Methods for organizing data, e.g. hashing, trees, queues, lists,priority queues. Streaming algorithms for computing statistics on the data. Sorting and searching. Basic graph models and algorithms for searching, shortest paths, and matching. Dynamic programming. Linear and convex programming. Floating point arithmetic, stability of numerical algorithms, Eigenvalues, singular values, PCA, gradient descent, stochastic gradient descent, and block coordinate descent. Conjugate gradient, Newton and quasi-Newton methods. Large scale applications from signal processing, collaborative filtering, recommendations systems, etc.
Prerequisites: basic physical and organic chemistry. Molecular Biophysics is an advanced special topics course with four modules: Noise and fluctuations in biophysics (Arthur Palmer), Single molecule methods (Ruben Gonzalez), Membranes and membrane proteins (Alexander Sobolevsky), and Modeling cellular networks (Karlin). Students normally would take Biophysical Chemistry I and/or Biophysical Chemistry II as prerequisites for Molecular Biophysics.
Will cover some of the fundamental processes of atomic diffusion, sintering and microstructural evolution, defect chemistry, ionic transport, and electrical properties of ceramic materials. Following this, we will examine applications of ceramic materials, specifically, ceramic thick and thin film materials in the areas of sensors and energy conversion/storage devices such as fuel cells, and batteries. The coursework level assumes that the student has already taken basic courses in the thermodynamics of materials, diffusion in materials, and crystal structures of materials.
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.
This course will provide an introduction to Immanuel Kant’s aesthetics in conjunction with his philosophical anthropology and philosophy of history. Our readings will be guided by Hannah Arendt’s approach to Kant’s aesthetics as the foundation of a political philosophy in her posthumously published lectures on Kant. Both Kant’s and Arendt’s texts will not only be discussed in dialogue with each other, but also in view of their responses to Burke, Nietzsche, and Benjamin. Finally, particular attention will be given to forms of philosophical writing, such as the essay and the aphorism.
The course is intended for undergraduate students and graduate students. There are no pre-
requisites. All texts are available in English translation.
The principles of surfaces and colloid chemistry critical to range of technologies indispensable to modern life. Surface and colloid chemistry has significance to life sciences, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, environmental remediation and waste management, earth resources recovery, electronics, advanced materials, enhanced oil recovery, and emerging extraterrestrial mining. Topics include: thermodynamics of surfaces, properties of surfactant solutions and surface films, electrokinetic phenomena at interfaces, principles of adsorption and mass transfer and modern experimental techniques. Leads to deeper understanding of interfacial engineering, particulate dispersions, emulsions, foams, aerosols, polymers in solution, and soft matter topics.
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.
Utilization of data in everyday civil infrastructure. Optimization of decision-making for owners, facility managers, and policy-makers based on predictive results. Provides students with basic understanding of machine learning concepts and methods to formulate civil engineering problems to prediction problems. Introduces students to classic machine learning algorithms, deep learning algorithms, algorithmic thinking, and probabilistic views, and their applications in existing civil engineering problems.
French colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by a relentless and often oppressive pursuit of overseas territories. Colonial cities, the focal points of the French empire, were erected in the nation’s image and characterized by wide boulevards, impressive parks and squares, and monumental buildings echoing the elegance of Paris. These urban centers, scattered across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, often served as administrative, economic, and cultural hubs for the colonial administration. This seminar will explore the profound impact of colonial cities as laboratories for experimenting with new ideas in city planning, infrastructure, architecture, and civic governance. Once tried and tested in the colonies, these innovative “norms and forms” were often imported back to metropolitan France, where they helped shape various aspects of its society, culture, and economy. The seminar is chronologically structured around six French colonial cities: Cap-Français, Cairo, Algiers, Casablanca, Dakar, and Hanoi. Each city is examined through the lens of a distinct set of colonial policies and practices. Cap-Français is studied from the perspective of the universalist values of the French Enlightenment and the double standard evident in the terror of the Atlantic slave trade. Cairo, while colonized for only a brief period, ignited new passions for the East and is viewed as a repository of exotic fantasies and a site for infrastructural modernization. Algiers is studied through the policy of assimilation and the destruction of Algerian religious identity. Casablanca is considered in relation to new planning practices and colonial policies of association. Hanoi is examined through cultural and architectural forms of hybridity. Finally, Dakar is viewed through colonial theories of acclimatization and hygiene policies. As we traverse the diverse landscapes of these colonial cities, this seminar invites participants to critically reflect on the enduring echoes of French colonialism, exploring how the urban experiments of the past reverberate in the present and influence our perceptions of global cities and their histories.
Prerequisites: one year of calculus-based general physics. The goal of this course is to provide a basic hands-on introduction to the practice and theory of scientific computing with applications in astronomy and astrophysics. The course will include an introduction to programming, as well as a sampling of methods and tools from the field of scientific computing. The course will include a hands-on project in which students use numerical methods to solve a research problem. Students who are interested in participating in research projects are strongly encouraged to take the course in their sophomore or junior year.
