Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• MET CS 793: Special Topics in Computer Science
  Fall 2023 Topic: Generative AI
  
  This course focuses on recent advances in generative AI. It starts by reviewing statistics and regression models related to generative models, then common deep learning methods described. Later, models for designing new content, such as images, music, or text, will be explored, including GAN, VAE, Autoregressive and Diffusion Models. MLP, CNN, RNN, and Transformer models covered in CS 767 are reviewed. Students should be fluent in Python programming and CS 555 and CS 677
• MET CS 795: Directed Study
  Prereq: Consent of advisor. Requires prior approval of student-initiated proposal. Independent study on special projects under faculty guidance.
  
• MET CS 799: Advanced Cryptography
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (METCS789) or instructor's consent - This course builds on the material covered in CS 789 Cryptography. It begins with the coverage of commutative rings, finite fields, rings of polynomials, and finding of the greatest common divisor in the ring of polynomials. Irreducible polynomials are discussed. Field extensions and fields Fᴩ [x]/P are thoroughly covered. The main emphasis is put on elliptic curves over Fᴩ and F₂ and the ElGamal cipher on elliptic curves is presented. Block ciphers DES and double and triple DES are introduced. AES and WHIRLPOOL block ciphers and modes of operation are covered. The course continues with the introduction of message integrity and message authentication. In the last part of the course cryptographic hash functions SHA-512 and WHIRLPOOL as well as various digital signatures are introduced. Finally, entity authentication and key management issues are discussed. Prereq: MET CS 789; or instructor's consent.
• MET CS 810: Master's Thesis in Computer Science
  This thesis must be completed within 12 months. Students majoring in Computer Science may elect a thesis option. This option is available to Master of Science in Computer Science candidates who have completed at least seven courses toward their degree and have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. Students are responsible for finding a thesis advisor and a principal reader within the department. The advisor must be a full-time faculty member; the principal reader may be part-time faculty member with a doctorate. Permission must be obtained by the department. 4cr.
• MET CS 811: Master's Thesis in Computer Science
  This thesis must be completed within 12 months. Students majoring in Computer Science may elect a thesis option. This option is available to Master of Science in Computer Science candidates who have completed at least seven courses toward their degree and have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. Students are responsible for finding a thesis advisor and a principal reader within the department. The advisor must be a full-time faculty member; the principal reader may be part-time faculty member with a doctorate. Permission must be obtained by the department. 4cr.
• MET EC 101: Introductory Microeconomic Analysis
  One semester of a standard two-semester sequence for those considering further work in management or economics. Includes the economics of households, business firms, and markets; consumer behavior and the demand for commodities; production, costs, and the supply of commodities; price determination, competition, and monopoly; efficiency of resource allocation; market failures and governmental regulation; income distribution; and poverty. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
• MET EC 102: Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis
  One semester of a standard two-semester sequence for those considering further work in management and economics. Includes national economic performance; problems of recession, unemployment, inflation, and trade and budget deficits; money creation, government spending, and taxation; economic policies for full employment and price stability; and international trade and payments. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• MET EC 201: Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: or equivalent. MA121 Calc 1 or equivalent highly recommended. - Determination of commodity and factor prices under differing market conditions of competition and monopoly. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
  
