Teaching

Gareth teaches the following courses. Note that because of Federation, all courses are open to students at both NJIT and Rutgers.

Note to Rutgers students: NJIT courses do appear in the Rutgers schedule of classes, but usually at the end because they have a special school number. So make you you scroll all the way down.

POPULATION BIOLOGY (Undergraduate). NJIT MATH 372. 3 Credits.

Last taught by GJR: Fall 2007. Will next be taught by GJR: Unknown.

An undergraduate course covering the basics of one-, two- and multi-species models. Topics covered include density-dependent models, chaos, metapopulations, disease models, predator-prey and competitive interactions.

Prerequisites: Calculus II.

More course information.

Files for download.

COMPUTATIONAL ECOLOGY (Graduate). NJIT BIOL 638. 3 Credits.

Last taught by GJR: Spring 2007. Will next be taught by GJR: Spring 2009 (expected).

• Learn about ecological theories and models by exploring them in an interactive, visual environment.
• Learn to use Mathematica, a multi-purpose programming package.
• Adapt and apply what you’ve learned to your research.

This course is designed to be accessible to biology and ecology graduate students. This is not an “equations on chalkboard” course. As well as ecological theory, you will learn how to use a general-purpose computing package — a skill which will likely help you in your own research, whether you use it for design, analysis, or simply processing data.

Pre-requisites: Premission of instructor. I'm looking for a level of comfort with algebra and the concepts of calculus.

More course information.

Files for download.

Important: see below for registration instructions!

Computational Ecology (BIOL 638 at NJIT, 48:120:638 at Rutgers). 3 Credits.

Time: Wednesdays, 6–9pm.
Location: Student Mall computer classroom, NJIT.

Go here for files

If you study ecology or a related field

Learn about ecological theories and models by exploring them in an interactive, visual environment.
Learn to use Mathematica, a multi-purpose programming package.
Adapt and apply what you’ve learned to your research.
This course is designed to be accessible to biology and ecology graduate students. Pre-requisites are minimal (basic college calculus). This is not an “equations on chalkboard” course. As well as ecological theory, you will learn how to use a general-purpose computing package — a skill which will likely help you in your own research, whether you use it for design, analysis, or simply processing data.

If you study mathematics, engineering, etc.

While designed to meet the needs of graduate students in ecology and related areas of biology, this course may be of interest to students in mathematics, environmental and biomedical engineering, etc. You will learn how mathematics is applied to understand ecological systems, and therefore something about ecology. You will refresh your understanding of differential equations, discrete models, etc., and actually apply them in a graphics-rich computational environment. You will learn to program in Mathematica — a skill which will likely help you in your own research (even if you end up using a different package).

How to register

Everyone should contact me first for permission. Assuming you’ve done that, the next step depends on who you are…

If you are a student at NJIT: Register at NJIT for BIOL 638 in the normal way.
If you are a student at Rutgers Newark: You register via the Newark Registrar. Assuming you are a graduate student, you must go in person and tell them that you want to register for NJIT BIOL 638 via the Rutgers course equivalent 48:120:638. You should be referred from the front desk to an administrator. Be persistent!
If you are a student at Rutgers New Brunswick: You register via the New Brunswick Registrar. Instructions about how to do so are in this document. The form that you will need to fill out is here — note that you must get it approved by your Dean before submitting it to the Registar.
There is a cap on enrollment for both courses. If you hit the Rutgers cap, contact Maty Nieves (mnieves@andromeda.rutgers.edu) or Shandell Rivera (sdrivera@rci.rutgers.edu) for a permission code. If you hit the NJIT cap, contact Padma Gulati (gulati@adm.njit.edu) in the NJIT Mathematics office or e-mail me (russell@njit.edu).

Why is permission required?

This mainly so I can keep track of who is the course, and what their background is. That way, I can adjust the material appropriately. Don't worry — it’s not a rigorous screening process!

How and where will the course be taught?

Classes will meet in a computer lab at NJIT, so that you can spend time doing practical examples in class! This semester it will be in one of the small classrooms in the PC lab in the NJIT Student Mall (under the parking garage). There is an NJIT campus map here; the Mall is at the bottom left (opposite Rutgers' Bradley Hall).

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR RESEARCH IN THE LIFE SCIENCES (Graduate). Rutgers 26:120:588 (Special Topics in Advanced Ecology). 3 Credits.

Last taught by GJR: Spring 2008. Will next be taught by GJR: Spring 2010 (expected).

• Learn about ecological theories and models by exploring them in an interactive, visual environment.