This course deals with the proteome: the expressed protein complement of a cell, organelle, matrix, tissue, organ or organism. The study of the proteome (proteomics) is broadly applicable to life sciences research, and is increasingly important in academic, government and industrial research through extension of the impact of advances in genomics. These techniques are being applied to basic research, exploratory studies of cancer and other diseases, drug discovery and many other topics. Emphasis will be on mastery of practical techniques of sample preparation, liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometry (LC/MS) with electrospray ionization, and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionization (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Database searching and interpretation for identification of proteins will be intensively studied, and practiced supported by background tutorials and exercises covering other techniques used in proteomics. Open to students in M.A. in Biotechnology Program (points can be counted against laboratory requirement for that program), Ph.D. and advanced undergraduate students with background in genetics or molecular biology. Students should be comfortable with basic biotechnology laboratory techniques as well as being interested in doing computational work in a Windows environment.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 This course uses modern microeconomic tools for understanding markets for indivisible resources and exploring ways to improve their design in terms of stability, efficiency and incentives. Lessons of market design will be applied to developing internet platforms for intermediating exchanges, for auctions to allocate sponsored search advertising, to allocate property rights such as public lands, radio spectrums, fishing rights, for assigning students to public schools, and for developing efficient kidney exchanges for transplantation.
This seminar course explores the intersection of human rights and populism, examining how the rise of populist movements, leaders, and ideologies impact democratic institutions, global politics, and the protection of fundamental human rights. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the course evaluates the sociological, economic, and cultural factors driving populist surges, as well as their consequences for civic culture, governance, and international relations. Students will analyze the implications of populism for human rights in the context of migration, authoritarianism, freedom of speech, minorities, and challenges to international and regional courts and institutions. The course will investigate both left-wing and right-wing populist movements, considering the threat they pose to human rights, their pursuit of socio-economic rights through the redistribution of wealth, and how the human rights project could and is being rethought in light of these challenges and opportunities.
Overview of electrochemical processes and applications from perspectives of materials and devices. Thermodynamics and principles of electrochemistry, methods to characterize electrochemical processes, application of electrochemical materials and devices, including batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, electrochemical sensor, focus on link between material structure, composition, and properties with electrochemical performance.
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.
Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. A fast-paced introduction to statistical methods used in quantitative finance. Financial applications and statistical methodologies are intertwined in all lectures. Topics include regression analysis and applications to the Capital Asset Pricing Model and multifactor pricing models, principal components and multivariate analysis, smoothing techniques and estimation of yield curves statistical methods for financial time series, value at risk, term structure models and fixed income research, and estimation and modeling of volatilities. Hands-on experience with financial data.
Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent. STAT GU4205 is recommended. Modeling and inference for random processes, from natural sciences to finance and economics. ARMA, ARCH, GARCH and nonlinear models, parameter estimation, prediction and filtering. This is a core course in the MS program in mathematical finance.
Prerequisites: STAT GU4203. STAT GU4207 is recommended. Basics of continuous-time stochastic processes. Wiener processes. Stochastic integrals. Ito's formula, stochastic calculus. Stochastic exponentials and Girsanov's theorem. Gaussian processes. Stochastic differential equations. Additional topics as time permits.
Prerequisites: STAT GU4264. Mathematical theory and probabilistic tools for modeling and analyzing security markets are developed. Pricing options in complete and incomplete markets, equivalent martingale measures, utility maximization, term structure of interest rates. This is a core course in the MS program in mathematical finance.
Can the words “trauma” and “pleasure” be put in the same sentence? If trauma epitomizes suffering and pleasure represents enjoyment, is there any relation between these experiences? And yet, how else to explain that people seem endlessly addicted to negative experiences, or that traumatized people often try to recreate the damage they endured?
We are living in an age of endless trauma, and everywhere we go, we hear that trauma is destructive, anathema to pleasure, that it destroys our sense of self, our security, our stability, and identity. We are taught to avoid trauma at all costs because it is harmful and inimical to flourishing. New statistics routinely confirm that we are living through a trauma epidemic in which ordinary people experience symptoms of extreme distress, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and difficulty sleeping. Every year, new memoirs are published in which protagonists detail their endless battles with traumatic adversity and most television shows, across a variety of genres, include trauma as a subplot to character development (
Ted Lasso
,
Euphoria
,
True Detective
, to name a few). Referring to its growing pervasiveness, the
New Yorker
critic Parul Sehgal wrote a controversial essay, “The Case Against the Trauma Plot” (2021) in which she criticizes our culture’s overreliance on trauma as a primary trope of character development, forcing us to ask: is trauma really as widespread as we think? how did trauma become such a popular ‘identity’? what work is trauma doing for us, as individuals and as a culture? Is it possible to recognize the ubiquity of trauma while also acknowledging that we often seek situations which are harmful, even traumatizing, that we might be attracted to suffering for reasons we don’t yet understand?
