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    • New CSCS Graduate Certificate Curriculum

    New CSCS Certificate Program Requirements
    April 2000

    The UM Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS) is pleased to announce a revised set of course requirements for the Rackham Graduate Certificate in Complex Systems.

    Note that students who are already in the CSCS Certificate Program may elect to receive a certificate by fulfuling either the old or new requirements.

    We encourage students who wish to enroll, or who would like additional information, to contact Rick Riolo (rlriolo@umich.edu) or Lori Coleman (cscs@umich.edu).

    These new requirements reflect the experience we and our students have gained after the first few years of the program. The goals of the CSCS certificate program requirements include:

    1. Students should be familiar with a minimal set of concepts and terms, some list of key people, models, and basic "complex systems phenomena." Among other things, this will serve as part of a common "language" and a basis for students to interact in meaningful ways.

    2. Students should have basic math and computer modeling skills, so that they:
      - understand the uses and limits of these approaches;
      - can implement their own simple models; and
      - can understand at some minimal level 90% of the CSCS seminars.

    3. Students should have more advanced skills/knowledge is some area, e.g., dynamical systems, computer modeling, or other approaches to complex systems modeling, perhaps as applied to a particular domain.

    4. Overall, students should gain an appreciation for and skills at applying a complex systems approach to understanding both their own and other fields of study.

    5. Promote and maintain a sense of community among students.

    Students must take five courses, including the Group A course, the Group C course and at least one course from Group D. Within Group D students with weaker mathematics backgrounds should take CSCS 510; students with stronger math backgrounds should take CSCS 520 or 541. It is possible to replace the Group D course with an equivalent advanced dynamical systems course or in very special circumstances to replace the Group C course with an equivalent course, but every student must take at least one of CSCS 510 or CSCS 530. The courses in Group B represent the minimal programming and calculus background required for the courses in Groups C and D; we anticipate that most students will not need to take these courses. They do not count toward the five courses in the certificate program.

    Group A

    Group B

    • CSCS xxx (Short course) Introduction to Writing C Programs
      under Linux/Unix. This will be a new, 1 credit course.
    • Math 413/SPP 513: Calculus for Social Science

    Group C

    Group D

    Group E

    Courses related to Complex Systems and approved for the certificate program by the CSCS Director. The following is a representative list of such courses as offered in the 1999-2000 academic year: