General Education Units – Odd-Numbered Semesters from L1 to L3

Contact Person => Jean-Yves.LeGuennec@umontpellier.fr

Description:
This is a cross- TU al course designed for students who are not biologists. This course addresses a major current societal issue: the influence of physical activity and nutrition on health.
Many chronic diseases have emerged in recent years, particularly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers. To combat these so-called “societal” diseases, physical activity and nutrition are recognized as the two most important factors. The reasons behind these beneficial effects involve positive physiological and neurophysiological changes.
This course will cover the muscular and neurophysiological adaptations associated with physical activity, as well as the fundamentals of nutrition for both the general population and athletes.

Objectives:
To acquire a basic understanding of nutrition, muscle physiology, and neurophysiology, and how these systems are adapted through exercise.

Hours: Tutorials: 15 hours

Knowledge Assessment: 100% CC

3) Nutrition (5 hours)
– General Information on Nutrition
– Basics of Nutrition for Athletes

Syllabus:
1) Muscle Physiology (5 hours)
– Adaptations of the cardiovascular system to exercise
– Adaptations of the skeletal muscle system to exercise
– Adaptations of the respiratory system to exercise

2) Neurophysiology (5 hours)
– Adaptations of the central nervous system to exercise
– Adaptations of the peripheral nervous system to exercise

Contact Person => agnes.fichard-carroll@umontpellier.fr

This year, in addition to classes, the “TU : Art and Science” will also take the form of workshops with artist Alba Sagols.
In fact, a collaboration between the Faculty of Sciences and MO.CO (Montpellier Contemporain) centered on the connection between “Art and Science” has been launched. 

All you need is the desire to participate (no artistic experience is required)

Over the course of five 2-hour sessions at MO.CO. Panacée, Alba Sagols will invite students to explore the concept of protocol—common to both the arts and the sciences—as a starting point for individual or collective visual art projects.
Videos, sound pieces, micro-sculptures, text/image compilations, documentary sketches… The creations may take various forms and explore one or more themes related to the arts and sciences (archiving, collecting, writing reports similar to research protocols, or the form of a procedure, instruction manual, or set of steps to follow for conducting an experiment…).
All of the works will be exhibited in the MO.CO.’s Salon des Publics in three display cases, modeled after the exhibition systems found in natural history or anatomical museums.

Description:
Science permeates works of art; art embraces science as a medium. Art and science are in constant dialogue. Their connections are long-standing and strong, yet they are often arbitrarily pitted against one another or separated, even in university curricula.

TheTU aims to help people discover these deep connections and broaden their horizons:
. by providing practical knowledge that sheds light on these two fields (all art, all scientific disciplines)
. by organizing meetings with contemporary artists and scientists to shed light on their work
. by opening the doors to the city’s cultural venues (Musée Fabre, MoCO, Panacée, Frac, Opera/Orchestra, Espace Bagouet, Pavillon Populaire, galleries, etc.) and offering high-quality educational programs.
Each year, the program is structured around the current events, exhibitions, and artistic programs taking place in the city, with support from the UM’s Art & Culture Department.

Some examples of topics:
. Art and Science: The Same Creativity?
. Photography: Technological Advancements in the Service of Artistic Expression
. New Art Forms Inspired by Science: Biotechnological Art, Digital Arts
. The Artists’ Vision
. Restoring Works of Art Through Science

Objectives:
In addition to acquiring knowledge in both fields, the program prioritizes opening students’ minds to new horizons, personal enrichment, and encounters with artists and researchers.TU offers students original material that they can draw upon in other contexts (interviews, competitions), as culture is also a factor in success. Development of soft skills (curiosity, creativity, etc.).

Hours per week:
CM: 15 hours

Assessment: In-class written test

elodie.brunel-piccinini@umontpellier.fr

The goal of the course “Calling Bullshit”—which could be translated as “Hunting Down Nonsense”—is to learn how to think critically about the data and models that constitute evidence or are presented as such within the vast amount of information we receive. We will focus specifically on the nonsense that masquerades as academic discourse. Traditionally, this kind of sophisticated nonsense is accompanied by big words and elaborate rhetoric, but increasingly, it is presented in the form of big data and sophisticated algorithms—and it is these quantitative, statistical, and computational forms that we will address in this course.

An advertisement is trying to sell you something, and you’re bound to be skeptical—but do you see the problem with the latest article in *The New York Times* or *The Washington Post* that praises a startup’s big data analytics? Can you tell if a clinical trial reported in *The Lancet* is trustworthy, or if it’s just a press release in disguise for a major pharmaceutical company?

In this TU, we’ll take a critical look at the information we encounter not only in scientific articles but also in the media. With the rise of artificial intelligence and the “data” revolution, it’s important to develop some good habits as part of a scientific education! The course will provide some basic principles for identifying falsehoods or absurdities and will draw on case studies from the website https://www.callingbullshit.org/ and other sources. TU is assessed through a project developed during the sessions and presented in an oral presentation.

