ENROLL

Anna Rafferty

An introduction to the theory of computation. What problems can and cannot be solved efficiently by computers? What problems cannot be solved by computers, period? Topics include formal models of computation, including finite-state automata, pushdown automata, and Turing machines; formal languages, including regular expressions and context-free grammars; computability and uncomputability; and computational complexity, particularly NP-completeness.

Prerequisite: Computer Science 201 and Computer Science 202 (Mathematics 236 will be accepted in lieu of Computer Science 202)

Eric Alexander

Understanding the wealth of data that surrounds us can be challenging. Luckily, we have evolved incredible tools for finding patterns in large amounts of information: our eyes! Data visualization is concerned with taking information and turning it into pictures to better communicate patterns or discover new insights. It combines aspects of computer graphics, human-computer interaction, design, and perceptual psychology. In this course, we will learn the different ways in which data can be expressed visually and which methods work best for which tasks. Using this knowledge, we will critique existing visualizations as well as design and build new ones.

Prerequisite: Computer Science 201

David Musicant

There are many situations where computer systems must make intelligent choices, from selecting actions in a game, to suggesting ways to distribute scarce resources for monitoring endangered species, to a search-and-rescue robot learning to interact with its environment. Artificial intelligence offers multiple frameworks for solving these problems. While popular media attention has often emphasized supervised machine learning, this course instead engages with a variety of other approaches in artificial intelligence, both established and cutting edge. These include intelligent search strategies, game playing approaches, constrained decision making, reinforcement learning from experience, and more. Coursework includes problem solving and programming.

Prerequisite: Computer Science 201 and Computer Science 202 (Mathematics 236 will be accepted in lieu of Computer Science 202)

Jonathan Lafky

Prerequisite: Economics 111

Morgan Rood

This course is a theoretical and practical introduction to studying phonetics (the science of speech) and its relation to sociolinguistic variation (how speech systematically varies across speakers). Throughout the course, students will collect their own conversational speech data and learn to conduct acoustic analysis. Skills developed in the course include recording speech, transcribing, data processing and normalization, and effective presentation of results.

Jenna Conklin

Code-switching, or shifting between two shared languages, is a common practice of bilinguals around the globe. This course reviews key linguistic research on code-switching, focusing particularly on when and why code-switching occurs and what linguistic, cultural, and cognitive restrictions it is subject to. These questions will take us on a wide-ranging exploration of bilingualism as a phenomenon, touching on sociolinguistic issues, questions of language structure, and the impacts of code-switching on pronunciation, as well as a variety of issues in the study of multilingualism broadly construed, such as how bilinguals maintain multiple linguistic systems within a single cognitive environment.

Prerequisite: Any previous Linguistics course

Mike Flynn

Prerequisite: 100-level Linguistics course

Participation in Carleton OCS Linguistics in Japan Program

Anna Moltchanova

What is important to individuals, how they see themselves and others, and the kind of projects they pursue are shaped by traditional and moral frameworks they didn’t choose. Individual selves are encumbered by their social environments and, in this sense, always ‘biased’, but some forms of bias are pernicious because they produce patterns of inter and intra-group domination and oppression. We will explore various forms of intersubjectivity and its asymmetries through readings in social ontology and social epistemology that theorize the construction of group and individual beliefs and identities in the context of the social world they engender.

Extra Time Required

Jason Decker

Skeptical arguments—like Descartes' malignant demon argument—threaten to completely undermine our claim to have any knowledge of this world. Philosophers (and non-philosophers) have often met our apparent inability to answer these skeptical arguments with a shrug. The skeptical scenarios exert no gravitational pull on most minds and can be safely filed under "philosophical curiosities." Meanwhile, global conspiracy theories—like David Icke's theory that the world's governments are overrun with shapeshifting reptilians from the constellation Draco—also threaten to undermine our knowledge of the world.  Trying to answer them runs us into the very same cognitive and epistemic roadblocks that we run into with philosophical skepticism. We can't, however, meet these theories with a shrug. Conspiracy theories—even the wilder ones—do attract adherents and do have real-world (and sometimes devastating) consequences. Intensifying our predicament is the undeniable fact that we live in a world that is rife with conspiracies—some of them rather wild. In this seminar we will examine the cognitive architecture and evidential conditions that contribute to our predicament and then ask whether cognitive science or formal epistemology can offer any useful tools or strategies for confronting philosophical skepticism and conspiracy theories.

Prerequisite: A prior 200-level course in philosophy

Lawrence Wichlinski

An introduction to the physiological bases of complex behaviors in mammals, with an emphasis on neural and hormonal mechanisms. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both Psychology 216 and 217 to satisfy the LS requirement. Requires concurrent registration in Psychology 217

Julia Strand

Prerequisite: Psychology 110 or instructor consent

8 spots held for sophomores (sophomores register for PSYC 220 10)

Julia Strand

Prerequisite: Psychology 110 or instructor consent

Held for sophomores, sophomores unable to register should waitlist for PSYC 220 00

Cross-listed with PSYC 220.00

Mija Van Der Wege

This course will cover a range of aspects of language use. We will spend time discussing language production and comprehension, discourse processing, the relationship between language and thought, and language acquisition. Additionally, we will touch on issues of memory, perception, concepts, mental representation, and neuroscience. Throughout the course, we will emphasize both the individual and social aspects of language as well as the dynamic and fluid nature of language use. Concurrent registration in PSYC 235 is optional, but strongly recommended. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both Psychology 234 and 235 to satisfy the LS requirement.

Prerequisite: Psychology 110

8 spots held for sophomores. Sophomores register for PSYC 234 10.

Mija Van Der Wege

This course will cover a range of aspects of language use. We will spend time discussing language production and comprehension, discourse processing, the relationship between language and thought, and language acquisition. Additionally, we will touch on issues of memory, perception, concepts, mental representation, and neuroscience. Throughout the course, we will emphasize both the individual and social aspects of language as well as the dynamic and fluid nature of language use. Concurrent registration in PSYC 235 is optional, but strongly recommended. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both Psychology 234 and 235 to satisfy the LS requirement.

Prerequisite: Psychology 110

Held for sophomores, sophomores unable to register should waitlist for PSYC 234 00

Cross-listed with PSYC 234.00