In the Computer Science program we enthusiastically encourage students to combine computing and data analysis with their work in other disciplines. We have links with cognitive science, experimental humanities, mathematics, and many other fields. Students from these fields often use their computing and data analysis skills as they pursue their Senior Projects.
Related Bard Academic Programs
Biology
The Biology Program provides courses for students interested in computational biology and ecology. Most often these students apply concepts from algorithms, database design, and computer modeling to the understanding of biological systems. A sample of recent research project titles includes:
- Bacterial Identification: Algorithms for the Selection of Primers for PCR Reactions
- Deriving Phylogenetic Trees from Non-Coding DNA
Data Analytics
The Data Analytics second focus prepares students from a wide range of disciplines to use data to address problems in both their chosen fields and in multidisciplinary settings. The second focus provides the level of understanding and computational skills necessary to do data analysis, modeling and simulation, and data visualization, and grasp the concept of how data is used to make decisions and predictions about the future. Students learn various tools that can be used to make sense of data, and how to identify the ways in which data are used to manipulate the message conveyed. Issues of algorithmic bias, data ethics, and the power exercised by those who control data and make decisions about its use are also addressed
Experimental Humanities
The Experimental Humanities (EH) concentration is Bard’s liberal arts-driven answer to the rapidly expanding Digital Humanities. EH provides students with the historical context, theoretical background, and analytical and technical skills to engage productively with new forms of humanistic inquiry as they arise. We place emphasis on reconsidering “old” media in light of today’s technologies, and look ahead to the inevitable developments on the horizon.
Mathematics
Mathematics is at the core of human civilization and is the cornerstone of all modern science and technology. The Mathematics Program has three main functions: to provide students in the program with the opportunity to study the primary areas of contemporary mathematics, to provide physical and social science majors with the mathematical tools for work in their disciplines, and to introduce all students to serious and interesting mathematical ideas and their applications.
Mind, Brain, and Behavior
The Mind, Brain, and Behavior (MBB) concentration seeks to understand how humans, animals, and robots are able to acquire, represent, and use knowledge. The discipline combines the insights and methods from several other fields, including computer science, psychology, linguistics, animal behavior, neuroscience, and philosophy, to work toward an understanding of the brain, behavior, and mind.
Science, Technology, and Society
The Science, Technology, and Society Program (STS) hopes to foster a critical community engaged in understanding science and its relation to society, and to promote contact among students across different fields and divisions. Students in STS are encouraged to have a practical "hands-on" technological, artistic, or policy component to their education, preferably in collective projects in their junior year. Programs of study that combine computer science might, for example, focus on ethical, legal, or sociological aspects of computer technology.