S.03-48

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

To: ?

Senate

From: ?

Allan MacKinnon, Chair

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

Subject: ?

Faculty of Science

(SCUS reference 03-5b)

Date: ?

March 19, 2003 ?

kaa^gx"

Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies at its meeting of March

18, 2003 gives rise to the following motion:

. MOTION

That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of Governors the Joint Major in

Molecular Biology and Computing Science, as set forth in S. 03-48 , effective 2003-3."

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. ?

Proposal for a B.Sc. Joint Major in

Computing Science, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry ?

Fiona Brinkman, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University

June 21, 2002 - revised July 29, 2002— revised September 28, 2002— revised October 4, 2002—

?

revised October

25,

2002 - revised (change ofPHILOO1 to PHIL 100) November

25,

2002.

Executive Summary

A joint major in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MBB) and Computing Science (CS) is

proposed (B.Sc.) that would provide high quality education to students in B.C. who are interested

in bioinformatics and related computational and biological disciplines. This undergraduate

program has the capacity to attract very high calibre students, fill a void in undergraduate training

in B.C., and capitalize on the high number of researchers at SFU who have an interest or

experience in bioinformatics and related disciplines. The program should be relatively easy to

initiate as it involves the development of only one new course in CS (that can be based on

curricula already developed for an equivalent graduate course) and may capitalize on the

previously successful development of a joint major in CS and Business and another joint major in

MBB and Business. An anticipated maximum of 25 students in the program per year is proposed

and students who would choose whether they wish to have their primary registration though the

. ?

Faculty of Science or Faculty of Applied Science (similar to another joint-faculty program

involving the Faculty of Applied Science). This program will provide a superior quality education

to those students who are currently trying to develop such programs themselves using combined

college and university courses, and will provide students with a base education in the CS and

MBB fields that will be stronger than many currently existing bioinformatics programs in Canada.

The joint major, with its focus on broad based education early in the program will give students

added flexibility by making it easier for them to later enter more CS-oriented or MBB-oriented

career paths if desired. The program will provide highly trained students suitable for entry into the

SFU-UBC Graduate Bioinformatics Program that was recently fUnded, and it will also provide a

source of much needed bioinformaticists for the biotech industry and government-funded genetic

research initiatives. This program represents the first undergraduate program in B.C. that provides

training suitable for a bioinformatics career.

Background

The biological sciences are generating enormous amounts of data, particularly with regard to the

study of gene and protein data, the human genome, and other genome-based analyses. Gene

databases have been increasing exponentially for more than a decade and are forecast to continue

to do so as we gain more insight into the diversity of life on earth. Large projects involving the 3D

modeling of protein structures are being performed and complex regulatory networks present in

life are being uncovered. In such a climate, the field of bioinformatics was initiated, which is

.

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loosely defined as the intersection between the computer science and the study of biological

macromolecules. This field endeavours to develop novel computational approaches/algorithms, or

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perform computational analyses using existing methods, to study this biological data. Researchers

in this field are in high demand, due to the large influx of data, the need to develop novel methods

for visualization of the data, the need for new data mining approaches, and the need for other

novel algorithms for analysis. This demand for bioinformaticists includes both those focusing on

biological analysis using existing computational methods, as well as those focusing on

development of new computational approaches.

As an indication of the demand for bioinformaticists and the need for newly trained

department. Approximately double the number of students who could get into the course for the

. ?

2002-2 term signed up on a waiting list for entry. This course was then immediately offered in the

following 2002-3 term, however the demand was still high and more than double the number of

students accepted into the course signed up on a waiting list. Therefore, I propose that now is the

time for an undergraduate program suitable for Bioinformatics training at SFU.

