Science and Engineering Subcommittee

	MINUTES and REPORT

	October 1, 2008

I.	COLLEGE OF LETTERS ARTS & SCIENCES			Kinesiology

A.	Add a New Program							Eff. Term:  Spring 2009
B.A.	Human Performance (128 units)
Alternative to BS in Kinesiology for students interested in more applied aspects of human movement.  Includes 24 units of core courses, 12 units of collateral courses, and 8 units of electives.

 The subcommittee will consider this request after the revision of the B.S., Kinesiology.

Alice Parker summarized the practice of the subcommittee.  Subcommittee co-chairs and members have reviewed the proposals on this agenda and a decision could not be made without a subcommittee meeting.  Lorraine Turcotte attended the meeting as representative from the Kinesiology department.  The proposed new B.A. program was developed two years ago when the idea was broached by the College in response to the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention program and the Health and Humanity major, and based on department and student interest.  The first version didn’t pass thru the College curriculum review due to need for more faculty and other types of support involved in the proposal; the current proposal is the second revised version , based on the first revision and reviewer comments.  The current B.S. is rigorous and majors sometimes leave the major in favor of others with similar content and fewer unit requirements.  Desire for more free units so majors can do minors and study abroad.  Department wishes to revise the existing B.S. to remove the ‘applied’ EXSC courses as requirements, and require them in a proposed new B.A.  Both degrees allow for pre-med and pre-dental and pre-physical therapy requirements. 

The subcommittee passed along some feedback to the department, which met and produced a table, distributed at the meeting, comparing the existing B.S., the proposed revision to the B.S., the new B.A., and the Biology B.S. and B.A.  The department is amenable to using other language instead of ‘collateral requirements’ but students do seem to understand that terminology.  

The subcommittee wishes to support the idea that the existing B.S. should be revised, and is willing to review a request for a new B.A., but prefers to consider the proposals one at a time, starting with the B.S.  revision.  The SES subcommittee expects to see a complete revision of this proposal based on the feedback and discussions with the Curriculum office. This proposal needs to address the academic rationale including quality metrics for this new program, the anticipated audience, and a comparison with similar programs as peer institutions."

One problem that Lorraine Turcotte mentioned was the Biomechanics course, currently EXSC 408, which has a prerequisite of PHYS-135a.  This is a very hard course, but in its current version is probably appropriate for the BS.   However, they also need a Biomechanics course for the BA.  They proposed a new Biomechanics course, EXSC 401, without the physics prerequisite.  This might not prepare BS students as well for the Physical Therapy program, but the department does not have enough faculty to offer two versions of Biomechanics.  It was noted that sometimes when departments organize new emphases, tracks, or majors, they fall into offering the same subject matter but organized differently based on the needs of those different audiences.  This can increase the labor on the faculty, which in this case is already pressed for time and energy.   

B.	Revise a Program							Eff. Term:  Fall 2009
B.S.	Kinesiology (128 units)

The changes originally proposed prior to the SES committee meeting include the following:  Reducing number of core courses from 34 to 24 units, collateral courses from 24 to 16, increasing electives from 16 to 20.  Moving more applied courses to proposed new B.A. and putting more emphasis on basic science.  Includes three new required core courses, EXSC 401L, 405L, and 406, which are replacing dropped courses EXSC 407ab and 408.  Includes two revised courses, EXSC 200L and 300L.  Moving EXSC 203L, EXSC 310 and EXSC 400L from list of Required Courses to list of Elective Courses. Adding EXSC 499, EXSC 490x, PSYC 336L and PSYC 360 to list of Electives. Changing list of Electives to reflect 2-4 units of credit given for EXSC 491L. Removing BISC 120L, CHEM 105bL and CHEM 115bL from list of Required Collateral Courses. Removing BISC 212Lx from list of Electives. Moving MATH 125 and PSYC 274 from list of Electives to list of Required Collateral Courses. Moving PHYS 135aL from list of Required Collateral Courses to list of Electives.  

At the meeting, the SES committee indicated they are in favor of removing the applied EXSC courses , and BISC 120 from the list of requirements, and adding a statistics requirement needed for the labs, though they suggest that majors be allowed to choose between PSYC 274 and MATH 208

The SES expects to see a complete revision of this proposal (201b form) based on the feedback from the subcommittee and discussions with the curriculum office.  

