This course explores the set of possibilities presented by American Studies as a comparative field of study. We begin with a brief overview of the history of the field, and then we’ll focus primarily on the range of modes in which its interdisciplinary work has been undertaken (literary, historical, legal, digital, etc.). The idea here is not to arrive a comprehensive picture of American Studies, but to think about the many ways people have produced knowledge under its aegis. We will also focus on work by Columbia faculty, and sessions of the course are built around visits by faculty in the field to Columbia’s University Seminar in American Studies. Our guiding questions include: How does one do research in a multimedia, “cultural” environment? How does one situate oneself as an “intellectual” or “critic” in relation to one’s object of study? How does one write about different media/genres? How does one incorporate different methodologies into one research project?
English communication proficiency is important for academic achievement and career success. Columbia Engineering provides English communication instruction for students who would like to improve their communication skills in English. In a small group setting (15-20 students), enrollees will obtain opportunities to interact with the instructor and fellow classmates to improve communication skills.
An exploration of the interconnections and intersections between history and literature, both as categories of cultural production and as scholarly disciplines. In the past thirty years the boundaries between history and literature have become usefully blurred, as literary scholars pursued the historical aspects of their texts and historians recognized the literary aspects of their narratives. The result is a propitious intellectual moment, which enables scholars to address new methodological horizons that combine close reading of texts with expansive attention to historical context.
The course treats the subject in terms of both theory and practice. Theoretical readings address the relations between history and literature, with a focus on texts relevant to scholars working in the field today. Exemplary recent works of English-language scholarship highlight the kind of creative blending of literary and historical approaches that the students might pursue in their M.A. essays.
In the first semester a series of workshops will introduce the field of international history and various research skills and methods such as conceptualization of research projects and use of oral sources. The fall sessions will also show the digital resources available at Columbia and how students can deploy them in their individual projects. In the second semester students will apply the skills acquired in the fall as they develop their proposal for the Master's thesis, which is to be completed next year at the LSE. The proposal identifies a significant historical question, the relevant primary and secondary sources, an appropriate methodology, what preliminary research has been done and what remains to be done. Students will present their work-in-progress.
This course provides students with a foundation to the key concepts, theories and debates in the field of Islamic studies. Interdisciplinary in scope, and wide-ranging in substantive coverage, the seminar features weekly visits by faculty from across the university. The course will utilize major approaches in the classic areas of history, law and political economy as well as sociology, anthropology, media studies, and colonial and postcolonial studies. We will critically address theoretical questions and debates about culture and civilization, religion, secularization, law and authority, nation-states, globalization, minority rights and technology. While engaging with archetypal themes in Islamic studies, this course will also concentrate on gender and sexuality, cultural production and articulations, transnational movements, and modes of religious association and ritual in everyday life. We will examine the variety of ways that Islamic norms and practices are developed, reinterpreted, embodied and regulated in contemporary Muslim societies as well as among Muslims minorities in western contexts. This seminar is a core course for the MA in Islamic Studies and will be helpful for graduate students studying the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Qualified undergraduates may register with permission of the instructor.
This course will be the first part of a two part introduction to theoretical approaches to modern social science and cultural studies in Asian and African contexts. The first course will focus primarily on methodological and theoretical problems in the fields broadly described as historical social sciences - which study historical trends, and political, economic and social institutions and processes. The course will start with discussions regarding the origins of the modern social sciences and the disputes about the nature of social science knowledge. In the next section it will focus on definitions and debates about the concept of modernity. It will go on to analyses of some fundamental concepts used in modern social and historical analyses: concepts of social action, political concepts like state, power, hegemony, democracy, nationalism; economic concepts like the economy, labor, market, capitalism, and related concepts of secularity/secularism, representation, and identity. The teaching will be primarily through close reading of set texts, followed by a discussion. A primary concern of the course will be to think about problems specific to the societies studied by scholars of Asia and Africa: how to use a conceptual language originally stemming from reflection on European modernity in thinking about societies which have quite different historical and cultural characteristics.
This course introduces students to the different subfields of the discipline by presenting various perspectives on one key topic in political science. Throughout the course, both theoretical and empirical debates surrounding the study of democracy are explored. Although the specific topic may change from year to year, the goal and structure of the course will remain the same: to contribute to the students understanding of an important topic in political science and discuss it through the lens of the different subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. By doing so, students will also learn the technical language, important concepts, and different methodological approaches of each subfield. Please note that this course is only for students in the Political Science Departments M.A. Program.
This course is a no-credit class designed to start providing critical material to incoming QMSS students overthe summer to help prepare them for the coding demands of the program. We will post links, exercises andresources for students to work on before they start their classes in the Fall of 2018.
In this course, students will explore the history and current state of the wealth
management industry and gain exposure to the fundamentals of financial planning,
including Accounting and Finance. This course will address the function, purpose,
and regulation of financial institutions, the regulations and requirements governing
financial services, and the ethical responsibilities of wealth management
professionals. This course will provide an introduction to tax concepts and trusts
and estates. Students will also learn about the major asset classes, including cash
and cash alternatives, fixed income, equities and alternative investments. In
addition, students will be able to apply core accounting and finance concepts,
including: time value of money, weighted average cost of capital, discounted cash
flow, internal rate of return, US GAAP standards, and three-statement financial
analysis. Finally, students will be provided an overview of the importance of
communication and counseling.
Students will be introduced to the fundamental financial issues of the modern corporation. By the end of this course, students will understand the basic concepts of financial planning, managing growth; debt and equity sources of financing and valuation; capital budgeting methods; and risk analysis, cost of capital, and the process of securities issuance.
Required for students in the Climate and Society MA Program Prerequisites: undergraduate course in climate or physics; undergraduate calculus An overview of how the climate system works on large scales of space and time, with particular attention to the science and methods underlying forecasts of climate variability and climate change. This course serves as the basic physical science course for the MA program in Climate and Society
Corequisites: ECON GR5211 Discussion Section for Economics MA Course Microeconomics Analysis I.
Prerequisites: Departments permission. This course (required for all first-year graduate students in the English Department) introduces students to scholarly methodologies in the study of literature and culture. The Masters Seminar operates in tandem with the Masters Colloquium ENGL G5005, and requires short writing assignments over the course of the semester and extensive in-class participation. There are two sections of this course.
This elective is available to and highly recommended for students without a strong finance background. It introduces students to the fundamental financial issues of the modern corporation. By the end of this course, students will understand the basic concepts of financial planning, growth management, debt financing, equity valuation, and capital budgeting. (This course is not automatically available for all students; students must contact their Advisor to determine eligibility to register.)
This elective is available to and highly recommended for students without a strong finance background. It introduces students to the fundamental financial issues of the modern corporation. By the end of this course, students will understand the basic concepts of financial planning, growth management, debt financing, equity valuation, and capital budgeting. (This course is not automatically available for all students; students must contact their Advisor to determine eligibility to register.)
In the twentieth century, Europe became a site of extreme and extensive forms of political violence. This course will explore the main typologies of violence––driven by political motives and exerted by state and non-state actors––that emerged in that period, from both a historical and a theoretical point of view. The main goal of the course is to think critically about a set of substantive questions such as how people transformed political adversaries into enemies to be physically harmed; why some conflicts resulted in the killing of massive numbers of civilians; what were the social consequences of violence; and whether it is possible to observe patterns to violence’s occurrence in modern Europe.
The course proposes a multi-disciplinary approach that bridges History, Political Science, Sociology, and other fields of study that investigate this phenomenon. The course will locate political violence within its specific historical, geographical, and cultural contexts; shed light on the dynamics of radicalization, escalation, and de-escalation; and examine perpetrators’ individual as well as collective experiences. In addition to interpretative frameworks, the course will discuss a number of empirical cases, including the Armenian genocide in Turkey, paramilitarism in Italy, the civil war in Spain, and terrorism in Ireland and Germany.
This course provides an introduction to the major themes of sustainability science with a focus on the application of science to the practice of sustainability. Basic research, especially in the environmental and social sciences, explores the Earth as a system of systems, wherein the physical, chemical and biological systems interact with each other as well as human systems to affect our future. The results of this research are often difficult to apply in practice unless the research in translated into actionable advice for individuals, governments and private enterprise. Even so, the actual or perceived complexities of interactions between human and “natural” systems are often seen by decision makers as barriers to long-term planning, an essential element of pursuing sustainability. A simple definition of sustainability is based on intergenerational equity. Thus, the relationships between the here-and-now and possible global futures need to be understood. Students enrolled in this course will discuss: Definitions of sustainability, including environmental, cultural and socio-economic components; Technologies for observing natural systems and their impacts on human systems; Summaries of scientific understanding of global-scale climate dynamics, natural hazards, biodiversity, environmental stressors and anthropogenic inputs to coupled human-natural systems; An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of science-based prediction; An introduction to geoengineering; Developing the evidence base for sustainability decisions; An introduction to risk assessment, perception and management; Decision making under uncertainty; General principles of sustainability management. An undergraduate background in any field of science or engineering and mathematics through statistical and time-series analysis is required. An interest in coupled natural-human systems is desirable.
Corequisites: ECON G5215 Discussion Section for Economics MA Course Macroeconomics Analysis I.
This course seeks to guide students through the historical development of the European Union since the beginnings of cooperation in 1945. Looking at the interplay between global dynamics, intergovernmental politics, and social forces, students will reflect upon a process that emerged out of multiple, and even contradictory, tendencies, from the agency of political elites to the pressure of productive sectors and grassroots energies. The overall goal of the course is to provide students with a dense historical background to join current debates about the present and the future of the European Union with a critical stance and an informed position. The course draws on scholarly works and primary sources. It alternates lectures with in-class presentations and discussions.
Prerequisites: BUSI PS5001 Introduction to Finance/or Professor Approval is required Students will learn the critical corporate finance concepts including financial statement analysis; performance metrics; valuation of stocks and bonds; project and firm valuation; cost of capital; capital investment strategies and sources of capital, and firm growth strategies. At the end of this course students will understand how to apply these concepts to current business problems.
Corequisites: ECON G5411 Discussion Section for Economics MA Course Econometrics I.
Corequisites: ECON GR5410 Discussion Section for Economics MA Course Math Methods for Economists.
Prerequisites: Some background in ecology, evolutionary biology. Intended for those WITHOUT prior knowledge of statistics. This is an introduction to the theoretical principles and practical application of statistical methods in ecology and evolutionary biology. The course will cover the conceptual basis for a range of statistical techniques through a series of lectures using examples from the primary literature. The application of these techniques will be taught through the use of statistical software in computer-based laboratory sessions.
This survey course provides an overview of the tools (technologies, policies, etc.) that can be used to mitigate the impacts of climate change. This course will utilize scenario planning frameworks to explore pathways to economy-wide decarbonization. In this work, the course will explore not only the technical options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also the policy responses, market-structures, and behavioral change that can support progress to net-zero. The course will also utilize a series of case studies of decarbonization pathways for different geographies in low- middle- and high-income countries to provide insights on mitigation strategies, including risks and opportunities. This course is intentionally multidisciplinary, weaving together STEM, policy, and other social sciences. It will be primarily focused on applications of mitigation solutions and will highlight both what net-zero “end states” may look like and the transition pathways to achieve these end states.
Students will examine the generally accepted account principles (GAAP) underlying financial statements and their implementation in practice. The perspective and main focus of the course is from the users of the information contained in the statements, including investors, financial analysts, creditors and, management. By the end of this class students will be able to construct a cash flow statement, balance sheet and decipher a 10K report.
Students will gain an overview of major concepts of management and organization theory, concentrating on understanding human behavior in organizational contexts, with heavy emphasis on the application of concepts to solve managerial problems. By the end of this course students will have developed the skills to motivate employees, establish professional interpersonal relationships, take a leadership role, and conduct performance appraisal.
The Graduate Research Colloquium is a forum that offers two types of research seminars over the course of the semester. In the first, formerly the Graduate Colloquium, up to six outside speakers are invited by the graduate organizers to present research papers to an audience of graduates, faculty and others interested within the larger NYC Classics community, and afterwards to engage in discussion. The second is a Work-in-Progress seminar in which Columbia Classics graduate students present their research to their graduate peers in whatever format they deem most conducive to conveying their research to their audience and receiving feedback. The audience for these eight seminars is restricted to graduate students, the instructor who presides over the course, and any faculty the graduate student presenters choose should choose to invite. At least one semester of the Graduate Research Colloquium is required for MAO students and PhD students must attend the course in both the Fall and Spring semesters of their first year.
