The SISTA curriculum consists of a set of core classes accessible to students in any discipline, as well as a number of thematic courses on topics, such as Sequences and Networks, that explores how a single, important theme in informatics plays out in several disciplines.  All courses are meant to explore and support the intersection of computing with other fields to prepare students to work across diciplinary boundaries.

ISTA 100 | Great Ideas of the Information Age 3 cr
Important ideas and applications of information science and technology in the sciences, humanities and arts. Information, entropy, coding; grammar and parsing; syntax and semantics; networks and relational representations; decision theory, game theory; and other great ideas form the intellectual...
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ISTA 116 | Statistical Foundations for the Information Age 3 cr
Understanding uncertainty and variation in modern data: data summarization and description, rules of counting and basic probability, data visualization, graphical data summaries, working with large data sets, prediction of stochastic outputs from quantitative inputs.  Operations with...
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ISTA 120 | Dealing with Data 4 cr
At the core of Information Science lies the digital data that is the object of study. This course aims to introduce the tools, techniques, and issues involved with the handling of this data: where it comes from, how to store and retrieve it, how to extract knowledge from the data via analysis, and...
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ISTA 130 | Computational Thinking and Doing (in Python) 4 cr
An introduction to computational techniques and using a modern programming language to solve current problems drawn from science, technology, and the arts. Topics include control structures, elementary data structures, and effective program design and implementation techniques. Weekly laboratory....
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ISTA 161 | Ethics in a Digital World 3 cr
This course explores the social, legal, and cultural fallout from the exponential explosion in communication, storage, and increasing uses of data and data production. In this class, we emphasize the opposing potentials of information technologies to make knowledge widely available and to distort...
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ISTA 230 | Introduction to Web Design and Development 3 cr
An introduction to web design and development, with an emphasis on client-side technologies. Topics include HTML, Cascading Style sheets (CSS), Java Script, and web design best practices. 
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ISTA 251 | Introduction to Game Design 3 cr
This course provides an introduction to game design and teaches students the fundamental concepts for creating games. Students will survey many different games, exploring the issues game designers face when designing games in different genres. Students will participate in a series of game design...
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ISTA 263 | Learning in the Information Age 3 cr
Students will study how digital technologies are changing how people learn, how technology-based learning supports new approaches to assessment, how theories of learning are being developed to support research in these emerging areas, and how research on human learning is informing the design of...
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ISTA 301 | Computing and the Arts 3 cr
This course examines the ways in which computing supports and facilitates the production and creation of art. The course will discuss how artists have used advances in technology and computing capacity to explore new ways of making art, and investigate the relationships between technical innovation...
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ISTA 302 | Technology of Sound 3 cr
This course will provide the student with the information and experience necessary for the creation and manipulation of digital audio. Students will have the opportunity to experience the music-making process with the technology tools and techniques that are common in both home and professional...
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ISTA 310 | Sequence Data: An Interdisciplinary Perspective 3 cr
Sequences are common representations in biology, music, linguistics, business and many other disciplines. The things we do with sequences -- searching them, cutting them up and reassembling them, aligning them, making predictions, detecting patterns and changes in their structures, and so on --...
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ISTA 311 | Foundations of Information and Inference 3 cr
In the information age, we are surrounded with data, much of which contains an element of randomness, or "noise". Taking advantage of the abundance of information requires the ability to make principled inferences and predictions under noisy conditions. A wide variety of inference and prediction...
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ISTA 316 | Introduction to Human Computer Interaction 3 cr
The field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) encompasses the design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive computing systems. This course will provide a survey of HCI theory and practice. The course will address the presentation of information and the design of interaction from a human-...
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ISTA 321 | Data Mining and Discovery 3 cr
This course will introduce students to the theory and practice of data mining for knowledge discovery.  This includes methods developed in the fields of statistics, large-scale data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence for automatic or semi-automatic analysis of large...
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ISTA 352 | Images: Past, Present, and Future 3 cr
A significant portion of the human brain is devoted to understanding spatial data and its relation to the world. Through the ages humans have naturally developed external representations of such information for communication, planning, understanding, and entertainment. Further, the digital age has...
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ISTA 370 | Research Methods for the Information Age 3 cr
For some reason, the methods and tools used by the natural sciences are not taught in the information sciences.   Consequently, information scientists are rarely good at designing experiments, making data give up its secrets, or quantifying their confidence in results.  This course is...
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ISTA 392 | Directed Research: iOS App Development for Citizen Science 3 cr
The course will cover software development for the Apple iOS platforms (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), with practical expeirence developing applications for Citizen Science projects. 
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ISTA 401/501 | Designing an Installation 3 cr
This course is a hands-on, project-based approach to understanding and designing art installations. Enrollees will learn principles, tools, and techniques of rapid prototyping and installation design, and will collaborate to design and implement a large-scale installation by the end of the semester...
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ISTA 410/510 | Bayesian Modeling and Inference 3 cr
Bayesian modeling and inference is a powerful modern approach to representing the statistics of the world, reasoning about the world in the face of uncertainty, and learning about it from data. It cleanly separates the notions of representation, reasoning, and learning. It provides a principled...
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ISTA 420/520 | Applied Cyberinfrastructure Concepts 3 cr
Working with “big data” is a common recurring theme across disciplines, the ability to efficiently transform data sets from their raw form into information and knowledge are essential phases in the discovery lifecycle. The ability to marshal computational resources and appropriate...
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ISTA 421/521 | Introduction to Machine Learning 3 cr
Machine learning describes the development of algorithms which can modify their internal parameters (i.e., learn) to recognize patterns and make decisions based on example data. These examples can be provided by a human, or they can be gathered automatically as part of the learning algorithm itself...
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ISTA 450/550 | Artificial Intelligence 3 cr
The methods and tools of Artificial Intelligence used to provide systems with the ability to autonomously problem solve and reason with uncertain information.  Topics include: problem solving (search spaces, uninformed and informed search, games, constraint satisfaction), principles of...
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ISTA 451/551 | Game Development 3 cr
This course provides an introduction to video game development. We will explore game design (not just computer games, but all games) and continue with an examination of game prototyping. Once we have working prototypes, we will continue with the development of a complete 2D computer game. The...
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ISTA 452/552 | Computer Vision A: Understanding Images and Video 3 cr
Image and video data is critical in the information age. Automated and user assisted manipulation, analysis, and interpretation of images is becoming increasingly important for many applications ranging from searching and browsing image databases to biomedical image analysis to robotics. Further,...
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ISTA 453/553 | Computer Vision B: Objects, Scenes, and Activities
Computer vision is about building computational systems that “see.” In particular, such systems should provide high level semantic representations of what is in the world and what is happening. This requires bringing high level knowledge to the task of understanding digital data. For...
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ISTA 454/554 | Informatics in Biology 3 cr
Analyze genomic sequences through understanding and using a variety of bioinformatics algorithms and software tools.  Interdisciplinary approach integrating informatics, statistics, and biology.
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ISTA 497A | Building Apps for the Racetack Industry 2 cr
This workshop course offers students the opportunity to develop games, QR codes, mobile apps and web apps to promote the $40 billion dollar horse-race industry.  Students will present their work at the annual Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming.  This course is offered in collaboration...
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