Data Science Launchpad

Summer 2026

This is a summer workshop series open to all students on campus, providing introductory training in foundational data science concepts and methods. The goal of the series is to help students engage with computational tools in a supportive and approachable environment, create a community in which to develop skills, and spark interest in future study. The workshop meets for five 1.5-hour sessions in June-July.

All workshop materials can be found here: tinyurl.com/dsl-2026

NEUR B399: Neuroscience Senior Capstone: Neuroscience & Society

Spring 2026

This course will focus on select topics in neuroscience, exploring their historical development as well as current advancements. We will examine how approaches to studying each topic have changed over time, considering historical and cultural factors that shape how scientists approach a question, and which questions they choose to ask. The class will delve deeply into two topics in neuroscience together: pain research and the development of neural prosthetics. Students will conduct an independent research project on the topic of their choosing. Student responsibilities will include readings, in-class presentations, written analysis, contributions to group discussion, and a poster presentation at the end of the semester at the Tri-Co Neuroscience Symposium.

BIOL B111: Biological Exploration II

SPRING 2026

BIOL B111 is an introductory-level course designed to encourage students to explore the field of biology at multiple levels of organization: molecular, cellular, organismal and ecological. Topics to be investigated include development, physiology, photosynthesis, ecology (population, community and ecosystem), and evolution. The laboratory portion of the course will explore the fundamentals of organismal biology through scientific research, with an emphasis on the scientific process and experimental design. Lecture three hours per week; lab three hours per week.

BIOL B344: Sensory Physiology

Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Spring 2024

How do animals sense the world around them? How does an animal’s physiology shape its experience of the world? In this class, we will cover the processes underlying animal sensing, including the senses familiar to us – vision (seeing), audition (hearing), somatosensation (touch), olfaction (smell), and gustation (taste) – as well as those we lack, such as electroreception and magnetoreception. The course will focus on the structures and transduction mechanisms that convert sensory signals in the outside world to neural signals. We will highlight commonalities across sensory systems in divergent organisms, as well as examine how animals have evolved unique sensory systems suited to their particular environments.
Syllabus

BIOL B250: Computational Methods in the Sciences

Fall 2024, Fall 2023

A study of how and why modern computation methods are used in scientific inquiry. Students will learn basic principles of analyzing, modeling, and visualizing scientific data through hands-on programming exercises. Content will draw on examples from across the life sciences. This course will use the Python programming language. Six hours of combined lecture/lab per week.
Syllabus

BIOL B347: Neural Coding

Fall 2024

How do patterns of electrical activity in the brain represent information about the outside world, our movements, and our thoughts? In this course, we will discuss scientists’ attempts to decipher this “neural code,” examining current knowledge and theories of how information is represented and processed in the brain. We will consider the roles of individual neurons, small neural circuits, and larger brain areas. Topics include: tuning curves, rate and temporal codes, noise and variability, population codes, oscillations and synchrony, and neural adaptation. We will also discuss existing and emerging technologies that are enabled by our understanding of the neural code, as well as the ethical questions raised by these technologies.
Syllabus

BIOL B398: Senior Seminar in Science & Society: The Changing Brain

Spring 2024

In this course, senior Biology majors investigate topics centered around the theme of “the changing brain,” broadly interpreted. Topics may include neurodegeneration, adult neuroplasticity, traumatic brain injury, and neural prosthetics. Students will facilitate class discussions about their topic and will write and present an independent research paper. Specific topics for independent research are based on students’ interests.
Syllabus