Mathematics matters in the real world. These words are often stated. In this module we put these words to the test: (i) You will develop key professional skills; (ii) You will build core mathematical and computing skills; (iii) You will combine these skills to explore important societal themes from a mathematical perspective and support an evidence-based argument; (iv) You will reflect on the skills gained and their application, and how they fit in with your degree as a whole and your future career paths; (v) You will further explore these themes in a work placement.

The module has a number of distinctive features: Each exploration starts with a plenary-style colloquium from an expert scientist or engineer; In small classroom-based group work sessions you will develop and apply a variety of mathematical, statistical and computational techniques to analyse and dissect the expert opinion; You will communicate the analyses from your group to your peers for discussion and report your findings; A series of workshops will help you to understand how your mathematical and professional skills connect to the workplace; You will be supported in identifying appropriate work placements.

The module has three interwoven aims: Develop core MATLAB skills; understand key societal themes from a mathematical and computational perspective; develop professional and employability skills including team-work, report writing, presentation and interview skills.

Inter-disciplinarity is key and throughout the module there will be ample opportunity to work alongside scientists and engineers to break down pre-conceived barriers between different areas of mathematics and different applications in science and engineering. In the first part of the module, development of your quantitative and computing skills will follow a “learn - apply – present” cycle. Each cycle will combine lectures and computer lab sessions aimed at building-up quantitative skills, an introduction lecture to a research theme by an expert from science or engineering, and guided exploration of the scientific/engineering theme in groups, ending with a presentation or poster session. The cycle will be repeated across three skill sets/applications to offer a wide range of mathematical and computational skills and their application across a wide range of scientific themes. In the second part, you will develop key professional skills via a series of workshops whilst embedding the professional skills as part of a one-week professional placement in a company or with researches from the university.

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:

1 Listen critically to experts from science and engineering and assimilate imparted knowledge in mathematical terms;

2 Analyse contemporary scientific issues using mathematical, statistical and computational techniques;

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:

3 Abstract scientific issues into logical mathematical form;

4 Synthesize a range of mathematical, statistical and computational techniques;

5 Develop evidenced-based reasoning;

Personal and Key Transferable / Employment Skills and Knowledge:

6 Engage in informed debate concerning key issues from the engineering, environmental and life sciences;

7 Engage with stakeholders from the engineering, environmental and life sciences;

8 Engage in group work with peers from different disciplines with different skill sets;

9 Apply for a work placement (drawing on career planning, researching the job market, and a reflection on skills learnt).

The syllabus has four key, interactive components:

1. Develop professional and employability skills;

2. Computing skills aimed at developing core MATLAB skills and related mathematical and computational techniques;

3. Application of mathematical and computational skills to key societal challenges;

4. Work placement.

Term 1: Develop professional skills

To enable effective project work and prepare for the work placement you will engage with a number of personal development skills sessions on project planning, team dynamics, time and stress management, effective presentation skills, etc.

Term 1: Mathematical and computational skills and applications to key societal challenges

You will work in teams on three important societal challenges*. You will draw on the personal skills you develop in professional skills session throughout Term 1, specifically project planning, how to negotiate, working effectively in teams, managing time and stress, and delivering presentations. The challenges are posed by an expert from engineering, environmental or life sciences.

Learning and teaching will follow a 3-stage cycle in each stage, you will work in teams to put applied maths and computational skills into practice in a real-world application. Each stage will conclude with a presentation or poster session.

Weeks 1-3: Theme A. Climate Change Project

To include energy balance modelling, tipping points, hysteresis in the climate. [3x4 hours]

This theme will also introduce you to the following MATLAB skills: Getting started; Lists and arrays; 2D plotting; Extrapolation and interpolation; Loops, iteration and logic; Matrices and matrix algebra in MATLAB.

Weeks 4-7. Theme B. Natural Populations Project

To include population projection modelling, eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis of population growth trends, and mathematical approaches to population management. [3x4 hours]

You will continue to develop MATLAB skills, using iterative schemes to make projections, performing eigenvector and eigenvalue calculations, and use of 2D plotting to visualise population progressions.

Weeks 8-10. Theme C. LiDAR and the Environment Project

To include data handling and data manipulation and 3D visualisation. [3x4 hours]

You will gain experience of processing and visualising large data sets in MATLAB.

Weeks 11-12. Individual Project:

To build on scientific themes and consolidate MATLAB skills. Leading to an individual report. [Independent study with 4 hours of academic support].

*The exact details of each challenge may vary from year to year because one key aim is to address contemporary issues.

Term 2: Employability Skills

To prepare for the work placement you will engage with employability workshops on self-awareness, CVs, application forms, interviews and professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn), etc.

Term 2/Easter/Term 3: Work placement

The final component of the module is a 40-hour long work placement, to include face-to-face meeting(s) with your “client”. The placement could be with an external business or industry or working as a consultant in one of the research groups on the Penryn campus. An important aspect is applying for your placement. You will draw on knowledge from the Employability Skills Workshops.

You will produce a technical poster or journal and a reflective essay about your placement.

If a module is normally assessed entirely by coursework, all referred/deferred assessments will normally be by assignment.

If a module is normally assessed by examination or examination plus coursework, referred and deferred assessment will normally be by examination. For referrals, only the examination will count, a mark of 40% being awarded if the examination is passed. For deferrals, candidates will be awarded the higher of the deferred examination mark or the deferred examination mark combined with the original coursework mark.

Basic Reading:

ELE - http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Web based and Electronic Resources:

Met Office Hadley Centre - UKCP18 Science Overview Report:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/ukcp18/science-reports/UKCP18-Overview-report.pdf

American Meteorological Society (AMS) - State of the Climate in 2015:

https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports - AR5 Synthesis Report:

https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full.pdf

Other IPCC reports:

https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/

Other Resources:

Sanyal, J. & Lu, X.X. Application of Remote Sensing in Flood Management with Special Reference to Monsoon Asia: A Review, Natural Hazards (2004) 33: 283

https://doi.org/10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000037035.65105.95

Tarsi, K. & Tuff, T. (2012) Introduction to Population Demographics. Nature Education Knowledge 3(11):3

https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/introduction-to-population-demographics-83032908

Reading list for this module: