Course Requirements

This course will provide the theoretical basis and the problem solving experience needed to apply the techniques of descriptive and inferential statistics, to evaluate such daily inputs as organizational reports and to improve decision making over a wide range of areas. Topics include: descriptive measures, distribution shapes, concepts of probability of discrete and continuous random variables, hypothesis testing of one, two samples, chi-squared and f-test, regression, ANOVA, using Excel and SAS for solving and interpreting statistical problems.
Prerequisites: COM 112 and MAT 120

This course will provide an overview of the key concepts, applications, processes and techniques relevant to business analytics. This course shows how to interpret data involving uncertainty and variability; how to model and analyze the relationships within business data; and how to make correct inferences from the data (and recognize incorrect inferences). The course will include instruction in the use of software tools to analyze and present quantitative data. As the market demand for professionals with data management, analytical and problem-solving skills increases, this course provides an analytical toolset to address modern, data-intensive business problems.
Prerequisite: MAT 120

BUS 335 Systems Analysis and Design (3 credits)
This course will teach students what factors will have an impact on the outcomes of complex systems, how to determine the current state of those factors, and how to analyze and offer solution sets that encompass all necessary variables. In an increasingly interconnected world, the impact of decisions in one aspect of the system can have profound and unintended consequences on another part of the system. The ability to understand and design systems to achieve business outcomes across an increasingly complex ecosystem will require a skill set in understanding quantitative as well as qualitative and behavioral change.
Prerequisite: BUS 310

Data analytics deals with inferring and validating patterns, structures and relationships in data, as a
tool to support decisions in the business environment. The course introduces the techniques
necessary to successfully implement analytic and visualization projects using the modern software
tools. The course offers an insight into the main methodologies for the visualization and analysis of
business and market data, providing the skills for specific tasks such as data cleansing & preparation,
visual design best practices, and statistical methods. Data visualization topics covered include design
principles, perception, color, statistical graphs, maps, trees and networks, data visualization tools, and
other topics as appropriate.

Mass Communication is changing more rapidly now than at any time in the past century. Journalists, public relations practitioners, corporate communicators and professionals in any discipline or industry are expected to know how to use a range of storytelling forms to reach their audiences. Today’s professional (at all levels) should be able to gather and edit simple text, graphics, photos, audio and video as well as use the latest social media, and analytics dashboards. This interactive course will examine those changes and provide valuable “how-to” practice in communication technology and content delivery. As students learn about communication technology in the Media Lab, they will become more familiar with the hardware, software, and devices used in the industry as well as in varied disciplines and workplaces. Communication technology is the fusion of computer science and electronic media -- offering skills and opportunity to present, share, distribute and manage information.

This course is aimed at beginning to intermediate computer users. It teaches a range of computer
skills on the basics of using spreadsheets for various applications. Spreadsheet software remains one
of the most ubiquitous pieces of software used in workplaces across the world. Learning to
confidently operate this software means adding a highly valuable asset to your employability
portfolio. Students will learn to navigate the user interface, perform basic calculations with formulas
and functions, professionally format spreadsheets, and create visualizations of data through charts
and graphs. Practical examples that demonstrate how useful spreadsheets are for presenting data,
solving problems, and making business decisions will be highlighted.

This course introduces computational concepts that are fundamental to computer science and are useful for the sciences, social sciences, engineering, and digital arts. Students will write their own interactive programs to analyze data, process text, draw graphics, manipulate images, and simulate physical systems. Problem decomposition, program efficiency, and good programming style are emphasized throughout the course. No prior programming experience is assumed.

The purpose of this course is an in-depth exploration of data security controls and techniques. This course will examine theoretical concepts of network security implementation. This course will examine network security tools and techniques and include hands-on practical applications. Networking has enabled the emergence of mobile and cloud computing, creating one of the most important technological paradigm shifts in computing of the past decade. Coming advancements in wireless networking are expected to transform the technological landscape over the next decade by enabling an endless possibility of new applications, including the Internet of Things and wireless virtual reality, through the emergence of wireless networks with gigabit speeds. In order to play a role in this era of new network-powered advancements, students must have a thorough understanding of emerging networking topics, especially in the wireless domain.

This course introduces a systematic approach to programming. Specifically, this course teaches students to use Python to solve real world problems. By the end of the course, students will be able to construct a program from a series of instructions in Python.

This course will take an in-depth look at political, cultural, and social trends within the United States from the end of World War II to the present. It will begin with America?s post-war patterns of consumer economics, Cold War politics and mass culture expressiveness, and trace transformations to the present. Class meetings will mix lecture, discussion, and multimedia formats.
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status

This course is intended for students to produce critical and creative projects that apply digital technologies to a field of inquiry in the humanities and/or social sciences. Students will continue to develop their skills in analyzing humanities research questions through digital, computational, and design technologies. Students will develop a research question, develop a research agenda and project plan, and produce a proof of concept for a new digital humanities project. This course will culminate in producing a digital project and a written rationale with theoretical grounding, as well as explanation of practical decisions and applications.

This course provides a basic introduction to the application of digital and computational technology to the study of the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Students will engage with theories and practices of the digital and computational humanities and the process of using computing skills towards the study of humanities-based issues and topics. This course will integrate foundational liberal arts skills of critical thinking, analysis, and written communication with key understandings of digital technology concepts such as data representation and visualization, digital archives, mapping, and text-mining. Students will be introduced to the process of digital engagement with cultural materials and reflect on the practical application of digital techniques to sociocultural inquiry.

This course examines trajectories of scientific thought from a humanistic and ethical perspective. Students will question the “myth of objectivity” in science and analyze how scientific developments have centered privileged perspectives as the human default. Additionally, students will focus on the ways in which scientific movements are impacted by the historical moments in which they are embedded, hold a mutually constitutive relationship with sociopolitical and cultural issues, have been used as tools to legitimize systems of oppression, and are built from frameworks that extrapolate privileged experience and modes of inquiry as the “objective norm” of scientific validity. Topics on the exclusionary and biased design of scientific developments will be explored, along with ethical issues of bias in contemporary scientific fields.
Prerequisite: HUM210

This course introduces students to the applications of digital and computational technology and design thinking to humanistic research. Students will learn to use digital research methods to develop and explore strong humanistic research questions, will develop skills in using digital tools to conduct original research, and will analyze the efficacy of a variety of digital research methodologies by critiquing examples of humanities-based research projects that utilize these tools. Students will also learn how to organize and present stories with data, develop charts, analyze and use spatial and network visualizations, and use basic text analysis tools to explore qualitative data.

This course introduces students to foundational principles of design thinking as a tool for innovative problem-solving and strategy development across industries. Students will learn about different methodologies for developing and applying empathy-based solutions to user and stakeholder challenges. Students will engage in exercises and projects in which they model the different steps of design thinking, including: identifying user challenges, conducting empathy fieldwork, brainstorming user-centered solutions based on qualitative and quantitative data, creating prototype concepts, and role-playing end-user testing.

This course provides students with a foundation in Cognitive Neuroscience, which deals with the study of the relationship between brain and behavior, specifically the neurological systems that underly complex mental processes such as attention, perception, learning, memory, language and emotion. The course will introduce students to methods used to study cognitive functioning and healthy persons, as well as, those in neurological patients.
Prerequisite: PSY 101