Programming for Scientists

R for Scientists

Learning objectives:

This course will provide a comprehensive foundation in programming methodology for quantitative biology applications that can be readily applied to any programming language. It is recommended for students interested in establishing or expanding their computational biology skillset. After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand and explain the role of numerical and statistical methods in biology

2. Execute numerical computations using a widely-used programming language

3. Recognize common programming motifs that can be readily applied to other widely used languages

4. Design and troubleshoot algorithms to analyze diverse biological data and implement them using functions and scripts

5. Apply statistical programming techniques to model biological systems

6. Generate and interpret diverse plots based on biological datasets

 

Course overview: 

Once a small subfield of biology, computational biology has evolved into a massive field of its own, with computational methods fast becoming a vital toolkit leveraged by biologists across the discipline. As the size and complexity of biological datasets grows, computational methods allow scientists to make sense of these data, scaling quantitative methods to extract meaningful insights that help us better understand ourselves and the living world around us. In this course, we will learn the basics of computer programming in R, a powerful programming language with wide use in the biological sciences. Topics will include a basic introduction to R and the RStudio environment, data types and control structures, reading and writing files in R, data processing and visualization, manipulating common biological datasets; and statistical testing and modeling in R.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• F 1:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Vincent D Fitzpatrick
  Info
• 3 points

ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION

Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 or the equivalent and MATH UN2010. Mathematical methods for economics. Quadratic forms, Hessian, implicit functions. Convex sets, convex functions. Optimization, constrained optimization, Kuhn-Tucker conditions. Elements of the calculus of variations and optimal control. (SC)

• Department: Mathematics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Myungsin Cho
  Info
• 3 points

FOUNDATIONS OF DATA SCIENCE

Designed to provide an introduction to data science for sophomore SEAS majors. Combines three perspectives: inferential thinking, computational thinking, and real-world applications. Given data arising from some real-world phenomenon, how does one analyze that data so as to understand that phenomenon? Teaches critical concepts and skills in computer programming, statistical inference, and machine learning, in conjunction with hands-on analysis of real-world datasets such as economic data, document collections, geographical data, and social networks. At least one project will address a problem relevant to New York City.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• F 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Fernandez
  Info
• 3 points

CONTEMPORARY BIOLOGY LAB

Prerequisite or corequisite: BIOL UN2005 or BIOL UN2401. Contemporary Biology Lab is designed to provide students with hands-on exploration of fundamental and contemporary biological tools and concepts. Activities include in depth study of mammalian anatomy and physiology through dissection and histology, as well as a series of experiments in genetics and molecular biology, with emphasis on data analysis and experimental technique.

• Department: Biological Sciences
• M 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• T 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• W 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• R 5:40 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• F 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Ava E Brent
  Info
• Instructor: Joshua M Abrams
  Info
• Instructor: Ava E Brent
  Info
• Instructor: Joshua M Abrams
  Info
• Instructor: Ava E Brent
  Info
• 3 points

2ND YR MOD HEBREW:INTER I

Prerequisites: 1st Year Modern Hebrew II or the equivalent and instructor's permission. Equal emphasis is given to listening, speaking, reading and writing. Regular categories of the Hebrew verb, prepositions, and basic syntax are taught systematically. Vocabulary building. Daily homework includes grammar exercises, short answers, reading, or short compositions. Frequent vocabulary and grammar quizzes. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MTWR 11:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
• Instructor: Yael Flusser
  Info
• 5 points

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Intro Comp Politics

The course provides a broad overview of the comparative politics subfield by focusing on important substantive questions about the world today.  Particular attention will be paid to understanding differences between democracies and autocracies, on one hand, and between different forms of democracy, on the other.  What influences whether countries become and/or stay democratic?  On this basis, should we expect China to democratize?  Why do we care if a country is democratic or not?  Do democracies perform better (or worse) than non-democracies in policy areas of importance?  What is “good representation” and how do political institutions affect the prospects for achieving it?  How does the choice of democratic institutions influence the prospects for stable and successful democracy?  Are there particular institutional forms that are appropriate in particular contexts (such as ethnically divided Iraq), or do cultural factors overwhelm institutional considerations? 

In addressing these broad questions, the course has three ancillary goals.  The first is to teach students how to pose and evaluate falsifiable theoretical arguments about substantive questions of interest.  The second is to introduce the quantitative, formal and qualitative methodologies that political scientists use to develop and evaluate arguments.  Finally, the course will require students to develop knowledge of the political systems of a number of foreign countries.

• Department: Political Science
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: John Huber
  CULPA: 15 h-index: 31 Info
• 4 points

LAB IN FICTION FILMMAKING

This lab course is limited to declared Film & Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the use of video for fiction shorts.

• Department: Film
• M 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• R 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
• Instructor: Greta Diaz Moreau
  Info
• Instructor: Daryl Wang
  Info
• 3 points

Introduction to Comparative Politics Dis

Intro CP Discussion

Discussion section

• Department: Political Science
• R 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• R 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• W 11:10 a.m.-noon
• M 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• W 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• W 11:10 a.m.-noon
• R 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
• R 11:10 a.m.-noon
• T 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• T 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Yu Cheng
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 3 Info
• 0 points

INT HEBREW:INTENSVE GRAMMAR REV

This course focuses on Modern Hebrew grammar, and verb conjugation in particular. It is designed for students with substantial knowledge of Modern Hebrew. Over the semester, students will systematically review the grammatical patterns of regular verbs (shlemim), and learn the grammatical patterns of the irregular verbs (gzarot), as well as several other grammatical topics. After successful completion of this course, the foreign language requirement will be fulfilled (for students of Columbia College and other academic units that require a 4th-semester proficiency). Successful completion of this course also allows students to register in third-year Modern Hebrew.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MWR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Illan Gonen
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

HEBREW FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS I

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. Hebrew for Heritage Speakers I forms part of a year-long sequence with Hebrew for Heritage Speakers II. The course is intended for those who have developed basic speaking and listening skills through exposure to Hebrew at home or in day-school programs but do not use Hebrew as their dominant language and have not reached the level required for exemption from the Columbia language requirement. Heritage speakers differ in the degree of their fluency, but their vocabulary is often limited to topics in daily life and many lack skills in reading and writing to match their ability to converse. The course focuses on grammar and vocabulary enrichment, exposing students to a variety of cultural and social topics in daily life and beyond. By the end of the semester students are able to read and discuss simple texts and write about a variety of topics. Successful completion of the year-long sequence prepares students to enroll in third-year modern Hebrew. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MWR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Yael Flusser
  Info
• 4 points

Life Beyond Emergency: Ecologies & Inhab

Life Beyond Emergency
examines constructed environments and spatial practices in contexts of displacement, within the connected histories of colonialism and humanitarianism. People migrating under duress, seeking refuge, practicing mutual aid, and sheltering in governmental or nongovernmental settings invest in the built environment as a holder of knowledge, critical heritage, and imaginaries of life beyond emergency. The course considers a politics and poetics of architectures and infrastructures of partitions, borders, and camps: territories and domesticities of concern to authorities and inhabited by ordinary people forging solidarities and futures. We will investigate the connected histories and theories of humanitarianism and colonialism, which have not only shaped lives as people inhabit spaces of emergency, but produced rationales for the construction of landscapes and domesticities of refuge, enacted spatial violence and territorial contestations, and structured architectural knowledge. The course examines iconic forms such as refugee camps in relation to colonial institutions such as archives. From Somalia to Palestine to Bangladesh and beyond, our inquiry into contested territories where people have been forced to migrate invites students to interrogate the normalized discourses and spaces, for example, of ‘borderlands,’ or ‘refugees,’ in order to imagine and analyze emergency environments as constructions that people have resisted, endured, transcended, theorized, and inhabited.

• Department: Architecture @Barnard
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• W 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Anooradha I Siddiqi
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

US LESBIAN & GAY HISTORY

This course explores the social, cultural, and political history of lesbians, gay men, and other socially constituted sexual and gender minorities, primarily in the twentieth century. Since the production and regulation of queer life has always been intimately linked to the production and policing of “normal” sexuality and gender, we will also pay attention to the shifting boundaries of normative sexuality, especially heterosexuality, as well as other developments in American history that shaped gay life, such as the Second World War, Cold War, urbanization, and the minority rights revolution. Themes include the emergence of homosexuality and heterosexuality as categories of experience and identity; the changing relationship between homosexuality and transgenderism; the development of diverse lesbian and gay subcultures and their representation in popular culture; the sources of antigay hostility; religion and sexual science; generational change and everyday life; AIDS; and gay, antigay, feminist, and queer movements.

• Department: History
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: George Chauncey
  CULPA: 13 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

US LESBIAN & GAY HISTORY

This course explores the social, cultural, and political history of lesbians, gay men, and other socially constituted sexual and gender minorities, primarily in the twentieth century. Since the production and regulation of queer life has always been intimately linked to the production and policing of “normal” sexuality and gender, we will also pay attention to the shifting boundaries of normative sexuality, especially heterosexuality, as well as other developments in American history that shaped gay life, such as the Second World War, Cold War, urbanization, and the minority rights revolution. Themes include the emergence of homosexuality and heterosexuality as categories of experience and identity; the changing relationship between homosexuality and transgenderism; the development of diverse lesbian and gay subcultures and their representation in popular culture; the sources of antigay hostility; religion and sexual science; generational change and everyday life; AIDS; and gay, antigay, feminist, and queer movements.

• Department: Auditing
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: George Chauncey
  CULPA: 13 Wikipedia Info
• 0 points

US LGBT HIST-DISC

• Department: History
• Instructor: George Chauncey
  CULPA: 13 Wikipedia Info
• 0 points

INTENSIVE ORGANIC CHEM LAB

Prerequisites: (CHEM UN2045 and CHEM UN2046) and CHEM UN1507 The lab is intended for students who have taken Intensive Organic Chemistry, CHEM UN2045 - CHEM UN2046 and who intend to major in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Physics, or Environmental Chemistry.

• Department: Chemistry
• M 1:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 1:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Fay W Ng
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

EARLY AMERICA TO 1763

This course examines the three critical centuries from 1492 to 1763 that transformed North America from a diverse landscape teeming with hundreds of farming and hunting societies into a partly-colonized land where just three systems empires held sway. Major themes include contrasting faiths, power relationships, and cultural exchanges among various Native, European, and African peoples.This course examines the three critical centuries from 1492 to 1763 that transformed North America from a diverse landscape teeming with hundreds of farming and hunting societies into a partly-colonized land where just three systems empires held sway. Major themes include contrasting faiths, power relationships, and cultural exchanges among various Native, European, and African peoples.

• Department: History @Barnard
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Andrew C Lipman
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

DANCE COMPOSITION: CONTENT

Continued study of choreography as a communicative performing art form. Focuses on the exploration of ideas and meaning. Emphasis is placed on the development of personal style as an expressive medium and unity of style in each work. Group as well as solo compositions will be assigned.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Colleen Thomas
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

MUSIC FOR DANCE

Prerequisites: Previous dance experience is necessary, a comp course in the dpt is preferered, permission of instructor This course covers basic music theory, ear training, and literature, incorporating practical exercises in which students apply musical understanding to compositional and performative modalities of movement. Students will investigate the elements of music that drive dance, the expressive influence dance can have on music, and the vital reciprocity between both activities. Emphasis will be placed on an historical survey and analysis of western musical forms from the Middle Ages to the present as well as influential music from other cultures, expanding students’ awareness of the aural characteristics of a variety of musical styles while giving historical context and critical perspective on contemporary popular styles. In addition to lectures and reading requirements, the course involves listening assignments and in-class exercises structured to develop basic musical literacy and skills. Students will be introduced to multiple approaches to listening and to creating music through a combination of studio practice, theoretical study and analysis. Exploration of musicality as perceived by performer and audience will be covered, as well as learning conventional music terminology.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Robert Boston
  h-index: 49 Info
• 3 points

HUMAN ANATOMY AND MOVEMENT

Corequisites: ANAT BC2574 Dancers and other movers will acquire concrete, scientific information about anatomy and integrate this knowledge into their sensed experience of movement. Through readings, lecture/discussions and movement practice, students will explore: (1) structure and function of bones and joints, (2) muscles, neuromuscular function and coordination, (3) motor cognition and learning.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Chisa Hidaka
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

MEASURING HISTORY

This course examines big themes in economic and social history-population history and human well-being, inequality and poverty, and gender differences. Using these themes, it adopts a hands-on data-driven approach to introduce tools and concepts of empirical reasoning. Datasets related to each theme create opportunities for learning by doing.

• Department: Economics @Barnard
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Alan Dye
  CULPA: 19 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE HINDI-URDU I

This course will prepare you for effective and meaningful communication in all modes. It will consolidate your already acquired listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and help you acquire higher proficiency in Hindi. You will continue learning common Urdu words in Hindi in the Devanagari Script. The Urdu Script is not taught in this course.
Students will expand their knowledge base of the society and culture of the target languages in this course. They will be introduced to new grammatical structures and will be taught a broad range of vocabulary. They will also be exposed to a variety of authentic materials, including Hindi literature, newspapers, folk tales, films, songs, and other kinds of written and audio-visual materials. This material will be related to language functions in daily personal and social life situations. At the completion of this course, students will be well-equipped to initiate and sustain general conversations. They will successfully handle most of the uncomplicated communications in personal and social situations. Students will also be able to write letters and compositions. The course is based on national standards and proficiency guidelines as set by the American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MTWR 1:10 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
• 5 points

PHYSICS III:CLASS/QUANTUM WAVE

Prerequisites: PHYS UN1402 or PHYS UN1602 Corequisite: MATH UN1202 or equivalent. Classical waves and the wave equation, geometrical optics, interference and diffraction, Fourier series and integrals, normal modes, wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, basic principles of quantum mechanics, energy levels, reflection and transmission coefficients, the harmonic oscillator. The course is preparatory for advanced work in physics and related fields.

• Department: Physics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: James W McIver
  Info
• 3.5 points

International Politics

Why do countries go to war? What conditions foster international cooperation? How do alliances between countries function? How are countries affected by global trade and investment, and in turn how does the political economy of individual countries shape international conflict and cooperation? How do ideas and culture (including both positive ideas like human rights and negative ideas like racism) affect international politics? What role do individuals and groups play in shaping international politics? What explains the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Why isn’t there significant cooperation on climate change, and can a new global cooperation emerge? What issues have garnered international attention, and how has that shaped the countries’ cooperation? What causes terrorism? Is the proliferation of nuclear (or cyber) weapons a threat to peace, and if so, how should the world response? Does UN peacekeeping work?

In this course we will begin to grapple with these questions. We will use theories developed by philosophers, political scientists and policy analysts, and we will examine the historical roots of today’s problems, in order to explain and predict the patterns of international politics and the possibilities for change. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to choose and develop their own theories to explain events.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the semester, students will accomplish the following:


Demonstrate broad factual and causal knowledge of important current and historical issues in international relations.

Apply contending theories from the political science literature and the policy world to analyze, compare, and evaluate events and trends in international relations.

Assess the value of competing theories in explaining events.

Synthesize facts and arguments across cases in order to reason critically and argue creatively, through both oral discussions in section and written essays.

• Department: Political Science
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Jayme R Schlesinger
  Info
• 4 points

Post-1945 American Literature

Post-1945 American Lit.

This course surveys major works of American literature written since 1945. It will situate the analysis of literature against a backdrop that includes key historical events.  We will also consider major literary and artistic movements.  Lectures will emphasize literature in its cultural/historical context, but will also attend to its formal/aesthetic properties. Assigned readings will cover a range of genres, including novels, short fiction, drama, poetry, essays, and literary and cultural criticism.

• Department: English and Comparative Literature
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rachel Adams
  CULPA: 16 Info
• 3 points

Post-1945 American Literature

This course surveys major works of American literature written since 1945. It will situate the analysis of literature against a backdrop that includes key historical events.  We will also consider major literary and artistic movements.  Lectures will emphasize literature in its cultural/historical context, but will also attend to its formal/aesthetic properties. Assigned readings will cover a range of genres, including novels, short fiction, drama, poetry, essays, and literary and cultural criticism.

• Department: Auditing
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rachel Adams
  CULPA: 16 Info
• 0 points

Physics III: Class/Quantum Wave - Rec

Physics3:Class/Quantm Wav

• Department: Physics
• M 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 6:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• W 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• W 6:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Instructor: James W McIver
  Info
• 0 points

SECOND YR MOD COLLOQ TIBET I

n/a

• Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Sonam Tsering
  Info
• 4 points

INTRODUCTION TO PERSONALITY

• Department: Psychology
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Usha Barahmand
  Info
• 3 points

International Politics Discussion

Int'l Politics Discussion

Discussion section

• Department: Political Science
• R 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• R 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• T 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• R 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• M 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• T 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• W 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• W 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• F 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• F 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• W 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• R 11:10 a.m.-noon
• W 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• W 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• W 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• W 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Samuel Chan
  Info
• 0 points

THE MODERN CARIBBEAN

This lecture course examines the social, cultural, and political history of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and the coastal regions of Central and South America that collectively form the Caribbean region, from Amerindian settlement, through the era of European imperialism and African enslavement, to the period of socialist revolution and independence. The course will examine historical trajectories of colonialism, slavery, and labor regimes; post-emancipation experiences and migration; radical insurgencies and anti-colonial movements; and intersections of race, culture, and neocolonialism. It will also investigate the production of national, creole, and transborder indentities. Formerly listed as The Caribbean in the 19th and 20th centuries. Field(s): LAC

• Department: History
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Natasha J Lightfoot
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 4 points

THE MODERN CARIBBEAN-DISC

• Department: History
• Instructor: Natasha J Lightfoot
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 0 points

ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR

Prerequisites: An introductory psychology course. Examines definitions, theories, and treatments of abnormal behavior.

• Department: Psychology
• F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Jeffrey M Cohen
  h-index: 5 Info
• 3 points

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Surveys important methods, findings, and theories in the study of social influences on behavior. Emphasizes different perspectives on the relation between individuals and society.

• Department: Psychology
• TR 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Joshua M Feinberg
  Info
• 3 points

COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

COG SCI AND PHILOSOPHY

This course will survey a number of topics at the intersection of cognitive science and philosophy. Potential topics include free will, consciousness, embodied cognition, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and the language of thought.

• Department: Cognitive Science @Barnard
• TR 5:40 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
• MW 5:40 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Joshua J Kramer
  Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO PHIL OF LANGUAGE

This course gives students an introduction to various topics in the Philosophy of Language.

• Department: Philosophy @Barnard
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Karen Lewis
  CULPA: 12 h-index: 7 Info
• 4 points

Intro to Phil of Lang - REC

Required discussion for PHIL UN2685 Introduction to Philosophy of Language

• Department: Philosophy @Barnard
• T 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
• W 9:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• Instructor: Cornelia Mayer
  Info
• Instructor: Noah Betz-Richman
  Info
• 0 points

The History of Latinos in the U.S. - DIS

History of Latinos in US-

Required discussion section for “The History of Latinos in the U.S.” lecture (HIST 2688)

• Department: History
• R 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• F 9:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• Instructor: Lori Flores
  Info
• 0 points

The History of Latinos in the U.S.

History of Latinos in US

What is the difference between terms like “Hispanic,” “Latin American,” “Chicano,” “Boricua,” “Latinx” and “Latiné”? Though Latinos are not a recently arrived group in the U.S., they are often misunderstood, stereotyped, and portrayed as a perpetually new, foreign, or threatening presence in the United States. This lecture course traces Latinos’ long social, political, and cultural history in the US from the 1600s to the present. Groups examined include Spaniards, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, South Americans, Caribeños, and indigenous peoples. Key topics include war and conquest; past and present migrations; race and citizenship; labor and political activism; gender and family; transnational and multiracial identities; and contemporary political debates around borders and migration. This course aims to show the uniqueness of the Latino experience while making them more central figures in American history.

• Department: History
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Lori Flores
  Info
• 4 points

The Cold War in Latin America

This lecture offers a comprehensive view of the Cold War era in Latin America and zooms in on those places and moments when such war turned hot. It understands the Cold War as a multi-national and multi-layered conflict, which not only pitted two superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—against one another, but also a plethora of state and non-state actors that framed their actions as part of a larger struggle for the fate of humanity. In Latin America in particular, the idea of socialist revolution posed a significant challenge to both capitalism and United States hegemony. We will pay special attention to revolutionary and counterrevolutionary events in Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua, probing the motives, actions, and influence of local and foreign actors in such events.

• Department: History @Barnard
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Alfonso Salgado
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE PERSIAN I

Prerequisites: Elementary Persian II or the equivalent. This course involves reading, writing, translating, conversation and grammatical foundations for Persian Language (PL). The materials are selected from two books: Āmuzesh-e Fārsi: Intermediate Level (required) and English-Persian Dictionary, plus verb system and charts (recommended). These books are assigned and have to be available to every student. There are also handouts, which will be provided throughout the course. This course serves as intermediate and makes students able to read and compose proper Persian language as well as the colloquial one. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MW 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Saeed Honarmand
  Info
• 4 points

AI in Context

AI IN CONTEXT

An interdisciplinary introduction to the history, development and modern application of artificial intelligence in a variety of contexts. Context subjects and teaching staff will vary by semester.

• Department: Computer Science
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Adam H Cannon
  CULPA: 81 Info
• 3 points

Early Modern Theater

This course investigates the boldly experimental world of the early modern English theater. The opening of London’s commercial playhouses in the last quarter of the sixteenth century fundamentally changed the nature of popular entertainment, offering eager spectators an array of secular drama for the first time in English history. The playwrights who wrote for these theaters collaborated and competed with each other to produce the bombastic heroes of tragedy, the upstart social climbers of city comedy, and the adventurers of romance, reimagining the possibilities of stage performance in the process. We will read a range of playwrights and dramatic genres in this course, asking how these plays not only spoke to each other, but intervened in the issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, and politics that defined early modernity. We will also spend time discussing the plays in performance, attending to the ways that the conditions of early modern stagecraft influence literary meaning. Finally, we will give attention to the performance styles and techniques of those actors who, in inspiring playgoers’ admiration and adoration, became London’s very first celebrities.

• Department: English and Comparative Literature
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Lauren E Robertson
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED LITERARY TIBETAN

This course focuses on helping students gain greater proficiency in reading Tibetan Buddhist philosophical and religious historical texts.  Readings are selected primarily from Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts (sutras) such as shes rab snying po,  thu’u bkan grub mtha’ and other Tibetan canonical texts.

• Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
• TR 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Sonam Tsering Ngulphu
  Info
• 4 points

EAST AFRICAN HISTORY

A survey of East African history over the past two millennia with a focus on political and social change. Themes include early religious and political ideas, the rise of states on the Swahili coast and between the Great Lakes, slavery, colonialism, and social and cultural developments in the 20th century. This course fulfills the Global Core requirement. Field(s): AFR

• Department: History
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Rhiannon Stephens
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 4 points

EAST AFRICAN HISTORY

A survey of East African history over the past two millennia with a focus on political and social change. Themes include early religious and political ideas, the rise of states on the Swahili coast and between the Great Lakes, slavery, colonialism, and social and cultural developments in the 20th century. This course fulfills the Global Core requirement. Field(s): AFR

• Department: Auditing
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Rhiannon Stephens
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 0 points

EAST AFRICAN HISTORY-DISC

• Department: History
• Instructor: Rhiannon Stephens
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 0 points

ACCELERATED PHYSICS I

Prerequisites: Advanced Placement in physics and mathematics, or the equivalent, and the instructor's permission. (A special placement meeting is held during Orientation.) This accelerated two-semester sequence covers the subject matter of PHYS UN1601, PHYS UN1602 and PHYS UN2601, and is intended for those students who have an exceptionally strong background in both physics and mathematics. The course is preparatory for advanced work in physics and related fields. There is no accompanying laboratory; however, students are encouraged to take the intermediate laboratory, PHYS UN3081, in the following year.

• Department: Physics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Yury Levin
  h-index: 91 Info
• 4.5 points

Making Modern Korea

This course explores Korea’s history from the late nineteenth century to the present with a particular focus on caste/class, gender, war and industrialization. Using primary and secondary texts as well as documentary film and literary ephemera, the seminar analyses such topics as the relationship between imperialism and rebellions in the nineteenth century; the uneven experience of Japanese colonial rule; Korea’s early feminist movement; how North Korea became a communist society; the deep scars of the Korean War; cultures of industrialism in South and North Korea; counter-cultural movements in 1970s, 1980s and 1990s South Korea; and contemporary challenges facing the peninsula. This course will give students a thorough grounding in modern Korean history and introduce them to major interpretative currents in the study of Korean history.

• Department: History
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Ruth Barraclough
  Info
• 4 points

Making Modern Korea - DISC

Required discussion section for “Making Modern Korea” lecture (HIST 2851)

• Department: History
• Instructor: Ruth Barraclough
  Info
• 0 points

South Asian Diasporas

This survey focuses on the South Asian diaspora, that is, the migration of people originating from the Indian subcontinent into a global horizon, and the multi-dimensional array of economic, political and cultural relationships produced between diasporic communities, their places of origin, and their places of arrival. The course will be structured around key themes and questions in the history of the diaspora, using these as entry points into deeper contexts while making connections between historical and contemporary phenomena. We will explore flows of labor (indentured and otherwise), transnational mercantile and financial connections, overseas political movements, and South Asian communities in North America ain the wake of the War on Terror. Topics will include: questions of bondage and contract, circulation of revolutionary praxis and radical cross-fertilization, racial and cultural identity formation, legal and extralegal economies, gender, class and caste.  Our readings will draw upon literary texts, oral and public histories, as well as archival sources; not to mention observations from your own forays into the city.

• Department: History @Barnard
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Anupama Rao
  CULPA: 28 Info
• 3 points

FRONTIERS OF ASTROPHYSICS

Several members of the faculty each offer a brief series of talks providing context for a current research topic in the field and then present results of their ongoing research. Opportunities for future student research collaboration are offered. Grading is Pass/Fail.

• Department: Astronomy
• F 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Lorenzo Sironi
  h-index: 39 Info
• 1 points

INTERMEDIATE MODERN TURKISH I

A continuation of the study of the written and spoken language of Turkey, with readings of literary, historical, and other texts. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MW 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Zuleyha M Fikret
  Info
• 4 points

Urban Healthscapes: A Spatial History of

This course examines the landscapes of urban public health from the medieval era to the 19th century using spatial analysis. It has two objectives. Thematically, it introduces students to the concept and study of “urban healthscapes” in Europe and the Americas before the age of modern bacteriology. Weekly lectures advance through a sequence of four related themes: (1) medieval and early modern communal, infrastructural, and regulatory spatial practices of public health; (2) urban mortality regimes, epidemics, and societal responses; (3) the relationships between urban form, spatial governance, planning, and public health; and (4) problems of environmental justice, including unequal exposure to health risks and access to health amenities. Methodologically, the course approaches these topics via the lens of historical Geographic Information Systems. In weekly labs, students acquire technical skills of GIS mapping. They learn how to work with spatial data, create GIS maps, conduct spatial analysis, and develop spatial historical arguments and narratives. Labs integrate recently released public hGIS datasets on a variety of cities—such as medieval Bologna and 19th-century New York—directly relevant to the themes covered in lectures. For course assignments, students use these datasets to conduct spatial analyses of urban healthscapes. The course is open to all undergraduates. Previous GIS knowledge is not needed.

• Department: History @Barnard
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Gergely Baics
  CULPA: 10 Info
• 3 points

History of Globalization

Globalization emerged as a concept in the 1990s to describe the various supranational forces that shape the contemporary world. Its history, however, is much older, and it encompasses major historical developments such as the formation and global spread of empires, of trade and capitalism, slavery, and migratory movements, as well as environmental and ecological issues. Processes of globalization and deglobalization affect central categories with which to interpret social, political and economic dynamics such as sovereignty, hegemony, and inequality.

This course will offer students the critical instruments to discuss globalizing dynamics and how they have affected human societies historically. We will proceed both thematically and chronologically, to develop the analytical instruments to understand how various dimensions of globalization emerged and transformed over time, as well as the different interpretations that scholars have offered to interpret them.

• Department: History @Barnard
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Michele Alacevich
  Info
• 3 points

Unsettling Science: An Introduction to S

This course is an introduction to the interplay between science, technology, and society. Unsettling Science invites students to: ask big questions about science and technology, interrupt preconceived ideas about what sicience is and who does it, and engage deeply with troubling social implications. By offering historical and contemporary perspectives, this course equips students with critical and methodological skills essential to exploring not only longstanding questions about the world but also urgent issues of our time. To do so, the course focuses on a series of fundamental and foundational questions (e.g., what is knowledge? what is prog that underpin the study of science, technology, and society from a variety of interdisicplinary perspectives.

• Department: Anthropology
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Madisson Whitman
  Info
• 3 points

Science and Pseudoscience: Alchemy to AI

During the 2020 US presidential election and the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, science and “scientific truths” were fiercely contested. This course provides a historical perspective on the issues at stake. The course begins with an historical account of how areas of natural knowledge, such as astrology, alchemy, and “natural magic,” which were central components of an educated person’s view of the world in early modern Europe, became marginalized, while a new philosophy of nature (what we would now call empirical science) came to dominate the discourse of rationality. Historical developments examined in this course out of which this new understanding of nature emerged include the rise of the centralized state, religious reform, and European expansion. The course uses this historical account to show how science and pseudoscience developed in tandem in the period from 1400 to 1800. This historical account equips students to examine contemporary issues of expertise, the social construction of science, pluralism in science, certainty and uncertainty in science, as well as critical engagement with contemporary technologies.

• Department: History
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• 4 points

Science and Pseudoscience: Alchemy to AI

During the 2020 US presidential election and the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, science and “scientific truths” were fiercely contested. This course provides a historical perspective on the issues at stake. The course begins with an historical account of how areas of natural knowledge, such as astrology, alchemy, and “natural magic,” which were central components of an educated person’s view of the world in early modern Europe, became marginalized, while a new philosophy of nature (what we would now call empirical science) came to dominate the discourse of rationality. Historical developments examined in this course out of which this new understanding of nature emerged include the rise of the centralized state, religious reform, and European expansion. The course uses this historical account to show how science and pseudoscience developed in tandem in the period from 1400 to 1800. This historical account equips students to examine contemporary issues of expertise, the social construction of science, pluralism in science, certainty and uncertainty in science, as well as critical engagement with contemporary technologies.

• Department: Auditing
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Pamela Smith
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 0 points

Science and Pseudoscience: Alchemy to AI

Required discussion section for HIST UN2978 lecture.

• Department: History
• W 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• R 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• T 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• 0 points