The strong and growing bioinforniatics industry, coupled with our need for suitably trained

students for the SFU-UBC Bioinformatics graduate program, makes a bioinformatics

undergraduate program a must for B.C.. The need for such a program is further evident by the

notable number of SFU MBB students who are currently taking courses at BCIT to supplement a

degree in the biological sciences in order to get what (they hope) is bioinformatics training. This is

not acceptable, as we should be providing our students with university-level training that provides

them with a good education in the CS and MBB fields, coupled with bioinformatics-specific

courses. Thankfully, there are courses already existing at SFU that are appropriate for such a

program.

Why a joint major in Cs and MBB, rather than a "Bioinformatics" degree?

Ajoint major in CS and MBB is proposed, since this will allow students to continue to "keep

doors open" at the undergraduate level, should they decide later that they wish to pursue a career

more directed toward either CS or MBB fields. It is felt that an undergraduate degree with the

name "bioinformatics" is simply too narrow at this stage of their career - a time when they should

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be getting a base education in the basic and applied sciences and getting a better feel for what their

interests are. Curriculum proposed in the Canadian Bioinformatics White Paper is very close to

being a joint major, reflecting the large body of knowledge required by a bioinformaticist working

in an interdisciplinary field. It therefore seems appropriate to give students credit for all this work,

by requiring courses suitable to give them a joint major degree.

It is proposed that such a joint major program will be attractive to very high calibre students,

because of its ability to keep their options open (verses programs more focused on bioinformatics,

or just MBB or just CS), and because the field of bioinformatics, the biotech industry, and

computing fields are currently very attractive to students in general. This program would be aimed

at such high calibre students.

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Career options for a student graduating with a joint major in CS and

MBB

As indicated above, one attraction of such a program may be its ability make student eligible for a

wide variety of career options. Career options include, but are definitely not limited to:

- Bioinformaticist or Computational

Biologist*

in a Medical, Agricultural or Aquacultural

Biotech company

- Bioinformaticist or Computational Biologist in a Genome Sequencing Centre, Functional

Genomics Centre, or equivalent (for example, the BC Genome Sciences Centre).

- Bioinformatics/Computational Biology technician in an academic research group

- Bioinformaticist or Computational Biologist in a government laboratory (clinical diagnostic,

environmental, etc.) or government research group

- Medical Informaticist in a Government Laboratory

- Computer Scientist or Technician in a Biotech company, Government Laboratory, etc.

- Laboratory Research Technician in a Biotech company, Government Laboratory, Private

Clinical Laboratory, Academic Research group, etc.

Subsequent graduate training in Bioinformatics, Computing Science, or a Biological discipline

can, of course, lead to a number of further career options.

* "Computational Biologist" is a term increasingly used to describe bioinformaticians that focus more on development

of new algorithms and other computional approaches relevant to the study of a biological problem.

"Bioinformaticists" is a term being increasingly used to refer to Bioinformaticians as a group, or specifically those

who are using existing bioinformatics approaches to perform and interpret new analyses relevant to a given biological

problem. In other words, Computional Biologists often have a stronger computing science expertise, while

Bioinformaticists may have a stronger biological knowledge. Of course, there are a number of bioinformaticians who

are at a mid point for this spectrum, but many research and diagnostic groups find they need to hire people at either

end of this multidisciplinary spectrum.

Some logistics regarding program development

In addition to proposing a program that would be of interest to very high calibre students, this

proposal has the added benefit that it would be fairly easy to initiate and, based on an initial

outline, involves the generation of only one undergraduate course from an existing graduate course

(the CMPT 881 - Computational Molecular Biology course, offered by Arvind Gupta in CS).