Contact: alban.mancheron@umontpellier.fr

TU Name: Introduction to Python Programming for Scientific Data Analysis and Visualization

The objectives of this course are to enable students majoring in physics, chemistry, or other fields to read data from a file, analyze it, and visualize it.

Students will need to try to locate ESP32-type sensors using the (simulated) Wi-Fi signal strength data they receive from nearby sensors.
To do this, they will need to implement simple algorithms (conditional statements, loops), and then create visualization solutions using the library matplotlib. Finally, they will need to use machine learning libraries (sklearn) to predict the positions of the sensors in the plane.

Prerequisites for this course TU :

Students should have a basic understanding of signal transmission and be familiar with classical probability distributions (normal distribution, chi-square distribution, etc.). They should also have some prior experience programming using a simple text editor.

TU 's name:

High-Frequency Waves for Medical and Healthcare Applications

Hourly volumes:

15 hours of lectures and seminars

Description:

The use of waves is ubiquitous in our modern society, particularly in the field of healthcare. Students will therefore be introduced to wave concepts so that they can explain how the sensors and systems used in this field work, both for diagnosis (such as ultrasound, optical tomography, and spectroscopy) and for treatment (such as laser cancer treatments).

The “TU ” consists of foundational lectures, a reading of a scientific article describing a system (e.g., ultrasound), a thematic study—either assigned or of your own choosing (and presented to the students)—and a session during which photonics experiments will be presented to you in the lab.

Prerequisites:

No prerequisites.

Objectives:

The objective of this general education course ( TU ) is to introduce the fundamental concepts necessary for the use of waves (acoustic, optical, microwave) in the medical and healthcare fields, so that students will instinctively apply these innovative technologies throughout their studies and future professional careers, thereby enabling them to push the boundaries of their field using increasingly powerful and innovative technological tools. In addition, the independent work required will help you improve your ability to understand, synthesize, and present a scientific topic. 

Course Outline:

1. Perception of Waves

The Human Eye (Vision, Colors)

The Human Ear (Outer, Middle, Inner)

Sound Phenomena & Characteristics of Sound Vibration

Psychoacoustics (Sensitivity of the Ear – Fletcher Curves)

2. Description of Waves

General Information and Wave Parameters

Electromagnetic waves

The Doppler effect: a change in the frequency of a moving wave

Lab Work: Common Measuring Tools, Sound Waves, and Frequency

3. Acoustic Applications

General Information About Radio Waves

Ultrasound for Biomedical Applications

Different Types of Ultrasound Imaging

4. Photonic Applications

Special Properties of Light

Diffraction & Interference

A Look at Some Medical Applications (diagnostics, including optical tomography, laser treatments, etc.)

Experimental demonstrations: light decomposition, spectroscopy, resonant cavities, optical fibers…

Assessment: 

Full continuous monitoring, including:

CC1: Short in-person quiz (25%)

CC2: Short in-person oral presentation on a topic prepared at home (30%)

CC3: In-person long quiz (45%)

Session 2: Recalculation based on the highest coefficients.

Contacts:

Stéphane Blin – stephane.blin@umontpellier.fr (manager)

Emmanuel Le Clézio – emmanuel.le-clezio@umontpellier.fr

Annick Pénarier – annick.plagellat@umontpellier.fr

Contact: sonia.chalbi@umontpellier.fr

Are you already writing, or would you like to get started? There are no prerequisites—just a desire to experiment with different writing styles and discover your own voice through a variety of writing prompts.
This module also helps enrich your general knowledge: you’ll be introduced to numerous literary and artistic references throughout the module. You’ll be encouraged to write on a variety of topics; group cohesion and mutual support are significant assets. Humor, too! Just like in the course dedicated to OULIPO (the Workshop for Potential Literature)—that group of writers and mathematicians who continue to invent new, game-based forms to prove that writing is accessible to everyone.
Finally, depending on the schedule, you may have the opportunity to take part in a workshop held off-campus at a cultural venue, participate in creative projects within the UM (France Culture Student Novel Prize, a writing master class with an author, OSNI with the University Library, participation in the Les Boutographies photography festival…).
And who knows? If you catch the creative writing bug, you might want to continue with the student association Scribes, which was
founded by former students.

Course Structure:

• 5 workshops, each lasting 3 hours, on different topics
• Ongoing monitoring and personalized editing of your texts
• A 1-hour final exam on sentences that will refer to topics covered in class
  or will be original composition prompts

“Poetry is not information. Yet it is the only thing a h
r human being will remember from their time on earth.” (Gaël Faye)

Contact: Sonia Chalbi sonia.chalbi@umontpellier.fr

What if a literary movement were also scientific? What if constraints set the imagination free? What if writing could be fun?

This 15-hour workshop invites students to discover the unique and playfu
e world ofOULIPO —the Workshop of Potential Literature—a group of writers and mathematicians who, since the 1960s, have been inventing new forms
of writing by imposing formal rules on themselves that are sometimes strange, often funny, and always stimulating.
Through readings, writing exercises, and collective and individual creative projects, participants will explore various literary constraints ( lipogram, pangram, S+7, modular haiku, etc.) to experiment with different forms of writing.

