Zombies and differential equations

[luzula]

I'm currently writing a computer lab assignment in MATLAB for a course in differential equations I'm teaching on this fall, and I'm letting the students model a zombie epidemic based on this article (yes, that was apparently published in a serious journal). It's fun to write a math assignment that contains the sentence "discuss the fate of humanity under a zombie epidemic". *g*

Comments

[andeincascade]

You are the coolest, Luz!!!

[mizface]

This is so many kinds of awesome, Luz!!!

[luzula]

Hee, well. I'll settle for not boring the students with the computer lab. I was pretty pleased when I saw that there were differential equations in that model--it fits right in with the course material, actually.

[isis]

Hee! My partial differential equations professor at MIT would often pose questions like that! ♥♥♥ He was one of the best teachers I had in grad school, for sure.

[luzula]

I did think it was a pretty cool thing to use for a class assignment!

[luzula]

Inspiring teachers = awesome. What did you study in grad school, by the way? *curious*

[isis]

Atmospheric science, specifically climatology and climate modeling and analysis. Lots of math!

[luzula]

Oooh, cool.

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

You?

ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

I have got to forward this to my son, Mathematician and zombie apocalypse prepared as he is...

[luzula]

Hee, thanks! I figure I should try my best to catch the students' interest, and I hope this will do it.

[luzula]

He sounds like the ideal reader for that article, then! : )

[lyr]

Awesome! I would love to take your class.

[luzula]

I'm not lecturing on it, actually--just handling problem-solving sessions and computer labs. But I hope it will be interesting!