There is a wealth of researchers at SFU with an interest in bioinformatics that we can capitalize on,

including myself, Frederic Pio, David Baillie and others of MBB, Arvind Gupta, Martin Ester, Ke

Wang, and others of CS, Brad McNeney, Jinko Graham and others of Statistics, and researchers in

other departments like Biological Sciences and Information Technology. Such researchers have

already developed courses that would be suitable for inclusion into the program. This program

may also capitalize on the previous development of joint majors between CS and Business, as well

as another joint major between MBB and Business. As a result, the core courses required for a

major in CS and MBB have already been determined (though some modification is necessary to

reflect the discipline differences and the amount of course load). The program would also benefit

from the fact that there are courses being generated, or already existing, for the SFU-UBC

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graduate bioinformatics program who's curricula may be suitable as future upper level

S ?

undergraduate courses (e.g. Problem-Based Learning in Bioinformatics, Statistics for

Bioinformatics). Arvind Gupta and I have had a number of discussions about the program, the CS

department set up a small committee for the development of this program, and I have been leading

efforts for this undergraduate program development from the MBB department, as necessary.

Note that the course load for this program is high, but this reflects the significant amount of

knowledge that students must gain if they wish to have a solid base of training in MBB and CS.

Many students are already essentially trying to do the same program, by completing both a major

in a biological science, and then completing another Bachelor's degree in the computational

sciences. So it appears that there are students willing to take on such a course load. I propose that

we can greatly aid such students by providing them with a program that will allow them to pursue

such training over a much shorter time scale (versus subsequent Bachelor's degrees, or a double

major). Again, we will also help provide students with a higher calibre education, for those who

are supplementing their university degree with college courses.

The initiatives mentioned above, as well as other initiatives that are taking place in Bioinformatics

in B.C. (for example, proposals for a new Bioinformatics NCE "CBIN", a B.C. node for the

Canadian Bioinformatics Resource, to be centred at SFU, and a new Bioinformatics Centre at

UBC), will hopefully enable us to attract the best students into this B.C. program, and provide a

wealth of students for potential entry into the graduate program.

S

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Program Administration

This program would be novel, in the sense that it must be administered in a truly collaborative

manner between the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Applied Science. However there is some

precedent for this as the Faculty of Applied Science is currently involved in other programs that

involve more than one faculty. It is proposed that this joint CS-MBB program follow a similar

model, in that the student decides whether they wish to register through the Faculty of Applied

Science CS department, or register through the Faculty of Science MBB department. A committee

comprising two representatives from both the MBB and CS departments would oversee the

program and aspects of admissions, ensuring an appropriate maximum (and minimum, if

necessary) allocation of students to the two faculties and ensuring that the same qualifications for

admissions were adhered to for all admitted students. Admissions qualifications would always

meet or exceed the minimum requirements for admission into both CS and MBB. This currently

translates into particular course requirements (from MBB) and GPA requirements (from CS) that

are above the minimal requirements for admission into either the MBB or CS program separately.

The maximum number of students entering the program each year is proposed to be

25,

with a

smaller number (12) proposed for the first year the program operates. Students in other programs

(particularly CS and MBB) would have the option to transfer into this program after l year, as

long as they meet very strict specified academic requirements. All students, regardless of whether

their primary association is with the Faculty of Science, or with the Faculty of Applied Science,

would all have the same course requirements and would all graduate with a B.Sc., Joint Major in

Computing Science, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. To my knowledge, this represents the

first such joint major program of its kind in Canada.

Requirements to mount a Joint Major in CS and MBB at SFU

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• Establishment of an undergraduate coordinating committee between Computing Science and

the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, comprising two representatives from

each department.

• Determination of entrance requirements for this program. It is proposed that students be

accepted directly into the Joint Majors program from high school, meeting both MBB and CS

admissions requirements, with an option for students already registered at SFU to transfer to

the program, as long as they follow strict qualification criteria upon review by the

Coordinating Committee. The Coordinating Committee will screen all applicants and set the

level and number of admissions per year. Initially, the number of students admitted will be

limited to 12, with an anticipated maximum number admitted of

25

per year in future years.

• Innovation of one new course CMPT 3XX (3-1-0). Introduction to Computational Biology. A

graduate course already offered in CS, "CMPT 881 - Computational Molecular Biology"

would be used as the platform for development of a very similar curricula for this course

(http :I/wivw.cs.sfu.caIgradpgmJOutlines/2002-3ICMPT-88

1 -Gupta-02-3 .txt).

