Computers are used every day for an enormous variety of tasks, from playing games and chatting with friends to transferring billions of dollars, delivering radiation treatments, and controlling the electrical grid. Computer programs are an essential ingredient in allowing for this great diversity of applications. In this course, you will learn to create your own programs, based on core programming concepts and analytical problem solving approaches. You will develop dynamic programs by first using Adobe Flash CS4 and AS3 (ActionScript 3), the technology behind many Web applications.

An introduction to basic computer science concepts with a focus on Python programming to manipulate images and sounds. Laboratory assignments will provide the main programming opportunities with Python, images and sounds, while lectures will cover topics such as the origins of computing, computer architecture, artificial intelligence and robotics.

A seminar series consisting of meetings on alternate weeks to discuss articles from the current chemical literature. The readings will prepare students for attendance at lectures on the chosen topics in the remaining weeks. The lectures are given primarily by visiting speakers, but they may include department faculty. Students will serve as discussion leaders, and each student will write a paper on a presentation of her choice.

An introduction to the concepts and methods of physical organic chemistry. An examination of the mechanistic principles underlying free radical, ionic, pericyclic, and photochemical reactions, and the experimental and theoretical support for mechanistic postulates. Topics will include qualitative molecular orbital concepts, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, and an introduction to computational methods.

This course is an introduction to experimental and theoretical approaches to the determination of the structure of atoms, molecules, and chemical bonds. Classroom work provides background in the theory of atomic and molecular structure and an introduction to quantum mechanics and spectroscopy.