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Visual recognition is essential for most everyday tasks including navigation, reading and socialization. Visual pattern recognition is also important for many engineering applications such as automatic analysis of clinical images, face recognition by computers, security tasks and automatic navigation. In spite of the enormous increase in computational power over the last decade, humans still outperform the most sophisticated engineering algorithms in visual recognition tasks. In this course, we will examine how circuits of neurons in visual cortex represent and transform visual information. The course will cover the following topics: functional architecture of visual cortex, lesion studies, physiological experiments in humans and animals, visual consciousness, computational models of visual object recognition, computer vision algorithms. Video lectures are from 2019.
Gabriel Kreiman | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
This course introduces basic concepts of mathematical biology and evolutionary dynamics: reproduction, selection, mutation, genetic drift, quasi-species, finite and infinite population dynamics, game dynamics, evolution of cooperation, language, spatial models, evolutionary graph theory, infection dynamics, virus dynamics, somatic evolution of cancer.
Martin Nowak | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
Maxwell's equations in macroscopic media, conservation laws, Green's functions, time-dependent solutions and radiation, scattering and diffraction, and gauge invariance. Time permitting: geometrical optics and caustics, negative refractive index materials and radiation from rapidly accelerating charges.
Subir Sachdev | Spring 2020 | Harvard University
Introduction to modern atomic physics. The fundamental concepts and modern experimental techniques will be introduced. Topics will include: Two-state systems, magnetic resonance, interaction of radiation with atoms, transition probabilities, spontaneous and stimulated emission, dressed atoms, trapping, laser cooling. Structure of simple atoms, coupling to fields, light scattering. Fundamental symmetries and introduction to molecules and artificial atoms. Selected experiments. The first of a two-term subject sequence that provides the foundations for contemporary research.
Susanne Yelin | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
This interdisciplinary course will explore the physical interactions that underpin life: the interactions of molecules, macromolecular structures, and cells in warm, wet, squishy environments. Topics will include Brownian motion, diffusion in a potential field, continuum mechanics of polymers, rods, and membranes, low Reynolds number flow, interfacial forces, electrostatics in solution. The course will also cover recently developed biophysical tools, including laser tweezers, superresolution microscopies, and optogenetics. Numerical simulations in Matlab will be used extensively.
Adam Cohen | Fall 2022 | Harvard University
Covering spaces and fibrations. Simplicial and CW complexes, Homology and cohomology, universal coefficients and Künneth formulas. Hurewicz theorem. Manifolds and Poincaré duality.
Hana Jia Kong | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
Arithmetic statistics can be thought of as the study sequences of arithmetic interest, such as the number of divisors of integers or the number of points on an elliptic curve over finite fields. In this course we'll encode these sequences in “automorphic forms'' and then extract statistical information using techniques from analytic number theory. We'll focus primarily on explicit calculations involving the spectral decomposition of weight 0 GL2 forms to study shifted convolutions.
Alex Cowan | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
This course offers an intuitive and geometric approach to multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Beginning with foundational concepts such as the Pythagorean Theorem and Gauss-Jordan Elimination, we explore vector operations, surfaces, and parametrizations. We then dive into differential calculus in multiple dimensions, including Taylor approximations, extrema, and constraints. Integral calculus topics include arc length, double and line integrals, surface area, and solids. The course culminates with the major theorems of vector calculus—Green’s, Stokes’, and Gauss’—and their discrete analogues.
Oliver Knill | Spring 2019 | Harvard University
Smooth manifolds (vector fields, differential forms, and their algebraic structures; Frobenius theorem), Riemannian geometry (metrics, connections, curvatures, geodesics), Lie groups, principal bundles and associated vector bundles with their connections, curvature and characteristic classes. Other topics if time permits.
Fan Ye | Fall 2022 | Harvard University
An interactive introduction to problem solving with an emphasis on subjects with comprehensive applications. Each class will be focused around a group of questions with a common topic: logic, information, number theory, probability, and algorithms.
Joe Harris and Yusheng Luo | Spring 2019 | Harvard University
This class is an introduction to algebraic geometry. Some topics we will cover include Hilbert's Nullstellensatz, affine and projective varieties, plane curves, Bézout's Theorem, morphisms of varieties, divisors and linear systems on curves, Riemann-Roch Theorem.
Brooke Ullery | Spring 2020 | Harvard University
Introduction to relativistic quantum field theory. Topics include path integral, perturbation theory, Feynman diagrams, renormalization, Green functions, scattering theory, spinor particle and fields, vector boson and gauge fields, quantum electrodynamics.
Xi Yin | Fall 2022 | Harvard University
A continuation of Physics 253a. Topics include: resonances, implications of analyticity and unitarity, infrared divergence, the renormalization group, epsilon expansion, non-Abelian gauge theories, asymptotic freedom and confinement, spontaneous symmetry breaking, chiral perturbation theory and anomalies.
