Brendan Meade and Jeremy Bloxham
SCIENCE 5 | Spring 2025 | Course Listing
Tuesday & Thursday, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
From climate change and COVID to biological evolution and exoplanets, computation is an essential element of modern science. It allows us to find insights in a sea of data, ask principled questions about the future, and perform experiments without a laboratory. In this class, we’ll learn the practice of computer programming, and quantitative questioning, through both data-driven and model-oriented case studies focused on the earth, the universe, and living systems. To explore these topics we’ll use the Python programming language to create dynamic computational notebooks that interweave code, images, comments, questions, and analysis. This introductory class will illuminate how computation is changing the nature of science, and provide undergraduate students with the experience and tools to engage in scientific research.
Recommended Prep: This course is designed as an accessible introduction to modern computer programming and does not require previous programming experience. Math experience beyond high school algebra, trigonometry, and pre-calculus is unnecessary.