Sustainable Development Policy and Pract
This required overview course for MPA-DP students examines the evolving concept of sustainable development and its implications for policy and practice. Drawing from social, economic, political, and environmental frameworks, the course explores the tensions and synergies inherent in achieving economic prosperity, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
Students will engage with current global milestones such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the forthcoming Pact for the Future, while also reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on inequality and development trajectories. The course provides both foundational theory and applied perspectives, with particular attention to transformational ideas and real-world challenges facing sustainable development today.
In the latter part of the semester, development practitioners introduce case studies from specific countries and regions to highlight practical applications. Through lectures, discussions, guest speakers, and debates, students will build analytical and communication skills essential for professional work in sustainable development.
- Department: MPA-DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
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Instructor:
Shiv Someshwar
Info - 3 points
ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH
ACADEMIC COMM IN ENGLISH
English communication proficiency is important for academic achievement and career success. Columbia Engineering provides English communication instruction for students who would like to improve their communication skills in English. In a small group setting (15-20 students), enrollees will obtain opportunities to interact with the instructor and fellow classmates to improve communication skills.
- Department: Engineering
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Instructor:
Hyoseon Lee
Info - 0 points
Green Industrial Policy - Field Course i
Until recently, due to their laissez faire underpinnings, market economies eschewed significant and overt government planning of sector-specific incentives and investment guidance. Nevertheless, in recent years many countries with quite different economic systems have embraced programs of targeted investment in specific industries as an integral part of a long term strategy of economic development. While the rationale for fostering innovation in strategic industries has a long and venerable tradition, there are also many current and historical examples of the potential for misallocation, malinvestment and rent-seeking protectionism in the actual record of centrally planned economies.
Recent Chinese advances in fostering the world’s largest investments in renewable energy, battery technology, electrified mobility, ultra-high voltage transmission and a supply chain ecosystem for automation and artificial intelligence both in deployments and manufacturing capacity may represent an extensive and illuminating example of the sustainable development potential of industrial policy. The field course will combine 5 weeks of preparatory in-person on-campus instruction followed by a 9-day field tour of instruction and visits to government agencies and companies in the renewable energy, battery technology, and electric vehicle manufacturing companies in China.
This elective course will provide training for those wishing to investigate the rationale, methods, limitations and examples of targeted government intervention to encourage investment in sustainability-related industries. The syllabus will include the logic of green industrial policy, the strengths and limitations of the policy toolkit, China’s experience with 5-year plans and the details of its directed growth in key green industrial sectors, as well as lessons for other countries. The content is designed to be of interest to Sustainability Management students whose career goals will lead them to strategy & planning positions in either private corporations, government agencies or international organizations. The course will be open to a maximum of 20 students, with priority given to SUMA and MoSSS students. An intermediate course in economics at the undergraduate level is a highly recommended prerequisite.
- Department: Sustainability Management
- 3 points
Union Theological Cross-Reg
Bonhoeffer & Baldwin
- Department: Union Theological Seminary (UTSD)
- 1-4 points
FNDN EXCELLENCE DENTAL PRACTICE III
- Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
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Instructor:
Dana L Wolf
h-index: 7 Info - 0 points
Financial Planning & Analysis
This course explores the use of financial information for internal planning, analysis, and decision-making. The main objective of the course is to equip you with the knowledge to understand, evaluate, and act upon the many financial and non-financial reports used in managing modern firms.
Managing any modern firm requires information about the firm’s products, processes, assets, and customers. This information is a key input into a wide range of decisions: analyzing profitability of various products, managing product-line portfolios, setting prices, measuring and managing profitability of customers, making operational and strategic decisions, evaluating investments, guiding improvement efforts, and so on.
The focus of this course is on modern internal-reporting systems. We will discover that many firms do not provide their managers with useful information; we will see numerous examples of value destruction and bankruptcies caused by this. We will also investigate some modern ideas in how an organization’s internal information system should be designed to enhance value creation; and we will see how world-class firms take advantage of their competitors’ internal-reporting mistakes.
To attain the right level of understanding, we will briefly explore the mechanics of the many techniques used to prepare internal reports. But the emphasis in this course is very much on interpretation, evaluation, and decision-making.
We will examine the following key topics:
? Designing managerial information systems to support an organization’s strategy.
