Affiliated 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

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.

Film and Electronic Arts

The Film and Electronic Arts Program at Bard encompasses traditional cinema and the expanding contemporary arena of new digital media, the internet, and experimental expression. The program encourages interest in a wide range of expressive modes in film, video, and computer-based art. Recent courses cross-listed with Computer Science include Games at Work, cotaught by Keith O'Hara and Ben Coonley.

Mathematics

Students of mathematics and computer science very often have similar interests and share a number of courses. Recent research project titles in this area include:

• Arrays, Rook Circuits, and Minimal Hamiltonian Graphs
• Chip-Firing Games
• The Game of Life on a Torus

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.