Courses and Schedule

Do you have experience with robotics and want to take your skills to the next level? You will be challenged throughout this course to design, build, and control a walking quadrupedal robot of your own creation! 

Project Highlights:

• Learn how to sketch like an engineer and turn your sketches into computerized 3D models.
• Bring your 3D-modeled robot into the real world using 3D printing.
• Attach motors to it and program it using the Arduino programming language.
• Code in different walking motions as your robot explores the world.

Broadly, the course serves as a high-level overview to introduce students to the wide range of modern legged robotics.

Have you ever broken a bone and received an x-ray, a cast, and a pair of crutches at the doctor’s office? Have you ever been tested for COVID before traveling or visiting friends and loved ones? Perhaps someone you know relies on a medical device such as an insulin pump or a pacemaker to keep them alive? You can thank biomedical engineers for all of these technologies and so much more!

Project Highlights:

• Hands-on laboratory exercise in different areas of biomedical engineering (BME), such as biomechanics, bioinstrumentation, and medical imaging.
• Explore the engineering design process and various rapid prototyping techniques (3D printing, laser engraving, etc.)
• Construct your very own biomedical device.

In this course, students will be introduced to computer science and programming concepts using Python. Students will build problem-solving skills to think like a computer scientist, developed computational solutions, and implemented applications in Python. Students will work in groups to design a Minesweeper game, leveraging many of the topics learned in the course.

The course will cover the following topics:

• Variables and control structures (if statements, loops)

• Basic data types and data structures: integers, booleans, floats, strings, lists, tuples, sets, dictionaries.

• Functions, procedures, calls, parameters, arguments, return values, recursion. 

• An introduction to object oriented programming: classes, instances, objects, attributes, methods, instance variables.

• Working with files. 

• Graphical user interfaces (GUI).

• Understanding and fixing programming errors and dealing with exceptions.

• Fundamental algorithms such as linear and binary search.

• Solving problems using algorithmic thinking. 

• Basic algorithm design and analysis. 

• Additional topics such as an introduction to Machine Learning and Web Development may be covered based on student interest. 

A world with cleaner energy, greener infrastructure, and renewable resources is attainable in the near future! In this course, you will be introduced to a typology of problems by context and common frameworks for addressing them through the application of appropriate technology and policy. You will work in groups to design and present a poster detailing your findings.

Project Highlights:

• Overview of sustainable development challenges and possible solutions
• Indicators of sustainability
• Life Cycle and Supply Chain Analysis
• Sustainable Energy Systems and Electrification
• Renewable Energy and Alternative fuels
• Circular Economy and Sustainable Waste Management
• Water treatment
• Transport
• The role of Industry 4.0 in achieving sustainable solutions
• Economics of sustainability and public policy

Welcome to a journey where math meets real-world problems! In this course, we'll explore how the superpowers of mathematics and logical thinking can be used to solve big societal issues. (no math wizardry required) 

Project Highlights:

• Learn to use tools like optimization (finding the best solution), simulation (testing out different scenarios), and data analysis (making sense of lots of complex information) to make a real difference. 
• Explore potential improvements in healthcare, education, and city planning.
• Build projects using numbers and math to make a difference, one smart decision at a time!

Ever wondered how sunlight can power our world? In this course, you will explore elements of electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering, all supporting the engineering of solar energy systems. Join us for a high-voltage adventure into the world of solar energy!  

Project Highlights:

• Design and build your very own solar oven to bake delicious treats.
• Investigate two kinds of solar energy: photovoltaic (conversion of solar energy to electrical form) and solar thermal (direct use of solar energy). 
• Learn the basics of electricity and solar cells while creating a solar array.
• Work with Arduino to create digital circuits and program sensors.
• Simulate a voting machine and understand how technology shapes the world.

Join us if you want to be a part of the league of problem solvers and innovators who tackle global challenges using skills in chemical engineering! This course offers an overview of what chemical engineers do and the ways chemical engineers think. It describes the roles chemical engineers serve across industries to develop quantitative solutions to process problems using material balance strategies.

