Computer Science and the Different Scientific Domains

¶ … computer science and the different scientific domains at MIT

Fortunately for myself, MIT's computer science division is closely related to many other scientific divisions in that institution. MIIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department offer students the opportunity to interface between Computer Sciences and the Life sciences so exposure in this field may open me up to the disciplines of (amongst other areas) computational biology, synthetic biology, medical image analysis, bioinformatics, and computer assisted surgery.

Since an impressive amount of MIT Laboratories (associated with different scientific domains) are connected to computer science, I will focus only on those that particularly interest me:

Berwick's laboratory where applied mathematical and modeling principals are investigated in order to develop computer models for biological systems such as DNA and genotype testing. Computational mathematic models are used in order to gain a deeper insight into the complexities of interaction of genes with the cellular environment and with their properties. Evolutionary components are also investigated.

2. Demaine's laboratory (http://erikdemaine.org/) which focuses on algorithms, data structures and geometry as its modus operands of research.

3. Gifford's laboratory that integrates computer science with understanding gene expression programs in living cells in order to control and regulate their function. Leading research seems to have been conducted in this laboratory (such as constructive models of the yeast cell cycle and involvement of diabetes-related transcription factors with human pancreas and liver). This is exciting work since it may generate greater understanding into various terminal diseases that still remain unknown and may expand knowledge of embryonic stem cells research for treatment of these debilitating diseases.

4. Golland's laboratory uses computer science as a means of elucidating and analyzing various biological processes. Doing so stretches the boundaries of medical and biological domains. Current research areas include developing techniques for characterizing biological shape and its variability invaluable in various domains such as from modeling cortical folding in neonatal brains to understanding how genetic perturbations affect the appearance end behavior of cells.

Another areas of research involves functional MRI, which is at the forefront of all neuroscientific related fields from psychology to medicine to, indeed, a variety of human scientific domains. Improving fMRI (which is what her laboratory attempts to do) means improving our understanding of human reasoning and conduct in general as well as stretching the perimeters of medical efficacy even further.

4. Grimson's group is similar in that it integrates computer vision and machine learning methods with problems of medical image analysis. His work is applicable to surgical interventions and computational anatomy, helping patients during complex surgical procedures, and assisting surgeons in planning for these potentially problematic surgical interventions.

Computational anatomy helps researchers extract differences in organic structures and shapes between various populations thus, for instance, assessing them in identifying new examples and in isolating significant differences in shape models in, for instance schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological disorders.

5. Guttag's laboratory integrates computer science with developing systems to better help manage and monitor chronic conditions. Computer science can help in exposing the medical caregiver to enhanced knowledge of medicine that is, otherwise, difficult for him or her to reach since, many times, unknown or inaccessible. Guttag believes that computational technologies and systems will make the practice of medicine "more effective, safer, and more efficient" (EECS: MIT: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and his team works towards that end.

6. Knight's laboratory differs to the preceding ones in that he focuses on synthetic biology i.e. To the "development of biology as an engineering discipline" (ibid.). Applied, in the past, to physics, his laboratory is currently working on applying the same tools to biology where computational engineering will simulate design and construction of functional, artificial, living systems.

7. Massaquoi seeks to develop engineering models of human movement control systems. His purposes are triple: to increase scientific understanding of these systems; to provide enhanced insight into neurological disorders; and in order to design biomimetic artificial systems, for instance humanoid robots.

8. Stultz's laboratory focuses on understanding conformational changes in biomolecules that play an important role in common human disease. Innovative methods are employed to that end in order to gain understanding into the role that molecular structures play in the progression of human disease. Insight can help doctors and scientists better treat and monitor particular diseases.

As stated these are just a few of the divisions in MIT that interrelate with computer science. Other general affiliated programs include The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute for genomic medicine; The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) (biomedical imaging; biomedical informatics and integrative biology, and regenerative and functional biomedical technologies); The MIT Computational and System Biology Initiative (CSBi) (that studies quantitative models of complex biological systems, with application to medical or pharmaceutical research); MIT Biological Engineering Division (that applies engineering methods to biological problems); and MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging (that deals with biomedical imaging and image analysis).

Each of these programs offers innovative and cutting-edge opportunities for investigation and research. I, therefore, find them exciting resources for utilization of computer science with other scientific domains.

Possible relations between music (piano) and computer science on an emotional and technical scale

It is interesting that I'm not the only one who has observed connections between computer science and my hobby of music, particularly in the function of a pianist. Others whom I have spoken to (including colleagues) observe similarities, too. Apparently, engagement in both facilitates the understanding of either. In fact, engagement in piano practice sometimes gives me the same high and emotions that I experience when doing intense debugging with a solid debugging tool.

It may be that the aspect of flow is used in both instances. Intense piano practice necessities a special attitude of flow where in the words of Csikszentmihalyi: "you get so involved in something that you forget yourself and you just pay undivided attention to your task" (Jeffrey, 1996). I am fortunate to experience this, since the experience of flow has been identified as the highest level of well being (Csikszentmihalyi & Mei-Ha Wong, 1991). Flow appears to be associated with happiness, self-esteem, role satisfaction, work productivity, and satisfaction with life (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Deci & Ryan, 1985), and, in fact, I frequently experience these associations as a result of both my preoccupation with both music and computer science activities.