This course will introduce students to the application of interdisciplinary working. Creating an interdisciplinary Major can be imagined as a puzzle whereby all the pieces are aligned around a central theme. Your module choices will form the foundational knowledge blocks for a critical question or line of enquiry which will be addressed through your final Capstone or Senior Thesis. Interdisciplinarity as a practice and method will help join all the strands together, allowing you to rise above siloed approaches to fully unpack and understand the complexity of the various dynamics at play within your chosen area of study. This course is a practical approach to interdisciplinary work through the visioning, creationing, and implementation of an interdisciplinary project. The course is worth 0.5 CUs and will run every other week.
Disciplinary and multidisciplinary knowledge: Students will be exposed to the different interdisciplinary theories and methods used in different disciplines to think with, and work through, complex challenges.
Intellectual and creative skills: Students will engage with classic and contemporary research methodologies and theories with a view to designing their own interdisciplinary approaches to study and thereby formulate their own problem statements and analytical frameworks to interrogate particular themes.
Global citizenship: Students will exposed to contemporary complex challenges that impact societies on local, regional, and global scales.
Financial markets play a vital role in economic growth and development. At the same time, financial volatility highlights the importance of central banks in conducting monetary policy and maintaining financial stability. This course consists of two parts. The first reviews key concepts in monetary theory, including interest rates, money market equilibrium, and the dynamic AD-AS model. Students will develop an understanding of how monetary policy influences macroeconomic outcomes and economic stabilisation. The second part focuses on monetary policy and the role of central banks. Students will examine monetary policy frameworks, the money supply process, policy instruments, transmission mechanisms, exchange rate policy, and the challenges of policy implementation. Through SMU-X experiential learning, students will work on real-world projects with the Central Bank of Vietnam, applying economic theory to practical policy issues such as monetary framework modernization, financial market oversight, and exchange rate management. These projects strengthen critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills. As an SMU-XO course, students will also participate in an immersive experience in Vietnam through guest lectures, interactions with local students, and business visits, enhancing their global awareness and cultural competence while fulfilling the Global Exposure requirement. Teamwork forms a key component of the course and is assessed through group projects and peer evaluations.
This course aims to help students:
• Revise the key theories and strategies in modern Macroeconomic Management model.
• Understand the conduct and strategies of Monetary Policies, especially from the central bank's point of view.
• Solve real-world problems given by a central bank and acquire crucial teamwork skills
• Gain insight into financial markets business environment and develop potential networking through interactions with local businesses and industry experts.
• First-hand experience with the rich culture and gaining different life-skills through interaction with local university students and other cultural exchange activities.
This course will introduce methods of measuring income distribution and income inequality, examine macroeconomic models with implications on income distribution and re distribution, and analyze government policies in relation to income distribution. Global studies (including the case of Singapore) on income inequality, intergenerational mobility, and related issues on disparity will be reviewed, and discussed.
Topics may include some or all of the following: measurement of income inequality, problems of rising inequality in advanced and emerging economies, growth and inequality, human capital and inequality, intergenerational mobility and inequality, trade liberalization and inequality, redistribution policies, etc.
- Learn modeling techniques;
- Work with data related to income distribution;
- Interpret empirical findings;
- Explain model predictions intuitively;
- Engage in discussions on policies related to inequality
This course will provide an introduction to the developmental challenges in Asia. The course will begin with introducing the distinction between concepts of economic growth and development. The course will have a strong emphasis on understanding the life and well-being of people in Asian countries through the lens of development economics. We will attempt to diagnose the causes of underdevelopment by analysing its components such as lack of sufficient access to education, savings, and nutrition, and study how these can cause the persistence of underdevelopment.
We will also look at dimensions of identity such as gender and how development policy can be designed in the presence of prejudice. Finally, we will study how the delivery of public goods and services is constrained by issues like state capacity, corruption and political institutions. Policy implications emerging from the material we have studied will be also discussed.
- To understand the factors that lead to persistence of underdevelopment in the empirical context of Asia.
- Learning how to examine the evidence on policy relevant interventions. This will involve looking at tables with statistical output. By the end of the course you should be more comfortable making inferences based on statistical output that is presented to you.