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Proposal for a Joint Major in Computing Science and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry:

Proposed Course requirements

-

An approximately equal number of credits are MBB and CS-associated

(74

cr MBB vs. 73 cr CS)

- Recently introduced specifications for satisfying an Arts/Breadth Requirement are included, with the

understanding that the requirement guidelines allow joint majors to opt out of the

full 12

credit requirement,

if there is little room. We propose we have a case for this and we propose that the number of credits

indicated is acceptable for a such a "filled to capacity" joint major program.

- Note that if the student has former high school CS training, and so can take

CMPT 104-2,

the program is

120

total credits. If not,

CMPT 101-4

must be taken, resulting in a total of

122

credits.

- Though the required course load for this program is high, note that there is considerable choice for what

may be taken for

7

courses

(21

credits) in the program

a) Proposed Lower Division Requirements (72 credits - or 74 credits if CMPT 101 is taken)

Note: Lower division courses will take a little over (by

3

courses) 2 years to complete.

For both majors:

MATH 151-3 - Calculus I

MATH 152-3 - Calculus II

STAT 270-3 Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Arts Requirement:

PHIL 100-3 - Knowledge and Reality

LIB ARTS - Liberal Arts course requirement

(plus proposed "Social Implications of a Computerized Society" course listed in upper division)

For MBB major:

Basic Science:

BISC 101-4 - Intro Biology I

BISC 102-4 - Intro Biology II

CHEM 121-4 - General Chem & Lab I

CHEM 122-2 - General Chem II & Lab II

CHEM 281-4 - Organic Chem

CHEM 282-2 - Organic Chem II (not required to take accompanying lab)

PHYS 101-3

-

General Physics I OR 120-3

-

Modern Physics and Mechanics

PHYS 102-3

-

General Physics II OR 121-3 - Optics, Electricity and Magnetism

MBB:

BISC 202-3 - Genetics

MBB 22 1-3 - Cell Biology and Biochemistry

MBB 222-3 - Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

For CS major:

CMPT 104-2 -Computer Programming OR CMPT 101-4 - Intro to Computer Programming

CMPT 201-4 - Data and Program Abstraction

CMPT 275-4 - Software Engineering

CMPT 150-3 - Introduction to Computer Design

MACM 101-3 - Discrete Mathematics I

.

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MACM 20 1-3 -Discrete Mathematics II

MATH 232-3 - Elementary Linear Algebra

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b) Proposed Upper Division Requirements (48 credits)

For both majors:

STAT 302-3 - Analysis of Experimental and Observational Data

For MBB major:

BISC 33 1-3 - Molecular Biology

MBB

3

08-3 - Molecular Biology and Biochem Lab I

MBB

321-3 -

Intermediary Metabolism

E increased bioinformatics lab component for all

students currently being created

MBB 441-3 - Bioinformatics

plus at least two other fourth year-level courses, with a particular emphasis on suggesting that they

consider taking:

MBB 43

5-3 -

Genomic Analysis

MBB

423-3 -

Protein Structure & Function

MBB 442-3 - Proteomics

For CS major:

CMPT 3xx-3: Introduction to computational biology

(course to be created— currently a

graduate course only)

CMPT 307-3 - Data Structures and Algorithms

CMPT 3

54- 3

-

Database Systems and Structures

MACM 316-3 - Numerical analysis

CMPT 320-3 - Social Implications of a Computerized Society

(It is proposed that this societal,

essay-based course may fulfill 3 credits of an Arts requirement)

plus two courses from:

CMPT 300-3 - Operating Systems

CMPT 305-3 - Computer Simulation and Modeling

CMPT 310-3 - Artificial Intelligence Survey

CMPT 340-3 - Computers in Biomedicine

CMPT 36 1-3 - Introduction to Computer Graphics

CMPT 363-3 - User Interface Design

plus at least two fourth year level courses, with two of the following suggested:

CMPT 40

5- 3

- Design and Analysis of Computing Algorithms

CMPT 413-3 - Computational Linguistics

CMPT 419-3 - Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence

CMPT 454-3 - Database Systems II

39 courses - 120

credits total

(122

credits total

if

take CMPTJO1 instead of

CMP Ti 04)

Co-op is encouraged

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Proposed program - term by term breakdown -

an example

According to all current information, there are no course time conflicts involving any of the courses as

listed below and all course prerequisites and co-requisites are fulfilled.

Remember, this is only an example,

and a number of other choices are possible, including involving summer terms.

Courses with square

brackets around them reflect example choices for 7 of the courses, for which a number of options are

possible. Of course, a student may slant their program slightly to reflect their interests when choosing such

courses.

Term 1—Fall of Year 1

CMPT 104-2 - Computer Programming

MATH 151-3 - Calculus I

BISC 101-4 - Intro Biology I

CHEM 121-4 - General Chem & Lab I

PHYS 120-3 - Modern Physics and Mechanics

Term 2— Spring of Year 1

CMPT

150-3 -

Introduction to Computer Design

MACM 101-3 - Discrete Mathematics I

BISC 102-4 - Intro Biology II

CHEM 122-2 - General Chem II & Lab II

PHYS 121-3 - Optics, Electricity and Magnetism

•

Term 3— Fall of Year 2

CMPT 201-4 - Data and Program Abstraction

PHIL 100-3 - Knowledge and Reality

MATH 152-3 - Calculus II

MBB 221 -3 - Cell Biology and Biochemistry

CHEM 281-4 - Organic Chem

Term 4— Spring of Year 2

CMPT 275-4 - Software Engineering

MACM 20 1-3 - Discrete Mathematics II

MATH 232-3 - Elementary Linear Algebra

MBB 222-3 - Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

CHEM 282-2 - Organic Chem II (not required to take accompanying lab)

End of lower division courses

Term 5— Fall of Year 3

(except Liberal Arts course taken in

STAT 270-3 Introduction to Probability and Statistics

I later term)

BISC 202-3 - Genetics

MBB

CMPT

32

354-3

1-3 -

-

Intermediary

Database Systems

Metabolismand

Structures

I

I

Start of upper division courses

MACM 316-3 - Numerical analysis

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10

Term 6— Spring of Year 3

CMPT 307-3 - Data Structures and Algorithms

CMPT

3xx-3 -

Introduction to computational biology

(to be created - currently grad course)

BISC 331-3 - Molecular Biology

[CMPT 310-3 - Artificial Intelligence Survey]

[LING 220-3 - Introduction to Linguistics (satisfies a Liberal Arts requirement)]

Term 7— Fall of Year 4

MBB 308-3 - Molecular Biology and Biochem Lab I

MBB 441-3 - Bioinformatics

STAT 302-3 - Analysis of Experimental and Observational Data

[CMPT 40

5-3 -

Design and Analysis of Computing Algorithms]

[CMPT 300-3 - Operating Systems]

Term 8— Spring of Year 4

CMPT 320-3 - Social Implications of a Computerized Society

[MBB 435-3 - Genomic Analysis]

[MBB 423-3 - Proteomics]

[CMPT 454-3 - Database Systems II]

For this example: 120 credits

L

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Calendar Language for a B.Sc. Joint Major in Computing Science, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

?

3/19/03 10:16 AM

CA.SFU.FAS.UCC/Papers:2003-10

• Calendar Language for a B.Sc. Joint Major in

Computing Science, Molecular Biology and

Biochemistry

Robert D. Cameron

February 11, 2003

The Proposal for a B.Sc. Joint Major in Computing Science, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, published a FAS

UCC Paper 2002-14 has been approved in principle by the FAS UCC, subject to agreement on revised

administrative structure, minor curriculum revisions, and development of a complete and correct calendar

description. This document provides proposed calendar text and revisions to resolve these issues. Specifically, the

following items are included.

