2024

2D Animation with Photoshop and After Effects

This course will cover the basic functions of Adobe Photoshop and After Effects with special consideration of their animation capabilities. Students will also gain proficiency with industry-leading Toonboom Harmony. Students will learn to manipulate images and video in 2D and 3D space. These techniques, with this software, are common in broadcast and internet advertising, TV show and movie credits, corporate video, and short-form entertainment.

William (Bill) Noel is a freelance cameraman, producer/director, professor, and consultant with over 30 years of experience in video and media production. He has a master’s degree in fine arts from Southern Methodist University and has worked on over 700 on-location productions including concerts, speeches, and sports. Noel is also the director of the Donovan Media Development Center at the University of Lynchburg where he has been teaching since 2000. His classes cover a wide range of topics including media production, video basics, editing, motion graphics, and compositing.

Artificial Intelligence

AI takes many forms, but at its core, it is the study of how computers make decisions to solve problems. This course will introduce students to the principles of artificial intelligence through the lenses of game-playing and language modeling. Game playing is a classic AI domain that requires decision-making strategies and learning from past outcomes. Language modeling is a hot-button topic due to advanced models such as Chat GPT-3. Such powerful models can trace a direct heritage to the AI fundamentals that predate modern neural network methods. This class will introduce students to those fundamentals and give them hands-on experience with designing, building, and evaluating solutions to foundational AI tasks. Indeed, a primary concern for this course is helping students understand what AI—as a technical discipline and not just a buzzword—is and what it is not.

Requirement: Some experience writing computer programs.

Body Quest: An Exploration in Anatomy and Physiology

This course is a study of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy is the study of the structure and physiology is the study of the function of the parts of the body. Students will spend time dissecting a fetal pig and comparing it to humans. In the past students have visited a necropsy lab, an autopsy lab, the University’s cadaver lab, a physical therapy facility, and a museum about medicine at the time of the Civil War to see how far knowledge has come.

Kim Geier teaches the body quest class and has worked at Govenor’s School since 1999 in various jobs: residential assistant, lab assistant, and teacher.  She got her bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of William & Mary, and a Master of Life Science degree from the University of Maryland.  She taught biology for nine years in Campbell County at Brookville High School and is now an instructor and lab coordinator at the University of Lynchburg.  When not teaching, she loves traveling, especially to places that add stamps to her National Park Passport or for fascinating science experiences, like the total solar eclipse.

Dirt-under-the-fingernails Mathematics

When studying a mathematical subject for the first time, it’s necessary to solve a certain number of routine problems to hone technical skills. However, there comes a time when a student of mathematics must transcend the familiar, and face difficult problems by relying on a mix of cleverness, experience, and raw nerve. We will consider such problems from a variety of mathematical fields. We’re going to encounter problems that we may not be able to solve, and a few that nobody has yet been able to solve. But we’re not going to be afraid to try.

Marc Ordower is an associate professor of mathematics at Randolph College. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo and his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has published articles in various areas of mathematics and has taught at several universities. At Randolph College, he has advised students in mathematics and administered mathematics competitions. Follow Dr. Ordower on TikTok.

Electron Control: Understanding and Constructing the Fundamental Digital Circuitry of Computing

Although the conceptual ingredients for the modern computer date back to the 1830s, the hardware to enable its operation at useful speed and interface had to await inventions of physics: the transistor (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1956) and the integrated circuit (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2000). We will use these components to build from scratch on a connection board the fundamental computing circuitry, including circuits that make decisions, add, count, store, and move information, and make LEDs (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2014) light up in revealing patterns.

Dr. John Gardner earned his physics degrees from Princeton University and the University of Illinois and has spent 22 years teaching college physics and 10 years teaching high school physics, most recently at a Virginia Academic-Year Governor’s School. He specializes in student laboratory experiences. Gardner is returning for his 11th year at the Summer Residential Governor’s School at the University of Lynchburg. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, biking, and running on any nearby street or trail system while listening to audiobooks for free on his sister’s Audible subscription.

Eyes on the Skies: Meteorology of Atmospheric Phenomena

In this course, we explore the drivers of weather and climate to understand dynamic systems. We analyze atmospheric conditions every day to understand how weather systems create different cloud types, ice crystal and droplet phenomena, and severe weather. We examine how meteorologists use various remote sensing equipment and forecast tools, track the weather locally to globally, and discuss what to expect in our skies each week. We also explore global data sets and use data visualization tools from NASA, NOAA, and other agencies to understand global trends and future scenarios. We’ll learn how mathematical climate model projections are developed. We embark on several field trips in the region to gain hands-on field experiences in different systems. Ideally, this class will also be the start of a lifelong habit of sky-watching atmospheric phenomena and knowing where, when, and how to spot them.

