News Category: ‘2023-2024’

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams. If anyone in addition to the COSCC would like to attend, please email Jen for details.

Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 4/11/2024.

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

I. Call to Order

II. Approval of the March 28, 2024 Meeting Minutes

III. Announcements/Discussion

• Fall 2024 COSCC Scheduling
• COSCC Bylaws Revision

IV. Old Business

New Courses

• BIOL 565: Medical Microbiology

V. New Business – Undergraduate

Modified Courses

• CDS 461: Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo Simulations

Modified Programs:

• IN-BA-P002, IN-BPRE-P002, IN-BS-P002: INTO Mason: Science Undergraduate Pathways

VI. New Business – Graduate

New Courses

• BIOL 586: Medical Biochemistry
• CSI 671: Natural Language Processing for Complex Systems
• CSS 671: Natural Language Processing for Complex Systems
• CSS 717: Verification and Validation of Models  

Modified Courses:

• SYST 664/CSI 674/OR 664: Bayesian Artificial Intelligence

Modified Programs:

• IN-MS-P002: INTO Mason: Science Graduate Pathways

VII. Adjournment

*Item added after the agenda was announced.

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams. If anyone in addition to the COSCC would like to attend, please email Jen for details.

Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 3/14/2024.

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

I. Call to Order [1:01pm]

II. Approval of the February 29, 2023 Meeting Minutes [Approved]

III. Announcements/Discussion

[The COSCC thanked Wendy Lewis for her valuable contributions to the committee over the years and wished her well in her new position!]

IV. Old Business

V. New Business- College-wide

• Catalog edits to College Policies [Approved]

VI. New Business – Undergraduate

New Courses

• CDS 321: Elements of Natural Language Processing [Approved]

Modified Courses

• GGS 480: GGS Internship [Approved]

Modified Programs

• Atmospheric Sciences, BS [Approved]
• Biology, BA [Approved pending a correction to the “Why” statement.]
• Computational and Data Sciences, BS [Approved]
• Geography, BA [Approved]
• Geography, BS [Approved]
• Geology, BA [Approved]
• Geology, BS [Approved]
• Neuroscience, BS [Approved pending the removal of the second instance of NEUR 328.]
• Neuroscience Minor [Approved]
• STEM: STEM in Society Minor  “Please reach out to Jen ASAP if you’d like a guest invited to present this modification.” [Approved]
• RNRG: Renewable Energy Interdisciplinary Minor [Approved pending removal of EVPP 401 as it has recently been deactivated.]

VII. New Business – Graduate

New Courses

• ASTR 794: Astronomy Internship [Approved pending the requirement for an Experiential Learning Agreement.]
• BIOL 586: Medical Biochemistry*[Tabled by SSB.]
• CLIM 636: Atmospheric Aerosols [Approved pending syllabus updates to the grading scale, repeatable status, and details on the expectations for course deliverables.]
• CSI 745: Robust Optimization for Decision Making [Approved]
• EVPP 585: Quantitative Analysis for Environmental Scientists* [Approved]
• GGS 788: Deep Learning for Geoinformation [Approved]
• PHYS 794: Physics Internship [Approved pending the requirement for an Experiential Learning Agreement.]

Modified Courses

• CSS 625: Complexity Theory in the Social Sciences*[Approved]
• CSS 665: Complex Adaptive Systems in Public Policy* [Approved]
• EVPP 894: Supervised Internship* [Approved]
• EVPP 998: Doctoral Dissertation Proposal [Approved pending wording for updating the “Justification” statement.]
• GGS 505: Transportation Geography [Approved]
• GGS 560: Quantitative Methods [Approved]
• GGS 579_Remote Sensing [Approved]
• GGS 655: Geovisualization [Approved]
• GGS 684: Selected Topics in Geospatial Intelligence [Approved]
• GGS 685: Capstone Course in Geoinformatics [Approved]
• GGS 692: Web-Based Geographic Information Systems [Approved]
• GGS 695_ Geography and Geoinformation Science Graduate Internship [Approved]
• GGS 740: Hyperspectral Imaging Systems [Approved]

Deactivated Courses

• BIOL 550_Waterscape Ecology and Management* [Tabled as ESP desires to continue teaching the associated/bundled course EVPP 550.]
• CSI 754: Earth Science Data and Advanced Data Analysis [Approved]

Modified Programs: Substantive Changes

• Applied and Engineering Physics, MS [Approved]
• Biosciences, PhD*[Approved]
• Climate Science, MS [Approved]
• Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences, PhD [Approved]
• Environmental Science and Policy, MS [Approved]
• Environmental Science and Public Policy, PhD [Approved pending clarity on the dissertation committee requirements.]
• Geographic and Cartographic Sciences, MS [Approved]
• Geoinformatics and Geospatial Intelligence, MS [Approved]
• Geographic Information Science Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Geospatial Intelligence Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Neuroscience, PhD [Approved]
• Physics, PhD [Approved pending clarity on the dissertation committee requirements.]

Modified Programs: Reduction/Transfer of Credit and Admissions & Policy Section Re-organization (non-substantive changes)

• Actuarial Sciences Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Advanced Biomedical Sciences, GC [Approved]
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Graduate Certificate*[Approved]
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, MS*[Approved]
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, PhD*[Approved]
• Bioinformatics Management, MS*[Approved]
• Bioinformatics Management, Professional Science Master’s*[Approved]
• Biology, MS* [Approved]
• Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Certificate* [Approved]
• Chemistry, MS [Approved]
• Chemistry and Biochemistry, PhD [Approved]
• Climate Dynamics, PhD [Approved]
• Computational Science, MS [Approved]
• Computational Sciences and Informatics, PhD [Approved]
• Computational Social Science Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Computational Social Science, PhD [Approved]
• Data Science Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Earth Systems Science, MS [Approved]
• Environmental GIS and Biodiversity Conservation Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Environmental and Sustainability Management Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Forensics Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Forensic Science, MS [Approved]
• Mathematics, PhD [Approved]
• Remote Sensing and Image Processing Graduate Certificate [Approved]
• Science Policy Graduate Certificate [Approved]

VIII. Adjournment [3:13pm]

*Item added after the agenda was announced.