This course examines the complex relationship between trauma and pleasure by familiarizing students with the clinical and theoretical concepts at the core of contemporary trauma and critical theory. We will focus specifically on the topics of: sexuality, perversion, trauma, identity, relationality, narcissism, gender and attachment in order to explore how these concepts work today. Delving into theoretical writing by Foucault, Bersani, Edelman, Berlant, Butler, Dean and Preciado, as well as clinical writing by major psychoanalysts, Freud, Laplanche, Loewald, Lacan, Laplanche and Winnicott, we will redefine contemporary debates by exploring their clinica
Narrative competence is a crucial dimension of health-care delivery, the capacity to attend and respond to stories of illness, and the narrative skills to reflect critically on the scene of care and its contexts. Narrative Medicine explores and builds the clinical applications of literary knowledge.
The objectives of this foundations course include furthering close reading skills, and exploring theories of self-telling and relationality. At the center of this project is the medical encounter. In examining the complexities of this exchange, to help clinicians to fulfill their "receiving" duties more effectively, we will turn to narrative theory, autobiographical theory, psychoanalytic theory, trauma scholarship and witnessing literature. Classwork integrates didactic and experiential methodologies to develop a heightened awareness of self and others and build a practical set of narrative competencies.
Readings will include works by Toni Morrison, W.G. Sebald, Lucy Grealy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alison Bechdel, Arthur Frank, Paul Ricoeur, Jonathan Shay and Jens Brockmeier.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 An introduction to the economics principles underlying the financial decisions of firms. The topics covered include bond and stock valuations, capital budgeting, dividend policy, market efficiency, risk valuation, and risk management. For information regarding REGISTRATION for this course, go to: http://econ.columbia.edu/registration-information.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or equivalent introductory psychology course What is curiosity and how do we study it? How does curiosity facilitate learning? This course will explore the various conceptual and methodological approaches to studying curiosity and curiosity-driven learning, including animal and human studies of brain and behavior.
Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 and at least one statistics course numbered between GU4221 and GU4261. This is a course on getting the most out of data. The emphasis will be on hands-on experience, involving case studies with real data and using common statistical packages. The course covers, at a very high level, exploratory data analysis, model formulation, goodness of fit testing, and other standard and non-standard statistical procedures, including linear regression, analysis of variance, nonlinear regression, generalized linear models, survival analysis, time series analysis, and modern regression methods. Students will be expected to propose a data set of their choice for use as case study material.
Co-taught by Met curator Dr. Melanie Holcomb and Prof. Eliza Zingesser (Columbia, French) in conjunction with the exhibit “Spectrum of Desire” at the Cloisters, this course considers conceptions of gender, the body, and eroticism in medieval French-speaking territories. Surveying literary texts in their manuscript contexts, sculptures, paintings, and personal items, we will attend to “queer” sexual practices, non-normative conceptions of gender, the homosocial within “courtly love,” all while learning to look askance or queerly at what might initially seem to be resolutely heteronormative. We will consider the following questions, among others:
- In an era in which all non-procreative sex was conceived as sinful, does the opposition between homosexual and heterosexual still hold?
- Was gender assigned based on the body or on some other factor? Was it conceived as binary or spectral, natural or cultural?
- Does the use of modern categories help or hinder our understanding of gender and sexuality in a historically distant period?
- What might medieval categories be able to teach us about the limitations of our contemporary understanding of gender and sexuality?
- Where do literature and the visual arts align in their modes of engagement with/representations of queerness and where do they diverge?
Class taught in English with readings available in English translation. French majors or concentrators/minors should complete the readings in French, whenever possible. Several class sessions will be held at The Met.
Enrollment in this course is by application. Please send an email to
eliza.zingesser@columbia.edu
with information on your class year, major or main topic of research, and the reasons for your interest in this course.
Latina/o/x populations constitute over 19% of the U.S. population as of 2020, one of the fastest
growing groups in the U.S. with a long and rich history in the U.S while maintaining transnational ties.
In this course students are invited to critically analyze the social histories of and contemporary
experiences of a diverse range of Latino/a/x populations from across the Americas. Over the course of
the semester, we will discuss how Latino/a/x populations come to reside in and transform New York
City, how Latina/o/x populations contend with everyday life and, how they shape and reshape the
communities they resettle in. Although the focus is on New York City, we will also examine the
movement of peoples from the Caribbean and Latin America. Topics include histories of migration,
labor recruitment, citizenship, coloniality and racialization, neoliberalism and the rise of
financialization in NYC, environmental racism, community formation and Latino/a/x political
activism. We will critically examine a variety of text and genres ranging from anthropological,
historical, poetry, documentary, films, media, and art to shift away from homogeneous categorization
of Latino/a/x populations to understanding populations as dynamic and complex. Students are
invited to bring their stories to class as this is a collaborative learning environment.
