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Development of undergraduate curriculum in complex systems

Projects:
Institutions, Diversity, Emergence, Adaptations and...
Institution:
University of Michigan
Primary Strategic Goal:
Learning: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.
Secondary Strategic Goal:
Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.

Achievement/Results

The Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS), with support from its IGERT initiative, offered two new undergraduate courses in complex systems. Both were considered a success and will be offered again next year. The Center also gained approval for two additional undergraduate courses to be offered next year. This rapid expansion of its undergraduate curriculum moves the Center closer to its goal of establishing an undergraduate minor in complex systems, the first to be offered by a major university.

Address Goals

This activity directly address the NSF strategic goal for learning by providing an opportunity for some of the best and the brightest undergraduate students in the United States to learn about the new science of complex systems. We expect this undergraduate curriculum will lead to an expanded graduate program and, ultimately, an enhanced workforce of scientists trained in complex systems. The secondary NSF goal of discovery also relates to this activity. By introducing undergraduates to the cutting-edge field of complex systems, this activity will eventually foster research that is innovative and truly interdisciplinary.

Posted:
November 19, 2009