? Determining which financial and non-financial metrics are necessary for success in various competitive environments.
? Evaluating profitability of products, services, assets, and customers.
? The capabilities and the limitations of various reporting systems in guiding value-maximization, cost-control, and improvement efforts.
? The limitations of traditional cost-estimation systems.
? Activity-based costing and activity-based management.
? Estimating and managing the costs of capacity resources.
? Relevant costs and relevant revenues in business decisions.
? The information necessary to evaluate long-term business decisions.
? The incentives created by various performance-evaluation techniques.
- Department: Accounting (ACCT)
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Instructor:
Tim Baldenius
Info - 1.5 points
Politics in the Global South
Political development examines how states acquire authority, build institutions, generate legitimacy, and manage conflict and distribution under conditions of economic and social transformation. Traditionally associated with questions of modernization, state formation, and democratization, the field is centrally concerned with why political order, institutional capacity, representation, and development trajectories vary across countries and regions.
This course approaches political development from the perspective of the Global South. Rather than treating development as a linear or universal process, it asks how colonial legacies, unequal insertion into the international economy, commodity dependence, late industrialization, and geopolitical competition have shaped different trajectories of political and economic change. We will examine how these forces affect state formation, institutional capacity, democratization, authoritarianism, populism, resource-dependent democracies, organized violence, corruption, clientelism, and political order.
A central theme of the course is the tension between commodity dependence and industrialization. We will compare regions and cases in which primary commodity exports, extractive economies, and external vulnerability have constrained development with cases in which states built industrial capacity, governed markets, and reshaped their position in the international economy.
The course closes by returning to this question in the context of climate change and green neo-extractivism, asking whether the green transition creates new development opportunities or reproduces older patterns of dependence, extraction, and unequal environmental costs.
The course does not aim to cover every region of the Global South in every topic. Instead, it uses regional literatures strategically, pairing major themes in political development with the cases and debates in which those themes have generated especially important theoretical and empirical contributions.
Throughout the semester, students will engage with comparative cases and empirical evidence to evaluate competing explanations for political development and underdevelopment. The course is designed for students with interests in comparative politics, international development, political economy, public policy, and global governance. While theoretically grounded, it emphasizes analytical application to contemporary policy challenges facing emerging and developing countries.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Daniela Campello
Info - 3 points
INFECTION CONTROL
- Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
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Instructor:
Sidney Eisig
h-index: 24 Info - 0 points
Political Psychology and Behavioral Publ
Pol Psych & Behavioral Po
In a world of growing complexity, where politics often appears increasingly fragmented, affective, and detached from purely material interests, political psychology offers essential tools for understanding some of the most urgent political and policy challenges of our time.
Contemporary politics is increasingly shaped by polarized in-group and out-group identities, the politicization and criminalization of immigration, anxiety and denial surrounding climate change, the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation, and growing support for strongman leaders amid distrust of institutions. At the same time, public policy often succeeds or fails not only because of institutional design or material incentives, but because of how people perceive problems, process information, respond to uncertainty, trust authorities, and make decisions in contexts of scarcity, fear, identity, and social pressure.
These developments make psychological mechanisms central to explaining how different political actors, including voters, politicians, policymakers, party elites, social movements, interest groups, media actors, and bureaucrats, perceive political reality, form judgments, design policies, and make decisions. Political psychology examines how human psychology shapes political life, and how political contexts, institutions, identities, and conflicts shape individual behavior.
This course introduces students to the main theoretical foundations of political psychology and connects them to behavioral public policy. We begin by examining major approaches to political behavior, including rational choice and its behavioral critiques, personality and evolutionary perspectives, emotion, nonverbal behavior, heuristics, and motivated reasoning.
The course then turns to policy applications, exploring how psychological mechanisms shape the design, communication, implementation, and uptake of public policy in areas such as poverty, prejudice and discrimination, climate change, and policymaking bias. Throughout the semester, students will engage classic and recent research, with particular attention to experimental evidence and its relevance for real-world political and policy problems.
