, conformation, and dynamics of proteins; DNA and RNA structures and functions, DNA replication, the genetic code, transcription and translation; protein evolution; enzyme characteristics, kinetics, inhibition, transition-state analogs, and mechanisms; enzyme evolution and regulation; myoglobin, hemoglobin, allostery, and sickle-cell anemia; structures and functions of lipids. Prerequisite: 1 year of organic chemistry.
    
    
  • STAT-514 Statistical Methods - Averages, dispersion, probability, sampling, and approach to normality; simple and multiple regression; tests and confidence intervals for means, proportions, differences, and regression coefficients; nonparametric statistics; and analysis of variance. Focus on biology statistics. Prerequisite: STAT-202 or equivalent.
    
    

   

  Elective Courses

  • BIO-589 Bioethics - Recent advances in biotechnology have spawned new ethical problems/issues known collectively as bioethics. This course will review the current medical, ethical, and legal problems that have arisen from biotechnological advances. Some contemporary problems to be addressed in this course include decision-making at the beginning and end of life, organ transplantation, genetic manipulation, cell manipulation, medical experimentation, and issues related to molecular sequence data. In considering these complex problems, students will complete course assignments (e.g., position papers) to further develop their critical thinking, analytical and communication skills required for success in the field of biotechnology.
    
    
  • BIO-679 Topics in Evolutionary Biology - Current research topics such as molecular evolution, biochemical approaches to evolution, mathematical modeling of evolutionary processes, and the interaction of genetics, developmental biology, ecology and evolutionary biology.
    
    
  • BIO-697 Research Methodology in Biology - Basic scientific research skills necessary for experimental design, data analysis, literature critiques, and disseminating results. Includes techniques for literature research, scientific writing including thesis proposal preparation, the use of statistical packages, and the preparation of an oral presentation for a thesis defense, seminar, or professional meeting. Usually offered every fall. Prerequisite: graduate standing in biology.
    
    
  • CHEM-689 Topics in Biotechnology - Current research topics, such as drug design and discovery, biological modeling and dynamics of drug-target interaction, high-throughput synthesis and testing of drug candidates, will be discussed. Students will critically read and analyze primary literature articles and prepare and present oral and written reports related to the topic.
    
    
  • CHEM-689 Topics in Biotechnology: Proteomics - Further study of the structure and function of proteins, post-translational modification, and cellular circuitry, including entwords of protein interactions and signal transduction. Examination of X-ray, crystallographic, NMR, computational and other approaches to determining protein structure and function and also protein expression arrays and mass spectral analysis.

  • Environmental Science & Assessment - Courses

    In addition to completing the core course requirements in the Environmental Science & Assessment program and choosing electives, students will select a concentration in one of the following areas: Ecology or Conservation Biology.

    Core Courses

    • ENVS-575 Environmental Risk Assessment - The nature and methods of environmental risk assessment through critical analysis of case histories. The scientific concepts and analytic methods of each case study are explored through solution to sets of specific problems. Case studies include statistical modeling of environmental risk factors, the principle of uncertainty, toxicology, epidemiology, the meaning exposure, types of technical risks, basics of decision analysis, and effective communication of risk assessment results.
      
      
    • ENVS-580 Environmental Science I: A Quantitative Approach - Estimation of environmental interactions through the formulation and analysis of simple, mathematical models enabling exploration of the consequences of a variety of assumptions and conditions. Includes measurement, steady-state modes, and thermodynamics. Prerequisite one year each of calculus and laboratory science.
      
      
    • ENVS-581 Environmental Science II: A Quantitative Approach - Estimation of environmental interactions through the formulation and analysis of simple mathematical models enabling exploration of the consequences of a variety of assumptions and conditions. Includes non-steady box models, biogeochemistry, and climatology. Prerequisite: ENVS-580.
      
      
    • ENVS-681 Capstone Project - The capstone project addresses a problem, which is designed in collaboration with industry and government partners, allowing integration of knowledge and skills acquired in earlier parts of the program. The problem is designed to require a multidisciplinary and team approach.
      
      
    • ENVS-691 Internship- Students participate in an internship of his or her choosing or with our industry and government affiliates such as Alpha-Genics, Cadmus Group, EPA, Environmental Strategies, Milvets Systems Technology, Mitretek, Quality Biological, NatureServe, NOAA, Stratus Consulting.
      
      
    • CSC-610 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems - A geographic information system (GIS) is a system of hardware, software, data, people, organizations, and institutional arrangements for collecting, storing, analyzing, and disseminating information about areas of the earth. This course provides an introduction to GIS, GIS software, and applications of GIS.
      
