CSCI 4322 · Fall 2026
Unconventional Computing
Course information
- Section / CRN
- CSCI 4322.01 · 43704
- Class meetings
- Monday & Wednesday, 3:30–4:45 p.m.
- Classroom
- EIEAB 2.203
Instructor & office hours
- Instructor
- Austin Luchsinger
- Office
- EIEAB 3.246
- Office hours
- Tuesday & Thursday
9–11 a.m. and 2–4 p.m.
Computing beyond digital electronics
How can molecules, crystals, and physical systems compute? This course explores unconventional models of computation and the algorithms they make possible.
Schedule & topics
The course is roughly divided into five sections:
- Computing with molecules — chemical reaction networks (CRNs)
- Computing with crystals — self-assembly
- Computing with thermodynamics — thermodynamic binding networks (TBNs)
- Computing with mechanical systems — linkages
- Computing with subatomic particles — quantum computing
Problem sets, exercises & projects
- Problem Set 1Due September 9, 3:30 p.m.
- Problem Set 2Due September 23, 3:30 p.m.
- Class Exercise 1Details to be announced
- Final ProjectDetails to be announced
Resources
Books, papers, and slides for exploring the course topics.
Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines, Marvin Minsky, 1967.
- Molecular Computing Slides Austin Luchsinger, 2025.
- Models of Computation Jeff Erickson, 2015.
- Petri Net Theory and the Modeling of Systems James Peterson, 1981.
- Optimal Information Encoding in CRNs Luchsinger, Doty, and Soloveichik, 2023.
- Optimal Information Encoding — slides
- Composable Computation in CRNs — discrete
- Composable Computation in CRNs — continuous
- Deterministic Function Computation in CRNs Chen, Doty, and Soloveichik, 2014.
- Tile Self-Assembly Survey Matthew Patitz, 2013.
- aTAM Arithmetic: Addition and Multiplication Yuriy Brun.
- aTAM Arithmetic: Subtraction and Division
- Fast Arithmetic in Tile Self-Assembly Keenan et al., 2016.
- Concentration Independent Coin Flipping Chalk et al., 2015.
- Program Complexity of Shapes Adleman et al., 2001.
- Self-assembly of Patterns Drake, Patitz, Summers, and Tracy, 2024.
- Tile Complexity of Linear Assemblies Chandran, Gopalkrishnan, and Reif, 2012.
- Thermodynamic Binding Networks Doty et al., 2017.
- Computing Properties of Stable TBN Configurations
- Computing Properties of Stable TBN Configurations — integer programming
- Programmable Kinetic Barriers in TBNs Breik et al., 2021.
- Barrier-1 Reachability in TBNs Luchsinger, 2022.
- TBN Experiments Wang, Chalk, Doty, and Soloveichik, 2025.