The course is designed to help students critically assess empirical studies, compare different explanations of political behavior, and apply behavioral insights to concrete policy challenges.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Daniela Campello
Info - 3 points
Sparking Innovation in International Org
Innovation in Intl Orgs
This course is the first in a two-course sequence on innovation for development in practice. It will focus on institutional reforms and how to leverage innovation to help drive organisational change within international development organisations. The second course will focus on innovation in low and middle-income countries, including the role of innovation in fostering inclusive growth, in efforts to advance locally led development principles and in fostering inclusive innovation ecosystems, among other themes.
The second course builds on the foundations of this course. However, each course stands on its own, and students are welcome to enrol in either course (if they don’t have space in their schedule for both courses).
In this course, students will learn how to frame innovation in the context of development cooperation and practical ways to advance change management within international organizations and government entities.
The course is designed to help students gain a critical conceptual understanding of the practice of innovation in the development cooperation context, obtain skills in change management, and learn the practical application of advancing innovation portfolio management within international development organisations as well as a framework to support organisations build critical capabilities related to innovation and emerging technologies. Students will be exposed to a variety of frameworks, along with case studies and practical exercises. Students will gain an understanding of advancing innovation in development organisations in practice.
Students will explore the relationship between innovation practices and management practices that emerged over the last decade to infuse more flexible and adaptive practices. These include ‘working and thinking politically’, ‘adaptive management’, ‘doing development differently’ and others. These approaches intersect at times with innovation efforts in development organizations.
Case studies drawn from a variety of organizations and countries will anchor frameworks and theoretical content and help provide a greater understanding of the complexities and challenges of advancing development impact and changing business as usual within development organizations.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Benjamin Kumpf
Info - 1.5 points
Migration and Human Development
Migration & Human Develop
International migration’s substantial economic and social effects are at the forefront of today’s academic discussion, international debate, as well as national policy strategies. This course introduces students to the key notions, norms, and narratives of international migration from economic, sociological, legal, policy, international relations, and normative perspectives. Students learn about transnational livelihood strategies and channels through which migration and migrants can enhance human development, especially in their countries of origin, while creating better opportunities for themselves and contributing to their communities of destination. This includes in-depth discussions of the determinants, flows, and effects of emigration, immigration, return, financial and social remittances, and diaspora investments. While the course emphasizes economic migration, it also elaborates on the human development impact in specific forced migration and refugee scenarios. Highlighting migration phenomena in different scenarios in the global North, as well as in the global South, the course emphasizes the agency of migrants and gender differences in the experiences and effects, as well as the role their legal status plays. It addresses the root causes of migration and the protection of migrants’ human, social and labor rights. The course also furthers participants’ understanding of the role of technology for human mobility and the policy responses in both, the international and the domestic spheres. To this end, it introduces students to key policies and governance schemes and diaspora engagement institutions, including the role of United Nations agencies and processes. The learning experience culminates in a role-play simulation, in which students discuss and negotiate a revision of the UN Joint Program in Kigoma, Tanzania.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Daniel Naujoks
Info - 3 points
Evaluation in International Organization
Evaluation-Intl Organizat
This course provides a foundational understanding of the role of evaluation within international organizations and how it is planned, conducted, and used. International organizations play a key role in supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation that advance the cross-cutting issues of human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability. Evaluations across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus from the UN system and other international organizations are used as case studies to support students to learn theoretical concepts and build practical skills that will prepare them to commission, manage and conduct evaluations that integrate these cross-cutting issues. More specifically, students will gain an understanding of how evaluation is institutionalized within international organizations, become familiar with key evaluation stakeholders and their roles in the process, and gain exposure to evaluation theories, types, methods, and tools. Students will also gain knowledge of key debates and emerging trends in evaluation related to the role of Artificial Intelligence, impact, decolonization, and the emerging post-2030 agenda. A mix of individual and group assignments have been designed to ground concepts, culminating in the development of an Evaluation Inception Report using a real world evaluation case.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Shravanti M Reddy
Info - 3 points
Business Analytics II: Foundations of AI
Business Analytics 2
Business analytics refers to the ways in which enterprises such as businesses, non-profits, and governments use data to gain insights and make better decisions. Business analytics is applied in operations, marketing, finance, and strategic planning among other functions. Modern data collection methods – arising in bioinformatics, mobile platforms, and previously unanalyzable data like text and images – are leading an explosive growth in the volume of data available for decision making. The ability to use data effectively to drive rapid, precise, and profitable decisions has been a critical strategic advantage for companies as diverse as Walmart, Google, Capital One, and Disney. Many startups are based on the application of AI & analytics to large databases. With the increasing availability of broad and deep sources of information – so-called “Big Data” – business analytics are becoming an even more critical capability for enterprises of all types and all sizes.
AI is beginning to impact every dimension of business and society. In many industries, you will need to be literate in AI to be a successful business leader. The Business Analytics sequence is designed to prepare you to play an active role in shaping the future of AI and business. You will develop a critical understanding of modern analytics methodology, studying its foundations, potential applications, and – perhaps most importantly – limitations.
- Department: Decision, Risk and Operations
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Instructor:
Ashwin V Kamath
Info - 1.5 points
Adaptation to Climate Change
This course focuses on climate change adaptation, examining how communities, governments, and institutions manage climate risks and build resilience. Students will engage with key concepts such as vulnerability, resilience, adaptation effectiveness, and climate justice, using a risk reduction framework to analyze real-world challenges and responses.
Through case studies, collaborative labs, and applied assignments, students will assess adaptation strategies across sectors including food, water, health, cities, and biodiversity. The course emphasizes both global frameworks and local action, highlighting enabling conditions such as finance, governance, and information access. Students will also examine institutional dynamics and the political contexts that shape adaptation planning and implementation.
This course is designed for students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. No technical prerequisites are required. It provides a foundation for evaluating adaptation programs, identifying feasible solutions, and developing effective climate policy.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
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Instructor:
Ben S Orlove
Info - 3 points
Service Operations Management
This course examines both traditional and new approaches for achieving operational competitiveness in service businesses. Major service sectors such as health care, repair / technical support services, banking and financial services, transportation, restaurants, hotels and resorts are examined. The course addresses strategic analysis and operational decision making, with emphasis on the latter. Its content also reflects results of a joint research project with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which was initiated in 1996 to investigate next-generation service operations strategy and practices. Topics include the service concept and operations strategy, the design of effective service delivery systems, productivity and quality management, response time (queueing) analysis, capacity planning, yield management and the impact of information technology. This seminar is intended for students interested in consulting, entrepreneurship, venture capital or general management careers that will involve significant analysis of a service firms operations.
- Department: Decision, Risk and Operations
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Instructor:
Medini Singh
Info - 3 points
Business Analytics III: Modern AI, Deep
Business analytics refers to the methods enterprises—such as businesses, non-profits, and governments—use to analyze data to gain insights and make better decisions. This discipline is applied across various functions including operations, marketing, finance, and strategic planning. The advent of modern data collection methods in fields like bioinformatics, mobile platforms, and previously unanalyzable data (such as text and images) has led to an explosive growth in the volume of data available for decision-making. Utilizing data effectively to drive rapid, precise, and profitable decisions has become a critical strategic advantage for diverse companies including Walmart, Google, Capital One, and Disney. Moreover, many startups are emerging based on the application of AI and analytics to large databases. With the increasing availability of broad and deep sources of information—often referred to as "Big Data"—business analytics is becoming an even more essential capability for enterprises of all types and sizes.
AI is starting to influence every dimension of business and society. In many industries, being literate in AI is becoming a prerequisite for successful business leadership. The Business Analytics sequence is designed to prepare you to take an active role in shaping the future of AI and business. You will develop a critical understanding of modern analytics methodologies, exploring their foundations, potential applications, and—perhaps most importantly—their limitations.
- Department: Decision, Risk and Operations
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Instructor:
Ashwin V Kamath
Info - 1.5 points
Meeting the Climate Challenge at all Lev
Climate Challenge & Govts
This course explores how subnational governments, states, cities, and local jurisdictions are shaping climate policy and leading efforts to transition toward a clean energy economy. While national governments often receive the spotlight, much of the practical, political, and technical work happens closer to the ground.
Students will examine how subnationals regulate utilities, shape building codes, implement clean energy programs, and navigate complex federal dynamics. Topics include emissions reduction, climate resilience, environmental justice, clean energy finance, and political feasibility. The course is structured around real-world case studies, guest insights, and policy exercises that prepare students to develop actionable, context-sensitive climate strategies.
The course encourages practical thinking about political trade-offs, limited resources, and institutional constraints. It is ideal for students interested in public policy, sustainability, and climate leadership at all levels of government. Familiarity with the energy sector is helpful but not required.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
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Instructor:
Adam Zurofsky
Info - 3 points
Emerging Tech for Impact
Unlike typical “Ethical AI” or “Technology for Development” courses that debate whether technologies are good or bad or focus on isolated deployments, this course is designed for non-technical students who want to truly understand both the technologies themselves and the environments they operate in for current and future applications. It offers an accessible introduction to the core technology concepts behind emerging digital tools like AI, Generative AI, Blockchain, and IoT alongside a deep dive into what history and case studies reveal about the enabling environment required for these tools to succeed: infrastructure, policy, funding, localization, and more. It equips students with the foundational understanding and critical lens to ask better questions, increase their digital literacy, recognize patterns, and contribute to sustainable development. Through this course, students will be able to understand what readiness might look like and discover the role they can play in shaping a future where tech serves humanity more effectively. This course is designed for individuals without a technical background who want to engage productively with the growing world of digital technologies for social and environmental impact. Whether you're considering a career shift, seeking to better understand emerging tools like AI, Generative AI, Blockchain, and IoT, or looking to contribute more effectively within your current role, this course will help you build both the technical foundations and the critical insight to do so. It is especially valuable for those who are curious about how these technologies can support sustainable development and who want to explore what it takes to make real impact possible.
- Department: MPA-DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
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Instructor:
Mariela J Machado
Info - 3 points
SPECIAL NEEDS ROTATION PEDIATRICS
- Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
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Instructor:
Aaron G Myers
Info - 0 points
Fundamentals of Environmental Economics
Environmental Econ & Poli
This course examines the relationship between human well-being and the natural environment through the lens of economics and policy analysis. Students will explore the causes and consequences of environmental degradation, the behaviors that drive it, and the policy tools available to address it. The course introduces a conceptual framework grounded in economics, while drawing from environmental science, ethics, political science, law, and game theory to address questions of efficiency, equity, incidence, and institutional design. The course will include externalities, public goods, common property resources, regulatory instruments, environmental justice, climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and global environmental cooperation. The course emphasizes the importance of both positive and normative economics in policy analysis and encourages critical thinking about how societies identify, assess, and pursue sustainable outcomes.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
- 3 points
Global Health and Public Policy
Global Health & Public Po
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the major global health challenges facing low- and middle-income countries and their implications for sustainable development. Organized into thematic modules, the course covers foundational topics in global health, key disease burdens such as HIV, TB, and malaria, maternal and child health, nutrition, epidemic preparedness, and the evolving role of technologies and financing in global health systems.
Instruction integrates expert guest lectures, case studies, and policy discussions to examine effective health interventions and implementation barriers. Students will critically assess global health strategies, analyze policy responses, and engage with real-world applications.
- Department: MPA-DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
- 3 points
Service Learning
- Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
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Instructor:
Amy K Herbert
Info - 0 points
INTRO TO GLOBAL & POP HEALTH
INTRO TO GLOB & POP HLTH
- Department: Medicine
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Instructor:
Kim Hekimian
h-index: 7 Info - 0-3 points
INDEP STUDY IN GLOB & POP HEALTH
INDP STUD GLOB & POP HLTH
- Department: Medicine
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Instructor:
Kim Hekimian
h-index: 7 Info - 0-3 points
International Energy Project Finance
Int'l Energy Project Fina
This course introduces students to the structure and strategy of international project finance in the energy sector, with emphasis on projects central to the global energy transition and LNG market expansion. Through real-world case studies and hands-on modeling exercises, students will analyze project risks, develop risk ratings, and assess cashflows to determine equity returns and lender credit metrics.
Topics include contract structuring, completion and market risk mitigation, the role of development finance institutions, renewable energy incentives, and evolving trends in merchant power and virtual PPAs. Students will examine investment drivers for energy infrastructure and gain a practical understanding of how project economics align with capital source expectations. The course concludes with student team presentations applying course concepts to real-world energy finance challenges.
Enrollment in this course is restricted to students who have officially declared the CEE concentration, as reflected in their Stellic profile. If space allows, enrollment may be extended to additional students at a later date.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
- 3 points
Renewable Energy Asset Development
This seminar examines the development of utility-scale renewable energy projects from the perspective of project developers while exploring the roles of key stakeholders, including regulators, policymakers, utilities and other offtakers, equipment suppliers, financiers, and local communities. Through case studies of recent and ongoing projects in different regions of the world, students analyze how technology, policy, permitting, global supply chains, project finance, energy markets, construction, and existing infrastructure shape project outcomes. The course follows the renewable energy development process from site and technology selection through permitting, financing, construction, and operations. It also examines major policy initiatives and political developments that influence renewable energy deployment, including industrial policy, tax incentives, tariffs, and regulatory frameworks. Students will develop an understanding of the factors that determine project success and evaluate the policy and market levers available to accelerate the energy transition.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
- 1.5 points
Carbon Pricing
Carbon pricing has become a central tool in global climate policy, with over 70 jurisdictions implementing carbon taxes or emissions trading systems that now cover more than one quarter of global emissions. This course explores how carbon markets and taxes are designed, reformed, and evaluated, using real-world case studies from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and beyond.
Students will engage with a structured, step-by-step framework for designing effective carbon pricing policies across sectors, including energy, transportation, industry, and land use. The course examines market-based mechanisms such as cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, and crediting programs, along with emerging policy innovations and debates around integrity and equity.
Topics include carbon border adjustments, voluntary markets, the role of carbon pricing in trade, investment, and corporate climate strategies, and the intersection of pricing with complementary policies. Students will assess existing policies, model policy impacts, and develop informed policy proposals.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
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Instructor:
Ruben N Lubowski
Info - 3 points
Energy Systems Fundamentals
Existing energy sources and the infrastructures that deliver them are undergoing a period of rapid change. Limits to growth, fluctuating raw material prices, and the emergence of new technologies contribute to heightened risk and opportunity in the energy sector. This course aims to establish a core energy skill set for students and prepare them for more advanced coursework by introducing a foundational language and toolset for analyzing energy issues.
Through both theoretical and practical approaches, students will examine how energy technologies are developed, financed, and deployed. The course highlights root drivers of change in the industry, emerging technologies, and the critical factors that influence their successful commercialization. Understanding these dynamics is also essential to designing effective energy policy aligned with broader social welfare goals.
By the end of the course, students will have a working knowledge of conventional and emerging forms of energy generation and delivery. They will also develop the analytical tools to assess which technologies may succeed, which may not, and what innovations may help drive further deployment.
Enrollment in this course is restricted to students who have officially declared the CEE concentration, as reflected in their Stellic profile. If space allows, enrollment may be extended to additional students at a later date.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
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Instructor:
Travis Bradford
CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info - 3 points
Energy Systems Fundamentals
Existing energy sources and the infrastructures that deliver them are undergoing a period of rapid change. Limits to growth, fluctuating raw material prices, and the emergence of new technologies contribute to heightened risk and opportunity in the energy sector. This course aims to establish a core energy skill set for students and prepare them for more advanced coursework by introducing a foundational language and toolset for analyzing energy issues.
Through both theoretical and practical approaches, students will examine how energy technologies are developed, financed, and deployed. The course highlights root drivers of change in the industry, emerging technologies, and the critical factors that influence their successful commercialization. Understanding these dynamics is also essential to designing effective energy policy aligned with broader social welfare goals.
By the end of the course, students will have a working knowledge of conventional and emerging forms of energy generation and delivery. They will also develop the analytical tools to assess which technologies may succeed, which may not, and what innovations may help drive further deployment.
Enrollment in this course is restricted to students who have officially declared the CEE concentration, as reflected in their Stellic profile. If space allows, enrollment may be extended to additional students at a later date.
- Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
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Instructor:
Travis Bradford
CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info - 3 points
Economics of Sustainable Development
This course will provide students with a framework for historical and current debates on development. It will offer students a basic understanding of what constitutes “development” (ends) and how to promote it (means). The initial lecture presents the broad issue of development trends and the multidisciplinary approach, as seen today through the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The subsequent classes then look at classical and contemporary theories of economic development. They will be followed by a critical comparative analysis of development experiences. A series of lectures will then concentrate on institutional issues, social development, and environmental sustainability (climate change).