Xi Yin | Spring 2023 | Harvard University
An introduction to conformal field theories: conformal bootstrap via the conformal block expansion and semidefinite optimization, the Ising model in 2 and 3 dimensions, and the maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions.
Xi Yin | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
A pedagogical introduction to soft theorems, asymptotic symmetries and memory effects in gravitational, abelian and nonabelian gauge theories; the triangle of equivalence relations between them and the problem of holographically reformulating quantum gravity in four-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes.
Andrew Strominger | Spring 2023 | Harvard University
Introduction to the formative ideas and socio-intellectual contexts of 19th and early 20th century sociological theory. Course will explore social thought from the perspective provided by the problem of social order - and the roles different thinkers attributed to such factors as solidarity, power, and meaning as solutions to this problem. Consideration of the continuing significance of these ideas for contemporary social thought.
Adaner Usmani | Fall 2020 | Harvard University
This graduate seminar (qualified undergraduates will be admitted after interview), will investigate the complex relationships between painterly practices and mass cultural formations (photography, advertisement, television) from 1955 – 1965. The limited focus on two American and two European artists, and on one specific decade will allow us not only to study individual works in greater detail, but it will also provide time to pursue parallel readings in historical contextualization. These would include not only the study of actually occurring interactions with the newly expanded culture of technological and industrial media (e.g. exhibition design, advertisement commissions for artists), but also the more specifically art historical questions concerning the belated reception of Duchamp, Dada and photography in post WWII cultural production. The critical reflection of the epistemological shifts defining the nature of painting in the changing dialogues with action painting and abstract expressionism will be of equal importance, as will be the questions concerning the redefinition of the place and functions of the artist in post WW II consumer and spectacle culture.
Benjamin Buchloh | Spring 2020 | Harvard University
Advanced survey of classic and current research and theory in social psychology, including self, social cognition, attitudes, social influence, altruism and aggression, prejudice and discrimination, close relationships, and group dynamics.
Daniel Gilbert | Fall 2019 | Harvard University
This course focuses on the structural and discursive conditions of membership in the nation. It examines how immigration and citizenship policies emphasize specific dimensions of national identity, and how they operate as means of nation-building under the conditions of neoliberalism and globalization. The course introduces students to key sociological issues, concepts, and theories on both nationalism and citizenship, two bodies of literature that cross-fertilize but do not fully overlap. Drawing primarily on recent debates and empirical cases from Europe and North America, the course also highlights how (im)migration and different forms of citizenship acquisition (e.g. birthright versus naturalization) interact with some of the “new nationalisms” (e.g. Brexit, the rise of Trump, new nationalist/identity movements in Europe).
Overall, this course has two principal goals: First, it offers an overview of the interdisciplinary debates that have shaped the field(s) in recent years. Second, it invites students to ask new questions and provides them with the sociological tools to address them.
Elke Winter | Spring 2021 | Harvard University
The course looks at the ways in which artists pushed the boundaries of representation to capture ineffable experiences evoked in accounts of mystical experience. Drawing on the writings of famous mystics from the 6th through the 17th centuries, it will be organized thematically around the erotic, the aesthetic, and somatic dimensions of visual images, as well as what it means to visualize the invisible.
Felipe Pereda, Jeffrey Hamburger | Spring 2022 | Harvard University
Introduction to the study of medieval history and to the literature basic to the examination field. Readings include both canonical works as well as recent studies. Though designed for specialists in medieval European history, the course welcomes all non-specialists interested in exploring large issues of comparative history and chronological depth.
Dan Smail | Fall 2024 | Harvard University
This course covers the fundamentals of sociological research design. Emphasis is placed on principles that are applicable in all kinds of sociological research, including surveys, participant observation, comparative historical study, interviews, and quantitative analysis of existing data. The course also delves into current methodological controversies in several arenas.
Christina Ciocca Eller | Fall 2019 | Harvard University
This graduate seminar gives students control over the secondary literature on Chinese politics, with special attention to competing theoretical and methodological approaches.
Elizabeth Perry | Spring 2024 | Harvard University
This course will guide you through an intensive investigation of one of the most remarkable artifacts of the ancient Americas: the quipu (khipu). Quipus were the devices used for record keeping in the Inca empire of pre-Columbian South America. Quipus recorded numerical information useful to Inca administrators, as well as information used to construct accounts of Inca myths, genealogies, histories and other narrative genres. We will study quipu samples in the Peabody Museum, and we will practice the arts of spinning, plying and knotting threads used in the production of quipus. The general objective of the course is to understand how these complex knotted-string devices served the Incas in the recording of information of interest to administrators of what was the largest state of the ancient New World - the Inca Empire.
