National University of Singapore

This course introduces students to taxonomy and systematics, i.e., the science of grouping biodiversity into species, describing the species, and classifying this diversity into higher-level taxa that reflect evolutionary history. The course has two main goals: (1) It introduces the main concepts and goals of taxonomy and systematics. (2) It teaches the qualitative and quantitative techniques that are used to describe/identify species and higher-level taxa based on the analysis of morphological and DNA sequence evidence. The course equips environmental as well as other biologists with an understanding of taxonomic/systematic units and the tools needed for evaluating and quantifying diversity in samples of plant and animal specimens.

This course examines the historical evolution of Singapore as a global city-state against the contexts of global changes and developments from the 14th to the 21st century. The course is open to all students interested in Singapore studies.

This course is an interdisciplinary study of how societies and different generations respond to the invention of the piano. Students learn the social history of the piano throughout the past three centuries, canvassing a wide array of performers, composers, supporters, manufacturers, heroes, politicians, teachers and students. Various expressions of ideologies from differing periods eventually revolutionized and effectuated the versatility of the piano, shaping a legacy which led to the globalization of the piano, including China. Students learn through lectures, readings, discussions, listening, playing, and attend piano recitals and masterclasses.

This course explores the various genres of keyboard music throughout history and the composers who have gained widespread popularity, and also examines the works of those who have received less attention. Topics include variation sets, preludes, fugues, suites, studies, and single-movement works. Students think critically about the significance and evolution of each genre over time. This course is for students who can read Western Classical music notation fluently (particularly in bass and treble clefs). Students may contact the instructor and state their prior experience with music to ascertain if this course will be feasible for them.

This course provides a strong foundation in the study of protein structure and function. Topics include structures and structural complexity of proteins and methods used to determine their primary, secondary and tertiary structures; biological functions of proteins in terms of their regulatory, structural, protective and transport roles; the catalytic action of enzymes, their mechanism of action and regulation; and various approaches used in studying the structure-function relationships of proteins. The course has a prerequisite of Biochemistry.

This course focuses on corporate entrepreneurship with a special emphasis on the role of venture capital and spin-offs, including managerial efforts aimed at the identification, development and exploitation of technical and organizational innovations and on effective new venture management in the context of large corporations. Students evaluate business models and appropriateness for development in a corporate setting. As an advanced course, students improve analytical, creative and communication skills. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

The course covers several current and advanced topics in optimization, with an emphasis on efficient algorithms for solving large scale data-driven inference problems. Topics include first and second order methods, stochastic gradient type approaches and duality principles. Many relevant examples in statistical learning and machine learning are covered in detail. The algorithms uses the Python programming language. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course examines the relationship between Japan and Korea, with a particular focus on the impact of Japan’s colonization of Korea and its postcolonial legacies. Students gain greater insights into how the multifaceted intersections between both countries mutually impacts the shaping of their modernities, national identities, cultural politics, and globalization. The course focuses on various official and popular cultural forms such as museum exhibits, expositions, art, film, anime, TV drama, and international events to analyze the histories of these countries.

The course introduces the scientific study of stars, the physical properties of stars, the measurements of these properties, and the relevant laws of physics. The course includes the relationship among stellar physical properties as a step towards understanding star formation and stellar evolution. Students learn advanced topics, including variable stars, supernovae, and black holes. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course introduces students to several computer intensive statistical methods and the topics include: empirical distribution and plug-in principle, general algorithm of bootstrap method, bootstrap estimates of standard deviation and bias, jack-knife method, bootstrap confidence intervals, the empirical likelihood for the mean and parameters defined by simple estimating function, Wilks theorem, and EL confidence intervals, missing data, EM algorithm, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. This course has a prerequisite of Mathematical Statistics.