Handout #1

Lecturer: Professor David A. Mindell E51-194A 3-0221 mindell@mit.edu

Section Leader: Professor Charles Leiserson NE43-20 3-5833 cel@mit.edu

Course Meetings: Tues, Thurs 9:30-11

Location: Rm 26-210, later in the term, groups will break out and meet also in 26-302.

Websites: theory.lcs.mit.edu/classes/6.972 (course materials); web.mit.edu/6.972/webmeet (discussion list) 

Readings: (on sale in the coop and on reserve)

Optional: Eugene Ferguson, Engineering and the Mind’s Eye

1. Prerequisites / EC Credit

Course is limited to fifth-year M.Eng students, graduate students in STS, or by permission of instructor. For EECS M.Eng. students, 6.972 will automatically count as one of the two EC electives that can come from any of the seven Engineering Concentration fields. Alternatively, M.Eng. students may by petition use it as an elective in a specific EC if they have chosen a term project on a topic appropriate to that EC. We cannot guarantee all students will receive their first-choice EC credit. 

2. Lectures and Seminar (15%: attendance, preparation, participation)

Lectures will meet regularly for the first several weeks of the term. Then, students will be divided into groups to work on term projects. Significant in-class time is then devoted to discussion and project work. 

3. Handouts

Handouts will be available at the beginning of lecture. If you miss getting one, you can get a copy from the course website.  

4. Webmeet Discussion Group (10%)

An electronic bulletin board for class discussion exists at http://web.mit.edu/6.972/webmeet/ Students should contribute significantly every other week on average; quality of participation will count in your grade. You can post directly on the site or by emailing to eng-rev@mit.edu  

5. Discussion Papers (30%, 6 papers, 5 points each)

A series of two-page discussion papers serve as the basic "problem sets." They are due at the beginning of class. All writing assignments will be graded on force of argument, clarity of presentation and relevance to course material. Writing assignments should be submitted on paper in class on the assigned due date and also in ASCII form via email to instructors. Any writing may appear on the website, at the discretion of the instructors. Proper citation practices should be followed throughout (ask if you are unsure of the details).  

6. Midterm Paper (15%)

A paper (8-10 pages, 2400-3000 words) will be due in early October (more details to come). The following week, students make short (10 min) presentations to their project groups summarizing the argument of their paper. You can then submit a one-page modifier to the paper which can shore-up the argument and improve the grade.  

7. Term Project (30% of final grade)

The latter half of the term is largely taken up with group work on writing a project history of the development of a significant technology. Students will be divided up into groups in early October, and each group will be assigned a particular project to study, and given a set of relevant materials (i.e. books, papers, phone numbers of individuals) to get the research started. On November 6, groups should submit a plan of research for the term project, including overarching themes and questions and research strategy. Significant in-class time will then be devoted to the project, and preparing a project history (~20 pages, 6000 words) written collaboratively by the group. Groups will present their projects to the entire class during the last three sessions in December. We’ll provide more guidelines as the time approaches. 

8. Grading

Grades will be apportioned as follows:

30% term project

30% discussion papers (6 papers, 5 points each)

15% midterm paper

15% attendance, preparation, participation

10% participation in Webmeet discussion

Late submissions of any assignments lose 10% of the grade per day, with no assignments accepted more than five days late without prior permission of instructor.

Halfway through the term, we will issue a preliminary grade, with suggestions for improvement for the remainder of the semester.