Programming experience in Python extremely useful. Introduction to fundamental algorithms and analysis of numerical methods commonly used by scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Designed to give a fundamental understanding of the building blocks of scientific computing that will be used in more advanced courses in scientific computing and numerical methods for PDEs (e.g. APMA E4301, E4302). Topics include numerical solutions of algebraic systems, linear least-squares, eigenvalue problems, solution of non-linear systems, optimization, interpolation, numerical integration and differentiation, initial value problems and boundary value problems for systems of ODEs. All programming exercises will be in Python.
Programming experience in Python extremely useful. Introduction to fundamental algorithms and analysis of numerical methods commonly used by scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Designed to give a fundamental understanding of the building blocks of scientific computing that will be used in more advanced courses in scientific computing and numerical methods for PDEs (e.g. APMA E4301, E4302). Topics include numerical solutions of algebraic systems, linear least-squares, eigenvalue problems, solution of non-linear systems, optimization, interpolation, numerical integration and differentiation, initial value problems and boundary value problems for systems of ODEs. All programming exercises will be in Python.
Overview of properties and interactions of static electric and magnetic fields. Study of phenomena of time dependent electric and magnetic fields including induction, waves, and radiation as well as special relativity. Applications are emphasized.
Prerequisites: four semesters of biology with a firm foundation in molecular and cellular biology. Introduces students to the current understanding of human diseases, novel therapeutic approaches and drug development process. Selected topics will be covered in order to give students a feeling of the field of biotechnology in health science. This course also aims to strengthen students’ skills in literature comprehension and critical thinking.
Ordinary differential equations including Laplace transforms. Reactor Design. An introduction to process control applied to chemical engineering through lecture and laboratory. Concepts include the dynamic behavior of chemical engineering systems, feedback control, controller tuning, and process stability.
Introduction to natural and anthropogenic carbon cycle, and carbon - climate. Rationale and need to manage carbon and tools with which to do so (basic science, psychology, economics and policy background, negotiations - society; emphasis on interdisciplinary and inter-dependent approach). Simple carbon emission model to estimate the impacts of a specific intervention with regards to national, per capita and global emissions. Student-led case studies (e.g. reforestation, biofuels, CCS, efficiency, alternative energy) to illustrate necessary systems approach required to tackle global challenges.
This course examines the historical and theoretical issues concerning the representation of African Americans in film and media. The course will provide a historical overview while focusing on key themes, concepts, and texts.
This course seeks to build upon (or expand) skills learned in sculpture I. This workshop based course allows students more access to the shops to continue to develop those introductory skills while focusing on specific materials and processes. In this course students will complete one self directed project and a number of inclass short assignments and exercises providing a greater exposure to sculptural practice and processes. Acting as both a bridge to and support for more advanced inquiry into making.
Prerequisites: completion of three years of modern Chinese at least, or four years of Japanese or Korean.
This course is intended to provide a quantitative introduction to storage of carbon derived from greenhouse gases, mainly CO2, with a focus on geological carbon storage and mineralization in saline aquifers, depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, and “reactive” subsurface formations (rocks rich in Fe, Ca, and Mg) as well and other natural and engineered storage reservoirs (e.g., terrestrial storage, ocean storage, building materials). Course modules cover fundamental processes such as geochemical fluid-rock interactions and fluid flow, transport, and trapping of supercritical and/or dissolved CO2 in the context of pore-scale properties to field-scale example storage reservoirs and specific integrative problems such as reservoir characterization and modeling techniques, estimating storage capacity, and regulations and monitoring.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Empirical findings on economic development, theoretical development models; problems of efficient resource allocation in a growing economy; balanced and unbalanced growth in closed and open economic systems; the role of capital accumulation and innovation in economic growth.
This course examines the historical and theoretical issues concerning the representation of African Americans in film and media. The course will provide a historical overview while focusing on key themes, concepts, and texts.
General experimental techniques in materials science, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopies, atomic force microscopy, materials synthesis and thermodynamics, characterization of material properties (mechanical, electrochemical, magnetic, electronic). Additional experiments at discretion of instructor.
This seminar introduces students to histories of abolition through constructed environments and artistic, material, and spatial practices. We study abolition of slavery, prisons, and borders during a period from the eighteenth century to the present. Attending to the distinct social movements and discourses sparked by these very different abolitionist targets, we examine the political, ethical, and aesthetic intersections that emerge.
We investigate these problems through architecture, landscapes, material culture, and art, studying primary works, secondary texts, and methods. The course emphasizes study through historical reasoning as well as analysis of sensorial and affective material. This multimodal approach is necessary in studying forms of injustice in order to comprehend
unfreedom
, a paradoxical concept that produces cognitive dissonance and counters liberal reason.
