BIOL 357 - A Walk Through the Ages: Using Artificial Intelligence to Understand the Evolution of Exercise

Credits: 4

Prerequisite: BIOL 187 or CSCI 111. Exercise leaves us healthier and happier, yet many of us struggle to get enough physical activity. Why it is so hard to hit the gym? Our biology and evolutionary past might play a role in our reluctance to undertake physical activity. In this course, students will learn how to quantify the amount of physical activity using wearable exercise trackers. We will collect data on different types of activities in different environments and physiological conditions. Using machine learning tools, we will develop a unique classifier that will predict the environmental/physiological setting based on the data. We will go through the processes of experimental design, data extraction, data preprocessing, data modeling and finally, data interpretation. These aspects of the course will culminate in a course project which will require students to build a model that represents the exercise data gathered. Toporikova and Watson.