• The administrative structure is simplified to make the Faculty of Science the home faculty for the purposes of

student admission, registration, appeals and graduation processing.

• A program director is appointed for alternating two-year terms from Computing Science and Molecular

Biology and Biochemistry, respectively.

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. The Liberal Arts Requirement is made concrete by using the list of first year Arts courses used by Computing

Science for its social science requirement.

• The course CMPT 341 is introduced in place of CMPT 3xx in the upper division requirements.

• Wording referring to requirements for "both majors," the "MBB major" and the "CMPT major" is corrected.

• Correct course titles are used throughout.

Calendar Text - Faculty of Science Entry

The following text is proposed to be placed in the

Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

section

under

Faculty of Science.

Joint Major in Computing Science and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

The School of Computing Science and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

cooperate in offering this Joint Major program. The administrative home is within the Faculty of

Science for purposes of student registration, appeals and graduation processing.

The program is administered by a coordinating committee consisting of two faculty members each

from the School of Computing Science and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

The chair of this committee serves as program director. Two-year appointments as chair are made on

an alternating basis between representatives from the two units.

•

Program requirements below include sections labelled MBB Requirements and CMPT Requirements.

The requirements under these sections are intended to track corresponding requirements within the

MBB and CMPT Major programs, respectively.

Calendar Language for a B.Sc. Joint Major in Computing Science, Molecular Biology

and

Biochemistry

?

3/19/03 10:16 AM

Lower Division Requirements

(72 credits - or 74 credits if CMPT 101 is taken)

• MATH 151-3 Calculus I

• MATH 152-3 Calculus II

• STAT 270-3 Introduction to Probability and Statistics

• PHIL 100-3 Knowledge and Reality

• One additional arts course chosen from ARCH 105, CMNS 110, 130, CNS 160, CRIM 101,

ECON 103, 105, HIST 106, POL 100, PSYC 100, REM 100, SA 101, 150, WS 101.

• PHYS 101-3 General Physics I OR PHYS 120-3 Modern Physics and Mechanics

• PHYS 102-3 General Physics II OR PHYS 121-3 Optics, Electricity and Magnetism

MBB Requirements

• BISC 101-4 General Biology

• BISC 102-4 General Biology

• BISC 202-3 Genetics

• CHEM 121-4 General Chemistry and Laboratory I

• CHEM 122-2 General Chemistry and Laboratoryll

• CHEM 281-4 Organic Chemistry I

• CHEM 282-2 Organic Chemistry II

• MBB 221-3 Cell Biology and Biochemistry

• MBB 222-3 Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

CMPT Requirements

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0

• CMPT 104-2 Computer Programming OR CMPT 101-4 Introduction to Computer Programming

• CMPT 150-3 Introduction to Computer Design

• CMPT 201-4 Data and Program Abstraction

• CMPT 275-4 Software Engineering

• MACM 101-3 Discrete Mathematics I

• MACM 201-3 Discrete Mathematics II

• MATH 232-3 Elementary Linear Algebra

Upper Division Requirements

(48 credits)

• STAT 302-3 - Analysis of Experimental and Observational Data

MBB Requirements

• BISC 331-3 Molecular Biology

• MBB 308-3 Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Laboratory I

• MBB 321-3 Intermediary Metabolism

• MBB 441-3 Bioinformatics

plus at least

two

additional 400-level MBB courses, with the following suggested:

?

Calendar Language for a B.Sc. Joint Major in Computing Science, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

?

