- Overall Course Philosophy
- This is the first time I will be teaching this course at Stanford. I am basing about 50% of this course on one I took in graduate school and TA'd several times over. The remaining 50% will be based on my own experience in information technology, product development and software programming.
One of the primary objectives of this course is to provide the foundation and experience necessary to evaluate the application of chemical models to your area of specialization. Without this background, it would be very challenging to have confidence in the data you produce or receive as a result of the use of a chemical model. We will look at simple chemical concepts and see how to render them in computer code. We will also take a look at existing chemical models and the kind of support information available such that you understand and consider the limitations, and exercise due diligence.
The second primary objective is to provide the perspective of a model developer. This will be accomplished by treating the course as a software development project, and progressing through the stages necessary to take a model from conception to productivity. Students will be introduced to modern tools and processes of the software development trade.
Studying the subject of modeling with these two objectives in mind hopefully will provide the preparation necessary to build future generations of models which address the need for a greater degree of collaborative computing and information/knowledge sharing.
At the end of the course, students should be able to reflect on the outcome of their projects. They should be able to identify and critically assess the elements it took to create the project. Students should then be able to critically assess any models they may come across in their future work.
In essence, this course principally involves explorative study. You will need to contribute and participate. There will be papers and presentations. There will be discussion and some hands-on work. There won't be any exams to cram for. I am seeking logical and forward thinking.
- This is the first time I will be teaching this course at Stanford. I am basing about 50% of this course on one I took in graduate school and TA'd several times over. The remaining 50% will be based on my own experience in information technology, product development and software programming.
- Activity Format
- Class meetings are scheduled for 1 hour 50 minutes each week. Each meeting will comprise about 50-60 minutes of instruction and discussion. The remaining time will usually be used for starting on an action item/assignment. You will not be required to start the action item at this time, nor be required to start it in the classroom.
- Term Project
- The term project will serve as the "nutshell" of your learning experience. While the choice of topic is yours, you will need to demonstrate insightful thinking and a thorough analysis. Here is a list of some possible term project topics:
- Expansion of the Ion Association Model of Week 3.
- Modeling Real Data with WATEQ4F*.
- Investigating the Limits of Modelled Activity Coefficients.
- Carbonate speciation.
- Breakthrough curve calculations incorporating retention factors.
- Ion exchange on a model surface.
- Prediction of retention using octanol-water partition coefficients.
- Challenges of predicting ion speciation in highly saline solutions.
- Enhancing the User Interface of WATEQ4F*.
- Giving WATEQ4F* a HELP system.
- Creating a Working Bug Database for WATEQ4F*.
- Creating and executing a Test Plan for WATEQ4F*.
- Collaborative workflow design for WATEQ4F*.
- The term project will serve as the "nutshell" of your learning experience. While the choice of topic is yours, you will need to demonstrate insightful thinking and a thorough analysis. Here is a list of some possible term project topics:
- Some programming experience required.
- You will absorb the discussion material better if you have some programming experience. It will help if you are familiar with some programming package with which you can do calculations (e.g., MatLab, BASIC, Fortran, Pascal, C, C++, Java...). Working in teams is acceptable so long as it is apparent that all team members contributed about the same. If the class size is small (approx. 6), we will work as one team and share responsibilities.