This is a Public Health Course. Public Health classes are offered on the Health Services Campus at 168th Street. For more detailed course information, please go to Mailman School of Public Health Courses website at http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/academics/courses
POETRY LECTURE
By approaching the study of Japan from the perspective of writing, a form of inquiry becomes possible regarding the relation between Japan and its literary, cinematic, and theoretical expressions. We will consider what is commonly meant by the reality and identity of Japan, understood as the ground of its various expressions. Theoretical inquiry will be directed to this relation in order for a more fundamental questioning to take place.
This class will study the dynamics of cyber conflict and cybersecurity in the Indo-Pacific. Students will examine cybersecurity threats across the region; compare policies, actors, and institutions across countries; and analyze competition within the region and with other major cyber actors such as the United States, Russia, and the European Union. Topics will include: development of cyber strategies; regional approaches to cyber norms, confidence building measures, and capacity building; information operations; and crime and non-state actors. Prior knowledge of cybersecurity and/or Indo-Pacific security is not necessary, but is useful.
In Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and other countries of the Eurasia region, corruption is systemic. Corruption, defined as the abuse of public trust and power for private gain, is institutionalized in government at the national, regional, and local levels. Formal government decision-making processes have been captured by informal networks of political and business elites who exert significant control over the allocation of public resources. They utilize this control to make illegal financial gains with the support of government authorities and protection of the law. When President Putin began Russia’s expanded military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the imprisoned Russian anticorruption activist and political opposition leader Alexey Navalny was on trial once again over fabricated charges of embezzlement. Though Mr. Navalny faced another 15 years in a penal colony, he seized the opportunity during his February 24 hearing to publicly state his opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine. “This war between Russia and Ukraine was unleashed to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention from problems that exist inside the country,” he said. This seminar examines the role that Russia’s systemic corruption played as a cause of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Is the war an extension, and drastic escalation, of the Putin regime’s campaign against both his own citizens and the citizens of post-Maidan Ukraine? We will consider how the Kremlin’s strategic use of corruption is threatening the sovereignty of other nations in Eurasia. This seminar analyzes the political economy, power relationships, historical and cultural factors that have engendered systemic corruption in Eurasian countries. We identify different types of corrupt systems that have emerged in the regions. We will also examine how systemic corruption causes conflict and war, and poses a threat to the global economy and democracy. Finally, we analyze various anti-corruption reforms to understand why some failed while others succeeded. The seminar will benefit SIPA and Harriman Institute students who specialize in regional studies of countries of the Eurasia. It will also benefit SIPA and other graduate students who specialize in international security, economics, finance, energy, law, development, conflict resolution, and journalism. To achieve a deep understanding of Eurasia corruption, we will examine causes and impacts from an int
This class examines why some countries are poor and others rich, why some govern themselves well and others govern themselves poorly, and why some are peaceful while others have collapsed into conflict or civil war. Hence, this course tries to give you a survey of some of the big questions we ask when we study state building and the political economy of development.
This Human Rights practicum course focuses on the Western Balkans of the Former Yugoslavia in a contemporary context. The course focuses on war crimes and their respective consequences that have occurred during the most recent Balkan Wars 1991-1999 in the Former Yugoslav states and will include a detailed review and examination of human rights policies and practices carried out by international, regional and national bodies, laws, organizations, frameworks of transitional justice and evaluative tools employed in an effort to stabilize a post-war, post-Communist, post-conflict scenario. The course will present and examine in detail policies and practices deployed by international and national state structures to address the legacies of war crimes and the emergence of new human rights issues that are currently present in the Former Yugoslav space. The course will require students to prepare a 10-page paper on a human rights issue in the region, analyze the issues, review implementation to date and recommend policy initiatives that will address the problem (75 percent of the grade). Students are expected read weekly assignments and regularly participate and attend the class, which will constitute 25 percent of their final grade. Failure to attend class without a justifiable explanation will be penalized by a reduction of one grade letter.
How can we build peace in the aftermath of extensive violence? How can international actors help in this process? This seminar focuses on international peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding efforts in recent conflicts. It adopts a critical, social science approach to the topic of building peace (it is not a class on how to design and implement peacebuilding programs, but rather a class on how to think about such initiatives). It covers general concepts, theories, and debates, as well as specific cases of peacebuilding successes and failures. Throughout the course, students will acquire a broad understanding of the concepts, theoretical traditions, and debates in the study of peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. The course also will introduce students to new issues in the field, such as the micro-foundations of peace settlements, the importance of local perceptions, and the attention to the everyday in the study of conflict-resolution. Furthermore, by the end of the semester, students should have an in-depth understanding of some of the most salient peace processes in recent years, including those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia. Interested students should join the waitlist and make sure that they attend the first class meeting.