The course draws on architectural history as crucial to illuminating how place, space, design, and planning of built environments have enacted and archived people’s unfreedom, and relies on intersectional feminist and critical race frameworks to understand abolition as part of a tradition of emancipatory thought and teaching. We study practices and institutions that have produced and shaped enclosure and incarceration in contexts around the world, placing abolition in dialogue with the anticolonial. The course illuminates the roles that both reform and radical refusal have played in abolitionist struggles for spatial justice, and maintains attention to material, spatial, and aesthetic practices throughout.
This seminar has no prerequisites and all assignments are guided. Readings consider the formation of space, power, and knowledge together, in aesthetic and cultural analyses of the abolition of enslavement, incarceration, and border regimes. Students lead discussion, based on exercises in collective annotation of full books, including:
Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration
by Nicole Fleetwood;
Witnessing Slavery: Art and Travel in the Age of Abolition
by Sarah Thomas; and
Departures: An Introduction to Critical Refugee Studies,
by Yến Lê Espiritu, Lan Duong, Ma Vang, Victor Bascara, Khatharya Um, Lila Sharif, and Nigel Hatton. These texts are contextualized in relation to other books and articles, study of works of art and architecture, visits to archives, and guest lectures. Each student produces
Principles of propulsion. Thermodynamic cycles of air breathing propulsion systems including ramjet, scramjet, turbojet, and turbofan engine and rocket propulsion system concepts. Turbine engine and rocket performance characteristics. Component and cycle analysis of jet engines and turbomachinery. Advanced propulsion systems. Columbia Engineering interdisciplinary course.
This advanced seminar examines historical, social, cultural, and theoretical propositions for decolonizing praxis and their complex relations to feminist critique. How do we understand Western European colonialism and coloniality as modes, conditions, and institutions of power, dispossession, subjugation, and subjection continuing into the present? What are the methods, practices, and vision enacted and proposed by the colonized for undoing and radically transforming the determinate logics, instruments, and structures of colonialism as these persist in the present moment? We will consider how gender and sexuality as well as race – as technologies of social organization, codes of valuation, and modes of survival – shape colonialism and the struggles against it. We will inquire into their significance to projects of decolonization. How might decolonization envision and make possible other ways of life?
Descriptive statistics, central limit theorem, parameter estimation, sufficient statistics, hypothesis testing, regression, logistic regression, goodness-of-fit tests, applications to operations research models.
In recent decades, the study of the so-called “Buddho-Daoism” has become a burgeoning field that breaks down the traditional boundary lines drawn between the two Chinese religious traditions. In this course we will read secondary scholarship in English that probes the complex relationships between Buddhism and Daoism in the past two millennia. Students are required not only to be aware of the tensions and complementarity between them, but to be alert to the nature of claims to either religious purity or mixing and the ways those claims were put forward under specific religio-historical circumstances. The course is organized thematically rather than chronologically. We will address topics on terminology, doctrine, cosmology, eschatology, soteriology, exorcism, scriptural productions, ritual performance, miracle tales and visual representations that arose in the interactions of the two religions, with particular attention paid to critiquing terms such as “influence,” “encounter,” “dialogue,” “hybridity,” “syncretism,” and “repertoire.” The course is designed for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of East Asian religion, literature, history, art history, sociology and anthropology. One course on Buddhism or Chinese religious traditions is recommended, but not required, as background.
Applications of continuum mechanics to the understanding of various biological tissues properties. The structure, function, and mechanical properties of various tissues in biolgical systems, such as blood vessels, muscle, skin, brain tissue, bone, tendon, cartilage, ligaments, etc. are examined. The establishment of basic governing mechanical principles and constitutive relations for each tissue. Experimental determination of various tissue properties. Medical and clinical implications of tissue mechanical behavior.
This course examines historical narratives and record-keeping in premodern Korea, focusing on the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). It explores writing as a medium of power that shaped politics, social order, gender relations, and cultural identity. Through diverse texts, including official chronicles, didactic texts, memoirs, and (auto)biographies, students will analyze how individuals and institutions used writing to assert authority, express dissent, and document their lives.
Advanced instruction in the Armenian dialect. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.
This course deals with a fundamental question of sustainability management: how to change organizations and more complex systems, such as communities, industries, and markets, by integrating sustainability concerns in the way that they operate. The course poses this question to a dozen leading sustainability practitioners, who answer it by discussing management strategies that they use in their own work. Through these guest lectures, extensive class discussion, readings, and writing assignments, students identify and simulate applying practical ways for transforming how organizations and complex systems work. The practitioners, who work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and in a wide variety of organizations, make presentations in the first hour of the course. Students then have time to ask questions and speak informally with the guest practitioners, and will participate in an instructor-led class discussion, geared toward identifying management strategies, better understanding their application, and considering their effectiveness. By the end of the course, the students gain an understanding of management tools and strategies that they, themselves, would use to integrate sustainability in organizations.
The course complements the M.S. in Sustainability Management program’s required course, Sustainability Management (SUMA K4100). In that course, students study management and organization theory. In the Practicum, students learn directly from leading practitioners, who confront sustainability management issues daily.
This course deals with a fundamental question of sustainability management: how to change organizations and more complex systems, such as communities, industries, and markets, by integrating sustainability concerns in the way that they operate. The course poses this question to a dozen leading sustainability practitioners, who answer it by discussing management strategies that they use in their own work. Through these guest lectures, extensive class discussion, readings, and writing assignments, students identify and simulate applying practical ways for transforming how organizations and complex systems work. The practitioners, who work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and in a wide variety of organizations, make presentations in the first hour of the course. Students then have time to ask questions and speak informally with the guest practitioners, and will participate in an instructor-led class discussion, geared toward identifying management strategies, better understanding their application, and considering their effectiveness. By the end of the course, the students gain an understanding of management tools and strategies that they, themselves, would use to integrate sustainability in organizations.
The course complements the M.S. in Sustainability Management program’s required course, Sustainability Management (SUMA K4100). In that course, students study management and organization theory. In the Practicum, students learn directly from leading practitioners, who confront sustainability management issues daily.
Prerequisites: VIAR UN2300 (Formerly R3302) Laboratory in Relational Art; Sculpture without Objects The purpose of this class will be to explore the function of Relational Aesthetics in contemporary art practice and to develop ideas about the role of context in art, as the students develop their own site-specific works and research historical precedents for art designed to be exhibited in non-traditional venues. This course will also prepare students for professional work preparing art for venues of that type. This class will be structured around studio work, with an emphasis on the development and production of a final site-specific project. In order to foster students’ growth and ongoing investigation into the nature of contemporary sculpture, the class will also be comprised of slide lectures, visits to local artists’ studios, and galleries, as well as various public art projects throughout the city. As the semester progresses, the emphasis will gradually be shifted from research to intensive studio work on a final project, often a proposal for a site-specific work in a non-traditional venue. Generally, the first half of each class session will be dedicated to lecture and discussion, while the second half will be dedicated to individual studio work and critique.
Prerequisites: (CHEM UN2443 and CHEM UN2444) and (CHEM UN3079 and CHEM UN3080) and (BIOC UN3501) , or the equivalent. Development and application of chemical methods for understanding the molecular mechanisms of cellular processes. Review of the biosynthesis, chemical synthesis, and structure and function of proteins and nucleic acids. Application of chemical methods--including structural biology, enzymology, chemical genetics, and the synthesis of modified biological molecules--to the study of cellular processes--including transcription, translation, and signal transduction.
Differential and multistage amplifiers; small-signal analysis; biasing techniques; frequency response; negative feedback; stability criteria; frequency compensation techniques. Analog layout techniques. An extensive design project is an integral part of the course.
Thermodynamics and kinetics of reacting flows; chemical kinetic mechanisms for fuel oxidation and pollutant formation; transport phenomena; conservation equations for reacting flows; laminar nonpremixed flames (including droplet vaporization and burning); laminar premixed flames; flame stabilization, quenching, ignition, extinction, and other limit phenomena; detonations; flame aerodynamics and turbulent flames.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Historical comparative examination of the economic development problems of the less developed countries; the roles of social institutions and human resource development; the functions of urbanization, rural development, and international trade.
Design and analysis of high speed logic and memory. Digital CMOS and BiCMOS device modeling. Integrated circuit fabrication and layout. Interconnect and parasitic elements. Static and dynamic techniques. Worst-case design. Heat removal and I/O. Yield and circuit reliability. Logic gates, pass logic, latches, PLAs, ROMs, RAMs, receivers, drivers, repeaters, sense amplifiers.
This advanced seminar examines important approaches, issues, perspectives, and themes related to planetary concerns of environmental crisis, climate change, life sustainability, and multi-species flourishing, with a focus on feminist, postcolonial, anti-racist, and queer perspectives. Topics for discussion and study include the global pandemic, histories of colonialism, slavery, and capitalism,
Prereqs: BOTH 1 WMST Intro course PLUS any WGSS 'Foundation' course, OR instructor permission.
This course provides a rigorous introduction to the theory underlying widely used biophysical methods, which will be illustrated by practical applications to contemporary biomedical research problems. The course has two equally important goals. The first goal is to explain the fundamental approaches used by physical chemists to understand the behavior of molecules and to develop related analytical tools. The second goal is to prepare students to apply these methods themselves to their own molecular biology research projects. The course will be divided into seven modules: (i) solution thermodynamics with an emphasis on application to analysis of protein structure, folding, and binding interactions; (ii) hydrodynamic methods; (iii) statistical analysis of experimental data; (iv) molecular dynamics calculations; (v) optical spectroscopy with an emphasis on fluorescence; (vi) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; and (vii) light-scattering and diffraction methods including an overview of cryogenic electron microscopy reconstruction methods. In each module, the underlying physical theories and models will be presented and used to derive the mathematical equations applied to the analysis of experimental data. Weekly recitations will emphasize the analysis of real experimental data and understanding the applications of biophysical experimentation in published research papers. The problem sets emphasize use of PyMOL for analysis of macromolecular structures and use of standard curve-fitting software for analysis of protein binding data; detailed tutorials on the related methods are provided in the recitation sections. The first three modules will be covered in Biophysical Chemistry I during the fall term, while the final three will be covered in Biophysical Chemistry II during the spring term, and treatment of molecular dynamics calculations will be divided between the two terms.
