Contact Information

My office hours, phone number and e-mail address are available on my home page.

Primary Text

There is no text for this course. All readings will be made available through the college library, via the web or distributed in class.

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the field of Artificial Life from a computer science perspective. We will begin by learning what the field is about and the types of things that researchers in ALife study. You will be introduced to several of the key tools that ALife researchers use in their work (models of evolution and learning). The middle portion of the course will be based upon reading and critical analysis of classic research papers from the ALife literature. Reading and thinking about these papers will form the basis from which you will design and complete a self selected research project. The focus of the second half of the semester will be to read and present research papers that are related to your specific research project.

How much time should you expect to spend on this course? To quote the Dickinson College catalog "...Each course, unless otherwise noted in the course description, is equivalent to four semester hours. Credit for courses is based on the assumption that at least three hours of study accompany each class period (excluding labs)." (p. 203) I find that this statement provides a good guideline for courses which meet three days per week. However, it is impractical for courses which meet five days per week and is insufficient for classes which meet twice a week. Given that we meet for the same amount of time as a course that meets three times a week it seems reasonable that you would invest the same amount of time outside of class. Thus, I base my assignments on the expectation that you will spend an average of 9 hours per week outside of class completing the readings, homeworks and project assignments.

Grade Determination

The breakdown of grade assignment is as follows:

	Class Participation	20%
	Homework (3)	20%
	Framework Presentation	12%
	Paper Presentations (3)	18%
	Final Project Report	30%

All assignments will be graded on an absolute scale. As an example a student receiving a 95% participation grade, scoring an average of 82% on homework, 78% on the Framework Presentation, an average of 85% on the Paper Presentations and an 87% on the Final Project Report would have a final grade of 86%.

95*0.20 = 19.00 82*0.20 = 16.40 78*0.12 = 9.36 85*0.18 = 15.30 + 87*0.30 = 26.10 -------------------- 86.16%

If at the end of the semester the grades fall below the expected 90% (A), 80% (B), 70% (C) scale, a curve MAY be applied to the total absolute grades for the course to determine each individual's final grade.

Reading and Homework Assignments

Reading and homework assignments will be given each time that we begin a new topic. You should complete the reading assignment before the subsequent class meeting. Homework can be completed individually or in groups of two. Each homework will be collected following the conclusion of the topic. Specific due dates will be given as the homework is assigned. All homework assignments will be collected. However, not every homework question will necessarily be graded. Homework should be typewritten when possible and please note that writing, spelling and grammar do count!

Math/CS Chats

Each member of the class is required to attend two Math/CS chats during the course of the semester. Following each of the chats that you attend, you must send me an e-mail containing a brief summary (< 1 page) explaining, in your own words, what the chat was about. Your attendance at the chats and the summary e-mails will be incorporated into the class participation grade for the semester (1% each).

Paper Presentations

During the course of the semester you will give three presentations based on research papers that you have read. I will assign the paper for your first presentation and you will select the papers for the second and third presentations based upon your interests and your final project topic. Information on the length, format and grading of these presentations will be provided prior to the first presentation.

Framework Presentations

You will give one presentation on a software framework for performing Artificial Life experiments. You will be assigned a framework to study during the first week of the course. Immediately following Spring Break you will present this framework to the class, describing its features, demonstrating its use and highlighting the types of experiments that can be done with it. More information on the length, format and grading of this presentation will be provided prior to the presentation.

Final Project Report

This course culminates with a final project of your own design. Project may be completed individually or in groups of 2. You will design and complete this project following Spring Break. However, you should begin thinking about project topics immediately. On the date of the final exam, you will submit a paper fully describing the project. As that time approaches, more information will be provided on the content and format of the paper.

Cheating and Plagiarism

This class follows the definition of cheating and plagiarism as described in the Dickinson College Community Standards. In addition to that definition I would like to make several clear statements about what is permissible collaboration in this class and what is not.

• You may discuss the homework assignments and your ideas for solving the problems. However, after your discussions you must write your own solutions. Whatever you hand in must be your work and only your work! To be safe I suggest that you do not write anything down while discussing assignments or ideas with others. Then following your discussion sit down by yourself and write up your own solution. If you are unable to reconstruct the idea for yourself then you do not fully understand it!
• If you are completing the homework in a group of two you are expected to fully collaborate with the other member of your own group. You may discuss the assignment and your general ideas with other groups. However, under no circumstances may you show members of other groups your work or discuss its details. This includes but is not limited to diagrams, text, descriptions, code or even scratch paper.
• You are also responsible for taking reasonable precautions to ensure that no one copies your work. This includes using the paper shredder in the lab to shred old printouts. Do not simply discard your old printouts in the recycling bin or the trash.
• You may incorporate any code that appears in the text or on the class web site into your solutions. When you do so you must indicate the code that was copied and where it was copied from (page # or URL). Under no circumstances may you use code written by a current or previous student, code from another text, another instructor, a friend, a relative or downloaded from the Internet.

Got the idea? Do your own work and do it honestly! If there is ever any question about whether what you are doing is permitted then most likely it is not! Please ask for clarification on any issues related to this policy before it becomes an issue!

Late Work Policy

Absolutely no late work will be accepted!

However, since I am not a complete tyrant, I am implementing what I call the "NEET" late policy. NEET stands for "No Excuse Extension Time" and you can use it to extend any due dates you choose. The rules of NEET are as follows:

• Each of you will receive 2 days worth of NEET.
• NEET can be used only in full day chunks.
• So if your assignment is 1 hour late you just burnt one full day of NEET.
• NEET may be applied to (almost) any assignment.
  The only assignments that NEET may not be applied to are in class exams, the final exam, in class presentations, and any assignment due on the last day of finals week.
• Using NEET on a group deadline costs each member of the group the same amount of NEET.
  So if your project is a day late every member of your group uses 1 day of NEET. If a member of your group doesn't have any NEET left and the deadline is missed that member will not receive any credit.
• Use your NEET wisely.
  No other extensions will be granted without an act of your respective deity. I recommend saving them for emergency use.

Any assignments handed in late must be given to me in person so that I may account for your NEET.

Accommodations for Disabilities

In compliance with the Dickinson College policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that may be recommended for students with disabilities. Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester (except for unusual circumstances) so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Students are required to register with Academic Resource Services in the Advising Office located on the first floor of Biddle House (contact ext. 1080 or waybranj@dickinson.edu) to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations.