NST2020 Case Studies in Ecosystems Management
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsSuccessful businesses must fully appreciate and understand sustainable management strategies for our vital natural resources. Here we will focus on understanding the ecological principles of natural resource management while exploring new strategies for environmental conservation.

Prerequisites: NST10%

This course is not equivalent to HSS2080. Please disregard the note indicating equivalency. The system is not able to correct this at this time.

NST1070 Climate and Human Health
4 CreditsThis course investigates the interaction between the spheres of natural science and human health. Human activities impact the global climate and the resultant climate change impacts human health, both directly and indirectly. This course focuses on the background of various global health issues and their links to climate using the scientific method and multiple data-driven activities to evaluate research questions. We will also evaluate the integrity of scientific data, assessing reliable sources of information with respect to transparency and scientific bias.

Specific topics covered in this course include the connections between global changes such as sea level and temperature rise with human impacts including increasing climate migration, spread of infectious disease, and threats to food security. We will also investigate connections between industrialized agricultural, fossil fuel use, and the deterioration of water and air quality. Finally, we address the prominent role of environmental racism in the human health and climate connection. In taking this course, students will gain a broader understanding about the long-term effects of their actions, both on themselves as individuals and on other global citizens, and recognize opportunities for individual and systemic changes that result in a more sustainable world.

Prerequisites: None

SCN3689 Crime Science
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course examines the role that the modern natural sciences play in analyzing physical evidence collected at a crime scene. It begins by defining forensic science and understanding why the government has placed special qualifiers on scientific expert witnesses and their testimony. Students will survey the sciences used in a modern crime lab to understand the principles behind the analyses. Historical and current crimes and their trials as well as a mock crime scene will highlight lecture material. Disciplines that will be covered include Toxicology, Controlled Substances, Arson, DNA, Blood Splatter, Friction Ridge, Ballistics, and Crime Scene Processing.

Prerequisites: NST1

QTM3674 Cryptology/Coding/Theory
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsCryptology includes the study of both cryptography, the science of developing _secret codes_ or ciphers for secure and confidential communication, and cryptanalysis, the breaking of ciphers. Coding theory consists of mathematical techniques for detecting and correcting errors that occur during data transmission. These topics are critical to secure and reliable information exchange, with applications ranging from e-commerce to the transmission of photographs from deep-space to military operations. Through this exploration into the technical, social, and historical aspects of cryptology and coding theory, students will learn and extensively use basic concepts from number theory, finite field and ring theory, matrix algebra, and the software package GAP. Highlighted topics include the RSA cryptosystem, digital signatures, DES, linear and cyclic codes, and the coding theory based McEliece cryptosystem. This course is suitable for students with one year of university-level mathematics, or the equivalent; it should also be interesting for upperclassman from a variety of majors.

Prerequisites: QTM1000

QTM6110 Data Exploration (Quantitative Methods)

1.5 CreditsData is valuable when it is used to make good decisions and avoid bad ones. We consider the value of data as a resource by studying how the variety of information available can be displayed, interpreted and communicated. Students will see the different approaches suggested by both traditional statistical methods and the recent advances in big data analytics. The course will emphasize the ways in which managers and entrepreneurs are both producers and consumers of data.

QTM7200 Data, Models and Decisions

2 CreditsData, Models and Decisions (DMD) - This course is concerned with identifying variation, measuring it, and managing it to make informed decisions. Topics include: numerical and graphical description of data, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression, decision analysis, and simulation. Applications to Economics, Finance, Marketing, and Operations illustrate the use of these quantitative tools in applied contexts. The course utilizes spreadsheet, statistical, and simulation software.

SCN3602: Eclipses on Earth

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

This course will involve an in-depth exploration of the Sun-Earth-Moon system and how that system results in eclipses. From understanding how the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon generate eclipses, we will discuss the different types of eclipses, and explore the prediction of eclipses. We will consider the historical explanations and uses of eclipses in both the social and scientific realms. We will also examine the history of solar observations to understand safe solar viewing practices. This course is designed to fulfill the advanced experiential component of the curriculum as well. In teams you will work with local teachers and libraries to develop ways of teaching about eclipses to K-12 students and a general audience. You will also assist in developing safe solar viewing plans for your external "clients" on the eclipse day.

Prerequisites: NST 10XX

SCN3615 Ecology of Animal Behavior
4 Advanced Lib Arts CreditsThe study of the nature, variety and function of the fundamental types of animal behaviors. Communication, habitat selection, predation and antipredator defense, reproductive strategies, tactics and mating systems, and play and social behaviors will be compared and analyzed, and applications to human behavior will be discussed.

Prerequisites: NST10%
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SCN3630 Economics Botany
Advanced Liberal ArtsThis course will investigate the relationship between plants and society. Without plants and plant products humans would be hungry, naked, and lacking oxygen to breath. We will begin by exploring the basics of different plant parts and how plants grow and reproduce. We will then examine plants as sources of food, materials, perfumes, drugs, and medicines. Throughout the course we will discuss the role plants have played in influencing economics, language, politics, and religion. Current topics of particular interest for this course include the debate over genetically engineered crops, the development of new pharmaceutical medicines, the changes in human diet, and the use of plant products in new technologies. This course will emphasize the development of skills in critical thinking, synthesis of information, science literacy, hand-on exercises, and current topical issues in plant biology.

Prerequisites: NST I

NST1030 Electronics
4 Foundation Liberal Arts CreditsElectronic devices transform the way people work and communicate. This course will focus on understanding the inner workings of those devices to provide a background on what they can and cannot do. We will also explore the impact of resource limitations on electronics, and how electronics can contribute to solving some resource issues.

Prerequisites: None