- To develop and sharpen your analytical and presentation skills by participating in class discussions and debates.
- To acquire an appreciation of the issues involved in designing and evaluating developmental policies.
Develop a proof of concept software application or system that satisfies a list of functional and quality requirements. Students will work with a team and practice their requirement analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment and project management skills.
Build the professional knowledge depth required to become a software developer or research engineer. This includes building up competence in the student's selected track, applying their learning domain knowledge and technology to the relevant industry sectors or research areas. A CS project does not have to be tied to a specific track, i.e., it can be multidisciplinary.
The project's nature and scope are set by the project sponsor. Students can work on an application development or a research project. It is advisable that for research projects, students should have GPA > 3.4.
- Showcase expertise in executing a project using knowledge acquired from the courses taken from the CS curriculum
- Experience developing of some technology deliverable for an application software, system, or proof of concept
- Experience working in a team environment with a sponsored project (internal, external or self-proposed) using project management skills experience throughout the courses taken in CS
- Learn about a relevant industry or technology not otherwise available in the course curriculum
- Work on complex and real project used by the project sponsor
Cyber-Physical Systems infuse sensing, computing, networking, and control capabilities into physical objects, breathing into them new life, new purpose, and new meaning. They are present in diverse application domains: social services, food, healthcare, transportation, environmental sustainability, and more. Cyber-Physical Systems empower global communities to create meaningful impact by addressing societal challenges, in areas such as social fabric, quality of life, and sustainability. In this foundational course, we embark on an adventure; sometimes challenging, always exciting.
We learn vital theories, acquire skills, and work with tools for Cyber-Physical Systems. We discover their essential elements. We explore ways to unite the cyber and physical realms. We unleash our creative energies, our youthful idealism, and our capacity to dream, by creating visionary technology to conquer a real-world societal challenge.
The adventure reaches its peak at the project showcase, where we witness the work of human hands come to fruition, leaving us inspired to reflect deeply and broadly about how we, as global citizens, can harness the power of Cyber-Physical Systems as a potent force in the service of humanity.
- Business Innovation: Identify and evaluate digitisation and innovative business opportunities provided by new advancements in information and communication technology to establish new services or businesses to bridge the physical and digital worlds
- Design Thinking Practice: manage design thinking methodologies and processes to solve specific challenges for the organisation, and guide stakeholders through the phases of inspiration, empathy, ideation and implementation
- Embedded Systems Integration: implement control systems to perform predefined tasks and also real-time monitoring for the real world
- Embedded Systems Interface Design: design and set up interfaces and interconnections from or among sensors, through a network, to a main location, to enable transmission of information
- Embedded Systems Programming: program an embedded system using permitted programming interfaces provided by the system to support creation of devices that do not operate on traditional operating systems
- Systems Design: Design systems to meet specified business and user requirements that are compatible with established system architectures, as well as organisational and performance standards
The Solution Architecture course integrates design concepts and methods to develop IT solutions from both the software and system-level perspectives. It focuses on the analysis, design and implementation of an IT solution through which business requirements, software qualities and solution elements are transformed into implementable artefacts. By combining critical analysis with hands-on design and development, the course prepares students to participate effectively in the architecture design and development stages of a software-intensive IT solution project. It is highly recommended that students are also proficient in IS442 Object Oriented Programming and Java programming language prior to reading this course.
- Understand the importance of software architecture for an IT Solution.
- Understand the essentials of operating systems and networking for architecture design.
- Describe your IT architecture using views and software qualities.
- Understand and apply software design and integration patterns.
- Understand and apply architectural styles and development strategy
- Design and develop an IT software solution design.
- Analyse and evaluate your IT solution design for maintainability quality.
- Analyse and evaluate your IT solution design for availability quality.
- Analyse and evaluate your IT solution design for security quality.
- Analyse and evaluate your IT solution design for performance quality.
This course introduces students to human-AI collaboration in software development through the design and implementation of modern web-based systems. Students explore core software engineering topics including software design issues, agile development processes, and project management. In team-based projects, students gain hands-on experience combining human expertise with AI tools for requirements analysis, coding, testing, and deployment.