In 1935, WEB Dubois wrote about abolition democracy: an idea based not only on breaking down unjust systems, but on building up new, antiracist social structures. Scholar activists like Angela Davis, Ruth Gilmore and Mariame Kaba have long contended that the abolition of slavery was but one first step in ongoing abolitionist practices dismantling racialized systems of policing, surveillance and incarceration. The possibilities of prison and police abolition have recently come into the mainstream national consciousness during the 2020 resurgence of nationwide Black Lives Matters (BLM) protests. As we collectively imagine what nonpunitive and supportive community reinvestment in employment, education, childcare, mental health, and housing might look like, medicine must be a part of these conversations. Indeed, if racist violence is a public health emergency, and we are trying to bring forth a “public health approach to public safety” – what are medicine’s responsibilities to these social and institutional reinventions?
Medicine has a long and fraught history of racial violence. It was, after all, medicine and pseudoscientific inquiry that helped establish what we know as the racial categorizations of today: ways of separating human beings based on things like skin color and hair texture that were used (and often continue to be used) to justify the enslavement, exclusion, or genocide of one group of people by another. Additionally, the history of the professionalization of U.S. medicine, through the formation of medical schools and professional organizations as well as and the certification of trained physicians, is a history of exclusion, with a solidification of the identity of “physician” around upper middle class white masculinity. Indeed, the 1910 Flexner Report, whose aim was to make consistent training across the country’s medical schools, was explicit in its racism. From practices of eugenic sterilization, to histories of experimentation upon bodies of color, medicine is unfortunately built upon racist, sexist and able-ist practices.
This course is built on the premise that a socially just practice of medicine is a bioethical imperative. Such a practice cannot be achieved, however, without examining medicine’s histories of racism, as well as learning from and building upon histories of anti-racist health practice. The first half of the semester will be dedicated to learning about histories of medical racism: from eugenics and racist experiment
Interface between clinical practice and quantitative radiation biology. Microdosimetry, dose-rate effects and biological effectiveness thereof; radiation biology data, radiation action at the cellular and tissue level; radiation effects on human populations, carcinogenesis, genetic effects; radiation protection; tumor control, normal-tissue complication probabilities; treatment plan optimization.
Explores cutting-edge field of cellular bioengineering and applications of cell therapies. Comprehensive understanding of the principles, techniques, and ethical considerations involved in cells for medical applications studied.
Complex reactive systems. Catalysis. Heterogeneous systems, with an emphasis on coupled chemical kinetics and transport phenomena. Reactions at interfaces (surfaces, aerosols, bubbles). Reactions in solution.
Fundamentals of catalyst design and characterization, kinetic modeling and interpretation, and reactor design for CO2 utilization technologies. Topics include tandem catalysis, fundamentals of electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, catalytic processes for the activation of CO2, and reactive capture. Course grades are based on evaluating case studies, quizzes, and the final project design, where students apply concepts learned in class to propose solutions for practical, real-world CO2 utilization challenges.
Direct stiffness approach for trusses. Strong and weak forms for one-dimensional problems. Galerkin finite element formulation, shape functions, Gauss quadrature, convergence. Multidimensional scalar field problems (heat conduction), triangular and rectangular elements, Isoparametric formulation. Multidimensional vector field problems (linear elasticity). Practical FE modeling with commercial software (ABAQUS). Computer implementation of the finite element method. Advanced topics. Not open to undergraduate students.
Prerequisites: two years of college Czech or the equivalent. A close study in the original of representative works of Czech literature. Discussion and writing assignments in Czech aimed at developing advanced language proficiency.
See syllabus attached
Guiding ideals in American architecture from the centennial to around 1960. The evolution of modernism in America is contrasted with European developments and related to local variants.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 Third-Year Russian I and II, or placement test. Systematic study of problems in Russian syntax; written exercises, translations into Russian, and compositions. Conducted entirely in Russian.
Exploring philosophies of history from the ancient Greeks to the present.
Developments in architectural history during the modern period. Emphasis on moments of significant change in architecture (theoretical, economic, technological, and institutional). Themes include positive versus arbitrary beauty, enlightenment urban planning, historicism, structural rationalism, the housing reform movement, iron and glass technology, changes generated by developments external or internal to architecture itself and transformations in Western architecture.