Enrollment in this course is restricted to students who have officially declared the EPD or D&G concentration, as reflected in their Stellic profile. If space allows, enrollment may be extended to non-EPD students at a later date.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Jose A Ocampo
Wikipedia h-index: 77 Info - 3 points
Economic Development in Latin America
Econ Dev in Latin America
This course aims at familiarizing students with historical and contemporary debates on Latin American economic development and its social effects. The focus of the course is comparative in perspective. Most of the readings deal, therefore, with Latin America as a region, not with individual countries.
The first five classes are historical. After an initial overview of long-term historical trends and debates on institutional development in Latin America, we consider the four distinctive periods of economic development: the “lost decades” after independence, the export age from the late nineteenth century to 1929, the era of state-led industrialization, and the recent period of market reforms. The last topic should be viewed as an introduction to the second part of the course, which deals with major contemporary issues: macroeconomic management, trade policies, production sector trends and policies, income distribution and social policy. The course will end with a session on the effects of recent crises on Latin America (Covid-19 and the 2022-23 world crisis), and the ongoing debate on the region’s future economic and social development.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Fabio Sanchez Torres
Info - 3 points
Finance for the World's Poorest
Finance Tools for the Poo
How do the world’s poorest people save money without access to banks or credit? This course explores the power of informal savings systems, such as tandas in Mexico, susus in West Africa, and dhikutis in Nepal, that help hundreds of millions build financial stability through trust, discipline, and community support.
We will start with grassroots savings groups (often called Revolving Savings and Credit Associations or ROSCAs) and examine how they function across cultures. Then we will explore how the social capital that makes ROSCAs successful also underpins newer approaches such as savings groups and self-help groups that generate savings for village women.
We then turn our attention to cash transfers and remittances that inject capital into poor families and communities.
Later, we discuss the strengths and limitations of institutional financial inclusion, including microfinance, mobile banking, and fintech. The course also features presentations by leaders in soil-building subsistence agriculture and systems for measuring and tracking poverty.
In the course, students also learn how to design initiatives that effectively deliver services to the bottom of the economic pyramid, including setting goals, choosing the most appropriate methodology, staffing, budgeting, and monitoring, and evaluating outcomes.
The class is taught by a pioneer in the field of microcredit and savings whose work has shaped global thinking on financial inclusion and poverty reduction.
Students do not need technical or financial background to take this course, only a large dose of curiosity and a willingness to explore alternatives.
- Department: Development and Governance
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Instructor:
Jefferey Ashe
Info - 3 points
Personal Finance
This course is meant to provide an overall framework for personal finance. This course is not providing financial advice and each individual’s personal context and additional research should be done before making financial decisions Most of this course is internationally applicable. However, certain topics will have more of a US centric focus: taxes, retirement accounts, mortgages This course will not cover more advanced strategies (e.g., bitcoin, angel investing, commodities, investing on margin)
- Department: Finance
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Instructor:
Paulo Costa
Info - 1.5 points
Strategic Equity Finance
The name of the course, Strategic Equity Finance, was chosen because Equity is where Strategy meets Finance. The course is case-driven with the objective of putting students in the "decision-maker's seat" in a variety of strategic situations - whether to go public (or not); deciding to acquire or divest businesses; dealing with financial crises - either, market-driven or self-imposed - where a company may potentially use equity. Through the course, students, who want to go into corporate (or private equity/VC) strategic financing roles, will learn how/why to use equity strategically; and students, who want to go into banking or consulting, will learn tools that will help them advising companies and private equity/VC firms.
- Department: Finance
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Instructor:
David Erickson
Info - 1.5 points
Seminar in Value Investing
This course is designed to develop the approach to investments and security analysis pioneered by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. The course details the comprehensive statistical evidence in favor of such an approach and the types of investments that are likely to be fruitful targets of a value approach. The course focuses on an approach to determining intrinsic values in practice that has the advantage of segregating valuation information by reliability level and using only the most reliable information as a basis for investment decisions in order to obtain a margin of safety." The course consists of lectures and visiting speakers who are successful practicing value investors."
- Department: Finance
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Instructor:
Paul Johnson
h-index: 8 Info - 3 points