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Life Sciences 50a: Integrated Science

Harvard College/GSAS: 15185 (class number) / 159706 (course ID)
Fall 2015
Faculty: Andrew Murray (MCB), Ben de Bivort (OEB), Michael Desai (OEB), Cassandra Extavour (OEB), Erel Levine (Physics), & Mary Wahl (MCB)
Location: Northwest Laboratories B108 (basement level), 52 Oxford St.
Meeting Time: M, T, W, Th, F, 10-11:30 AM
Exam Group: TBD
An intensive two-semester, double course that introduces the natural sciences as an integrated whole to students who have a very strong interest in science. Our goal is to teach students how to solve scientific problems by drawing methods and concepts from biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The course uses examples from biology as an integrating theme, principles from physics and mathematics to reduce complex problems to simpler forms, and computer simulation to allow students to develop their intuition about the behavior of the dynamical systems that control the physical and biological universe. The course includes bootcamps to introduce students to biological experiments and the computer language, Matlab. Each semester will include a project lab, in which students will work in small teams to do original research on unsolved biological problems. Prerequisite: high school calculus and permission of the instructor.

Note: Life Sciences 50a and 50b when taken together for a letter grade fulfill the General Education requirements of Science of Living Systems, Science of the Physical Universe, and Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning.

Prerequisite: high school calculus and permission of the instructor.

 

Are you an incoming freshman interested in applying to LS 50? You can find more information and the application (due 11:59 PM EST on Monday, August 31) on our site for prospective students.

Please see our course syllabus PDF file for more information on the format and expectations of the course.

Please see the course staff contact information page for office hour and location information as well as email addresses.

 

Course Summary:

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