WATER RESOURCES AND CLIMATE

This course will cover the science needed to understand hydrology, the link between hydrology and climate, and why climate change will affect the hydrologic cycle. It will then look at what changes have occurred in the past, and what changes are projected for the future and how these changes may affect other sectors, such as agriculture. The final module of the course will look at adaptation measures to adapt to climate change. The course will be formatted to be a mixture of lectures and seminars, with the lecture portion used to introduce scientific concepts and the seminar portion to discuss and evaluate the readings assigned. At the end of this course, students will the hydrologic cycle and its connection to climate, how changes in climate have affected/will affect how much water is available on land, how water impacts ecosystem services, and how to diagnose the cause of a climate-related water problem and develop solutions to address it.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

APPLIED FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

Introduction to modern tools in functional analysis that are used in the analysis of deterministic and stochastic partial differential equations and in the analysis of numerical methods: metric and normed spaces. Banach space of continuous functions, measurable spaces, the contraction mapping theorem, Banach and Hilbert spaces bounded linear operators on Hilbert spaces and their spectral decomposition, and time permitting distributions and Fourier transforms.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Kui Ren
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

LEADERSHIP IN DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

Introduces and employs various tools, concepts, and analytical frameworks to enhance students’ ability to define and analyze leadership issues. In-depth analysis of the leadership literature and practical situational immersion using industry case studies. Multiple guest lecturers from the private and public sectors throughout the semester. Term project exploring leadership challenges in the design and construction industry.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• W 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Feniosky Pena-Mora
  Wikipedia h-index: 48 Info
• 3 points

Childhoods in Modern Japanese Literature

This course explores literary representations of childhood in modern Japan, expanding into how manga, anime, and film have also dealt with the topos. Through literary and visual texts that problematize spaces, memories, ideals, rights, and propagandic power of childhood, students will think through and discuss broader issues of age, gender, identity politics, generational trauma, history of social structures, and the future of human society.

• Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Christina S Yi
  Info
• 4 points

THEORETICAL ECOLOGY

Prerequisites: Calculus, Introductory Biology. This course will provide an introduction to theoretical ecology. Topics will include population, community, ecosystem, disease, and evolutionary ecology. Lectures will cover classic and current concepts and mathematical approaches. The numerical analysis laboratory will cover computational tools for numerical and graphical analysis of the models we cover in lecture, using MATLAB. By the end of the course, students will be well versed in the basics of theretical ecology and will be able to read theoretical ecology literature, analyze and simulate mathematical models, and construct and analyyze their own simple models.

• Department: Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
• M 11:40 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Duncan Menge
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 26 Info
• 3 points

Engineering Software-as-a-Service

Modern software engineering concepts and practices including topics such as Software-as-a-Service, Service-oriented Architecture, Agile Development, Behavior-driven Development, Ruby on Rails, and Dev/ops.

• Department: Computer Science
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• 3 points

MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE

Prerequisites: the instructors permission. This course covers various topics in Medieval Latin Literature.

• Department: Classics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Carmela V Franklin
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Auteur Study: Steven Spielberg

The world’s most influential living film director and the most impactful creator of

popular culture in the last quarter of the Twentieth Century is a Jewish-American. Steven

Spielberg’s uncanny grasp of visual storytelling and his auteurist signature can be found

on every film he has directed, as well as many he has produced. This course will analyze

the content and formal construction of Spielberg’s films by following their thematic

through-lines – family ties (strained and healthy), the implacable threat, humanity at war,

man vs. the natural world, the child’s perspective, Jewish identity and others – in films as

disparate as Jaws and The Color Purple.

Each class meeting will include a complete screening of a feature film directed by Steven

Spielberg, as well as clips of related films by Spielberg. Readings will include critical

essays, histories, and interviews which elaborate on in-class screenings and cover

additional topics and films. Written assignments will be three analytical essays which

will encourage critical thinking, close analysis of film texts, and independent research

beyond the materials presented in class.

• Department: Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies
• T 10 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
• Instructor: Stuart Weinstock
  Info
• 3 points

PROBABILITY THEORY

Prerequisites: MATH GU4061 or MATH UN3007 A rigorous introduction to the concepts and methods of mathematical probability starting with basic notions and making use of combinatorial and analytic techniques. Generating functions. Convergence in probability and in distribution. Discrete probability spaces, recurrence and transience of random walks. Infinite models, proof of the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Markov chains.

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Julien Dubedat
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

Modern Jewish Histories between Exile an

This seminar examines modern Jewish history from 1492 to the present. Rather than presenting this history as a linear movement from tradition to secularization or nationalism, the course asks how Jewish communities in different regions responded to crisis, displacement, imperial rule, emancipation, colonialism and secularization by reinterpreting the meanings of exile and redemption. Beginning with the Sephardi rupture of 1492, the course follows a series of historical moments in which Jews debated whether exile should be endured, overcome, politicized, or reimagined.

The seminar follows the ways Jews in different regions participated in and reshaped major historical current of the modern period, including emancipation, religious reform, messianic movements, colonial education, socialist politics, the Arab Nahda and nationalism. The course deliberately shifts the center of gravity of modern Jewish history: rather than treating Ashkenazi and Western European experiences as the implicit norm, it places Sephardi, Ottoman, North African, and Middle Eastern Jewish worlds at the center of the inquiry. Ashkenazi and European developments remain important, but they are studied as part of a broader constellation of modern Jewish histories rather than as the default model.

By the end of the semester, students will have gained a broad understanding of modern Jewish history as a set of interconnected and regionally diverse developments. They will learn to read this history through ruptures and unrealized possibilities, without reducing it to a linear or teleological narrative. They will be able to identify major transformations in Jewish life from 1492 to the present, explain how Jewish communities navigated changing political and social conditions, and compare developments across Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Ottoman, and North African Jewish contexts. Students will also strengthen their ability to read and contextualize diverse primary sources — mystical writings, liturgical texts, philosophical works, political manifestos, letters, songs, memoirs, and activist writings — while situating them within broader debates in modern Jewish history.

• Department: Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies
• M 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Gabriel Abensour
  Info
• 4 points

Sustainable Water Treatment and Reuse

SUSTAINABLE WATER TREAT/R

Fundamentals of water pollution and wastewater characteristics. Chemistry, microbiology, and reaction kinetics. Design of primary, secondary, and advanced treatment systems. Small community and residential systems.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

USER INTERFACE DESIGN

Introduction to the theory and practice of computer user interface design, emphasizing the software design of graphical user interfaces. Topics include basic interaction devices and techniques, human factors, interaction styles, dialogue design, and software infrastructure. Design and programming projects are required.

• Department: Computer Science
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Lydia Chilton
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 18 Info
• 3 points

It s a Long Story! Russian-Jewis

Russian-Jewish History

This is a course on Eastern European Jewry that will examine Jewish life in Russia from the Partitions of Poland in the late eighteenth century until the dawn of the twenty-first century.  As such, it will survey the complexities of Jewish life from the moment that they become a part of the Russian Empire until the disintegration of the Soviet Union two centuries later and into the tumultuous realities of post-Soviet space.  The course will have a special focus on the huge changes that East European Jews underwent during these years – a period of repeated wars and massive changes in policy, demography, culture and mass migration. Parts of the course will also be devoted to a survey of non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities in this huge space. Throughout the course we shall compare the history of Jews as a minority people in the multi-ethnic Russian and Soviet empires with the fate of other minority peoples.

• Department: Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Jonathan Dekel-Chen
  Info
• 4 points

LANGUAGES OF AFRICA

• Department: Slavic Languages
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: John H McWhorter
  CULPA: 26 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

3D UI AND AUGMENTED REALITY

Design, development, and evaluation of 3D user interfaces. Interaction techniques and metaphors, from desktop to immersive. Selection and manipulation. Travel and navigation. Symbolic, menu, gestural, and multimodal interaction. Dialogue design. 3D software support. 3D interaction devices and displays. Virtual and augmented reality. Tangible user interfaces. Review of relevant 3D math.

• Department: Computer Science
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Steven K Feiner
  CULPA: 18 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Theory of the Modes from Antiquity to Gl

Theory Modes Antiq to Gla

Overview of the theory of the modes from ancient Greece to the middle of the sixteenth century, tracing the themes that recur throughout writings about the tonal structures underlying music. While the emphasis will be on close reading of selected primary sources in English translation, we will also address the most influential arguments in the secondary literature. Reading music theory against musical compositions and scrutinizing scores in light of treatises will highlight the symbiosis of theory and practice that has shaped discourse on the modes.

• Department: Music
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Susan Boynton
  CULPA: 18 Info
• 3 points

PHILOSOPHY IN CLASSICAL ROME

• Department: Classics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Katharina Volk
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

Prerequisites: SDEV W3390 or EESC W4050 or the instructors permission. This class provides basic theory in landscape analysis and training in methods for analyzing landscapes, focusing on interpretation of satellite images. The class covers approaches and definitions in landscape analysis, data sources, land cover classification, change detection, accuracy assessment, projections of future land cover change, and techniques to interpret results of these analyses. Students will obtain hands-on experience working with data from a landscape related to his/her research or a landscape chosen by the instructors.

• Department: Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
• W 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
• Instructor: Marcia N Macedo
  Info
• 3 points

MOD DISPLAY SCI & TECHNOLOGY

Introduction to modern display systems in an engineering context. The basis for visual perception, image representation, color space, metrics of illumination. Physics of luminescence, propagation and manipulation of light in anisotropic media, emissive displays, and spatial light modulators. Fundamentals of display addressing, the Alt-Pleshko theorem, multiple line addressing. Large area electronics, fabrication, and device integration of commercially important display types. A series of short laboratories will reinforce material from the lectures. Enrollment may be limited.

• Department: Electrical Engineering
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Ioannis Kymissis
  CULPA: 4 h-index: 48 Info
• 3 points

LITERATURE AND OIL

• Department: English and Comparative Literature
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Jennifer Wenzel
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 15 Info
• 3 points

PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Techniques of solution of partial differential equations. Separation of the variables. Orthogonality and characteristic functions, nonhomogeneous boundary value problems. Solutions in orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems. Applications of Fourier integrals, Fourier and Laplace transforms. Problems from the fields of vibrations, heat conduction, electricity, fluid dynamics, and wave propagation are considered.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Curtiss Lyman
  Info
• 3 points

HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN AND INNOVATION

HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN & I

Open to SEAS graduate and advanced undergraduate students, Business School, and GSAPP. Students from other schools may apply. Fast-paced introduction to human-centered design. Students learn the vocabulary of design methods, understanding of design process. Small group projects to create prototypes. Design of simple product, more complex systems of products and services, and design of business.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MW 11:25 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Harry West
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 1 Info
• 3 points

MATHEMATICS AND THE HUMANITIES

This course is being taught by two senior faculty members who are theorists and practitioners in disciplines as different as mathematics and literary criticism. The instructors believe that in today's world, the different ways in which theoretical mathematics and literary criticism mold the imaginations of students and scholars, should be brought together, so that the robust ethical imagination that is needed to combat the disintegration of our world can be produced. Except for the length of novels, the reading is no more than 100 pages a week.

Our general approach is to keep alive the disciplinary differences between literary/philosophical (humanities) reading and mathematical writing.  Some preliminary questions we have considered are: the survival skills of the logicist school over against the Foundational Crisis of the early 20th century; by way of Wittgenstein and others, we ask, Are mathematical objects real? Or are they linguistic conventions? We will consider the literary/philosophical use of mathematics, often by imaginative analogy; and the role of the digital imagination in the humanities: Can so-called creative work as well as mathematics be written by machines? Guest faculty from other departments will teach with us to help students and instructors understand various topics.  We will close with how a novel animates “science” in prose, stepping out of the silo of disciplinary mathematics to the arena where mathematics is considered a code-name for science: Christine Brooke-Rose’s novel
Subscript
.

• Department: Mathematics
• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• 4 points

ENGIN APPL OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY

Engineering analysis of electrochemical systems, including electrode kinetics, transport phenomena, mathematical modeling, and thermodynamics. Common experimental methods are discussed. Examples from common applications in energy conversion and metallization are presented.

• Department: Chemical Engineering
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Alan West
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 48 Info
• 3 points

BASIC CONCEPTS-POST-FREUD THGT

This course examines psychoanalytic movements that are viewed either as post-Freudian in theory or as emerging after Freuds time. The course begins by considering the ways Freuds cultural and historical surround, as well as the wartime diaspora of the European psychoanalytic community, shaped Freudian and post-Freudian thought. It then focuses on significant schools and theories of psychoanalysis that were developed from the mid 20th century to the present. Through readings of key texts and selected case studies, it explores theorists challenges to classical thought and technique, and their reconfigurations, modernizations, and total rejections of central Freudian ideas. The course concludes by looking at contemporary theorists moves to integrate notions of culture, concepts of trauma, and findings from neuroscience and attachment research into the psychoanalytic frame.

• Department: Comparative Literature and Society, Institute for
• W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Adele Tutter
  Info
• 4 points

MATERIALS THERMODYN/PHASE DIAG

Review of laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamic variables and relations, free energies and equilibrium in thermodynamic system. Statistical thermodynamics. Unary, binary, and ternary phase diagrams, compounds and intermediate phases, solid solutions and Hume-Rothery rules, relationship between phase diagrams and metastability, defects in crystals. Thermodynamics of surfaces and interfaces, effect of particle size on phase equilibria, adsorption isotherms, grain boundaries, surface energy, electrochemistry, statistical mechanics.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Renata M Wentzcovitch
  Info
• 3 points

Policy for Privacy Technologies

Introduction to privacy technologies, their use in practice, and privacy regulations. Potential topics include anonymization, differential privacy, cryptography, secure multi-party computation, and legislation. Course material will be abased in real-world use cases of these tools.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Yaren Kaya
  Info
• 3 points

KINETICS OF TRANSFORMATIONS

Review of thermodynamics, irreversible thermodynamics, diffusion in crystals and noncrystalline materials, phase transformations via nucleation and growth, overall transformation analysis and time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams, precipitation, grain growth, solidification, spinodal and order-disorder transformations, martensitic transformation.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• W 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: James Im
  Info
• 3 points

Theories of Change in Human Development

Theories of Change-Human

What are the agents of developmental change in human childhood? How has the scientific community graduated from nature versus nurture, to nature
and
nurture? This course offers students an in-depth analysis of the fundamental theories in the study of cognitive and social development.

• Department: Psychology
• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Dima Amso
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 31 Info
• 4 points

THEORY CRYSTALL MAT: ELECTRONS

Phenomenological theoretical understanding of electrons in crystalline materials. Both translational and point symmetry employed to block diagonalize the Schrödinger equation and compute observables related to electrons. Topics include nearly free electrons, tight-binding, electron-electron interactions, transport, magnetism, optical properties, topological insulators, spin-orbit coupling, and superconductivity. Illustrated using both minimal model Hamiltonians in addition to accurate Hamiltonians for real materials.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Chris A Marianetti
  Info
• 3 points

PROBABILITY THEORY

Prerequisites: At least one semester, and preferably two, of calculus. An introductory course (STAT UN1201, preferably) is strongly recommended. A calculus-based introduction to probability theory. A quick review of multivariate calculus is provided. Topics covered include random variables, conditional probability, expectation, independence, Bayes’ rule, important distributions, joint distributions, moment generating functions, central limit theorem, laws of large numbers and Markov’s inequality.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Anne Van Delft
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 5 Info
• Instructor: Jingchen Liu
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 19 Info
• 3 points

Composing for Dance

The course presents tools, techniques, methodologies, and concepts for composing original music for dance (both acoustic and electronic). Composers will develop a work for dance collaborating with choreographers, culminating in a public showing at the end of the semester. Weekly meetings will be used to discuss the unique challenges (both practical and aesthetic) that this type of interdisciplinary collaboration raises, and to troubleshoot potential solutions. Students will examine case studies of collaborative composer/choreographer pairs (especially from the last 75 years), as potential models for working via the study of artist statements, interviews, articles, videos, and classroom discussions with invited guests. No prior experience writing for dance is necessary. Basic familiarity with a digital audio workspace is preferable. For participants who don’t write music or work in sound, a research project either analyzing a composer/choreographer pairing or looking at a topic relating to music and dance more broadly will serve as an equivalent final project (resulting in an academic paper, a podcast, or the production of an educational video).

• Department: Music
• R 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Zosha Di Castri
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL INFERENCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4203. At least one semester of calculus is required; two or three semesters are strongly recommended. Calculus-based introduction to the theory of statistics. Useful distributions, law of large numbers and central limit theorem, point estimation, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals maximum likelihood, likelihood ratio tests, nonparametric procedures, theory of least squares and analysis of variance.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Ming Yuan
  h-index: 45 Info
• Instructor: Yuqi Gu
  h-index: 6 Info
• 3 points

LINEAR REGRESSION MODELS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent, and a course in linear algebra. Theory and practice of regression analysis. Simple and multiple regression, testing, estimation, prediction, and confidence procedures, modeling, regression diagnostics and plots, polynomial regression, colinearity and confounding, model selection, geometry of least squares. Extensive use of the computer to analyse data.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Yisha Yao
  Info
• 3 points

ELEC & MAGNETIC PROP OF SOLIDS

A survey course on the electronic and magnetic properties of materials, oriented towards materials for solid state devices. Dielectric and magnetic properties, ferroelectrics and ferromagnets. Conductivity and superconductivity. Electronic band theory of solids: classification of metals, insulators, and semiconductors. Materials in devices: examples from semiconductor lasers, cellular telephones, integrated circuits, and magnetic storage devices. Topics from physics are introduced as necessary.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: William Bailey
  CULPA: 12 Info
• 3 points

PROGRAMMING FOR DATA SCIENCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 and GU4205 or the equivalent. Introduction to programming in the R statistical package: functions, objects, data structures, flow control, input and output, debugging, logical design, and abstraction. Writing code for numerical and graphical statistical analyses. Writing maintainable code and testing, stochastic simulations, paralleizing data analyses, and working with large data sets. Examples from data science will be used for demonstration.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin K Goodrich
  Info
• 3 points

Religion and the Afro-Native Experience

Religion and Afro-Native

African Americans and Native Americans have a shared history of racial oppression in America. However, the prevailing lenses through which scholars understand settler colonialism, religion, and black and indigenous histories focus overwhelmingly on the dynamics between Europeans and these respective groups. How might our understanding of these subjects change when viewed from a different point of departure, if we center the history of entanglements between black and native lives? How does religion structure the overlapping experiences of Afro-Native peoples in North America?

From political movements in Minneapolis, Oakland, and New York City to enslavement from the Cotton Belt to the Rio Grande, this class will explore how Africans, Native Americans, and their descendants adapted to shifting contexts of race and religion in America. The course will proceed thematically by examining experiences of war, dislocation, survival, and diaspora.

• Department: Religion @Barnard
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Tiffany Hale
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY STOCHASTIC PROCESS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4203 and two, preferably three, semesters of calculus. Review of elements of probability theory. Poisson processes. Renewal theory. Walds equation. Introduction to discrete and continuous time Markov chains. Applications to queueing theory, inventory models, branching processes.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Regina Dolgoarshinnykh
  CULPA: 2 Info
• Instructor: Mark Brown
  CULPA: 18 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Atomic Foundation Models

Machine-learning and foundation-model approaches for atomistic simulations of materials. Equivariant message-passing neural networks for interatomic forces and for electronic, dielectric, and magnetic degrees of freedom. Heat and charge transport in solids ranging from crystals to disordered and amorphous materials. Hands-on assignments: simulation workflows, data analysis, training, and fine-tuning of various machine-learning models for atomistic simulations of materials.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Michele Simoncelli
  Info
• 3 points

Music Production & Studio Composition

This course explores the recording studio and Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) as tools for diverse compositional practices. By exploring a range of recording and editing techniques to craft new musical works beyond the limitations of live performance, this class encourages a seamless blend of composition and music production. Various genres, artists, and techniques that push the boundaries of music recording will be studied, such as Jamaican dub, musique concrète, hyper-pop, jazz fusion, and more. Students will gain hands-on experience with DAWs, exploring tools like effects processing, layering, and spatial placement. They will learn to listen closely to pieces exemplifying these techniques, building a shared analytic vocabulary to describe them. Students will also create original pieces, applying and building on the techniques studied in class, while engaging in constructive feedback with peers.

• Department: Music
• T 10:10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Anna Meadors
  Info
• 3 points

OPTIMIZATION FOR DATA SCIENCE

Modern statistics and machine learning rely heavily on optimization. Estimation, inference, and prediction often reduce to solving structured optimization problems such as least squares, maximum likelihood estimation, regularized regression, empirical risk minimization, and variational inference. This course introduces the optimization principles underlying modern statistical and machine learning methods. Students will study convex optimization, gradient-based algorithms, stochastic optimization, and large-scale learning problems, with applications to regression, classification, deep learning, and probabilistic modeling.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Cindy Meekins
  Info
• 3 points

FORENSIC STRUCTURL ENGINEERING

Review of significant failures, civil/structural engineering design and construction practices, ethical standards and the legal positions as necessary background to forensic engineering. Discussion of standard-of-care. Study of the process of engineering evaluation of structural defects and failures in construction and in service. Examination of the roles, activities, conduct and ethics of the forensic consultant and expert witness. Students are assigned projects of actual cases of non-performance or failure of steel, concrete, masonry, geotechnical and temporary structures, in order to perform, discuss and report their own investigations under the guidance of the instructor.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• T 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• 3 points

HERPETOLOGY

• Department: Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
• T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Matthew I Palmer
  CULPA: 5 h-index: 14 Info
• 4 points

GEOPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Prerequisites: APMA E3101, APMA E3201 or equivalents and APPH E4200 or equivalent or the instructors permission. Fundamental concepts in the dynamics of rotating stratified flows. Geostrophic and hydrostatic balances, potential vorticity, f and beta plane approximations, gravity and Rossby waves, geostrophic adjustment and quasigeostrophy, baroclinic and barotropic instabilities.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Dhruv Balwada
  Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED MICROECONOMICS

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and MATH UN2010 Students must register for required discussion section. Corequisites: MATH UN2500 or MATH GU4061 The course provides a rigorous introduction to microeconomics. Topics will vary with the instructor but will include consumer theory, producer theory, general equilibrium and welfare, social choice theory, game theory and information economics. This course is strongly recommended for students considering graduate work in economics. Discussion section required.

• Department: Economics
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Susan M Elmes
  CULPA: 44 Info
• 4 points

THIRD YEAR ARABIC II

Students in the regular third-year Arabic track improve reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills through close reading, compositions, class discussions, and presentations in Arabic on topics such as cultures of the Arab world, classical and modern Arabic literature, and contemporary Arabic media. Review of grammatical and syntactic rules as needed. 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: Ouijdane Absi
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 5 points

EXPERIMENTL SOLID MECHANCS

Experimental techniques, including photoelasticity, strain measurements, digital image correlation, and other optics in stress analysis, emphasizing engineering applications. Fundamental concepts in solid mechanics and measurement science. Performance of high-quality experimental studies.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Addis Kidane
  Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED MACROECONOMICS

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and MATH UN2010 Required discussion section ECON GU4214 An introduction to the dynamic models used in the study of modern macroeconomics. Applications of the models will include theoretical issues such as optimal lifetime consumption decisions and policy issues such as inflation targeting. This course is strongly recommended for students considering graduate work in economics.

• Department: Economics
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Irasema Alonso
  CULPA: 12 Info
• 4 points

FOURTH YEAR MODERN ARABIC II

Prerequisites: MDES W4212. Through reading articles and essays by Arab thinkers and intellectuals of the Twentieth century, starting from the period called Nahda (Renaissance), such as Taha Hussein, Qasim Amin, Abdallah Laroui, Abed Al-Jabiri, Tahar Haddad, Fatima Mernissi and others, students will be able to increase their fluency and accuracy in Arabic while working on reading text and being exposed to the main
themes in Arab thought. The course works with all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Arabic is the language of instruction. 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: Taoufik Ben-Amor
  CULPA: 11 Info
• 4 points

MEMS Sensors and Systems

Connects basic MEMS transduction elements to applications by analyzing the analog signal chain, sensor packaging, and sensor integration into larger systems. Underlying concepts of analog instrumentation such as filtering and digitization covered. Hands-on projects involve off-the-shelf sensors and single-board computers to create self-contained sensor systems that demonstrate relevant issues.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• M 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• 3 points

SPIRIT/GHOSTS FR KANT-MARX(ENG)

SPIRITS/GHOSTS KANT TO MARX

When Kant was writing a treatise about true and false apparitions, showmen were deploying the  magic lantern to terrify audiences with projected phantoms. Kant's ambivalence toward spirits  remained formative for his critical philosophy. On the one hand, he insisted that we can only gain  knowledge about appearances. Yet these appearances are somehow related to a supersensory  thing-in-itself. At the same time, he warned against the transcendental illusion of speculative  reason by comparing it to the optical mirage of the magic lantern. The optical medium thus became  an epistemic figure for the limits of philosophical knowledge. This course traces that constellation  and its recurrence through the philosophical theories of Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Marx. Lectures,  discussions, and readings will be in English.

• Department: Germanic Languages
• M 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Stefan Andriopoulos
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia h-index: 12 Info
• 3 points

Modular Sound Synthesis

Modular Sound Synthesis is a hands-on studio class that explores contemporary techniques for synthesizers both in studio practice and performance while framing them in the historical context in which they developed. The class approaches the fundamentals of sound and synthesis through the perspective of Columbia’s Computer Music Center: vintage function generators, suitcase reel-to-reel tape machines, prototype modules, custom devices; and the first programmable music synthesizer, the RCA Mark II. Students will learn to perform and compose on both hardware devices and software emulations, utilizing them as a creative tool for recording and live performance. Topics include oscillators, modulation, sequencers, voltage processing, wave shaping, filters, and LFOs. The course will engage in listening to both historical and contemporary examples to develop critical listening skills. This class is designed as a follow-up to Intro to Digital Music for undergraduates or graduate students interested in integrating modular synthesis within their artistic practice.

• Department: Music
• R 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Instructor: Danielle R Dobkin
  Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED ARABIC GRAMMAR REVIEW

Through reading and writing, students will review Arabic Grammar concepts within the context of linguistic functions such as narration, description, comparison, etc. For example, within the function of narration, students will focus on verb tenses, word order, and adverbials. Based on error analysis in the past twelve years that the Arabic Program has been using Al-Kitaab, emphasis will be placed on common and frequent grammatical errors. Within these linguistic functions and based on error analysis, the course will review the following main concepts: Types of sentence and sentence/clause structure. The Verb system, pattern meanings and verb complementation. Quadriliteral verb patterns and derivations. Weak Verbs derivations, conjugation, tense frames and negation. Case endings. Types of noun and participle: Noun of time, place, instance, stance, instrument, active and passive participles. Types of construct phrase: al-iDafa. Types of Adverbials and verb complements: Hal, Tamyiz, Maf’ul mutlaq, Maf’ul li’ajlihi, adverbs of time, frequency, place and manner. The number system and countable nouns. Types of maa.Diptotes, al-mamnu’ min-aSSarf. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Taoufik Ben-Amor
  CULPA: 11 Info
• 3 points

SPOKEN ARABIC II

Prerequisites: MDES UN2202 This is an introductory course to Levantine Arabic for students who have completed two years of Standard Arabic studies, at the Intermediate level. The course is designed to further develop fluency in oral communication, through building students’ familiarity with a less formal register of Arabic, namely the Levantine dialect. The course will convert and recycle some of the previous Standard Arabic knowledge to the dialect, by comparing their prior knowledge to its dialectal counterpart; while at the same time developing students’ new communicative skills in a diverse range of contexts that are essential in any conversational interaction. The course will build students abilities to interact effectively in various areas where Levantine Arabic is spoken. In addition to varied thematic topics, the course exposes students to cultural aspects specific to the region. Additionally, the course will work on both constructing students’ knowledge of dialectal diction as well as other grammatical features of the dialects. Even though the course is designed for communication in the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking), the emphasis will be mostly on speaking and listening. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• TR 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Reem Faraj
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

The Arabic Linguistic Tradition

The purpose of the Arabic Linguistic Tradition course is to introduce undergraduate and graduate
students to the Arabic Linguistic Tradition, starting before Islam and ending in current times. The
course maps out the context in which the Arabic language and its predecessors existed, the
history of the development of the language, its script, its geographical spread, its linguistic
influences on other languages and scripts throughout the world, as well as its own influences by
other languages. The course will also examine the importance of Arabic as a language of
religion, philosophy, sciences, and nationalism. Furthermore, the course will focus on the
classical Arabic linguistic categories and fields devised by Arab/Arabic grammarians, and how
we can situate them vis-à-vis modern western linguistic theories. The course will detail some of
the language linguistic issues, challenges and secrets, as the language stands on its own, as well
as within a euro-centric “modern” linguistic theories framework.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: May Ahmar
  CULPA: 9 Info
• 4 points

TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. Least squares smoothing and prediction, linear systems, Fourier analysis, and spectral estimation. Impulse response and transfer function. Fourier series, the fast Fourier transform, autocorrelation function, and spectral density. Univariate Box-Jenkins modeling and forecasting. Emphasis on applications. Examples from the physical sciences, social sciences, and business. Computing is an integral part of the course.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rongning Wu
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

Interfacial Engineering for Sustainable

Cross disciplinary interfacial engineering principles and applications in sustainable energy and material science. Surface science and systems analysis across different technology sectors - material production and processing, waste management, device manufacture, composites, coatings, ceramics, membranes, biomaterials, and microelectronics.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Oscar Nordness
  Info
• 3 points

NONPARAMETRIC STATISTICS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent. Statistical inference without parametric model assumption. Hypothesis testing using ranks, permutations, and order statistics. Nonparametric analogs of analysis of variance. Non-parametric regression, smoothing and model selection.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Alberto Gonzalez Sanz
  Info
• 3 points

BAYESIAN STATISTICS

This course introduces the Bayesian paradigm for statistical inference.  Topics covered include prior and posterior distributions: conjugate priors, informative and non-informative priors; one- and two-sample problems; models for normal data, models for binary data, Bayesian linear models; Bayesian computation: MCMC algorithms, the Gibbs sampler; hierarchical models; hypothesis testing, Bayes factors, model selection; use of statistical software.

Prerequisites: A course in the theory of statistical inference, such as STAT GU4204 a course in statistical modeling and data analysis, such as STAT GU4205.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin K Goodrich
  Info
• 3 points

ADV DESIGN OF STEEL STRUCTURES

Review of loads and structural design approaches. Material considerations in structural steel design. Behavior and design of rolled steel, welded, cold-formed light-gauge, and composite concrete/steel members. Design of multi-story buildings and space structures.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• R 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• 3 points

GENDER,CLASS,REAL ESTATE-CHINA

This is a seminar for advanced undergraduates and master’s degree students, which explores the socioeconomic consequences of China’s development of a boom, urban residential real-estate market since the privatization of housing at the end of the 1990s. We will use the intersecting lenses of gender/sexuality, class and race/ethnicity to analyze the dramatic new inequalities created in arguably the largest and fastest accumulation of residential-real estate wealth in history. We will examine topics such as how skyrocketing home prices and state-led urbanization have created winners and losers based on gender, sexuality, class, race/ethnicity and location (hukou), as China strives to transform from a predominantly rural population to one that is 60 percent urban by 2020. We explore the vastly divergent effects of urban real-estate development on Chinese citizens, from the most marginaliz4d communities in remote regions of Tibet and Xinjiang to hyper-wealthy investors in Manhattan. Although this course has no formal prerequisites, it assumes some basic knowledge of Chinese history. If you have never taken a course on China before, please ask me for guidance on whether or not this class is suitable for you. The syllabus is preliminary and subject to change based on breaking news events and the needs of the class.

• Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Leta Hong Fincher
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 6 Info
• 4 points

Separation Science and Technology in Sus

Separation Sc Tech in SER

Detailed study of the chemical and physicochemical principles underlying separations in  development of earth resources in a safe and sustainable manner. Covers wide-range of solid-solid, solid-liquid and liquid-liquid separations used in processing of mineral resources. Interfacial
science and engineering principles of important industrial processes of flotation, flocculation, dewatering, interfacial transport, magnetic/gravity/electrostatic separations, solvent extraction, solid-support extraction, crystallization and precipitation. Emphasis on concepts  in interfacial chemistry and concepts associated with 'mines of the future' framework.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Pengbo Chu
  Info
• 3 points

ECONOMICS OF NEW YORK CITY

ECONOMICS OF NYC

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT Un1201 This course takes New York as our laboratory. Economics is about individual choice subject to constraints and the ways that choices sum up to something often much more than the parts. The fundamental feature of any city is the combination of those forces that bring people together and those that push them apart. Thus both physical and social space will be central to our discussions. The underlying theoretical and empirical analysis will touch on spatial aspects of urban economics, regional, and even international economics. We will aim to see these features in New York City taken as a whole, as well as in specific neighborhoods of the city. We will match these theoretical and empirical analyses with readings that reflect close observation of specific subjects. The close observation is meant to inspire you to probe deeply into a topic in order that the tools and approaches of economics may illuminate these issues in a fresh way.

• Department: Economics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Donald R Davis
  CULPA: 2 Wikipedia h-index: 31 Info
• 3 points

SOLAR FUELS

Fundamentals and applications of solar energy conversion, especially technologies for conversion of sunlight into storable chemical energy or solar fuels. Topics include fundamentals of photoelectrochemistry, kinetics of solar fuels production, solar harvesting technologies, solar reactors, and solar thermal production of solar fuels. Applications include solar fuels technology for grid-scale energy storage, chemical industry, manufacturing, environmental remediation.

• Department: Chemical Engineering
• F 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Esposito
  h-index: 22 Info
• 3 points

ANALYSIS OF ALGORITHMS I

Prerequisites: (COMS W3134 or COMS W3136COMS W3137) and (COMS W3203) Introduction to the design and analysis of efficient algorithms. Topics include models of computation, efficient sorting and searching, algorithms for algebraic problems, graph algorithms, dynamic programming, probabilistic methods, approximation algorithms, and NP-completeness.

• Department: Computer Science
• F 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Eleni Drinea
  CULPA: 8 Info
• 3 points

Love, Labor, and Leisure in Contemporary

Love, Labor in Contemp Ch

This course takes an anthropological perspective on life in China today with special attention to the legacies of the country’s socialist past. We start with a brief look at the ideological and institutional frameworks employed by the Communist Party to organize the daily life of its citizens in the decades leading into the People’s Republic. We will then read about how economic and social reforms instituted since the 1980s, in particular changes to the work unit and household registration system, have resulted in dramatically different opportunities and expectations for Chinese citizens attempting to navigate career opportunities, search for romantic partners, move through communal and private spaces and engage in consumptive activities. Exploring the experiences of rural peasants, urban workers, and laborers who move between countryside and city as well as between nations, we will examine how class, gender, and sexuality come to be refigured as China integrates into the global market economy. Scholarly texts will be supplemented with political speeches, short work of fiction and essays, and films.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Nicholas A Bartlett
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3-4 points

SURVIVAL ANALYSIS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. Survival distributions, types of censored data, estimation for various survival models, nonparametric estimation of survival distributions, the proportional hazard and accelerated lifetime models for regression analysis with failure-time data. Extensive use of the computer.

• Department: Statistics
• S 12:10 p.m.-2:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Zhiliang Ying
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 62 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO MOLECULAR MODELING

• Department: Chemistry
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Richard A Friesner
  CULPA: 28 Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

Advanced Algorithms

Introduces classic and modern algorithmic ideas that are central to many areas of Computer Science. The focus is on most powerful paradigms and techniques of how to design algorithms, and how to measure their efficiency. The intent is to be broad, covering a diversity of algorithmic techniques, rather than be deep. The covered topics have all been implemented and are widely used in industry. Topics include: hashing, sketching/streaming, nearest neighbor search, graph algorithms, spectral graph theory, linear programming, models for large-scale computation, and other related topics

• Department: Computer Science
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Alexandr Andoni
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 34 Info
• 3 points

DESIGN OF LARGE SCALE BRIDGES

Design of large-scale and complex bridges with emphasis on cable-supported structures. Static and dynamic loads, component design of towers, superstructures and cables; conceptual design of major bridge types including arches, cable stayed bridges and suspension bridges.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• M 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Theodore Zoli
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

DESIGN OF LARGE SCALE BUILDINGS

Modern challenges in the design of large-scale building structures will be studied. Tall buildings, large convention centers and major sports stadiums present major opportunities for creative solutions and leadership on the part of engineers. This course is designed to expose the students to this environment by having them undertake the complete design of a large structure from initial design concepts on through all the major design decisions. The students work as members of a design team to overcome the challenges inherent in major projects. Topics include overview of major projects, project criteria and interface with architecture, design of foundations and structural systems, design challenges in the post 9/11 environment and roles, responsibilities and legal issues.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• W 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

SAMPLE SURVEYS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent. Introductory course on the design and analysis of sample surveys. How sample surveys are conducted, why the designs are used, how to analyze survey results, and how to derive from first principles the standard results and their generalizations. Examples from public health, social work, opinion polling, and other topics of interest.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rongning Wu
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

Causal Inference

This course is an introduction to Causal Inference at the masters and advanced undergraduate
level. Students will be introduced to a broad range of causal inference methods including randomized
experiments, observational studies, instrumental variables, di?erence-in-di?erences,
regression discontinuity design, and synthetic controls. In addition, the course will cover modern,
controversial debates regarding the foundations and limitations of causal inference.

The primary learning goal of this course will be to familiarize students with a variety of the
most popular causal inference methods: which causal e?ects they seek to estimate, basic assumptions
required for identi?cation and estimation, and their practical implementation. To
this end, the course will focus both on developing the pre-requisite statistical / methodological
theory and as well as gaining hands-on experience through implementation exercises with
real datasets. By the end of the course, students should have deep familiarity of various causal
inference methods and—more importantly—be able to determine which method is most appropriate
for a given applied problem and to judge whether the pre-requisite identifying conditions
are appropriate.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Sobel
  CULPA: 5 Wikipedia h-index: 35 Info
• 3 points

SCIENCE OF URBAN ECOLOGY

Urban ecology is the study of both the interactions between organisms in an urban environment and the organisms' interactions with that environment. This course facilitates learning about 1) basic principles related to ecological interactions of life on Earth, 2) the causes and consequences of biological patterns and processes in urban environments, and 3) how ecology can inform land use decisions and applied management strategies of natural resources (e.g. water, air, biodiversity), particularly in urban environments. This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the ways in which ecological perspectives can contribute to an interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems facing human society. Towards that end, this course covers topics ranging from applied ecology and conservation biology to sustainable development. It uses a cross disciplinary approach to understand the nature of ecology and biological conservation, as well as the social, philosophical and economic dimensions of land use strategies. Although in some ways cities may seem to be isolated from what we would otherwise call "nature," they are not, and this is a major theme of this course. This course includes discussion of biodiversity, ecosystem function, evolutionary processes, nutrient cycling, and natural resource availability in cities. Students will acquire an understanding of the ecology of human-dominated landscapes, the theory and study of urban ecology, and the application of ecological principles to building sustainable urban communities. Students will also explore timely and important urban ecology issues including ecological restoration, invasive species, and biodiversity conservation.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy Karpati
  Info
• 3 points

DESIGN-PRESTRESS CONCRET STRUC

Properties of materials used in prestressed concrete; pre-tensioning versus post-tensioning; loss of prestress due to elastic shortening, friction, anchorage slip, shrinkage, creep and relaxation; full versus partial prestressing; design of beams for flexure, shear and torsion; method of load balancing; anchorage zone design; calculation of deflection by the lump-sum and incremental time-step methods; continuous beams; composite construction; prestressed slabs and columns.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• F 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Tom T Panayotidi
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 3 points

Reversing the Biodiversity Crisis

Course Overview

Often described as “twin crises,” climate change and biodiversity loss are among the most urgent sustainability challenges to be addressed in our modern era. While much focus has rightfully been placed on climate change mitigation actions at local, regional, and global scales, biodiversity loss is less often addressed by governments, institutions, industries, and individuals as a critical piece of the sustainability puzzle. In 2021, COP 15, the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, received far less media attention than COP 26, the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change. Yet climate change and biodiversity loss are inextricably linked, and without biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services and biospheric resilience upon which human society relies, a sustainable world is not possible. Moreover, certain climate change mitigation actions can actually be to the detriment of biological diversity.

 

Unlike a traditional conservation biology course geared towards ecologists and biologists, this course will be taught through the lens of sustainability management, equipping sustainability managers with the knowledge and direction needed to begin integrating biodiversity conservation and restoration into their professions. This course will illuminate the critical importance of biodiversity to sustainability and human well-being, the science and politics behind the current biodiversity crisis, and proposals, policies, and actions for bending the curve of biodiversity loss to create more sustainable and equitable outcomes for both humans and the non-humans with which we share our planet.

 

Students who seek to deepen their understanding of ecological sustainability and address the biodiversity crisis through the lens of sustainability management are encouraged to take this course. This course is an on-campus (or Hy-Flex) elective offered during the Fall semester and fulfills 3 credits within the Physical Dimensions of Sustainability Management curriculum area in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. Cross-registration is available to students outside of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program, space permitting.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• M 8:10 p.m.-10 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy Karpati
  Info
• 3 points

Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustain

Biodiversity, a term popularized in the 1980s, refers to the variety of life at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. It is crucial for sustainability, as it supports ecosystems that underpin human life, economic activities, and ecological stability. The loss of biodiversity threatens essential ecosystem services like clean air, water filtration, climate regulation, and food security. This course explores how climate change, both current and projected, impacts biodiversity and how natural ecosystems influence greenhouse gas concentrations. Human survival depends on these ecosystems, yet there is uncertainty about how much biodiversity loss can be tolerated. Climate change now poses as serious a threat to biodiversity as direct development activities. Understanding the science behind these threats is essential for sustainability students, and this course aims to provide that knowledge.

Simultaneously, tropical deforestation across the globe produces CO2 emissions equal to the total current emissions of the United States.  Forest fires in Canada have produced emissions equal to the total fossil fuel based emissions of that country.  Thawing of permafrost in the arctic north is one of the positive feedback loops, warming leading to more warming that has catastrophic potential. In studying biodiversity, we will examine ecosystems and species such as muskoxen, whales, penguins, primates, tree frogs, and monarch butterflies. We will also explore human practices like agriculture, forest management, hunting, and fishing, which affect both carbon and biodiversity and rely on climate stability. Students will learn how climate and natural ecosystems interact, a crucial first step toward actions needed to sustain life on Earth. While some readings may be challenging for those without an ecology background, support will be available. Students with prior ecology knowledge should find the course particularly informative.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Ralph C Schmidt
  Info
• 3 points

Medicine and Disease in the Pre-Modern I

Medicine & Disease Islami

Throughout the classical and post-classical periods, medical actors from different social and intellectual backgrounds aimed to make sense of the human body and disease, and worked to provide treatments and preserve health. In this class we will consider who these actors were, examining the categories of learned physicians versus practitioners and studying the role women played in health care. We will study practices of medical education and evaluate regulatory systems that determined access to the medical profession. We will also consider how physicians believed they could obtain knowledge about medical phenomena, and how they theorized human pathology, physiology, and epidemics. We will ask to what extent the theoretical, written treatises that survive today are representative of everyday medical practice in pre-modern West Asia. We inspect additional archeological evidence such as talismans and magic bowls in order to study popular and religious medical approaches. We will do this while tracing the development of the Greco-Arabic medical tradition alongside evolving Islamic theological views and Prophetic medicine, covering a period of roughly five centuries from the early ʿAbbasid period to the Black Death in the 14th century.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Elaine Van Dalen
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

Mentalizing: How we read people

Success in a social world requires understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings, a process typically referred to as
mentalizing
. Yet, other people’s mental states are not directly observable: you cannot see a thought or touch a feeling. Nonetheless, humans are quite proficient in inferring these invisible states of mind. How do we accomplish these mentalizing feats? In this course, we will answer this question from multiple angles, relying heavily on neuroscience and psychology research. The seminar will discuss recent and classic studies that reveal how humans effectively interpret the people around them, as well as when and why they make mistakes.

• Department: Psychology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Meghan Meyer
  Info
• 4 points

STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING

Prerequisites: STAT GU4206. The course will provide an introduction to Machine Learning and its core models and algorithms. The aim of the course is to provide students of statistics with detailed knowledge of how Machine Learning methods work and how statistical models can be brought to bear in computer systems - not only to analyze large data sets, but to let computers perform tasks that traditional methods of computer science are unable to address. Examples range from speech recognition and text analysis through bioinformatics and medical diagnosis. This course provides a first introduction to the statistical methods and mathematical concepts which make such technologies possible.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Genevera Allen
  Info
• 3 points

Evolution of Language (seminar)

EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE

This seminar will consider the evolution of language at the levels of the word and grammar, in each instance, phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Since humans are the only species that use language, attention will be paid to how language differs from animal communication.

• Department: Psychology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Herbert S Terrace
  CULPA: 29 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

CLIMATE PREDICTION CHALLENGES WITH MACHI

CLIMAT PRED W MACHINE LEA

This course is a project-based learning (PBL) course where teams of climate science and data science students collaborate to create machine learning predictive models for challenges inspired by ongoing climate data science research. Students from different background will apply their prior knowledge, work together and teach each other in high-paced collaborative projects. Through a sequence of mini-projects, i.e., “challenges”, this course provides students a deeper understanding of using machine learning for climate science and support predictive capabilities. It provides training on a broad set of practical skills for climate data science research (e.g., handling geoscience data formats, data curation, cleaning and transformation, building ML workflow, and collaboration using cloud computing resources, Git and/or GitHub). It will also offer discussions on the opportunities and challenges of using climate science and projections in decision processes.

