This course provides students with an introduction to the discipline of landscape ecology, in both theory and practice, with specific applied examples related to the New England landscape. Landscape ecology focuses on the interplay between scale, spatial pattern, and ecological processes; specifically, how to characterize spatial pattern, where it comes from, why it matters, and how it changes through time and/or scale.

Machine learning is employed in an increasingly wide range of applications. Using ML entails developing end-to-end pipelines to collect data, clean it, and run learning and inference algorithms in a scalable manner. This results in computationally intense workloads and complex software pipelines. Systems for ML help users organize their data and scale these computationally intense problems to larger and larger datasets. At the same time, ML is having an increasing impact on systems design.

Different normative orders - religious as well as secular - have fascinating ways of enforcing rules. They make use of adjudicatory bodies that resolve disputes among their members as well as rely upon informal modes of regulation and rule-enforcement. These orders have historically developed and are ideologically constituted. This comparative course aims to introduce students to theories and practices of Islamic law, drawing upon scholarship produced by legal scholars, historians, and anthropologists.

In this course, students will gain a general familiarity with the three most influential and perennially important writers of Italian literature: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. We shall trace some of their principal concerns against the backdrop of their contemporary society and witness the transformation of a variety of subjects, from theology to history, from poetry to popular culture. Particular emphasis will be placed on the ways in which Petrarca and Boccaccio thought of themselves as continuators - or innovators - with respect to the Dantean tradition. Course taught in Italian.

Theory and applications of core concepts in data mining and machine learning from an engineering perspective. Key topics: fundamentals of data analysis, regression, unsupervised learning (clustering, dimensionality reduction, etc), classification (support vector machines, decision trees). Model assessment & inference, additive models and neural networks will also be covered, with a big data focus. Applications to various subdisciplines will be highlighted, especially in transportation, environmental, structural and industrial engineering.

This research-focused course uses bacteriophage genomics to introduce biology as an experimental science. Students learn computational biological techniques through annotation and characterization of novel viral genomes. Students will be introduced to concepts in bioinformatics, microbiology, evolution, and molecular biology through hands-on experiments driven by results obtained during class.

Struggles for equity in education have always been central to African-American strategies for advancement. African-American ideas about how to make educational equity a reality, however, have varied greatly over time. This course seeks to examine how various issues in African-American education have evolved throughout the twentieth Century. The class will begin with the dynamic struggle of Boston?s African American community to desegregate public education during the pre-civil war decade.

Discussion of basic concepts in the analysis and design of bridges using current American Association of Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) specifications. Presentation of common types of bridges, types of bridge loads, load distribution, design of bridge structural components. Techniques for bridge inspection and load rating. Prerequisite: CE-ENGIN 433 and 434 must be taken prior to or concurrently with this class.

Satisfies Junior Year Writing requirement for Biology majors. Students write and revise short papers on subjects likely to be encountered by biologists. Class discussion of papers. Prerequisites: 3 biological science courses, for declared Biology majors only.

This course presents an overview of the linguistic structure of English for the purposes of teaching English as an additional language (EAL). Participants will learn the basic elements that every language teacher should know about English grammar and pronunciation. The emphasis throughout the course will be on implications and techniques for teaching English grammar to EAL learners.