Achievement

A new course (550.695 - Advanced Parameterization in Science and Engineering) was developed and taught in Spring 2009, with 5 IGERT trainees and 6 IGERT associates attending the class. The two main objectives of the course were to help students develop an appreciation for the disciplines in which science-based coupling of models is important and also to help students communicate with researchers in other areas, in order to share and cross-fertilize ideas and methods. Thus, the core mission of the course is interdisciplinary. The thematic emphasis was placed on the use of mathematics to develop effectively computable approximation schemes. Two major tools of the course were weekly homework assignments and an on-line discussion group. The homework exercises involved both mathematical and computational exercises. In order to stimulate cross-disciplinary discussion, students were also asked to respond to discussion questions in the google group that coordinated with each homework topic.