As climate related disasters continue to grow, the impacts of climate change and sustainable development on disaster threats and vulnerabilities are increasingly pronounced. Many of those in the field of disaster management are having to contend with increasing frequency and severity of disasters. Concurrently, disaster risk reduction and response frameworks are struggling to meet the challenge of 21st century disasters. At the same time, the field of disaster research is generating new insights into how the built environment, social structures, and ecological dynamics are intersecting to set the stage for disaster vulnerability, and thus can be better engineered for resilience. As this field continues to evolve, many who many not necessarily identify as disaster managers are also increasingly involved in disaster management in some capacity. With this, the dynamics of disaster risk reduction and disaster management are essential in working with communities and negotiating development activities in ways that are inclusive of a broad range of values, goals and incentive structures.
In this course, students will gain an overview of major concepts of management and organization theory, concentrating on understanding human behavior in organizational contexts, with a heavy emphasis on the application of concepts to solve managerial problems. Students will work in a combination of conceptual and experiential activities, including case studies, discussions, lectures, simulations, videos, and small group exercises.
By the end of this course students will:
Develop the skills to motivate employees
Establish professional interpersonal relationships
Take a leadership role
Conduct performance appraisals
In this course, students will gain an overview of major concepts of management and organization theory, concentrating on understanding human behavior in organizational contexts, with a heavy emphasis on the application of concepts to solve managerial problems. Students will work in a combination of conceptual and experiential activities, including case studies, discussions, lectures, simulations, videos, and small group exercises.
By the end of this course students will:
Develop the skills to motivate employees
Establish professional interpersonal relationships
Take a leadership role
Conduct performance appraisals
Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 , or their equivalents. Introduction to mathematical methods in pricing of options, futures and other derivative securities, risk management, portfolio management and investment strategies with an emphasis of both theoretical and practical aspects. Topics include: Arithmetic and Geometric Brownian ,motion processes, Black-Scholes partial differential equation, Black-Scholes option pricing formula, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, volatility models, risk models, value-at-risk and conditional value-at-risk, portfolio construction and optimization methods.
Analytics and data-driven decision-making is playing an ever-larger role in modern political campaigns, think tanks, and media discussions of politics. In this foundations course, students learn about the history and evolution of data science in politics in the US and abroad, with a review of recent developments and trends as well as issues related to data governance, data privacy, and data ethics. Students are introduced to the scope of analytic methods employed across a range of relevant areas including campaigns, government, policy-making, and journalism. The course familiarizes students with a range of available tools and the ways in which they can be practically applied to politics and related fields. The course lays the groundwork for the specialized courses which will follow and helps students consider paths they may want to pursue to acquire specific knowledge and skills as they progress through the degree program.
This interdisciplinary course, taken in the fall semester, is a comprehensive introduction to quantitative research in the social sciences. The course focuses on foundational ideas of social science research, including strengths and weaknesses of different research designs, interpretation of data drawn from contemporary and historical contexts, and strategies for evaluating evidence. The majority of the course is comprised of two-week units examining particular research designs, with a set of scholarly articles that utilize that design. Topics include: the “science” of social science and the role of statistical models, causality and causal inference, concepts and measurement, understanding human decision making, randomization and experimental methods, observation and quasi-experimentation, sampling, survey research, and working with archival data.
Both human and natural systems are growing more vulnerable to climate variability (e.g., the anomalous weather induced by the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or the increase in hurricanes that occurs when ocean currents warm the Atlantic) and to human-induced climate change, which manifests itself primarily through increases in temperature, precipitation intensity, and sea level, but which can potentially affect all aspects of the global climate. This course will prepare you to estimate climate hazards in your field thereby accelerating the design and implementation of climate-smart, sustainable practices. Climate models are the primary tool for predicting global and regional climate variations, for assessing climate-related risks, and for guiding adaption to climate variability and change. Thus, a basic understanding of the strengths and limitations of such tools is necessary to decision makers and professionals in technical fields.
This course will provide a foundation in the dynamics of the physical climate system that underpin climate models and a full survey of what aspects of the climate system are well observed and understood and where quantitative uncertainties remain. Students will gain a fundamental understanding of the modeling design choices and approximations that distinguish Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)-class climate models from weather forecasting models and that create a diversity of state-of-the-art climate models and climate projections.