Project Highlights:

• Discover the unique role of chemical engineers in creating cutting-edge projects
• Explore chemical reactions and their use in optimizing chemical processes.
• Learn to use approaches for evaluating chemical processes and bacterial balances and their application to process flow calculations.
• Take on real chemical engineering projects to combat health, energy, and environmental challenges.

*Students applying to this course must have completed high school Chemistry before taking this course. If this does not reflect on your transcript, please include it in your resume.

Unleash the power of data and become a data-driven decision maker! In this course, you will explore three perspectives of data science: inferential thinking, computational thinking, and real-world applications. You will experience the entire process like a real data scientist, from collecting and analyzing relevant data, to drawing conclusions and providing recommendations. 

Project Highlights:

• Understand fundamental statistical theories and their applications
• Use computer programming to conduct computation, data manipulation, data visualization, and data analysis.
• Have the ability to examine a dataset, ask interesting questions, and use data science knowledge to provide solutions.

This course introduces students to healthcare systems through the lens of industrial engineering and operations research. Students will explore how machine learning, optimization, and facility planning can improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. Through hands-on projects, students will apply these tools to real-world challenges such as: radiation treatment planning, hospital readmission prediction, ambulance allocation, and facility design. Students will develop technical and analytical skills to approach complex healthcare problems using data-driven methods.
 

Recommended Background: Familiarity with basic algebra and programming concepts (Python experience is helpful but not required).

Intro to Data Structures and Algorithms is geared for students who are already familiar with programming and ready to build upon their pre-existing knowledge. This three-week program is loaded with accelerated modules in this core area of computer science, providing students with skills that will set them ahead of their peers.

Data structures and algorithms form the basis of computer science. A data structure is a way to store data in the computer’s memory. An algorithm is an unambiguous sequence of steps used to solve a problem. Bill Gates once said,

“The computer was born to solve problems that did not exist before.”

Leveraging knowledge of data structures and algorithms, computer scientists and software engineers write elegant, efficient programs to solve problems. Would you use an algorithm that takes 3 seconds to sort 50,000 numbers when there exists another algorithm that can achieve the same result in less than 1 millisecond?!? This course affords students the opportunity to learn how to solve a wide range of problems and analyze the complexity of their solutions. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• analysis of algorithms with big-O, Theta, and Omega notations

• searching

• recursion

• lists

• stacks

• queues

• trees

• sorting

• graph algorithms

• dynamic programming

Students are expected to use the Python programming language to implement their solutions to the assigned problems. By the end of the program, students will have worked in teams during the lab sessions to solve a problem of their choice on one of the online judges, such as HackerRank, SPOJ, and URI Online Judge, which have become prevalent in technical interviews.  The team will present the problem and their approach to the class so that all can benefit from the collective study.

Unlock the secrets behind ChatGPT, Netflix recommendations, and facial recognition! This course transforms you from an AI user into an AI creator through hands-on coding projects that bring intelligent systems to life. Your AI journey starts here, at Columbia Engineering.

Course Highlights:

• Learn about intelligent agents that sense their environment, reason, and make decisions
• Train decision trees and neural networks to recognize patterns and make predictions with real data
• Uncover and fix AI bias through interactive experiments in fairness and ethics
• Master Python programming with interactive notebooks, visualizations, and sandboxes
• Hear from industry experts in special guest lectures on cutting-edge topics like Mechanistic Interpretability and AI agents
• Design your own AI project in computer vision, large language models, or another AI domain of your choice

What You'll Learn:

Starting with AI foundations and building up to cutting-edge large language models, you'll explore the complete AI landscape. From logical reasoning systems to deep learning networks, you'll understand not just what AI does, but how it works. Through hands-on coding, you'll build a portfolio of mini-projects showcasing decision trees, K-means clustering, and neural networks, and you'll also gain insider perspectives from AI researchers and practitioners working at the forefront of the field. The course culminates in an AI project where you'll apply what you've learned to create something uniquely yours, whether that's an image classifier, a sentiment analyzer, a custom chatbot, or an innovative application you design from scratch. Throughout, you'll engage with critical discussions on AI ethics, bias, and societal impact.

No prior programming experience required - just curiosity, creativity, and readiness to dive deep into AI!

Course delivered in partnership with Aiphabet (https://www.aiphabet.org/), a non-profit organization dedicated to AI literacy.