Honors 352 - Cyberscience: Computational Science and the Rise of the Fourth Paradigm

In the last half of the 20th century, the role of computation in the sciences grew rapidly, driven by advances in silicon-based processors, fiber-optic networks, a host of numerical algorithms, and sets of standard protocols for processing and exchanging data. Much of this digital technology now permeates everyday life. Building on these and emerging technologies, the 21st century is poised to unleash a new, data-intensive paradigm of scientific discovery that will dramatically enhance the scope and scale of data capture, curation, and analysis. In this new (4th) paradigm, cures for cancer might be found by the collective investigations of agents computing "in the cloud.”
 
This course will invite students to explore the social and technical development of computing for the sciences, from the ENIAC through the top-500 list of supercomputers and on to Amazon's EC2. Through a selection of readings, discussions with invited guests, and first-hand experimentation, students in the course will learn about an assortment of technologies that underlie modern scientific inquiry, investigate their use by U-M cyber-scientists, and gain an appreciation of the fiscal, political and social challenges imposed by this growing area of scholarship.
 
Instructor: August Evrard
 
dScribes: Kevin Smith, Sarah Sophia Na
 
Course Level: Undergraduate, Honors
 
Course Structure: Meets twice a week for 1.5 hours
 
Awards: 2012 Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize Winner