      
    • STAT-514 Statistical Methods - Averages, dispersion, probability, sampling, and approach to normality; simple and multiple regression; tests and confidence intervals for means, proportions, differences, and regression coefficients; nonparametric statistics; and analysis of variance.
      
      
    • STAT-525 Statistical Software - Introduction to the use of the SAS language to prepare, modify, and analyze data, interpret output and final preparation of results. Emphasis on practical programming principles and use of built-in procedures in both personal computer and main frame environments. Comparisons with other programming languages.
      
      

     

    Electives

    • ENVS-572 Topics in Conservation Biology - Conservation biology from the ground up—how organisms define and direct a need for conservation. Investigates how the biological needs of specific species or ecosystems fare against the realities of current social conditions and evaluates which strategies have been the most successful in advancing the goals of conservation.
      
      
    • ENVS-696 Biogeography - Biogeography is the science that attempts to document and understand spatial patterns of biodiversity. It includes the study of distributions of organisms, past & present, and of related patterns of variation over the earth in numbers and kinds of living things. Most biogeography is observational and comparative rather than experimental. Course will focus on 4 themes: classifying geographic regions based on their biotas; 20 reconstructing the historical development of biotas, including their origin, spread, diversification; 3) explaining differences in numbers as well as types of species among geograhic areas 40 explaining geographic variation in the characteristics of individuals and populations of closely related species, including trends in morphology, behavior and demography.
      
      
    • ENVS-596 Environmental Ethics - What is our proper moral stance toward the natural environment? Toward other species of living things? Toward the biotic community as a whole? What makes anything at all worthy of our moral respect or even our moral consideration? How should moral beliefs about the natural world inform policy? Most basically, how are we to understand the very idea of the environment, the distinction between the human world and the natural world, and the relationships between them? Course readings and discussions will address topics in both environmental ethics and bi-ethics. This class will aim not so much at definite solutions to specific environmental issues as an increased sophistication in framing and supporting answers to these and related questions.
      
      
    • BIO-566 Evolutionary Mechanisms - The genetic composition of populations and the theory and principles of natural selection. Species formation and differentiation in Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theory. Evolution above the species level and current evolutionary concepts (such as sociobiology and catastrophe theory) are also considered. Prerequisite: BIO 356.
      
      
    • BIO-567 Evolutionary Ecology - The ecology of organisms is made clear in the context of evolution and the study of evolution is greatly enriched by an understanding of the ecological circumstances in which evolution occurs. This course focuses on the interface between the two and the mathematical models involved. Prerequisite: BIO 423 & MATH 221.
      
      

    Ecology Concentration

    • BIO-562 Aquatic Field Methods - Biological, chemical, and physical analysis of freshwater habitats such as springs, streams, and lakes. Students participate in several weekend field trips to conduct group projects and learn skills for geographic survey, chemical and physical examinations of water quality, rapid bioassessment protocols, taxonomic identification of aquatic flora and fauna, and statistical data analysis and presentation of results
      
      
    • BIO-567 Evolutionary Ecology - The ecology of organisms is made clear in the context of evolution and the study of evolution is greatly enriched by an understanding of the ecological circumstances in which evolution occurs. This course focuses on the interface between the two and the mathematical models involved.
      
      
    • BIO-563 Terrestrial Field Methods - Biological, chemical, and physical analysis of terrestrial habitats of the Eastern deciduous forest. Students participate in several weekend field trips to conduct group projects and learn skills for geographic survey of terrain using GPS, chemical and physical examinations of soil quality, field sampling techniques of flora and fauna, taxonomic identification of forest flora and fauna, and statistical data analysis and presentation of results.
      
      

    Conservation Biology Concentration

    • ENVS-596 Biogeography - Biogeography is the science that attempts to document and understand spatial patterns of biodiversity. It includes the study of distributions of organisms, past & present, and of related patterns of variation over the earth in numbers and kinds of living things. Most biogeography is observational and comparative rather than experimental. Course will focus on 4 themes: classifying geographic regions based on their biotas; 20 reconstructing the historical development of biotas, including their origin, spread, diversification; 3) explaining differences in numbers as well as types of species among geograhic areas 40 explaining geographic vairation in the characteristics of individuals and populations of closely related species, including trends in morphology, behavior and demography.
      
      
    • ENVS-572 Topics in Conservation Biology - Looks at conservation biology from the ground up by exploring how organisms define and direct our need for conservation. Investigates how the biological needs of specific species or ecosystems fare against the realities of current social conditions and evaluates which strategies have been the most successful in advancing the goals of conservation.
      
      
    • BIO-566 Evolutionary Mechanisms - The genetic composition of populations and the theory and principles of natural selection. Species formation and differentiation in Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theory. Evolution above the species level and current evolutionary concepts (such as sociobiology and catastrophe theory) are also considered