Demonstrate an understanding of requirement specification:
- Explain the concepts of a requirement
- Describe software requirements with user stories
- Estimate user stories
Demonstrate an understanding of agile methodologies
- Use an iterative, incremental development approach in the group project
- Practice pair programming and code review during project time
- Explain the key differences in concepts such as adaptive vs. predictive, agile vs. waterfall, code vs. documentation
Demonstrate an understanding of app development and deployment
- Develop a HTTP based application
- Implement code for business logic and HTTP request handling
- Implement basic interaction with a persistent database
- Design and implement basic application security
- Deploy the services into production
Demonstrate an understanding of software testing
- Explain testing fundamentals: unit testing, integration testing, usability testing, etc.
- Design unit tests and integration tests
- Implement automatic testing for the group project
- Understand and practice
The purpose of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of statistics through illustrative use of statistical methods for solving applied problems. Emphasis will be placed on statistical reasoning, rather than derivation of theoretical details. Students will learn to solve common statistical problems using statistical software. This course is designed for students who wish to pursue a non-quantitative major at SMU. Students who intend to pursue a quantitative major should take its companion course, COR-STAT1203 Introduction to Statistical Theory.
- Define, collect, organize, and visualize data.
- Understand basic probability concepts (such as joint probability, marginal probability, and conditional probability).
- Understand various probability distributions (including discrete and continuous distributions).
- Construct and interpret point and interval estimates.
- Conduct one-sample and two-sample hypothesis tests.
- Conduct simple linear regression analysis.
The core objective of the new SMU-X Transformative Leadership course is to nurture a new generation of young leaders motivated and capable of tackling intricate global and local challenges related to the nexus of ‘digital disruption, demographic change and diversity’ in an integrated, interdisciplinary fashion, providing the opportunity to integrate perceived differences between older and younger people in terms of values, communication priorities; age discrimination or the initiation of new types of social (‘digital’) behaviours transmitted from the plugged-in ‘Generation Z’ (born 1996 and after) to Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). These three challenges (positioned at the interface of both current and future issues) are not only globally relevant but also have significant local implications for Singapore.
Embedded in the experiential SMU-X initiative, the Transformative Leadership course provides students with a unique learning opportunity to develop and implement (socially) innovative solutions to make a positive impact on business and society in close collaboration with reputable partners in business, nonprofits and government. Learners will be paired up with an external SMU-X partner to work on relevant innovative projects with real impact.
The successful completion of such transformative SMU-X projects requires learners diving deep(er) into various disciplines such as social sciences, business, political governance, public policy, demography, technology, etc. It is expected that the chosen practical challenges commissioned by SMU-X partners will ‘stretch’ students, forcing them to step out of their comfort zones and to explore the unknowns in order to make a ‘real’ difference ‘out there’ in both the social and business sectors.
In terms of effective leader development, in particular, transformative leadership, the SMU-X course design will support learners in expanding their individual capacity to be effective in leadership roles and processes. Emphasis will be put on proximal indicators of leader development such as self-views around self-concept, including leader self-awareness, leadership self-efficacy and leader. Through their SMU-X projects, students will appreciate the importance of leadership development so that they can articulate what it takes for teams and their leaders to create strong(er) alignment and high(er) levels of commitment. The latter requires interpersonal trust, care and concern as well as shared mind-sets regarding (transformative) goals and values such as the ‘real’ sharing propelled by collaborative leadership approaches.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Analyze the power and impact of global and local challenges related to digital disruption and demographic change on business and society in general;
- Explain the importance of collaborative transformative leadership in addressing some of these complex issues head on in an integrated, interdisciplinary and novel manner, bringing about transformational, out-of-the box solutions;
- Appreciate what it takes in terms of design thinking to propose user-centred solutions, that create real value for stakeholders of participating client organizations;
- Articulate how selected leadership concepts such as transformational, collaborative leadership approaches can propel innovative problem solutions;
- Reflect effectively about their own leadership outlook and the acquisition of 21th century skills such as collaborative intelligence, through impactful and innovative SMU-X projects.