The world in which conflicts unfold—and in which conflict professionals operate—has fundamentally changed. Traditional conflict research relies on academic literature, official reports, interviews, and retrospective accounts. While valuable, this model assumes the conflict has ended, key actors are known, and reliable documentation exists. Increasingly, these assumptions no longer hold.
What happens when the conflict you are studying is unfolding in real time?
There is no definitive report, no academic consensus, and the most influential actors may be informal, networked, or deliberately hidden. They do not give interviews or appear in official datasets. By the time traditional analysis is published, the conflict has already evolved, and the opportunity to influence outcomes has passed—often leaving behind accounts shaped by incomplete or manipulated information.
In this environment, conflict professionals must become masters of the information domain.
This course is built on a simple but uncomfortable reality: to meaningfully engage with contemporary conflict, you must be able to “write your own book” while events are unfolding. Based on the instructor’s professional experience, Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are not optional—they are often the only viable tools.
OSINT leverages publicly available digital information to identify stakeholders when no formal list exists, map informal power structures, and track narratives, resources, and influence in real time. Generative AI amplifies this capability, enabling analysts to process vast amounts of data, test hypotheses, detect patterns, and build custom analytical tools without advanced programming skills.
This represents a structural shift. Only with this self-reliant foundation can practitioners effectively apply traditional theories and frameworks—otherwise their analysis risks being shaped by information that has been strategically manipulated. In modern conflicts, even well-intentioned research can unintentionally amplify the narratives of sophisticated actors engaged in information warfare.
The relevance of these skills extends beyond conflict analysis. Today’s job market increasingly values AI integration, OSINT proficiency, and strong writing and storytelling. Professionals who combine these capabilities are already operating at significantly higher levels of speed, productivity, and impact across fields such as d
Course Overview
This course provides students with a critical, evidence-based framework for understanding the relationship between artificial intelligence and the interconnected challenges of climate change, environmental sustainability, and our society. It is designed for graduate students and professionals in sustainability and climate science who will encounter AI systems throughout their professional lives, and will be equipped both to harness AI's capabilities and to interrogate its costs, blind spots, and distributional consequences. The course assumes no prior technical background in machine learning or computer science, but does require intellectual curiosity, comfort engaging with quantitative evidence, and willingness to work through genuinely contested questions.
Data science is an exciting new field of applied research that takes advantage of the ever-growing volume of data being collected to support of decision-making in both the public and private sectors. Similar to traditional statistical analysis, these new approaches have limits and issues that are important to understand before application to problem solving. This is a full semester course taught in person. It aims to introduce the common methods used in data science, best practices in data management, and the basic scripting skills required to start analyzing data in R and Python. After introducing foundational scripting and data analysis methods, a case study approach will be used to highlight both what can be accomplished with data analysis and the limits of the data and methods used. Lab exercises will teach basic skills in scripting in Python and R and then move to a common approach for data analysis: adapting existing scripts and software libraries to solve applied data problems.
The requirement to understand the interaction of social and natural systems requires data-driven policy decisions, and the ongoing assessment of policies requires rigorous, reproducible assessments of effectiveness for promoting sustainability. Both requirements can be met in part by data science approaches that are applicable to the natural and social sciences and reproducible in academic and applied settings. Data science techniques have been developed to derive insight from large volumes of available data that are often collected for purposes other than the interests of the data scientist. This flexibility in approach means that the techniques used in data science are well adapted to support gaining insights from data relevant for sustainability science. This course has been designed to introduce these techniques in anticipation of increased use in promoting sustainability.
This course introduces students to the economic importance of brand building activities based on the proven link between brand equity and business performance. Students examine the role that strategy and communication play in building brand equity, and explore how the changing media landscape is causing companies to rethink traditional brand-building practices. Students will use critical thinking, case-analysis, market research, and strategic presentations to persuade a business decision maker to invest in brand building efforts. For students who are interested in building stronger brand cultures within their organizations (for both the profit and nonprofit sectors) and/or for pursuing careers on the brand side of strategy, this course answers the question: Why should businesses and institutions care about branding?
In April 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that warming of the planet is likely to exceed COP targets. This finding underscores the urgency around decarbonizing the economy and sustainably managing natural resources. A so-called “big, hairy, audacious goal,” it requires that similarly ambitious solutions be implemented across countries and industries. This course will introduce students to digital product management skills and the critical role they play in building digital decision support tools related to healing our planet.
It is only by measuring resources that stakeholders can manage them and ensure that they are available in sufficient quantities for future generations. Web tools provide up-to-date analyses of aggregated data; distill complex issues into accessible visualizations; enable users to drill down to answer questions; offer insights into complicated and interdependent issues; and display changes in performance over time.
Efforts are underway -- locally, regionally, nationally and internationally -- to address climate and ESG issues and many more need to appear on drawing boards. Opportunities include:
·2,400 megawatts of offshore wind, enough to provide electricity to 1 million homes, are slated to be installed off the coast of New York State by 2030;
·Globally, companies need to evaluate opportunities to deploy renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in their facilities in order to reduce carbon emissions and costs;
·Coastal cities are studying their exposure to sea-level rise so they can harden electricity infrastructure and avoid blackouts caused by more frequent storms; and
·Indigenous populations and local governments in the Amazon wish to protect the jungles that act as global carbon sinks and generate revenue opportunities from carbon credits.
