COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
General Information
General Information
Computational Neuroscience (CNS) is a course offered to FAU graduate students during the spring semester. This course covers the basics of computational neuroscience introduces many research topics of both neurobiological and computational brain. It also introduces some current research directions that exist in the field.
This course is taught by Professor Dawei W. Dong (phone: 561-297-2326, email: dawei@dove.ccs.fau.edu, office: 3848 FAU Boulevard, Suite 210, Room 126). The teaching assistant will be Mohammad Dastjerdi (phone: 561-297-2235, email: mohammad@dove.ccs.fau.edu, office: 3848 FAU Boulevard, Suite 210, Room 148). If you have a question specific to the TA, we strongly encourage the use of the e-mail address provided above. The TA is available for assistance on any topic covered in the class and in the problem set.
Much of the information in this course will be disseminated on the World Wide Web, a hypertext electronic document system. You will need to use a Web browser in order to retrieve this information. The home page for the class is at the URL address http://dove.ccs.fau.edu/dawei/CNS2004. All problem sets will be distributed over the web. The class page also contains announcements, copies of the handouts, reference lists for the lectures, data for the some of the problem sets, interesting links to other Web sites, and more.
This course is rather interdisciplinary as it attempts to pull together topics in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science. However, lack of background in one or more of these areas need not prevent you from succeeding in the course. We do require some basics: familiarity with computer programming in a high level language (ideally MATLAB), and knowledge of basic calculus and linear algebra.
The course has no required textbook. But we especially recommend two books: Introduction to the Theory of Neural Computation by A. Hertz, A. Krogh, and R. Palmer; and and Theoretical Neuroscience by P. Dayan and L. F. Abbott. Additional books and primary source papers will be useful on a lecture by lecture basis. If possible, a binder with the relevant papers will be provided from which you may make copies although for legal reasons we may not hand out copies to you directly. A list of generally useful reference books is provided on the web page.
There are ten problem sets, two quizs and one final exam for CNS. You must finish all these to pass the course, and you must put in a reasonable effort on all of them. Each problem set counts 10 scores and each quiz counts 30 scores and the final exam counts 40 scores. So at last your grade will be based on these 200 scores. It is very unusual for a student who takes the course seriously to fail.
There will be an assignment due each week covering the material taught in the lectures and covered in the references. It is important to read the references for a better understanding of the lectures and assignments. The homework sets will include computer simulations in MATLAB, mathematical derivations. Collaboration is permitted on all problem sets, except the quizs and the final, but each student must prepare their own submission and understand everything they hand in.
Assignments will be handed out on Tuesdays and are due the following Tuesday before 5:00pm in the mailbox of the TA. Problem sets handed in late will receive partial credits, linearly decreasing to zero on the following Tuesday. Quizs and final are not allowed to be handed in late. Extensions will only be granted for extreme circumstances (i.e., medical, death in the family). Any non-emergency circumstances must be cleared beforehand with the TA.
There will be two office hour per week by the instructor and the TA. The time for the instructor will be Wednesday 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The time for the TA will be Friday 11:00am to 1:00pm. In addition, feel free to drop by and ask us questions; however we are only guaranteed to be available during the scheduled time and we especially encourage the use of email. See the following.
Questions about homeworks or administrative details should be sent to the TA's email address listed above. Any special announcement will be posted on the class web page and also be sent to a mailing list including the addresses of all the students in the class, cns@dove.ccs.fau.edu. Anything sent to it will be automatically broadcast to everyone and archived on the web page. The we will send homework clarifications (if necessary) to this mailing list, so check your e-mail regularly! For any additional questions, you may contact us at the email addresses given above.
Computer programming and Web browsing are integral parts of the course. If you need a computer account, one will be provided for you in the computer lab, located in room 151, of the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences.
Send comments to Dawei Dong: ************************************************************************ Dawei W. Dong FAX: (561)297-3634 Center for Complex Systems & Brain Sciences Phone: (561)297-2326 Florida Atlantic University dawei@dove.ccs.fau.edu 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL33431 http://dove.ccs.fau.edu/~dawei ************************************************************************