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams. If anyone in addition to the COSCC would like to attend, please email Jen for details.

Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 2/15/2024.

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

I. Call to Order [1:11pm]

II. Approval of the January 11, 2024 Meeting Minutes [Approved]

III. Announcements/Discussion*

1. March’s COSCC agenda is our last chance at course and program proposals for the 2024-2025 catalog.
2. Regarding the upcoming Transfer of Credit/Reduction of Credit graduate policy changes:
   • Programs are welcome to make their requirements more stringent than the university’s policy- if that is desired, please reach out to Jen soon so we can add the requirements to the proposal making its way to the COSCC for March.
   • March’s COSCC agenda will be full of grad program modifications.
   • Jen welcomes your thoughts on updated wording to highlight the ability to transfer in credits (thanks to SSB for the suggestion):
     • Current:

Policies

For policies governing all graduate programs, including the transfer of credit into this program, see AP.6 Graduate Policies.

• • • Proposed:

Policies

For policies governing all graduate programs, see AP.6 Graduate Policies.

Transferring Previous Graduate Credit into this Program

Previously earned and relevant graduate credits may be eligible for transfer into this program; details can be found in the Credit by Exam or Transfer section of this catalog.

If the COSCC agrees that this is a better format, Jen will make program updates before March’s COSCC meeting.

IV. Old Business

V. New Business – Undergraduate

New Courses

• CDS 351: Elements of High Performance Computing [Approved]
• COS 302: College of Science Transfer Transition [Approved]
• GGS 346: Geography of Religions and Belief Systems [Approved]
• GGS 432: Spatial Modeling for Public Health [Approved]

Modified Courses

• BIOL 101: Biology Freshman Seminar [Approved]
• BIOL 124: Human Anatomy and Physiology [Approved]
• BIOL 125: Human Anatomy and Physiology [Approved]
• BIOL 213: Cell Structure and Function [Approved]
• BIOL 405: Microbial Genetics [Approved]
• CHEM 460: Chemistry in the Kitchen [Approved]
• COS 401: RS: Discipline Based Education Research [Approved]
• EVPP 494: Internship [Approved]
• MATH 441: Deterministic Operations Research [Approved]
• MATH 442: Operations Research [Approved]

Modified Programs

• Environmental Science, BS  [pending the internship section moving from the core into the concentrations.]
• Environmental and Sustainability Studies, BA (please contact Jen if you’d like a non-COS representative to attend the meeting and present this modification) [Approved]
• STEM in Society Minor (please contact Jen if you’d like a non-COS representative to attend the meeting and present this modification.) [Approved]

Deleted Courses

• EVPP 326: Animal Physiology [Approved]
• EVPP 355: Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration [Approved]
• EVPP 401: Integrated Environmental Assessment [Approved]

VI. New Business – Graduate

New Courses

• GGS 557: Urban Planning [Approved]
• GGS 632: Spatial Modeling for Public Health [Approved]

Modified Courses

• CSI 772: Data Driven Modeling and Learning [Approved]
• GGS 754: Earth Science Data and Advanced Data Analysis [Approved]

Deleted Courses

• EVPP 525: Economics of Human/Environment Interactions [Approved]
• EVPP 572: Tools and Techniques for International Development [Approved]
• EVPP 645: Freshwater Ecology [Approved]
• EVPP 684: Environmental Conflict Resolution and Collaboration: Leadership Practicum/Capstone [Approved]
• EVPP 792: Seminar in Earth Systems Science [Approved]

Modified Program

• Mathematics, MS  (This includes some of the modifications approved last month… pre-Graduate Council we received some suggestions that have been implemented into this version.) [Approved]

VII. Adjournment [2:48pm]

* Added after the agenda’s announcement.

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams. If anyone in addition to the COSCC would like to attend, please email Jen for details.

Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 1/18/2024.

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

I. Call to Order

II. Approval of the January 11, 2024 Meeting Minutes

III. Announcements/Discussion

[Meeting Cancelled because there were no items scheduled for discussion.]

IV. Old Business

New Courses

Modified Courses

V. New Business – Undergraduate

VI. New Business – Graduate

VII. Adjournment

*Item added after the agenda was announced.

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams. If anyone in addition to the COSCC would like to attend, please email Jen for details.

Items to be considered on this agenda are due by 1/2/2024.

When available, the meeting minutes will be indicated within bold brackets [ ] and are in draft form until they are approved by the committee.

I. Call to Order

II. Approval of the November 17, 2023 Meeting Minutes [Approved]

III. Announcements/Discussion

IV. Old Business

New Courses- Graduate

• MATH 798: Directed Reading or Research [Approved pending “What” and “Why” in the Justification section.]

Modified Courses- Graduate

• MATH 799: MS Thesis [Approved pending “What” and “Why” in the Justification section.]

V. New Business – Undergraduate

Modified Programs

• Forensic Science, BS* [Approved. BIOL 417 to be reinserted as a teaching plan for the future is underway.]

VI. New Business – Graduate

Modified Programs

• Chemistry and Biochemistry, PhD [Approved]
• Mathematics, MS* [Approved]
• Mathematics, PhD [Approved]

VII. Adjournment [1:39pm]

*Item added after the agenda was announced.