CSE 891: Computational Science for Evolutionary Biologists

Overview

CSE 891, fall 2010, section 002. M/F 2-3:20pm, 1455A BPS (BEACON classroom).

Two 80 minute lectures (3 credits).

Prerequisites: graduate standing in the natural sciences and/or engineering, OR permission of instructor. (An override is required to enroll for this course; please send the your full name and PID to the instructor.)

No prior computational experience is required.

This course will introduce biologists to computational thinking, practical computational techniques, and research topics in computational evolution. The course will consist of three intensive hands-on 5-week modules: computational competence in UNIX; data mining and hypothesis generation using the Avida digital life platform and computational analysis of large-scale resequencing data from the Lenski Lab E. coli long-term evolution experiment.

This course is offered as part of the BEACON NSF Science and Technology Center, http://beacon.msu.edu/.

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Course Information

Please make sure you're signed up for the mailing list. You can post to this list at cse891@lists.idyll.org.

Office hours will be from 1-3pm on Thursdays; during that time, Heather will be available in her office, BEACON 1450, as well as via e-mail and Skype ('heathergoldsby') to help you with any problems.

Important dates:

• Monday, Sep 6th - Labor Day, NO CLASS
• Friday, Sep 17th - Homework #1 due
• Friday, Oct 1st - Homework #2 due
• Friday, Oct 15th - Homework #3 due
• Monday, Nov 1st - Homework #4 due
• Friday, Nov 12th - Homework #5 due
• Monday, Dec 6th - Final Project due

Go here for lecture links, homework, etc.

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Attending Remotely

For students taking the class from afar:

• We'll be using Skype for text chat and audio feedback from remote sites. Please send me your Skype username. Mine is 'c.titus.brown'.

• We'll be using Adobe Connect for slides and video. Please connect to https://meeting.egr.msu.edu/beacon and sign in as 'guest', to attend the course.