An Interdisciplinary Laboratory For Data Acquisition, Analysis, and Modeling

该项目的目标是通过对数据采集、分析和建模的先进计算机方法的指导，在自然科学、社会科学和数学科学的学生之间建立跨学科合作的新途径。该项目涉及生物系、数学系、理化系、心理学系和社会科学系，并强调这些系共同使用的基于计算机的研究方法。一个普通的实验室将容纳一个由麦金塔计算机、软件和相关数据采集板组成的网络，这些数据采集板包括三个功能强大的通用软件包：LabVIEW、STELLA II和SYSTAT。学生将在跨学科的实验课程“科学中的计算机”中了解这项技术。在这种环境中获得的技能和知识将应用于各种学科实验室，为此已经设计了许多实验和练习，并在宏观经济学原理、人格和神经生物学等各种课程中进行了试验测试。高年级学生将在他们的论文项目中使用这些计算工具，这些项目将在一个新的跨学科研讨会上发表。我们力求创造一种跨学科合作的氛围，使用新的实验室技术，学生可能会在研究生研究和工作环境中使用。学生将准备参加基础和应用研究项目，这些项目需要跨学科的视角。

The goal of the project is to create new avenues of interdisciplinary collaboration among students in the natural, social, and mathematical sciences through instruction in advanced computerized methods of data acquisition, analysis, and modeling. The project involves the departments of Biology, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Chemistry, Psychology, and Social Sciences, and emphasizes computer-based research methods common to these departments.A common laboratory will house a network of Macintosh computers, software, and associated data acquisition boards including three powerful and versatile software packages, LabVIEW, STELLA II, and SYSTAT. Students will be introduced to the technology in an interdisciplinary laboratory course, "Computers in the Sciences". Skills and knowledge gained in this setting will be applied in various disciplinary laboratories, for which numerous experiments and exercises have already been designed and trial-tested in courses as diverse as Principles of Macroeconomics, Personality, and Neurobiology. Senior students will use these computing tools in their thesis projects, which will be presented in a new interdisciplinary seminar.We seek to generate an atmosphere of interdisciplinary collaboration using new laboratory technologies which students are likely to use in both graduate research and work settings. Students will be prepared to take their places in both basic and applied research projects which require an interdisciplinary perspective.