Gary Urton | Spring 2020 | Harvard University
Tiny machine learning (TinyML) is defined as a fast-growing field of machine learning technologies and applications including hardware (dedicated integrated circuits), algorithms and software capable of performing on-device sensor (vision, audio, IMU, biomedical, etc.) data analytics at extremely low power, typically in the mW range and below, and hence enabling a variety of always-on use-cases and targeting battery-operated devices. The pervasiveness of ultra-low-power embedded devices, coupled with the introduction of embedded machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers, will enable the mass proliferation of AI-powered IoT devices. The explosive growth in machine learning and the ease of use of platforms like TensorFlow (TF) make it an indispensable topic of study for modern computer science and electrical engineering students.
Vijay Janapa Reddi | Fall 2023 | Harvard University
Repetition and Novelty. Together, these two terms pose a question or problem – how can something can be the same and also change? If we wish to address the question of Repetition from a fully temporal perspective, the question of Novelty (newness, nowness) can’t be denied.
We begin with a set of readings (among which, Repetition and Difference by Deleuze) to lay groundwork for asking how repetition is used in music and music-like activities.
There are many ways, and these ways can bring up interesting questions of style, fashion, craft and work. Portions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Lachenmann’s Serynade for piano will provide illuminating instances as we explore these works, their craft, their style and fashion.
Christopher Hasty | Spring 2021 | Harvard University
This graduate course links different regions of the Francophone world and provides an introduction to the major debates about gender issues in postcolonial Francophone studies. We focus on the aesthetics and politics of writers who challenge the notion of a stable identity, be it national, racial or sexual. The course draws on the historico-cultural issues pertinent to each region (Africa, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean). Writers include Mariama Bâ (Senegal), Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe/France/USA), Ananda Devi (Mauritius and France), Fatou Diome (Senegal and France), Assia Djebar (Algeria/France/USA), Marie Chauvet (Haiti), Shenaz Patel (Mauritius), and Linda Lê (Vietnam and France).
Francoise Lionnet | Spring 2020 | Harvard University
Selected texts in three national traditions: Coleridge, Wordsworth, Hazlitt, and Keats in English; Kant, Schiller, and Goethe in German; Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman in American Literature. Additional writers may include Robert Lowth, the Schlegels, Novalis, Schleiermacher, and Margaret Fuller. Attention to exchange among these literatures. Additional current scholarship and criticism.
James Engell | Fall 2019 | Harvard University
Fear of idolatry is a recurrent feature of Western culture. The Christian image threatens to short-circuit the flow of spirituality between humans and God, just as images of the ancient, pagan gods threaten dangerously to preserve the energies of those lascivious and vengeful deities. And images, whether secular or religious, are always potentially threatening to literate culture: they compete with words, and seem to possess a much more immediate power to mesmerize the imagination. The Protestant Reformation in particular targeted images as the enemy to a true religion of the Word. Legislation in England determined the wholesale destruction of religious images (iconoclasm) between 1538 and 1644. On the other hand, many writers and artists, both secular and religious, look to the image for salvation of sorts. Guided by these perceptions, we will be looking to a range of pre- and post-Reformation texts and contexts. The course will be equally divided between late medieval and early modern texts. Students without Middle English should feel entirely at ease to take this course: all texts will be presented in reader-friendly editions.
James Simpson | Spring 2022 | Harvard University
Speciation, or the origin of species, has been a controversial topic ever since Darwin's 1859 book. Even in the genomic era we are now experiencing, speciation is a frequent topic that demands attention. In this course, we will cover in approximate order:
• History of ideas in speciation; pre-Darwin, Darwin & Wallace, 1930-1940s, recent.
• What are species? Species concepts and species delimitation.
• What is needed to understand speciation? The population genetics of gene flow, and genetic divergence via mutation, drift, and selection
• The concept of reproductive isolation
• Brief introduction to coalescent theory and the multi-species coalescent
• The geography of speciation, including allopatric, parapatric, and sympatric speciation
• Ecological "races" and ecological speciation
• Behavioral divergence and mate choice, including "reinforcement"
• Hybrid inviability and hybrid sterility between species
• Idealized population genetic models of speciation
• Chromosomal evolution, genomic rearrangements, and speciation
• Speciation: caused by natural selection or by genetic drift?
• Beyond the species: macroevolution and diversification
James Mallet | Spring 2025 | Harvard University
This discussion-based course will survey modern ideas about evolution and speciation, and how they have changed as a result of genomic approaches. As well as readings and discussions in class, the course will utilize some live online video sessions with major players in the field of evolutionary and comparative genomics.
James Mallet | Fall 2021 | Harvard University
All classes are licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA license.
