QTM3635 Quantitative Methods for Machine Learning
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
The ease of data collection coupled with plummeting data storage costs over the last decades have resulted in massive amounts of data that many business organizations have at their fingertips. Effective analysis of those data followed by sound decision-making is what makes a company an analytical competitor. This course is dedicated to learning and applying advanced quantitative tools for solving complex machine learning problems. The course will build on analytical tools learned during AQM 2000 (Predictive Business Analytics) course, introducing modern advanced tools ranging from random forests to support vector machines and artificial neural networks. Each topic covered in this course will be discussed in the context of wide-ranging real-world applications such as email spam prediction; handwritten digit recognition; topic modeling/text mining; etc. The implementation of the introduced topics will be carried out in R/RStudio.

Prerequisites: AQM2000

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: QTM3635
  • Number of Credits: 4

QTM 7515: Reinforcement Learning and Sequential Decision Making in Practice

3 credits

This course is a practical hands-on introduction to analytical models for sequential decision­ making, which involves making a series of decisions over time with the goal of improving metrics of interest. Reinforcement Learning (RL) - a field of Artificial Intelligence (Al) that brought us Google DeepMind's AlphaGo and self-driving cars - is a focal area of the course. You will learn about classical RL concepts and techniques, such as bandit problems, Markov Decision Processes, dynamic programming, Monte Carlo methods, and temporal difference learning. However, the main overall objective of the course is to illustrate the interaction and use of numerous analytical techniques necessary to solve actual business problems from diverse areas like marketing, inventory management, supply chain management, healthcare operations, manufacturing, financial services, and humanitarian logistics. The course is set up as a guided journey through the lifecycle of several projects that the instructor has completed with actual organizations, increasing in complexity as the semester progresses. The open-source programming language Python and possibly other software tools will be utilized as needed during the course.

Note: This course is self­ contained. However, you will get more out of the course if you take it after taking at least one other modeling course at Babson (e.g., QTM7800, QTM7571/QTM6300, QTM9510, ECN7520/ECN6300/ECN63100). You do not need to have programming experience before taking the course.

(QTM 7800 for MBA students) or (QTM 6300 for MSBA students) Or (MSF Students)

  • Program: Graduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
  • Course Number: QTM7515
  • Number of Credits: 3

NST1020 Science & Technology of Energy
4 Credits
As the world's current energy demand continues to rise, it is critical to understand the causes, impacts, and possible solutions to our current global energy crisis. This course will focus on the technologies associated with renewable forms of energy and their potential for future success.

Prerequisites: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1020
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST1070 Science & Technology of Environmental Health
4 Credits
This 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

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1070
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST1060 Science & Technology of Oceans
4 Credits
Over 70% of the globe is covered by ocean. Marine systems are a nexus of life - crucial sources of protein for human populations, reservoirs of minerals, and regulators of the global climate. However, human populations have increased demand for ocean resources in greater numbers than is ecologically sustainable. In addition, the ocean serves as a dumping ground for many types of waste, resulting in waters degraded by pollution. The objective of this course is to give you a basic understanding of the physical, biological, and chemical processes driving ocean fundamentals. In addition, we will examine how human demand on marine resources impacts ocean communities.

This course will stress the importance of the scientific method - both in principle and in practice. Extensive discussion of human environmental impacts on the ocean (e.g., climate change, marine pollution, overfishing) will enhance perspectives of self-awareness and ethical decision-making related to social, economic and environmental responsibility and sustainability (SEERS). Critical analysis is emphasized in class discussions, exam questions, lab reports, written assignments, and the group project. Assignments facilitate development of logical communication skills, appropriate use of graphs and tables, and organizing, synthesizing, evaluating and interpreting scientific information. Through lab and group activities, this course fosters team work and ability to work with others. International and multicultural perspectives are integral to the course, since the oceans influence on human populations is global, both directly on the coasts, and indirectly away from the coasts (via weather, climate, and seafood production).