Lorraine Turcotte says that they are willing to require  MATH 125 rather than 108.  The department had thought it acceptable not to require PHYS-135a  because the faculty member teaching EXSC 408 can take three weeks in that course to cover the physics necessary.  EXSC 439 is be available for students who want a more physics.  However, Lorraine Turcotte expressed a willingness to require PHYS-135a after all.  Lorraine Turcotte outlined the B.S. requirements, highlighting the unique nature and strengths of the courses offered, seen as valuable for pre-med, pre-dental and pre-physical therapy.  The current program is so rigorous, times do change, and more breadth could be injected.  If content of CHEM 105b is needed – if more than 1/3 or ½ is used – it should be included.  The revised proposal (201b) should Focus on key concepts, mission of the degree, concern about added pressure on already-stressed faculty.
Course requests attached to program revision can be approved by subcommittee co-chair.

Add Three New Courses							Eff. Term: Fall 2009
1.	EXSC-401L	Human Movement Biomechanics (4)
Kinematic and kinetic analysis of human motion; emphasis on performance enhancement and injury prevention. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: MATH 108 or 125.  Duplicates credit in former EXSC 408L.

2.	EXSC-405L	Applied Systems Physiology (4)
Cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal systems in exercise. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: BISC 220L.  Duplicates credit in former EXSC 407aL.

3.	EXSC-406L	Exercise and Metabolic Diseases (4)
Regulation of metabolic pathways and endocrinology in acute and chronic exercise. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: EXSC 200L.  Duplicates credit in former EXSC 407bL.

Revise Two Courses							Eff. Term: Fall 2009
4.	EXSC-200L	Nutrition: Macronutrients and Energy Metabolism (4)
New: Gastrointestinal physiology and energy metabolism as it relates to macronutrient intake. Theories and principles of regulation of energy status and acute and chronic effects of exercise. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisites: BISC-220 or BISC-221.
Current: Gastrointestinal physiology and energy metabolism as it relates to macronutrient intake. Theories and principles of regulation of energy status and acute and chronic effects of exercise. Prerequisites: 1 from (BISC-120 or BISC-121) and 1 from (BISC-220 or BISC-221).
Revise prerequisite and catalogue description.  Part of proposed new B.A., Kinesiology.

5.	EXSC-300L	Physiology of Exercise (4)
Analysis of the neuromuscular system (anatomy, development, biochemistry, physiology and mechanics). Theories and principles of neuromuscular adaptations associated with acute and chronic exercise. Lecture, 3 hour; laboratory, 3 hours.
Current prerequisite:  EXSC 200; New:  no prerequisite.
Remove prerequisite; part of proposed new B.A., Kinesiology.

Terminate Two Courses							Eff. Term: Spring 2009
6.	EXSC-407ab	Advanced Exercise Physiology (4)
Regulation of metabolic pathways and endocrinology in acute and chronic exercise. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours.

7.	EXSC-408	Introduction to Biomechanics (4)
Kinematic and kinetic analysis of human motion. Emphasis on performance enhancement and injury prevention. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours.

Members present			Members absent			Guests

Andrea Armani				Elizabeth Garrett (ex-officio)		Lorraine Turcotte
Antoine Bechara			Julena Lind (ex-officio)
Hans Bozler (co-chair)			Jordan Olliges (student)
Frances Fitzgerald (staff)		Kenneth Servis (ex-officio)
Chi Mak				James Weiland 
Alice Parker (co-chair)			Suya You
Robin Romans (ex-officio)		
Mahyar Salek (student)
Edwenna Werner (for Kenneth Servis)

COURSES APPROVED BY SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR IN SEPTEMBER OUTSIDE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING

II.       VITERBI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING	Aerospace and Mechanical 
New Course	Eff. Term: Spring 2009

AME-539 Multi-body Dynamics
Kinematics and Kinetics of rigid body motion, quaternions; elastic vibrations of continua; geometric and material nonlinearities; Galerkin methods; meshless finite elements; complex dynamical systems; computational methods.
>	Approved

III.	COLLEGE OF LETTERS ARTS & SCIENCES			Biological Sciences
New Course				Eff. Term: Spring 2009

BISC-544 Advanced Reading in Molecular Biology  (2)
Advanced training for Molecular Biology graduate students in reading primary journal articles. Emphasis on critical analyses of primary scientific  literature. CR/NC Open only to: Molecular and Computational Biology graduate students.
>	Approved