Many professional sports teams are using advanced analytics to improve performance, but what does “analytics” really mean? This course will introduce some topics in statistics and machine learning that are commonly used to help interpret sports datasets. We will primarily focus on football, and as a group, we will go through a series of activities to understand how an algorithm can be designed to help a coach make fourth down decisions (i.e. punt, kick, or go for it).

We will be learning the ifs, whiles, and fors of introductory python programming through building simple games. At the end of the class students will walk away with a game that they design and code themselves! This course will cover the material of an introductory programming class in the python programming language.

A long long time ago, ancient “snakes” used to have legs. Mutations, or mistakes, incorporated into the DNA of that species eventually led to the loss of its limbs. Most people think of “mutation” as a negative word and that’s for good reason … mutations are responsible for many diseases such as Cancer, Huntington’s and Cystic Fibrosis. But those mistakes are also responsible for all of the biological diversity in the world. Many mutations over many years can lead to enough changes that animals evolve into different species. This course will describe why mutations happen, detail how a series of mutations can potentially lead to the formation of new species, and discuss some of the technologies being used to screen for mutations and fight genetic diseases. I will cover basic topics related to biology, chemistry, and biotechnology, but no previous experience with any of these fields is required.