Lecture Schedule

  1. Introduction
    2. Organization meeting; course overview.
    Lab Assignment 1: Write a Word document essay to tell your computer background. The document should mention any previous knowledge of computers you have, your objectives for this course, and any other information about yourself and/or your computer-related background. Indicate whether you own a PC/laptop and have used any of the following softwares: MS Word/Excel/Power Point, Adobe Photoshop and Illustractor, and Matlab.
  2. Word Processing with MS Word
    3. Lab Assignment 2: Reproduce this scientific report using MS Word. Submit the completed one as proof that you have mastered the skills of Find/Replace, Paragraph formating, Tap key, Text box for embedding graphics. The starting plain text file and figures can be downloaded from here. You need to
    • Set font to 10-point Times New Roman (except the title and abstract)
    • Format the report as two columns separated by 0.3".
    • Align all paragraphs adjusted and indent the first line by 0.2".
    • Replace all {\deg} to the degree symbol (ASCII 176).
    • Change all citation numbers in the report to italic.
    • Insert two figures with captions using Text box.
    • Format the Reference and Notes section as a numbered list.
    • Add the section shown on page 2.
    Your assignment will be graded according how close your report is to the original one.
  3. Calculating and Graphing with MS Excel
    4. Introduction to spreadsheet and MS Excel
    Gaining proficiency
    Spreadsheets in decision making
    Graphs and charts
    Lab Assignment
    1. Practice 2 and 3 in Chapter 1 and Practice 1 and 5 in Chapter 2
    2. Practice 1, 2, 5, 7 in Chapter 3
    3. Practice 1, 2, 3, 4 in Chapter 4
    Click here to download worksheets.
  4. Presentation with MS PowerPoint
    5. A Powerpoint presentation; templates
    Lab Assignment 7 and 8: For this assignment you are asked to create a 15-min powerpoint presentation (~15 slides). You can pick any of your favorate topics. The requirements are:
    • After the title slide, it gives an outline of the presentation,
    • Explain why you chose your topic,
    • Give a ~5 min introduction to the topic. It should contain background, overview, etc, assuming that your audience do not know much about the subject.
    • The main body of the presentation.
    • Summary and conclusions.
    You should use a combination of text and graphics, different transition effects, apply animation effects to the bullets and graphics objects in a specific slide, create speaker's notes for some slides. You also should use Rehearse Timings feature to time your presentation. Print your presentation in both outline and handout form. Submit both to your instructor. Next week each of you will use a laptop and projector to present your talk to the rest of us.
  5. Image editing with Adobe Photoshop
    6. A digital image is composed of individual elements (pixels). The resolution of image is determined by how many pixels per inch. The size of of an image file depends on whether it's B/W (1 bit/pixel), gray (8 bits or 1 byte/pixel), or color (24-32 bits/pixel). You can creat a digital image by using a scanner, digital camera, or download from the web.
    Adobe Photoshop combines a full range of painting, editing and image composition tools, sophisticated selection tools, and methods for adjusting gray levels and color in continuous-tone images.
    Lab Assignment
    1. Adobe Photoshop tutorial 1: Working with selections.
    2. Adobe Photoshop tutorial 2: Layer basics and tutorial 3: Photo retouching.
    Click to download files.
  6. Illustrations and posters with Adobe Illustrator
    7. Adobe Illustrator is one of the most popular illustration software programs today. It is more powerful than Adobe Photoshop and allows you to create new vector artwork by drawing, painting, and importing bitmap images.
    Lab Assignments
    1. Getting started: drawing area, toolbox, drawing curves and shapes.
    2. Making a 3 by 4 ft poster on the topic you selected for your powerpoint presentation. I will show you a typical layout of poster. You are encouraged to try more creative ways for your poster. When you are done, resize your poster to fit in an US Letter size paper and print it on a color printer. Submit it to the instructor.
  7. Scientific computation with Matlab
    1. Start Matlab and click on "Getting Started".
    2. Learn MATLAB basics by following examples in "Examples". Finish the first 5 examples. Print your graphs and submit to the instructor.