  Prerequisite: MET EC101 (MA121 Calc 1 or equivalent highly recommended)
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Inquiry II
• MET EC 202: Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: MET EC 102 or Equivalent - Determination of aggregate income and employment. Analysis of fiscal and monetary policy. Inflation and income policy. Problems of the open economy. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Inquiry II
• MET EC 203: Empirical Economics I
  Statistical techniques are presented and applied to a variety of economics problems. Extensive use of the statistical software package STATA. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Quantitative Reasoning I.
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  • Quantitative Reasoning I
• MET EC 341: Monetary and Banking Institutions
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (METEC202) - Survey of commercial and central banking institutions. Examination of macro relations between financial organizations and principal objectives of stabilization policy. Recent monetary policy. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Inquiry I
• MET EC 391: International Economics I
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (METEC201) - The pure theory of international trade. Comparative advantage, gains from trade, and tariff and nontariff barriers to trade. Case studies in international economic policy.
• MET EN 104: English Composition
  This four-credit course (or a MET-approved equivalent) is required for all undergraduate degrees. EN 104 reinforces the communication skills necessary for college work, offering instruction and practice in the fundamentals of critical writing, reading, and thinking. Course requirements include frequent papers and individual conferences. Spring 2024: This semester's course topic will explore the rich history of Boston’s North End from its early settlement in 1630 into the present. We will examine the early development of the neighborhood in the context of Boston’s founding and expansion, as well as its wider national and international context. Topics will include a witchcraft case in the North End and its relationship to the later Salem witchcraft trials; the smallpox epidemic of 1721 and debates over vaccines; Paul Revere and revolutionary Boston; the rise of the Tudor family and the development of the ice trade; the Irish influx and the rise of urban politics; the North End’s Jewish history; and then the incoming of the Italians and their ongoing struggle to maintain a presence in the North End. Sub-topics will include post-World War II Italian immigration, urban decline, organized crime, drug violence, community organization, restaurant tourism, and gentrification. We will write response and analysis papers, summaries, and commentaries, and will work towards a final research paper. If possible, class will include a tour of the North End.
• MET EN 125: Readings in Modern Literature
  Representative fiction, poetry, and drama from modern Continental, British, and American writers. Primarily for students not concentrating in English.
• MET EN 127: Readings in American Literature
  Selected American writers from the Colonial period to the present. Prose and poetry representative of the American tradition. Primarily for students not concentrating in English.
• MET EN 141: Literary Types: Fiction
  Representative English and American novels from the eighteenth century to the present. Required papers. Primarily for students not concentrating in English. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Aesthetic Exploration.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Ethical Reasoning
• MET EN 175: Literature and the Art of Film
  Survey and analysis of cinema as an expressive medium from the silent period to the present. Films are screened weekly and discussed in conjunction with works of literature. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• MET EN 201: Intermediate Composition
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: or MET-approved equivalent or exemption. - Topic-based seminar emphasizing advanced critical reading strategies, methods for scholarly research, and models for writing relative to discipline, audience, and rhetorical context. Attention to argumentation, prose style, and revision. Exercises in reflection and self-assessment, peer-review, and one-on-one work with instructor. Fall 2024 topic: AI's Veiled Reflection: Science, Technology, and Otherness in the Era of Intelligent Machines. As ever-new and powerful AI technologies promise to do many things better than humans and much faster, it becomes more urgent than ever to understand what AI is to us and what we are to AI. In this EN201 section, we will explore how the philosophical insights of Heraclitus, the wisdom of indigenous nations, the creative insights of 19th and 20th-century writers like E.T.A Hoffmann and contemporary poets like Joy Harjo and Natasha Marin, and the perspectives of science writers like Ed Yong and Annie Murphy Paul can help us to see that we and AI exist in a universe that is paradoxically both radically constrained and ordered and radically uncertain and free. Is it, then, a world where both AI and human imagination can thrive? Through class readings and handpicked topics for personal essays, we will explore how we might begin to embrace our interrelationships with nature, technology, and each other more as they are and less as our egos would like their unspeakably vast and complex otherness to be. All the while, we will consider the status of the human experience, human imagination, and human endeavors in the age of AI. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing, Research, and Inquiry and Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing, Research, and Inquiry
• MET EN 202: Introduction to Creative Writing
  Designed mainly for those with little or no experience in creative writing. An introduction to writing in various genres: poetry, fiction, and plays. Students' works discussed in class. Limited enrollment.
• MET EN 304: Poetry Writing
  This is primarily a poetry writing workshop, in which students write and revise their own poetry, and read their peers' poems with generosity, providing constructive feedback. Students also learn to read closely the work of master poets past and present.