function special_topics_load_data_hand()
{
  // special_topics_course_add(COURSE_NUM, NAME, DESCRIPTION, WEB_PATH)
  //
  // COURSE_NUM:
  //  The course number. Add this carefully, it is used for
  //  retrieving the time, room number, etc.
  //
  // NAME:
  //  The course name. It does NOT have to match the name in schedule book.
  //  Can contain html markup.
  //
  // DESCRIPTION:
  //  A brief (about one line) description.  Can contain html markup.
  //
  // WEB_PATH: (optional, even if INSTRUCTOR provided)
  //  The path to a Web page providing more information. This could be
  //  a syllabus in PDF or the course home page. Specify everything after
  //  the domain name.  That is, if the URL were
  //  "http://www.ece.lsu.edu/ee4720/index.html" then the value for WEB_PATH
  //  would be "ee4720/index.html".
  //
  // INSTRUCTOR: (optional)
  //  The name of the instructor. This will override the name provided
  //  in the University scheduling booklet. Set it when the name their
  //  is incorrect or TBA.

  special_topics_semester_specify("Spring 2010");


  special_topics_course_add
    ("EE 7000-1",
     "Graphics and Visual Computing",
     "Computer graphics algorithms, techniques, and applications for modeling, simulation, animation, rendering and other key elements of visual computing. Other topics include shape representation and modeling: how to store, represent, and render geometric objects; graphical user interface design, texture mapping, and environmental mapping and rendering. Broader applications in visual computing: shape deformation and morphing; collision detection; and shape comparison and retrieval.",
     "http://www.ece.lsu.edu/xinli/teaching/EE7000Spring2010.htm");

  special_topics_course_add
    ("EE 7700-1",
     "GPU Microarchitecture",
     "The design of graphics processing units for high performance animation and non-graphical computation. Course will cover past and current designs, including NVIDIA case studies, as well as future concepts, such as Intel's Larrabbee.",
     'koppel/gp/'
     );

  special_topics_course_add
    ("EE 7700-2",
     "Digital Video and HDTV",
     "Fundamentals of digital video and high-definition TV. Topics will include basics of image acquisition and display, color science and color coding, image and video compression techniques and standards (e.g. JPEG, MPEG, and H.26x), video processing (e.g. filtering, sampling, interpolation, deinterlacing, and gamma correction), standard-definition and high-definition video standards, and digital TV broadcasting basics and standards.");

  special_topics_course_add
    ("EE 7700-3",
     "Computer Game Algorithms and Networking",
     "This class will examine two engineering aspects essential for a successful computer game:  algorithms and networking.    Algorithms determine, for instance, the actions of non-player characters.  How to control these characters so that they act in a way that seems realistic to a player?  How to control thousands of these characters?  Supporting thousands of players in the same game entails high computation and bandwidth demands.  Scaling up to ever larger numbers of players poses large challenges in networking.  It also raises new issues; for instance, if a game distributes computation over player machines to avoid a bottleneck at a central server, then new opportunities to cheat arise that must be countered.",
     "http://www.ece.lsu.edu/trahan/ee7700webpost-S10.htm"
     );
}