Delivering advanced methods in mathematical programming to students of all disciplines using abstraction, modularity and open-ended assignments

The advent of integrated multidisciplinary research has given rise to some of the most important breakthroughs of our time, but has also set significant challenges to the current educational paradigm. Current academic education often limits cross-discipline discussion, depends on close-ended problems, and restricts utilization of interdisciplinary methods. "Advanced Methods in Mathematical Programming" is a new course developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We used MATLAB as the course platform, exploiting the software's high levels of abstraction and modularity to teach network analysis, signal processing, module-oriented design, and mathematical modeling to students of all disciplines. Enrollment included students from different disciplines ranging from computer science to psychology. In their final projects, students presented novel ways of approaching classic disciplinary problems.