Dr. Karin Warren is an interdisciplinary natural scientist and educator in climate change and community resilience. She is the Herzog Family Chair of Environmental Studies and Science at Randolph College, where she teaches courses in environmental science, energy systems, quantitative methods, climate dynamics, and sustainability practice. She collaborates with her students in community-based research projects on equitable strategies for climate resilience, urban water quality, and old-growth forest conservation. She is also involved in various sustainability initiatives and organizations. In her free time, she enjoys exploring woodlands, streams, and skies for atmospheric phenomena. You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Neuroscience of You: Intro to Functional Neuroanatomy with Wellbeing Lab

This course will provide basic neuroanatomy (cortical organization and functions). We will debunk brain myths using evidence-based reasoning. At the end of the course, you should be able to identify the affected brain regions based on their behavioral, perceptual, emotional, and language deficits. You will learn about brain mechanisms such as neural pathways to understand how we function. You will be able to appreciate how every brain is different and understand your brain better. We will also cover neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders, neuroplasticity, and psychopharmacology.

The Wellness lab of this course will use biofeedback machines to understand the effects of wellness practices such as meditation, breathing exercises, and sensory feedback on the brain. Additionally, we will explore other facets of personality, development, and social psychology related to neuroscience. This part of the course intends to demonstrate the practical applications of neuroscience and how to use this information to promote your own well-being. Students will be encouraged to develop creative projects exploring elements of the course that interest them.

Tales from the Genome: What Will Your Future Bring?

In “Tales From the Genome,” principles of genetics and biotechnology are explored, including central dogma, DNA structure and replication, mutation, recombinant DNA technology, and the molecular basis of disease. DNA extraction, multiple applications of PCR and DNA electrophoresis, bacterial transformation, and identification of genetically modified organisms are a few of the ways students will earn valuable experience in hands-on lab applications of DNA technology. Students will also have the opportunity to examine and discuss practical and ethical challenges surrounding DNA technology, the treatment of genetic disease, and what the future might hold in our genetic future.

Erin Rierson has been teaching in the Lynchburg area for more than two decades. She earned a BS in biology from Liberty University and a master’s degree in chemical and life science from The University of Maryland at College Park. Throughout her academic career, she has had the privilege of investigating cell response in halobacterium salinarum, the role of the ADAM7 protein in immune cell adhesion and trafficking, and the social and ethical issues surrounding the availability of PrEP for the prevention of HIV in the United States. In 2014 and 2017, she was awarded a Summer Residential Governor’s School Outstanding Educator Award and was the 2021 recipient of the Scifest STAR award from Randolph College. Erin is very excited to be back at Governor’s School for another summer of genetics.

The Dark Night Sky: Serious Questions for Real Astronomers

What precisely is a comet? Are we really in danger of colliding with a comet or an asteroid? Have such events happened in the earth’s past? These questions will provide a starting point for an investigation of the current understanding of the age, size, and nature of the universe. Students will keep a nightly journal of a variety of naked-eye observations of the night sky, will use the Internet as a source of information, will use telescopes to observe astronomical phenomena, and will analyze a variety of astronomical data in the laboratory.

Harold Butner, associate professor of physics at James Madison University, received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Butner is a radio astronomer who works in the submillimeter range. He was a Carnegie Fellow at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. From there, he held a position at Stewart Observatory in Arizona and the Joint Astronomy Center in Hawaii. He is interested in using submillimeter observations to learn more about the star formation process.

Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink

Voted by past students as one of the best Summer Residential Governor’s School experiences and
particularly relevant in light of recent droughts in Virginia, this course provides a comprehensive field
and laboratory-based study of water resources. Basic hydrology, including water movement and stream and lake dynamics, as well as sources of pollution, and water treatment techniques, form the core for this course. Course content also includes an analysis of land use as it affects water supply, water quality, and watershed management decisions.

Diana Duckworth received her AB from Duke University in geology and an MS from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in geological sciences. She taught for five years at the University of Illinois, Chicago before moving to Virginia. Her teaching assignments at Rustburg High School for 27 years included earth science, biology, chemistry, and ecology before retiring in 2013. She has been teaching a course in water resources at Governor’s School for the last 28 years. Duckworth has won numerous teaching awards, including the AAUW Educator of the Year for Virginia and the McGlothlin Award for Excellence in Teaching. Duckworth loves to travel from pole to pole, including the Arctic, Antarctica, Botswana, Namibia, and the Galapagos. She is a passionate gardener and photographer and loves drawing and painting.