Prerequisites: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1060
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST1010 Science & Technology of Space
4 Credits
The evolution and structure of the universe are explained using underlying basic physical principles along with the historical development of our present understanding. We will explore the instruments and data collection techniques used by astronomers and learn how they can be applied to solve problems in other disciplines.

Prerequisites: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1010
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST1090 Science & Technology of Sports

4 NST1 Credits

From the first recorded event at the ancient Olympic Games in 760 BC to the present, humans have long been captivated by sports. Humans are competitive by nature, and while sports are thrilling to both watch and play, sports are also a powerful demonstration of science. Every sport from soccer to cricket, baseball to softball, football, swimming and track and field all involve a complex symphony of science, technology, engineering, and math. This course will explore the science that underlies sport, specifically incorporating the traditional scientific disciplines of anatomy and physiology, physics, psychology, biomechanics and math. We will explore the systems of the human body that make it possible for a pitcher to throw a baseball at 100 mph, a marathoner to run 26.2 miles in just under 2 hours or a figure skater to land a quadruple axle. We will explore how science contributes to the limits of human speed, strength and endurance. We have accumulated considerable amount of information that contributes to our understanding of health, the human body and human performance in relation to sport and exercise. We will explore a range of topics from the effects of exercise on heart rate, oxygen consumption, muscle function and fatigue, joint mechanics, metabolism and concussion. Importantly, we will put the concepts we learn in class into practice in the lab and on the field to test them and collect and use data to critically analyze athletic performance and the underlying scientific principles that define it.

Prerequires: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1090
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST1040 Science of Biotechnology
4 Foundation Liberal Arts Credits
This course will provide you with a broad review of the basic scientific concepts, ethical considerations, and practical applications of biotechnology in our daily lives. We will discuss the regulations, technologies, and methods used by academic research laboratories, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, and forensic scientists. Through this course, you will gain a number of different perspectives on personalized medicine, stem cells, drug discovery, development, and regulation, food, and the environment, all of which are directly connected to human health and well-being. By the end of this course, you will recognize the importance of biotechnology in the world today and see multiple scales of its application from molecular to global levels. You will be able to compare and contrast the positive and negative contributions biotechnology has made to our lives and you will grasp its strengths and limitations as we move forward into the middle of the 21st century.

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST1040
  • Number of Credits: 4

SCN3640 Science and Innovation
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
An examination of the concepts, principles and policies related to research and development activities with examples from the history of the subject from its Greek beginnings to modern times. Successful and failed R&D projects from multiple disciplines will be explored as a driving force for innovation. The complex relationships that the scientific and engineering enterprises have to the innovation process will be examined with respect society, industry, and political motivations.

Prerequisites: NST10%%

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: SCN3640
  • Number of Credits: 4

NST2085 Socio-Ecological Prairie Systems
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits

**NST2085 AND LVA2085 are two separate courses and students are held responsible to register for the course that they would like to receive credit for.**

Socio-ecological systems (SES) are linked systems of people with nature, emphasizing that humans must be seen as a part of, not apart from nature. This course will explore the nature of the prairie, both as a socio-ecological system and as a subject for exploration and contemplation for visual and literary artists. Before the Euro-American (un)settlement of the North American middle west-about 150 years ago-the tallgrass prairie extended for approximately 145 million acres from Canada to Texas. Now, after several generations of overgrazing, plowing, and the intensities of agricultural production, there remains less than 5% of what some scientists call our most endangered ecosystem. We will investigate how prairies function, study the causes and consequences of related ecological patterns and processes in prairie landscapes, describe both the loss and restoration of prairie environments, and appreciate the potential for the role of the arts in naming, analyzing, and imagining solutions relating to the examination and repair of prairie systems. Studying SES allows for the development of important skills for future leaders, such as approaches for incorporating uncertainty, nonlinearity, and self-reorganization from instability. Transdisciplinary approaches will be employed to address complex temporal, spatial, and organizational scales to investigate real world challenges.

Prerequisites: NST1 and FCI1000 and WRT1001

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
  • Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: NST2085
  • Number of Credits: 4