Objectives (5 classes, 3 hours each)

• Discover the founding principles of OULIPO and its leading figures (Perec, Queneau, Calvino, Le Tellier, and others).
• Making up your own rules without worrying about having a high level of literary skill
• To foster literary creativity in a supportive group setting through guided writing exercises and shared readings.
• Develop your writing skills, your style, and your ability to play with language.

Course Evaluation

• Ongoing review of your written work and personalized feedback on your writing
• 1-hour final exam on passages that will be based on the course material

“He was a word killer: he worked on updating the Larousse dictionaries.”
(Georges Perec)

Contact: jean-yves.cassan@umontpellier.fr

Click here for more information

Manager:corinne.lautier@umontpellier.fr

Computer Basics:
1- Information and Data
Conducting research and monitoring information (search engines, social media, etc.)
Managing data (file managers, databases, etc.)
Processing data (spreadsheets)
2- Communication and Collaboration
Interacting (email, video conferencing, etc.)
Sharing and publishing (sharing platforms, forums, and comment sections, etc.)
Collaborating in a group (collaborative work platforms and document sharing, etc.)
Engaging with the digital world (developing a public presence on the web, etc.)
3- Content Creation
Creating text-based documents (word processing, presentations, etc.)
Creating multimedia documents (capturing and editing images, audio, video, and animations, etc.)
Adapting documents to their intended purpose (format conversion tools, etc.)
Programming (simple software development, solving logical problems, etc.)
4- Protection and Security
Securing the digital environment (security software, encryption, etc.)
Protecting personal data and privacy (privacy settings, etc.)
Protecting health, well-being, and the environment
5- Environment and Digital Technology
Solving technical problems (software configuration and maintenance, etc.)
Building a digital environment (operating systems, installing new software, etc.)

Objectives:

1- Demonstrate a minimum level of proficiency in using digital tools (web tools, data processing software, document creation, etc.)
2- Have a basic understanding of computer science that enables students to pursue a Bioinformatics TU .

Hours:
Lecture: 1.5 hours
Lab: 13.5 hours

Recommended prerequisites: Have a personal computer at home

Assessment:
2 ongoing assessments (1 assignment and 1 online assessment)
1 final exam

Organizers : Isabelle Parrot and Claire Loiseau

Description*:

An invitation to share your experiences with science with young children.

Undergraduate students in the Faculty of Sciences, and young people pursuing a science-based education: come learn how to share a scientific topic in a fun and interactive way! With the support of science communicators or faculty members, after a few training sessions, you’ll become a mentor for a small group of schoolchildren and will be tasked with organizing or developing workshops, digital tools, visual aids, games, or any other science outreach media of your choice. The topics will be determined collaboratively.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, also addresses the issues of equal opportunity and knowledge sharing, which are carried out through educational and cultural support programs for students in priority neighborhoods or rural areas far from major university centers. This project is part of the initiative led by the University of Montpellier called “UniverlaCité.”

We hope that this first step toward sharing knowledge will be just the beginning of a great and enriching adventure for everyone. One of our main goals is to create spaces for reflection on science and technology, open to as many people as possible—especially future citizens who may not necessarily have higher education on the horizon. We are convinced that this societal initiative will provide as many people as possible with the means and the opportunity to address the major challenges of tomorrow with full knowledge of the facts.

This introductory TU s course is taught exclusively through hands-on exercises.

These hands-on exercises are structured around LabVIEW, a professional graphical programming software (widely used in both industry and research), which allows users to control both virtual and physical instruments, as well as small applications—typically in electronics (or robotics)—but also in chemistry, biology, and other fields. This “ TU ” is not limited to electronics engineers, as there are no prerequisites: chemists, biologists, computer scientists, and others are welcome to participate.

Hours: 15 hours of lab work

Required prerequisites: None

Recommended prerequisites: No prerequisites

Assessment: Continuous Assessment through the Submission of a Mini-Project

Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students—with no prior knowledge required—will be able to interface sensors, robots, and other devices with a computer to perform control or signal processing tasks. As a result, they will be able, for example, to program small robots or perform sound processing in a fun and intuitive way using this graphical tool.

Course Outline:

• Getting Started with LabVIEW.
• Interfacing and programming components for instrument control.
• Basics of Communication Systems.
• Data acquisition and output: using the PC's sound card as an acquisition system, or dedicated data acquisition boards (such as Arduino or similar).
• Mini Project: Students will apply what they have learned to a project that they propose or select.

Examples of mini-projects:

• Remote control of a measurement system,
  • Programming a robot, a robotic arm, a mobile robot, etc.
  • Acquisition and processing of data from medical, environmental, and other sensors (force, temperature, light, infrared, pH, salinity, heart rate, pulse oximeter, etc.),
  • Voice manipulation,
  • Localization of sound sources,
  • Development of games or simulations,
  • etc.

Contacts

Contact: Gilles Despaux gilles.despaux@umontpellier.fr

Instructors: Thomas Delaunay Thomas.Delaunay@umontpellier.fr and Gilles Despaux gilles.despaux@umontpellier.fr