Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

This course provides an overview of the science related to observing and understanding sea-level rise, which has a profound impact on the sustainability of coastal cities and ecosystems. In modern research, sea-level rise is viewed as a complex response of the Earth “system of systems” to climate change. Measuring ongoing sea-level change is challenging due to the great natural variability of sea level on short time scales caused by tides, weather, and ocean currents. Interpreting measurements so that one can assess (and mitigate against) potential economic and societal impacts of sea-level rise is crucial but can be complicated, since so many Earth-system processes play a role. Some of these processes are related and others are unrelated to climate change; some of the latter are natural and others are of anthropogenic origin. Students enrolled in this course will through lectures and class discussions address topics related to the underlying observational basis for sea-level rise. Given the complexity of sea level rise, it is important for those in technical positions to understand the systems level interactions that not only lead to rising waters but also the consequences that these changes inflict on other parts of our environment. What we hear most commonly is that sea level rise will affect hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas and make those populations susceptible to flooding. But in addition to this community effect, sea level rise also have dramatic effects on coastal habitats, leading to issue such as erosion, soil contamination, and wetland flooding, just to name a few. This course will introduce and prepare students to develop a more comprehensive and holistic approach to sea level rise. By training students to observe, measure, interpret, and begin to predict how sea level rise affects populations and communities differently, students will be in strong positions to address, mitigate, and adapt to the challenges more effectively using evidence-based approaches.

Department: Sustainability Science
Instructor: James L Davis
h-index: 57 Info
3 points

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SUSC PS5030

World Cinema: Latin America- Women Filmm

Wld Cine: Lat Amer-Women

Department: Film
Instructor: Elizabeth Ramirez Soto
Info
3 points

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FILM AF5031

HLTH PROM/DISEASE PREVNT CLRKSHIP I

Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
Instructor: Folarin Odusola
h-index: 5 Info
0 points

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INTC D5031

PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS

Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
0 points

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INTC D5032

GHG EMISSIONS: MEASURING AND MINIMIZING

GHG EMISSIONS CARBON FOOT

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now at a record high, and the world’s scientific community agrees that continued unabated release of greenhouse gases will have catastrophic consequences. Many efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, both public and private, have been underway for decades, yet it is now clear that collectively these efforts are failing, and that far more concerted efforts are necessary. In December 2015, the world’s nations agreed in Paris to take actions to limit the future increase in global temperatures well below to 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C. Achieving this goal will require mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, both public and private. Critical to any attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is a clear, accurate understanding of the sources and levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This course will address all facets of greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting and will provide students with tangible skills needed to direct such efforts in the future.

Students in this course will gain hands-on experience designing and executing greenhouse gas emissions inventories for companies, financial institutions and governments employing all necessary skills including the identification of analysis boundaries, data collection, calculation of emissions levels, and reporting of results. In-class workshops and exercises will complement papers and group assignments. A key component of this course will be critical evaluation of both existing accounting and reporting standards as well as GHG emissions reduction target setting practices.

This course will introduce many of the challenges facing carbon accounting practitioners and will require students to recommend solutions to these challenges derived through critical analysis. Classes will examine current examples of greenhouse gas reporting efforts and will allow students the opportunity to recommend improved calculation and reporting methods.

Department: Sustainability Management
Instructor: Jonathan C Dickinson
CULPA: 1 Info
Instructor: Ryan A Meinke
Info
Instructor: Anthony M Guerrero
Info
3 points

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SUMA PS5035

American Film: Comedy

TPCS IN AMER CINEMA

Grad section for FILM UN 2190 Topics in American Cinema. Comedy or Film Noir

Comedy:

This course will explore the history of American film comedy from the origins of cinema to the present. In its various forms, comedy has always been a staple of American film production; but it has also always been a site of heterogeneity and nonconformity in the development of American cinema, with neither its form nor its content fitting normative models of film practice. This course accounts for that nonconformity by exploring comedy’s close and essential links to “popular” cultural sources (in particular, vaudeville, variety, stand-up); it looks at how different comic filmmakers have responded to and reshaped those sources; and it examines the relation between comedy and social change. Rather than engage the entire spectrum of comic styles (animation, mockumentary, etc.), this course is primarily focused on a single tradition bridging the silent and sound eras: the performance-centered, “comedian comedy” format associated with performers as diverse as Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, the Marx Brothers, and, into the present Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Will Ferrell, and others. “Laughter and its forms,” writes theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, “represent the least scrutinized sphere of the people's creation.” This course will restore film comedy to the scrutiny it deserves, examining both its inward formal development and its external relation to other modes of cultural expression.

