Teaching

Teaching is an integral and important part of a university, and there exists a vital and energetic synergy between teaching and research. We believe in using modern, evidence-based, pedagogical techniques to improve the quality of our student’s learning.

Current Courses

Dr. Burd currently teaches the following graduate and undergraduate courses:

MARS 7380: Quantitative Methods in Marine Science (Fall, yearly)

This required graduate level course covers basic mathematical and computational skills required for doing research in marine science. The aim is to bring all our graduate students up to the same skill level. The course is taught as a hands-on course, with in class problem-solving activities and programming exercises using R.

MATH/MARS 4730/6730: Mathematics and Climate (Fall, yearly)

This is a combined undergraduate/graduate class examining the mathematics of climate. It is co-taught with Prof. Malcolm Adams (Mathematics) and covers the basics of planetary climate, dynamical systems, and uses Python for analyzing models.

MARS 8510: Modeling Marine Systems (Spring, even years)

This graduate course covers the basics of modeling different marine systems from ecosystem and biogeochemical models through to physical models. The course assumes a familiarity with integral and differential calculus and covers the mathematical and computational development of models. This is a hands-on course, with students undertaking projects using Python.

MARS 3550: Life in Fluids (Spring, odd years)

This advanced undergraduate course examines how the properties of the fluid that an organism lives in contributes to the characteristics of that animal. The course assumes a familiarity with basic physics and biology.

FYOS: How the Oceans Affect Us (Fall, yearly)

This First Year Odyssey Seminar examines how the oceans impact our daily lives, whether we live on the coast or hundreds of miles inland. The course is taught using a range of activities and projects covering the role of the oceans in food supply, drug discovery, climate, literature, and culture.