This course will provide an overview of the ways in which climate model output and observations can be merged into statistical models to support applications such as seasonal and decadal projections of climate extremes, global and regional climate impacts, and decision-making. Students will develop the skills to visualize, analyze, validate, and interpret climate model output, calculate impact-relevant indices such as duration of heat waves, severity of droughts, or probability of inundation, and the strategies to characterize strengths and uncertainties in projections of future climate change using ensembles of climate models and different emission scenarios.
Utilizing a case-study approach, this course will offer a focused study of climate change adaptation policy, exploring dimensions of adaption 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.
Prerequisites: some background in ecology, evolutionary biology, and/or statistics is recommended. An introduction to the theoretical principles and practical application of statistical methods in ecology and evolutionary biology. The course will cover the conceptual basis for a range of statistical techniques through a series of lectures using examples from the primary literature. The application of these techniques will be taught through the use of statistical software in computer-based laboratory sessions.
Prerequisites: One semester of undergraduate statistics The data analysis course covers specific statistical tools used in social science research using the statistical program R. Topics to be covered include statistical data structures, and basic descriptives, regression models, multiple regression analysis, interactions, polynomials, Gauss-Markov assumptions and asymptotics, heteroskedasticity and diagnostics, models for binary outcomes, naive Bayes classifiers, models for ordered data, models for nominal data, first difference analysis, factor analysis, and a review of models that build upon OLS. Prerequisite: introductory statistics course that includes linear regression. There is a statistical computer lab session with this course: QMSS G4017 -001 -DATA ANALYSIS FOR SOC SCI
Prerequisites: Students must meet with the instructor prior to taking the course. This course is intended to help students increase their ability level in the four core language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) from advanced to super-advanced. It serves as a bridge between mastering the overall Japanese language and using it for analysis, research, and literary criticism. This is a mandatory course for Ph.D students in Japanese Studies.
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This course will introduce students to the main concepts and methods behind regression analysis of temporal processes and highlight the benefits and limitations of using temporally ordered data. Students study the complementary areas of time series data and longitudinal (or panel) data. There are no formal prerequisites for the course, but a solid understanding of the mechanics and interpretation of OLS regression will be assumed (we will briefly review it at the beginning of the course). Topics to be covered include regression with panel data, probit and logit regression of pooled cross-sectional data, difference-in-difference models, time series regression, dynamic causal effects, vector autoregressions, cointegration, and GARCH models. Statistical computing will be carried out in R.
This year-long course introduces students to important conversations within and about oral history through a series of curated public lectures. We will meet for six events a semester, plus one session to orient you to the class. From 5:00 – 6:00, students will meet with the speaker for an informal conversation about their career path and research process. The public portion of the event will be from 6:10 to 7:30 PM. You should plan to be in class until 8 in case an event runs slightly over, and so that you can stick around after the event to chat with the speaker or have a glass of wine.
Students will learn fundamental marketing concepts and their application. By the end of this class you will know: the elements of a market, company strategy, how to identify customers and competition, the fundamental elements of the marketing mix (product, price, placement and promotion) how to research consumer behavior, and pricing strategies. Students will have extensive use of case study projects. Please note that there are separate online and in-person versions of the course, and the modalities offered may vary by semester. Be sure to check the modalities of the sections offered and enroll in the correct modality for your situation.
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a deep and broad understanding of stories and how they can be used in strategic communication. Drawing from a wealth of evidence-based and field-tested work on storytelling from both local and global contexts, students will learn why stories tend to be so powerful and—with a focus on the written, performed, and transmedia aspects of storytelling—gain experience in telling stories to achieve organizational objectives. Your skills will be sharpened through lively seminar discussions, storytelling exercises, workshop-style coaching, and presentations and on-camera practice. By the end, students will walk away with a new mindset and a host of strategies that can be immediately implemented in their everyday work.
This seminar is the first half of a two-semester practicum in which students will learn and practice the critical skills required to conceptualize, conduct, analyze and disseminate oral history projects in a range of contexts and communities.
In the Fall semester, we will learn project design, approaches to interviewing and other genres of oral history, remote and in-person audio recording, transcribing, indexing, and digital archiving. Students will have the option of working on oral history projects conducted in partnership with Fieldwork Partners or working on their own projects.