Film Noir:

This course surveys the American film genre known as film noir, focusing primarily on the genre’s heyday in the 1940s and early 1950s, taking into account some of its antecedents in the hard-boiled detective novel, German Expressionism, and the gangster film, among other sources. We will consider a number of critical and theoretical approaches to the genre, and will also study a number of film noir adaptations and their literary sources.

Department: Film
Instructor: Robert King
CULPA: 7 Info
3 points

Details

FILM AF5040

SECURITY ANALYSIS

Department: Enterprise Risk Management
Instructor: Panos Mourdoukoutas
Wikipedia Info
3 points

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SPMG PS5040

ESG ALIGNED CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

ESG-ALIGNED CORP GOVERNANCE

Department: Sustainability Management
Instructor: Bridget C Murphy
Info
3 points

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SUMA PS5040

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE FACE OF NATURAL DI

SUST IN THE FACE OF NAT DISTRS

Natural hazards, naturally occurring phenomena, which can lead to great damage and loss of life, pose a great challenge for the sustainability of communities around the world. This course aims to prepare students to tackle specific hazards relevant to their life and work by providing them the scientific background and knowledge of the environmental factors that combine to produce natural disasters. The course will also train students about the methods used to study certain aspects of natural hazards and strategies for assessing risk and preparing communities and businesses for natural disasters. The course will cover a range of natural hazards, including geological, hydro-meteorological, and biological. The course will emphasize the driving physical, chemical and biological processes controlling the various hazards, and the observation and modeling methods used by scientists to assess and monitor events. Many case examples, including hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that occurred in the last five years, will be given and analyzed for the characteristics of the event, the preparation, and the response.

By providing students with a solid understanding of past natural disasters, the course prepares them to think more critically about creating more resilient communities, which can resist catastrophic events. Students will be studying the underpinning scientific principles of natural disasters but will also learn specific strategies for planning, mitigation, and response. During the course, students will master cutting-edge tools and technologies that will prepare them to work in the complex and demanding field of disaster management. After completing the course, students will be able to understand past events, communicate risk, and make critical decision related to disaster and preparedness. In increasingly unpredictable times, there is a need for more resilient and connected communities, and this particular course will train students in both the knowledge and skills needed to lead and strengthen those communities and resilience efforts at scale.

Advising Note:
Students are expected to have taken college-level Calculus, Physics, and Introductory Statistics. Students are expected to have experience with computer based data analysis (Excel, R, Matlab or Python).

Department: Sustainability Science
Instructor: Einat Lev
h-index: 16 Info
3 points

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SUSC PS5040

CELL BIOLOGY

Department: Biological Sciences
Instructor: Erin L Barnhart
Info
3 points

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BIOL GR5041

Global Food Trade, Shocks, and Migration

Global Food Trade Shocks

In this course, we examine the complex interdependencies between global food trade systems, climate-related and socioeconomic shocks, and human migration patterns. Together, we'll explore how disruptions propagate through international food networks, analyzing these systems through the lenses of agricultural economics, climate science, and geopolitics. We will investigate how various shocks—from climate extremes and armed conflicts to market volatility and pandemics—impact food security and trigger population movements across diverse regions and scales. Throughout the semester, we'll pay particular attention to climate change as a threat multiplier that intensifies existing vulnerabilities in our global food systems. By combining data analysis, case studies, and theoretical frameworks, we'll develop a nuanced understanding of the food-climate-migration nexus that shapes our modern world.

This multidisciplinary approach will enable us to examine concepts of resilience and evaluate diverse solutions for strengthening food systems' ability to absorb shocks, from diversified production and redundant supply chains to adaptive governance mechanisms and transformative policy interventions that enhance robustness across scales. We will specifically investigate how different metrics of resilience—including redundancy, diversity, modularity, and connectivity—can be operationalized in food trade networks to reduce vulnerability to cascading failures that often trigger migration responses. Through quantitative analysis and case studies, we'll assess how strategies such as regional food reserves, alternative distribution channels, and early warning systems affect both food security and human mobility patterns. This integrated approach allows us to explore interventions that simultaneously strengthen food systems and provide migration-sensitive adaptations, recognizing that human mobility itself can be both a vulnerability and a resilience strategy in the face of food system disruptions.