Minimal formal instruction on statistics, data science, machine learning, or climate science will be given. Project cycles run every 4 weeks, where we will have mini-group data projects. Groups will be formed randomly with students from both climate science and data science background. Project products will be peer-reviewed, in addition to evaluation by the instructional team.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Galen A McKinley
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 32 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED DATA SCIENCE AND ARTIFICIAL INT

Project-based topics course in data science and artificial intelligence. Students build a portfolio by implementing and applying modern data science methods.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Alex Pijyan
  Info
• Instructor: Haiyuan Wang
  Info
• 3 points

LANGUAGE AND MIND

Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 and Preferably, an additional course in psychology, focusing on cognition, development, or research methods. Instructor permission required. This seminar explores the relationship between language and thought by investigating how language is mentally represented and processed; how various aspects of language interact with each other; and how language interacts with other aspects of cognition including perception, concepts, world knowledge, and memory. Students will examine how empirical data at the linguistic, psychological, and neuroscientific levels can bear on some of the biggest questions in the philosophy of mind and language and in psychology.

• Department: Psychology
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Nora Isacoff
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

Hydrosystems Engineering

Quantitative introduction to hydrologic and hydraulic systems, with a focus on integrated modeling and analysis of the water cycle and associated mass transport for water resources and environmental engineering. Coverage of unit hydrologic processes such as precipitation, evaporation, infiltration, runoff generation, open channel and pipe flow, subsurface flow and well hydraulics in the context of example watersheds and specific integrative problems such as risk-based design for flood control, provision of water, and assessment of environmental impact or potential for non-point source pollution. Spatial hydrologic analysis using GIS and watershed models.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• 3 points

CLIMATE CHANGE: RESILIENCE & ADAPTATION

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

For advanced undergraduates only. 
Using a case study approach, this course will offer a focused study of climate change adaptation policy, exploring dimensions of adaptation across sectors and scales. With a thematic focus on pervasive global inequities, students will also consider challenges associated with international development and disaster risk management. An inter-disciplinary framework will enrich the course, and students will learn about perspectives from the natural sciences, law, architecture, anthropology, humanitarian aid, and public policy.

• Department: Earth Institute
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Lisa Dale
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The study of industrial behavior based on game-theoretic oligopoly models. Topics include pricing models, strategic aspects of business practice, vertical integration, and technological innovation.

• Department: Economics
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Gautam Gowrisankaran
  h-index: 27 Info
• 3 points

Foundations of Environmental Engineering

Foundations of Env Eng

Engineering aspects of problems involving human interaction with the natural environment. Review of fundamental principles that underlie the discipline of environmental engineering, i.e. constituent transport and transformation processes in environmental media such as water, air, and ecosystems. Engineering applications for addressing environmental problems such as water quality and treatment, air pollution emissions, and hazardous waste remediation. Presented in the context of current issues facing the practicing engineers and government agencies, including legal and regulatory framework, environmental impact assessments, and natural resource management.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Luana Llanes
  Info
• 3 points

COMP SOLID MECHANICS WITH AI

Theoretical, computational, and data-driven/machine learning techniques to derive, test, and validate computer models for solid mechanics (e.g., soil, rubber, and metals). Machine learning and data-driven simulations enabled by deep learning.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Waiching Sun
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 30 Info
• 3 points

ENVIR DATA ANALYSIS & MODELING

Introduction parametric and non-parametric statistical models applied to climate and environmental data analysis. Time and space data analysis methods will be focused, including clustering, autoregressive models, trend analysis, Bayesian analysis, missing data imputation, geostatistics, principal components analysis. Application to problems of climate variation and change; hydrology; air, water and soil pollution dynamics; disease propagation; ecological change; and resource assessment. The class requires the use of R with hands-on programming applied to a current environmental data analysis problem.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Bolun Xu
  h-index: 17 Info
• 3 points

Embodied AI for Construction and Facilit

EMBODIED AI CONSTR FACIL

Sensor modalities and their applications in construction and facilities management. Deep learning concepts and their application in robot perception. Markov Decision Process (MDP) and its application in planning and control. Formulation of embodied AI perception and control problems as MDP. Application of classic reinforcement learning algorithms to solve MDP problems. Analysis of agents’ performance through objective and subjective metrics. Understanding the critical interactions between users/occupants and embodied AI agents. Hands-on experience with robot simulation and/or collaborative robots in controlled lab environments.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Zhengbo Zou
  Info
• 3 points

War Narrative: The Arab World

This course works along a number of axial structures that   aim to let texts voice their informing theoretical, political, and poetic strategies. It draws on war narratives in other parts of the world, especially Vietnam, insofar as these find their way into Arabic writing. A poetics of prose gives these narratives the power of literary production that makes them more readable, appealing, and provocative than ordinary journalistic reporting.

Through close readings  of  a number of  Arabic war novels and  some long narrative poems, this course  proposes to  address war in its varieties  not only as liberation movements in  Algeria and Palestine,  but also  as an engagement with  invasions, as in  Iraqi narratives of war, or  as conflict as was the case between Iran and Iraq, 1980-1988,  as proxy wars in other parts of the region , or ‘civil’ wars generated and perpetuated by big powers. Although writers are no longer the leaders of thought as in the first half of the 20th century, they resume different roles of exposition, documentation, reinstatement of identities, and geographical and topographical orientation. Narrators and protagonists are not spectators but implicated individuals whose voices give vent to dreams, desires, intimations, and expectations. They are not utterly passive, however. Behind bewilderment and turbulence, there is a will to expose atrocity and brutality. Writing is an effort to regain humanity in an inhuman situation.

The course is planned under thematic and theoretical divisions:
one
  that takes  writing as a deliberate exposure  of the censored and repressed;
another
as  a counter shock and awe strategy implemented under this name in the wars on Iraq   whereby brutalities are laid bare; and a
third
 that claims reporting  in order to explore its limits and complicity. On the geographical level, it takes Algeria, Palestine as locations for liberation movements; Iraq as a site of death; Egypt as the space for statist duplicity  and camouflage; and Lebanon as an initial stage for a deliberate exercise in a seemingly civil war.

A number of films will be shown as part of students’ presentations.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Muhsin Al-Musawi
  CULPA: 8 Info
• 4 points

INTRO TO CRYPTOGRAPHY

An introduction to modern cryptography, focusing on the complexity-theoretic foundations of secure computation and communication in adversarial environments; a rigorous approach, based on precise definitions and provably secure protocols. Topics include private and public key encryption schemes, digital signatures, authentication, pseudorandom generators and functions, one-way functions, trapdoor functions, number theory and computational hardness, identification and zero knowledge protocols.

• Department: Computer Science
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: James L Bartusek
  Info
• 3 points