By the Spring semester course on Curating Oral Histories, students will be expected to be primarily working on their own projects. In the Spring we will focus most of our attention on the analysis and dissemination of oral histories, including audio editing, online presentation, museum exhibits, and other public oral history genres. Our spring work will culminate in a collaboratively curated interactive public exhibit
Politics involves a complex interaction of competing interests. For practitioners, it is crucial to understand how efforts are met with responses, and predicting those responses is critical to designing successful strategies. Game theory is the formal mathematical analysis of strategic interaction across the social sciences. This course provides a general theoretical language to the theory of games, examining the intentional thought process of rational actors in strategic environments. Students will acquire tools for understanding the dynamics that lead to the success of a political campaign or policy-making effort. Course topics include two-person games, dynamic games, bargaining, and signaling. Students will also examine a variety of cases.
This course is about cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluations of policies and projects. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) consists of a comprehensive set of techniques used to evaluate government programs. It is now routinely applied in such program areas as transportation, water projects, health, training and education, criminal justice, environmental protection, urban policy and even in the international arena such as foreign direct investment. Many of the techniques of CBA can also be applied to private sector decision-making. The objective of CBA is to determine whether the benefits of a particular program, policy or decision outweigh its costs. The techniques used to determine this are sometimes quite simple, but on other, increasingly frequent occasions are highly sophisticated. Sophisticated cost benefit studies are based on a framework that utilizes the basic concepts of economic theory. In addition, statistical and econometric analyses are often needed to estimate program effects from diverse available data. The course has two parts: methodology and practice. The goal is for students to be practically adept to undertake an independent cost-benefit analysis.
Forests are often called the lungs of the earth, for their role in converting atmospheric CO2 into the life-sustaining Oxygen that we all breathe. Collectively, the global forests contribute to roughly 40% of the annual global carbon sink, and yet little is known about the drivers of terrestrial carbon sequestration, and the processes involved in these systems response to changes in climate. Forested landscapes also comprise some of the most critical habitats on planet Earth, by serving as refuge to diverse and often endangered flora and fauna, and as regulators of water and soils. These services are particularly important for highland regions where forests are heavily exploited and are often the primary source of water and food for marginalized human populations. This course takes an in-depth look into the current, primary literature on the direct and indirect effects of climate change on forest ecosystems around the globe, and examines some of the primary policy solutions to forest loss mitigation and sustainability. Because the instructor is from the LDEO Tree Ring Lab there will be an emphasis on using dendrochronology for understanding changes in biomass for forest environments, with emphasis on the broadleaf forests of eastern North America and the largely coniferous, fire-prone forests of the American West. Students will have access to multiple sources of data, including satellite, forest inventory, tree rings and eddy-flux measurements. The course will have a field component that will take place at the Black Rock Forest (BRF), about two hours north of NYC. Students will conduct primary research for a final project, with the goal being to develop a set of group projects related to forests and climate change. This course will prepare students to assess the impacts of climate extremes on forest systems and to understand the complexities of response possibilities from diverse ecosystems.
This course will combine lectures and assigned course readings to develop the framework for understanding global forest response to climate change. Each class will begin with a 5-question mini-quiz based upon the assigned readings and the previous lecture. This class will discuss the questions asked, techniques used and key findings of the papers, with discussions led by the students. The class includes a field trip to Black Rock Forest (dates TBD) where students will collect data for use in a class project, thereby providing the opportunity to develop skills in field research and data analysis.
This course is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from private, government, and non-profit settings. QMSS students participate in a weekly seminar. Speakers include faculty from Columbia and other universities, and researchers from the numerous corporate, government, and non-profit settings where quantitative research tools are used. Topics have included: Now-Casting and the Real-Time Data-Flow; Art, Design - Science in Data Visualization; Educational Attainment and School Desegregation: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries; Practical Data Science: North American Oil and Gas Drilling Data.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology to assess the environmental impact of products, services, and industrial processes is an increasingly important tool in corporate sustainability management. This course teaches both the theoretical framework as well as step-by-step practical guidelines of conducting LCAs in companies and organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on separating the more academic, but less practically relevant aspects of LCA (which will receive less focus) from the actual practical challenges of LCA (which will be covered in detail, including case studies). The course also covers the application of LCA metrics in a companies’ management and discusses the methodological weaknesses that make such application difficult, including how these can be overcome. Product carbon footprinting (as one form of LCA) receives particular focus, owing to its widespread practical use in recent and future sustainability management.
This course has two goals. One, it is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from other settings. Two, it is also designed to give students important professional development skills, particularly around academic writing, research methods and job skills.