English

This course covers basic data representations, algorithms, and applications for interactive visualization. The class mainly focuses on computer graphics and spatial data visualization. 

Topics include Graphics systems, OpenGL basics, Transformations, Data acquisition, Data representation, Viewing, Lighting and shading, Shaders, Color models, Textures, Volume rendering, Surface visualization, Geometric processing, Image visualization, Advanced topics in visualization. 

This course covers the essence of quantum computing and various quantum machine learning techniques. Quantum computing has the potential to outperform classical computing and to solve problems that were believed to be intractable otherwise. With rapid advances in quantum technology, current technology is expected to be disrupted in many ways. Quantum computing opens up tremendous opportunities for data science in the big data era where computational power is of critical importance.  

This course equips students with theoretical backgrounds to be able to apply the principles of quantum computing in solving various challenges of modern data science problems. Topics include Introduction to quantum data science & quantum machine learning, Machine learning basics & classical information, Quantum mechanics & quantum information, Circuit model of quantum computation & reversible computing, Black-box model of computation & related quantum algorithms, Quantum phase estimation & Quantum Fourier transform, Unstructured search & quantum amplitude estimation, Quantum linear systems solver & quantum support vector machine, Quantum kernel method, and Quantum neural network. 

Prerequisites: Linear algebra, calculus, probability theory and statistics, Quantum mechanics, Python or Matlab (or similar programming skills) 

This course explores ideas and representations of race, gender and enslavement in 18th and 19th century British Caribbean and the wider Atlantic world. Focusing on questions of colonial connection, representation, identity, creolization, resistance, and power, the course engages primary and secondary materials in order to analyze and critically interpret the ways in which those who were enslaved related to, and resisted, the oppressive systems under which they were forced to labor, as well as the convictions and actions of enslavers and anti-slavery campaigners.

This course explores accounts centering on the movement and displacement of people in the French, German, and Spanish-speaking worlds. Beginning with an introductory guide to studying culture(s) in a Modern Languages' context, it then focus on experiences resulting from movement or displacement, whether forced or voluntary, and engages with themes such as alienation, belonging, difference, borders, and otherness. Its case studies are taken from a variety of media (including literature and film) and are considered in terms of their specific local and national relevance as well as their transnational implications. The course offers diverse perspectives on the issues arising from cultural encounters occasioned by, for example, diaspora, exile, migration, urbanization and colonialism. 

This course examines financial literacy skills. It covers concepts that allow companies to manage and control profitability and cash and, most importantly, make good business decisions. It also explores the intricate link between financial information and capital markets, gaining insights into how these connections shape a company's valuation. 

Using examples drawn from all animal life (invertebrates to humans), this course provides students with an overall review of the fundamentals of animal behavior. Following a detailed introduction into proximate and ultimate causation of behavior, the course covers key behavioral phenomena: sexual reproduction, selection and mating systems, kinship and cooperative breeding, habitat selection, movement, migration, and territoriality, aggression and game theory, group living and anti-predator behavior including vigilance and foraging behavior, and animal personalities. The practical element of the course allows students to develop the skills necessary to measure behavior in addition to allowing an exploration of some aspects of behavior through experimentation.

Natural history museums are institutions that collect, preserve, and interpret the natural world—from fossils and plants to animals and cultural artifacts related to nature. They play a vital role in scientific research, education, and public engagement, serving as both archives of biodiversity and spaces for cultural exchange. 

This course introduces the foundations and contemporary roles of natural history museums.  It discusses how exploration and collecting built the basis for museums; how collections are preserved and managed; how museums communicate with society, and how they address new challenges such as digital collections and ethical debates. 

This course examines the classification of natural hazards within Earth systems and explores key examples of geological, atmospheric, hydrological and biological hazards and explores the social relations and processes that turn hazard events into disasters. Given the vast majority of disasters are climate and weather-related, basics of weather, climate and climate change will be explored. Students will be introduced to key concepts in the study of hazards and disasters including underlying theories and models as well as critically interrogating concepts of vulnerability and resilience. Basic elements of the process of disaster risk reduction will be introduced. Case studies and examples from Australia and around the world will be drawn upon to unpack the nuances of hazard and disasters.

Migration is at the forefront of contemporary debates globally, and has been a centerpiece of electoral and political discourses in the Global North since the 1990s. From the so-called “migration crisis” of 2015 in Europe to the Brexit debates on keeping migrants out and to the current anti-immigrant mobilizations in Ireland, the UK, the USA, and elsewhere, migration remains a contentious issue. Often entangled with racism, discourses on migration show us how societies categorize themselves and others, and how they deal with otherness through policies and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. In this module, students learn to disentangle the terms used in public, media, and political discourses on migration and race by using concepts and theories from the sociology of migration and race.

This course explores the role of music and sound in perhaps the dominant art form of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: film. From the live accompaniments of early silent movies to the Oscar-winning soundtracks of today's Hollywood productions, music has been an integral part of cinema from the outset, structuring narratives and shaping audience responses. This course introduces students to key aesthetic concepts and debates surrounding film music as well as providing a historical overview of the development of film sound.