3119/03 10:16 AM

• MBB 423-3 Protein Structure and Function

• MBB 435-3 Genomic Analysis

• MBB 442-3 Proteomics

CMPT Requirements

• CMPT 307-3 Data Structures and Algorithms

• CMPT 341-3 Introduction to Computational Biology

• CMPT 354-3 Database Systems and Structures

• MACM 316-3 Numerical analysis

• CMPT 320-3 Social Implications of a Computerized Society

plus two courses from:

• CMPT 300-3 Operating Systems

• CMPT 305-3 Computer Simulation and Modeling

• CMPT 310-3 Artificial Intelligence Survey

• CMPT 340-3 Computers in Biomedicine

• CMPT 361-3 Introduction to Computer Graphics

• CMPT 363-3 User Interface Design

plus at least two 400-level CMPT courses, with the following suggested:

• CMPT 405-3 Design and Analysis of Computing Algorithms

.

• CMPT 413-3 Computational Linguistics

• CMPT419-3 Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence

• CMPT 454-3 Database Systems Il

Students are encouraged to enrol in the Cooperative Education program.

Calendar Text - Faculty of Applied Sciences Entry

The following text is proposed to be placed in the

School of Computing Science

section under

Faculty ofApplied

Sciences.

Joint Major in Computing Science and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

The School of Computing Science and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

cooperate in offering this joint major. See the entry within the

Department of Molecular Biology and

Biochemistry

section under the

Faculty of Science.

SCUS

03-5

b)

TO: ?

SCUS ?

(March 6, 2003 revision)

FROM: Barry Honda, MBB DUCC

RE:

?

The proposal for a joint major in MBB/CS

DATE: March 6,

200-3.

Dear Colleagues,

First of all, on behalf of Arvind Gupta and Fiona Brinkman, I would like to thank

you for the time and attention you have put into suggesting improvements to our

proposal. I am also grateful to Rolf Mathewes and Rob Cameron, for their advice that

we present you with a memorandum to attempt to address your comments and concerns,

rather than change the original document. Their rationale for suggesting this is a

practical one-- Dr. Brinkman, the principal author, is currently on maternity leave and not

available.

1.

The proposal was approved by both faculties, subject to "fine-tuning" if necessary to

revise administrative structure, make minor curriculum revisions, and develop a complete

and correct calendar description language. We thank SCUS and in particular Dr.

Cameron for providing the details necessary to move the proposal along (available at

htt2://fas.sfu.ca/uccfPapers/2003/2003-

10/2003-1 0.html).

2.

Re: breadth requirements, it was never the intention of this proposal to preempt the

university curriculum implementation process. Dr. Brinkman worked very hard to look

at how we could achieve compliance, but felt it necessary to comment on the potential

difficulties that such joint majors may face. Since the implementation phase of the

Krebs report on undergrad curricula at SFU is just beginning, we felt that final details

could be worked out in the process of reviews across departments and faculties. Drs.

Mathewes and Cameron therefore suggested that SCUS might be willing to accept the

current curriculum, with the implementation of university curriculum requirements as an

area for future work. Both Science and Applied Sciences are committed to participation

in the process, with the intention of satisfying the new policy guidelines, based on

upcoming discussions with implementation committees.

3.

Re: an honours program, our model for all of this was the MBB/Business joint major,

which was approved by SCUS as an innovative and visionary program, without an initial

honours program. I note that one is being developed now that the majors program is up

and running, and should be in place in time for the first cohort should they choose to take

this path. Thus we had hoped that this precedent would also be applied to this proposal.

We have the same plan for this program, but will need to so some work to decide on

curriculum details between the two departments, details which should certainly be in

place well before the first set of students will desire access to an honours degree.

A final comment: as noted above in #3, we have tried to closely follow the model

of the recently approved MBB/Business joint major, and we would hope that this

S

S

/L(

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provides a useful precedent in getting this program approved e.g. details such as being

sent to SCUP for information only, rather than consideration and approval.

Thank you again for your time and help with improving this curriculum and

program, which I believe can effectively put SFU on the bioinformatics map as the

premier institution in BC, and a leader in Canada.

Sincerely,

Lw,

Barry Honda

Chair, MBB DUCC

I