Introduction to runoff and drainage systems in an urban setting, including hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, flow and water quality monitoring, common regulatory issues, and mathematical modeling. Applications to problems of climate variation, land use changes, infrastructure operation and receiving water quality, developed using statistical packages, public-domain models, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Team projects that can lead to publication quality analyses in relevant fields of interest. Emphasis on the unique technical, regulatory, fiscal, policy, and other interdisciplinary issues that pose a challenge to effective planning and management of urban hydrologic systems.
Review of building energy modeling techniques for simulating time-varying demand. Detailed Physics-based models, gray-box and black-box modeling. Static and dynamic models of building energy systems. Deterministic and Stochastic occupancy modeling. Modeling of control and dispatch of HVAC and local energy systems. Implementation of models in Energyplus and Modelica platforms. Modeling of low and net-zero carbon buildings and local energy systems.
This seminar, which focuses on Montaigne’s
Essays
, is one of a series on the history of the modern self. The series has included seminars on figures like Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, and will continue to expand.
Introduction to power electronics; power semiconductor devices: power diodes, thyristors, commutation techniques, power transistors, power MOSFETs, Triac, IGBTs, etc. and switch selection; non-sinusoidal power definitions and computations, modeling, and simulation; half-wave rectifiers; single-phase, full-wave rectifiers; three-phase rectifiers; AC voltage controllers; DC/DC buck, boost, and buck-boost converters; discontinuous conduction mode of operation; DC power supplies: Flyback, Forward converter; DC/AC inverters, PWM techniques; three-phase inverters.
Introduction to multiscale analysis. Information-passing bridging techniques: among them, generalized mathematical homogenization theory, the heterogeneous multiscale method, variational multiscale method, the discontinuous Galerkin method and the kinetic Monte Carlo–based methods. Concurrent multiscale techniques: domain bridging, local enrichment, and multigrid-based concurrent multiscale methods. Analysis of multiscale systems.
Premodern Chinese literati have long been regarded as active historical agents who shaped “This Culture of Ours”—a metonym for civilization in the premodern Sinitic context—while they also fed from, partook in, and influenced popular and foreign cultures. Besides “literary writings” like poetry and prose, literati also engaged in calligraphy, painting, and antiquarianism under the umbrella term of “literary or cultural arts.” In turn, the creation and appreciation of artwork were intrinsic to the aesthetic life of literati community and further established their self-identity. At the same time, social exclusivity, (self-)doubt and identity crises, along with the looming threat of cultural decline, have continually haunted this literati community throughout the ages.
Covering the long trajectory of imperial China, this course reveals the birth and development of literati culture. In particular, we take an interdisciplinary approach, introducing intellectual and poetic discourses, socio-historical contexts, literary criticism, visual and material culture, to envision a “common ground” for their civil world. Textual, visual sources plus material objects are meant to have conversations with each other in this course. Important issues include historical transformations of the elite class, cultural geography in different eras, materiality and visuality of elite calligraphy and painting, literati self-expression through aesthetic practice, the roles of the court and literati in producing and preserving art, as well as other relevant issues such as gender studies, vernacular literature, and commodity society.
This course is cross-listed in AMEC and CPLT. For undergraduates, no background in Chinese language is required in this course, and all reading materials—either translation of primary sources or secondary scholarship—are accessible in English.
The objective of this course is to develop understanding of how political institutions and behavior shape economic outcomes, and vice versa. Starting from the micro level study of political behavior, we will build up to analyze the internal workings of institutions and ultimately macro level economic and political outcomes. During the course we will cover the following topics
• Limits and potential of markets
• Public goods provision
• Voting
• Redistribution
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 An investigation of the sounds of human language, from the perspective of phonetics (articulation and acoustics, including computer-aided acoustic analysis) and phonology (the distribution and function of sounds in individual languages).
In this course we will examine the New Testament canon and the twenty-seven texts that comprise it in light of their respective literary genres, their Jewish antecedents and Greco-Roman influences, which will include their historical, social, cultural, political and economic contexts, and the ways these factors impinged upon their various dimensions of meaning. Various modes of biblical interpretation, both ancient and contemporary, will be explored. A major emphasis will be on the ways select texts are utilized, misconstrued and weaponized in the public sphere in this contemporary moment.
Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech.1 The class will focus on three
fundamental questions:
1. How do humans produce and perceive speech sounds?
2. What tools and experimental techniques can we use to investigate speech sounds?
3. What makes a successful phonetics experiment?
To answer these questions, students will study vocal tract anatomy, the physics of speech sounds,
and the interface between phonetics and other linguistic and scientific fields of study. Students will
also gain hands-on experience with Praat, a free software package for speech analysis, to visualize
and interpret phonetic data. Throughout the semester, students will engage with phonetics research
by reading and discussing recent academic papers. The course will culminate in a final project for
which students will propose, design, and conduct original phonetics experiments.
This course fulfills the elective requirement for the linguistics major.