CS 346U:
Computer Science and University Studies Departments
Fall Quarter 2009
Time : Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00-3:50pm
Location: Sixth Avenue Building (SH), Room 209.
Instructor:
Melanie Mitchell,
FAB 120-24, (503) 725-2412, e-mail
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:00-5:00pm, or by appointment.
Course Website: :
http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~mm/ExploringComplexityFall2009/index.html
Course description: This course introduces the main ideas
in Complex Systems, an interdisciplinary field of research that seeks
to explain how large numbers of relatively simple entities organize
themselves, without the benefit of any central controller, acting
collectively to create patterns, use information, and adapt and
learn. The course will introduce undergraduates, in a largely
non-mathematical way, to the the methods and tools of computer-based
modeling, and to front-line research on complexity in several
different areas of science, including physics, biology, the social
sciences, and computer science. Topics will include areas of current
research in complex systems science, including dynamics and chaos,
information and computation, life and evolution in nature and in
machines, the science of networks, and network structure and
information processing in living systems. The focus will be on common
principles underlying complexity in natural and technological systems.
Note: This class cannot be used to fulfill the upper division CS
electives requirement for CS majors.
Prerequisites: None
Textbook: M. Mitchell, Complexity: A Guided Tour Homework: Weekly reading assignments; reading questions; lab assignments; final paper (5 pages).
Date |
Class Topic(s) |
Homework and Reading |
Mon. Sept. 28 |
Class introduction |
Week 1 reading: Textbook, Chapters 1-2 |
Wed. Sept. 30 |
Dynamics, Chaos, and Prediction, continued |
... |
Mon. Oct. 5 |
Information |
Week 2 reading: Textbook, Chapters 3-4 |
Wed. Oct. 7 |
Computation |
... |
Mon. Oct. 12 |
Evolution |
Week 3 reading: Textbook Chapters 5-6 |
Wed. Oct. 14 |
Evolution, continued |
... |
Mon. Oct. 19 |
Class cancelled |
... |
Wed. Oct. 21 |
Defining and measuring complexity |
Week 4 reading: |
Mon. October 26 |
Defining and measuring complexity, continued. |
Week 5 reading: Textbook Chapters 8-9 |
Wed. Oct. 28 |
Genetic algorithms |
... |
Mon. Nov. 2 |
Genetic algorithms, cellular automata |
Week 6 reading: Textbook Chapter 10 |
Wed. Nov. 4 |
Cellular automata and coevolution |
... |
Mon. Nov. 9 |
Information processing in living systems |
Week 7 reading: Textbook Chapters 11-12 |
Wed. Nov. 11 |
Veterans Day: No class |
... |
Mon. Nov. 16 |
Analogy-making as a complex system |
Week 8 reading: Textbook Chapters 13-14 |
Wed. Nov. 18 |
Prospects of computer modeling |
Week 8 homework, due Wed. Nov. 25: |
Mon. Nov. 23 |
Networks 1 |
Week 9 reading: Textbook Chapters 15-16 |
Wed. Nov. 25 |
Networks 2 |
Week 9 homework, due Wed. Dec. 2: |
Mon. Nov. 30 |
Biological scaling |
Week 10 reading: Textbook, Chapter 17-19 |
Wed. Dec. 2 |
Evolution complexified |
Week 10 homework, due Wed. Dec. 9: |
Mon. Dec. 7 |
No class (finals week). |
... |
Wed. Dec. 9 |
Special make-up class: 12:30-2:20pm. |
Week 10 homework and final paper due |