Physics and the Brain: Learn some of both in one course

This talk will discuss a new course that was created in the context of NC State's Integrative Sciences Initiative. Physics and the Brain is an active-learning, sophomore-level course that draws students from the Physics and Biology departments. The course explores various aspects of neural dynamics, specifically in the auditory system. During the semester topics such as damped-driven oscillations in the basilar membrane and ion movement in neurons are taught. Every topic has an associated hands-on activity, typically a numerical or electronic model of the system, and every module is easily portable to instructors in any other course covering similar physics content.