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MCS College Council
December 7, 2004
In Attendance:
Bill Brown
Amy Burkert
Gregg Franklin
Rea Freeland
Fred Gilman
Eric Grotzinger
Paul Karol
DJ Kleinbanum
Richard McCullough
Roy Nicolaides
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Approval for University Wide Computational Biology Degree (handout)
More new faculty hires in both Biological Sciences and
Computer Science are focused on the interface of these two fields, computational
biology, making this an ideal time to develop a degree that is truly a
bridge between both colleges. Expansion of true computational biology
courses offered in both departments make it an ideal time to redesign
the curriculum. There are a significant number of students who currently
double major in these two fields and a combined degree would help them
to accomplish their goals more effectively. Finally, the combined degree
would offer both departments a chance to attract an elite group of students
who are interested in computational biology and bioinformatics, whom we
are not currently reaching.
The course requirements listed in the proposal may be supplemented as the
program progresses. For example, there are some math and upper level statistics
courses that might be available in some of the categories. However, the curriculum
listed in the proposal has been approved by the computational biology faculty
in both colleges and by a group of computational biology students, all of
whom were strongly in favor of it.
There will be a standing admissions/curriculum committee consisting of a representative
from Biological Sciences (currently Russell Schwartz), a representative from
Computer Science (to be determined from faculty in computational biology),
advisors from the two departments (Amy Burkert and Mark Stehlik), and Associate
Deans from the two colleges (Eric Grotzinger and Peter Lee's replacement).
Questions and concerns included the following:
- Will space availability in lab courses be a problem?
This issue was also brought up at CUA. Since the admissions committee
will have control of the number of students admitted each year, they can
tailor this number to fit the number of available lab spaces. Since students
in the joint program will not be required to take Lab 2, this will actually
free up spaces in Lab 2 and will give them the option of taking Lab 1
in the spring.
- When will students apply to the program?
Students will apply in the fall of their sophomore year (when they will
likely be taking 15-211) and will be notified of their acceptance prior
to registration for spring courses. If they decide to pursue a degree
in Biological Sciences or Computer Science once they start the program,
they will have that option.
- Physics 2 is not required for this program. What if students decide to switch into another MCS department?
Students who decide to pursue a major in biological sciences can take
physics 2 in the spring of their sophomore year, presumably having taken
physics 1 in the spring of their freshman year. This is frequently the
case with biological sciences majors anyway, due to the heavy course load
required in the fall of their sophomore year.
- What about students who find out about the program after they start in another major?
These students will have the option of transferring into the program.
- How will the program effect recruiting?
This program should help with recruiting by building on the already excellent
reputation of our computational biology offerings and the masters and
PhD programs.
- Will these students have room in their schedules for research?
There are only two free elective spaces in the curriculum and the committee
voted not to allow research to count as a required elective in biology
or computer science. Research is, however, encouraged since many of these
students will pursue graduate study after completing their degrees. It
is hoped that students will use summers to obtain research experience.
It is also likely that students accepted into the program will have AP
or other credit which will free up some space in their schedules.
- What about the existing degree in computational biology that is offered
by the Department of Biological Sciences?
Students already pursuing this degree will be allowed to finish but no
new students will begin. There will be two degrees with the same name
for a few years until all of these students graduate, but diplomas will
be different since the joint program will have both colleges listed and
signatures from both deans. This is a relatively small number of students
and should not cause any administrative difficulty.
- Do any new courses need to be developed to support the program?
There are currently five new courses in computational biology that have
already been approved and developed. Bob Murphy's course will also be
reformatted as an introductory course with 15-211 as a pre-requisite.
It will be similar in structure the intro engineering courses that are
currently offered, though at a higher level given the prerequisite requirement.
- Does this program dilute the college core requirements?
Yes, but because it is truly a joint program between the two colleges,
the committee feels that this is appropriate. SCS also gave up some of
its core requirements in order to make the degree viable.
This proposal has been reviewed and approved by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Computer Science, CUA, and goes before SCS College Council tomorrow.
COLLEGE COUNCIL ACTION: The proposal was approved unanimously.
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Approval for Graduate Level Course - Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Neuroscience (handout)
This course has been offered to undergraduates (03-315) for three years and
has been taken by graduate students, faculty, and staff. It is taught by
Eric Ahrens. Other departments would like to use it as a graduate level course.
This proposal requests that a graduate course number be assigned, for 12 units,
with additional requirements. Undergraduates would be able to take the graduate
level course with permission from the instructor and provided they complete
the additional requirements. Other than 03-121 Modern Biology, there are no
pre-requisites. The appropriate math and physics concepts are taught as needed
in the course.
The primary difference between the undergraduate and graduate workload is
in the final course project. For undergraduates, this will be a term paper
that counts for 20% of the grade. The proposal replaces the term paper with
an original research proposal requirement for the graduate level. The proposal
will be presented and defended orally before a committee consisting of Dr.
Ahrens and at least two additional professors pooled from CMU and Pitt. The
project will constitute 35% of the grade.
COLLEGE COUNCIL ACTION: The proposal was approved unanimously.
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Approval for Proposed Ph.D. Program in Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (handout)
Since Beth Jones and Hyung Kim were not present at today's meeting, this item was tabled until January.