The course brings together population genetics theory, empirical studies and genetic models of disease to provide an integrated perspective on the evolutionary forces that shape human variation and in particular disease risk. Our goals are to provide you with a basic toolbox with which to approach human variation data and in parallel, to expose you to cutting-edge research and to the forefront of knowledge in human population genetics. To this end, the course includes in-depth discussions of classic papers in these fields coupled with recent findings employing new technologies and approaches. To organize the material, we rely heavily on population genetic models. We start with consideration of single sites, covering neutral models, forward and backwards in time; models of selection; mutation-selection balance and the nearly neutral theory. We then turn to linkage and linkage disequilibrium; population structure; linked selection and tests for positive selection. Finally, we provide a brief introduction to quantitative genetics and complex trait mapping from a population genetics perspective. The format consists in alternating lectures and discussions of primary research papers. On most weeks, there will also be a section, led by the TA (which are compulsory, unless otherwise noted). Grades will be based on class participation (20%), five homework assignments (50%) and a final class presentation (30%). Students can work together on reading the papers for class discussion and presentation, but must work on their homework assignments alone. Reading will consist of approximately one textbook chapter and two primary research papers per week. Papers will be provided as pdfs on the class website. Textbook reading for the course will be drawn primarily from “Population Genetics, A Concise Guide” by John Gillespie 2nd edition; the specific chapters will be provided as pdfs. Additional books that provide background for a number of topics in the class are: “Human Evolutionary Genetics” (2nd edition) by Jobling, Hurles, and Tyler-Smith, “Coalescent Theory” by Wakeley harder and “Elements of Evolutionary Genetics” by Charlesworth and Charlesworth harder.
This course deepens the actor’s working understanding of their body as “instrument” and teaches practical application of learned skill sets for professional practice and complex use.The course achieves this objective by examining current practice and providing solutions for real time obstacles and challenges actors are encountering in their daily practice in classes and rehearsals. Challenges faced are explored specifically in context of class vocabulary as well as by providing increasingly complex tasks that require use of multiple skills sets at once.The course continues the work of developing physical ease and awareness and expands each actor also to prepare body and being for work in ensemble.
This course will examine the multifaceted nature of sovereign risk, with a focus on its recent history and contemporary issues. The surge in sovereign debt caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the global debt burden to historical levels, surpassing the WWII debt peak. The course will focus on the interplay of economic, institutional, fiscal, financial, market, political and geopolitical factors that influence sovereign credit quality. It will primarily rely on country examples to analyze pivotal periods when sovereign risk spiked—namely, starting with the 1980s Latin American debt crisis, and continuing with the 1990s Nordic and Japanese financial crises, 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2009 Greek crisis, recent cases of sovereign default and the effect of the Covid-19 shock on high and lower-middle income countries. The course will examine sovereign risk through the prism of credit rating agency methodologies (namely, Moody’s). The course will take a look at how Environmental, Social and corporate Governance (ESG) concerns fit into sovereign credit risk assessment.
Pick up any news article today, and you’ll see references to culture, identity, and globalization. The growth of white nationalism in the United States. The prolonged politics of Brexit in Europe. The rise and fall of the Islamic State across the Middle East. Constructions of culture, identity, and globalization appear all around us. In fact, all of you invoked these terms in your essays to join our Master’s program in Global Thought. So join me for a deep dive this semester to investigate what we mean by these terms. How do people define culture, identity, and globalization? What kinds of work do these loaded words do? Are their definitions the same or different across societies? How have various academic disciplines defined these terms? How can analyzing debates over their use in psychiatry, psychology, and anthropology help us understand contemporary events? The goal of this seminar is to explore a wide range of sources on culture, identity, and globalization.
We start with big thematic ideas like culture and identity at the beginning of the course and then focus on particular issues such as nationalism and immigration.
The point is not to side with any single author, but to make our assumptions explicit when we use these terms and to better analyze the arguments of others.
In this workshop, students will create original writing that is in conversation with American theatrical traditions beyond the proscenium. We will investigate and engage theatrical forms, such as the side show, courtroom drama, violence as spectacle and performance art. The aim is to encourage students to think more expansively and non-traditionally in their approach to writing and making theatre.
In this course, we’ll be studying a subgenre of U.S. literature known as “the novel of slavery,” and we’ll be reading fictions by literary artists who attempted, in their various and distinctive ways, to come to terms with the atrocity of human bondage. The readings will be drawn from three different historical periods (the pre-emancipation era, the age of Jim Crow, and the years of the Civil Rights movement), and they’ll take very different perspectives on their shared subject (variously discussing slavery as a contemporary outrage, an object of personal memory, and an aspect of American history). We’ll dedicate most of our attention to the primary texts on our reading list, but we’ll also consult secondary literature, and your work in the course will culminate in a research paper. NB: This seminar presumes that you’re already familiar with the most famous, most frequently discussed U.S. novels of slavery:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
,
Roots
, and
Beloved
. The aim of the course is to introduce you to some lesser-known, relatively under-studied texts on the subject. But if you’ve not read the aforementioned books before, you are very much encouraged to do so before our first meeting.
Prerequisites: permission of the departmental adviser to Graduate Studies.
Presents students with critical theories of society, paying particular attention to classic continental social theory of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will trace a trajectory through important French and German writings essential for any understanding of the modern discipline of anthropology: from Saussure through Durkheim and Mauss, Marx, Weber, and on to the structuralist elaboration of these theoretical perspectives in Claude Lévi-Strauss, always bearing in mind the relationship of these theories to contemporary anthropology. We come last to Foucault and affiliated theorists as successors both to French structuralism and to German social theory and its concerns with modernity, rationality, and power. Throughout the readings, we will give special care to questions of signification as they inform anthropological inquiry, and we will be alert to the historical contexts that situate the discipline of anthropology today.
A graduate-level introduction to classical and modern feedback control that does not presume an undergraduate background in control. Scalar and matrix differential equation models and solutions in terms of state transition matrices. Transfer functions and transfer function matrices, block diagram manipulations, closed loop response. Proportional, rate, and integral controllers, and compensators. Design by root locus and frequency response. Controllability and observability. Luenberger observers, pole placement, and linear-quadratic cost controllers.
This course brings together schools of design and policy to help students gain experience in identifying, framing, and solving urban governance problems from the user perspective. Drawing on the methodology of human centered design or user-centered design (also known as design thinking), students will be asked to integrate the needs of people, the potential of technology, and the requirements of urban service delivery. While this approach has been successfully integrated into business management practices and is increasingly being used in the public sector, it is a methodology that must be learned through practical engagement with real world, messy problems. The course will be comprised of lectures, workshops and field research. Students will work in mixed teams of 4-6 students. Guest lecturers from design labs and government agencies will be invited to speak to the students, as well as representatives from democratic innovations such as participatory budgeting and public space advocates.
This course focuses on the development of cities, especially New York City. In this course, a wide array of economic development programs, initiatives, and strategies will be examined. It will take a look at the core economic goals that were set forth 15 years in an effort to diversify the economy and make it less dependent on financial services. Land use policy, use of incentives, new developments, placemaking initiatives, and approaches to district management will be studied. Students will get a broad understanding of how economic development tools and tactics have been leveraged to revitalize central business districts, neighborhoods, the waterfront and public spaces. New York City has the largest network of business improvement districts (BIDs) in the world. This course will review the effectiveness of BIDs, local development corporations, and park conservancies. During the course, we will also take a look at how anchor institutions (hospitals, universities, cultural institutions) are playing an increased role in community revitalization. Students will be able to assess various economic development strategies through the use of case studies, articles, guest speakers and visits to neighborhoods that have or will see significant change.
This class explores advanced topics relating to the production of music by computer. Although programming experience is not a prerequisite, various programming techniques are enlisted to investigate interface design, algorithmic composition, computer analysis and processing of digital audio, and the use of computer music in contexts such as VR/AR applications. Check with the instructor for the particular focus of the class in an upcoming semester. Some familiarity with computer music hardware/software is expected. Permission of instructor is required to enroll.
Position, people, procedures, and productivity: this class will introduce first year students to the concept of the stage manager as the CE/OO (Chief Executive/Operating Officer) for a production. The primary focus will be on human resources management; organizational charts for both the commercial and not- for-profit arenas will be introduced and “best leadership practices” will be discussed. Texts and reading materials from non-theatrical sources will provide the basis for discussion. An individualized reading- writing project and presentation will spotlight the role of the stage manager within the larger context of theatrical production.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Pediatric Physical Assessment and Differential Diagnosis is designed to increase the knowledge of specific physical assessment techniques to be used with pediatric patients. Using a case based approach, the student will recognize physical, psychological, and developmental problems, and begin to develop differential diagnoses. Emphasis will be placed on developmental assessment, screening tools, documentation of key history points and physical exam findings. The student will identify patterns of key history and physical points in different presentation of pediatric patients.
Theory and geometry of linear programming. The simplex method. Duality theory, sensitivity analysis, column generation and decomposition. Interior point methods. Introduction to nonlinear optimization: convexity, optimality conditions, steepest descent, and Newton’s method, active set, and barrier methods.
This course is designed to help the student develop pediatric specific history and physical assessment skills within a simulation setting. Each week, the student will have an opportunity to do hands on training regarding the subject covered in pediatric physical assessment and diagnosis using case-based simulation exercises and learning of physical assessment techniques. The weekly lab classes are designed to refine the skills of the PNP student.
This course will develop the skills to prepare, analyze, and present data for policy analysis and program evaluation using R. In Quant I and II, students are introduced to probability and statistics, regression analysis and causal inference. In this course we focus on the practical application of these skills to explore data and policy questions on your own. The goal is to help students become effective analysts and policy researchers: given available data, what sort of analysis would best inform our policy questions? How do we prepare data and implement statistical methods using R? How can we begin to draw conclusions about the causal effects of policies, not just correlation? We’ll learn these skills by exploring data on a range of policy topics: COVID-19 cases; racial bias in NYPD subway fare evasion enforcement; the distribution of Village Fund grants in Indonesia; US police shootings; wage gaps by gender/race; and student projects on topics of your choosing.