This elective course is about product strategy and how to design, build and launch new digital products and features in the AI era. It will introduce students to the digital product management role and product lifecycle and provide an opportunity to design a digital app and define the business case for it. Units will address how to define a product vision; identify a product strategy; define a valuable customer experience; enable data-driven decisions; collaborate with developers and responsibly use AI; create product roadmaps; manage for successful f
Prerequisites: STAT GR5204 or the equivalent. STAT GR5205 is recommended. 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.
Available to SSP, SMP Modeling and inference for random processes, from natural sciences to finance and economics. ARMA, ARCH, GARCH and nonlinear models, parameter estimation, prediction and filtering.
Prerequisites: STAT GR5203 or the equivalent. 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 GR5264 Available to SSP, SMP. 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 course is for leaders who want to challenge and transform existing ways of working for a greater positive impact on society. You will build the technical skills needed to bring Human-Centered Design (HCD) and innovation to projects and programs through a combination of lectures and assignments. At a higher level, you will also better understand what is needed to launch and manage innovation strategies and projects at NGOs and INGOs. This course builds a foundational understanding of innovation strategies, tools, and ecosystem in the social impact sector. Together, we will also heavily critique the status quo – including power dynamics, innovation methods and consider the importance of ethics, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) – all with the motivation to build an improved practice of innovation. The course will bring together perspectives and guest speakers from across the globe who are diverse ecosystem actors, including innovators and implementers, funders, consultants, and
conveners.
This course has three phases. Phase 1 will provide a foundational understanding of innovation strategy, methodology, and tools, including human-centered design, user personas, journey mapping, etc. In Phase 2, you will be able to better contextualize innovation in the social impact sector, particularly from the perspective of NGOs, INGOs, and U.N. agencies. We will also dive into how DEIA, power, and creative capacities intersect with designing for social impact and learn practical skills for structuring an innovation project. Finally, in Phase 3, the instructor will share perspectives and lessons from practicing innovation for over a decade and help you identify areas of opportunity and entry points for your careers.
As future leaders and innovators in the social impact sector, you will be encouraged to think beyond how thingscurrently operate and expected to explore where and how the innovation sector itself needs to evolve. You will
complete this course with more clarity on your journey in innovation with coaching from the instructor and engaging
conversations with guest speakers.
This course will explore ways in which the shifting relationship between the human economy and our physical environment drive divergent, often conflicting, responses from different segments of society, including distinct economic classes, communities, nations, industries, etc. For the sustainability professional, such conflicts are important in the development of equitable solutions. They are also critical pragmatic issues in implementation of any new policies. The relative strength of different stakeholders, and the tactics they deploy to pursue their goals can determine what actually happens “on the ground”. We will take a case study approach, looking at how specific socio-economic impacts of environmental change generate calls for social change, shift alignments, deepen stakeholder entrenchment, and influence sustainability policy. Our cases include impacts of global warming, land-use changes, and expanded material throughputs as a result of growing demand in agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining and manufacturing.
The global knowledge economy, cross-border market permeability, and worldwide talent mobility have accelerated the rise of multinational and domestic organizations comprised of individuals from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. As these trends strengthen, so, too, does the likelihood that the 21st-century worker will spend a significant part of her/his professional career in a multicultural workplace. While such diversity affords great benefits to organizations, their employees and clients, it is often accompanied by a rise in communication misfires and misunderstandings that can undermine individual, team, and organizational performance.
Risk/return tradeoff, diversification and their role in the modern portfolio theory, their consequences for asset allocation, portfilio optimization. Capitol Asset Pricing Model, Modern Portfolio Theory, Factor Models, Equities Valuation, definition and treatment of futures, options and fixed income securities will be covered.
This course introduces students to the roles the nonprofit sector plays in providing for social needs, such as healthcare, education, and basic needs. Throughout this course, we will also grapple with the ethical questions inherent in these pursuits, including the challenge of tainted money, participatory grantmaking, social impact, and the politicization of nonprofit organizations. The course will also explore distinctions, similarities and relationships among the nonprofit, government, and for-profit sectors. The course examines the parameters of the United States’ nonprofit sector and philanthropic practice, with some opportunity for global comparison.
The course will require students to utilize and reflect critical and analytical thinking; students will write individual papers, actively participate in discussion both in class and through postings on Canvas and present material to classroom colleagues. This full-semester course is required the first semester of study.
To make informed decisions about communication, we need a clear understanding of our audience and its motivations. We begin by asking the right questions and interpreting the results. This course covers essential market research methods, including quantitative and qualitative techniques. Students gain direct experience in collecting and analyzing data, developing insights and choosing research-driven communication strategies that meet client objectives.
We would like to shift this course from Online Only to fully In Person
Course Description
STAT GR5291 Advanced Data Analysis serves as one of the required capstone experiences for MA students in statistics. This course is project-based and covers advanced topics in traditional data analysis. Students are presented with a mix of theory and application in homework assignments. The final project is a major contribution to the final grade and is arguably considered the capstone project for the MA in Statistics Program.
Students will learn a myriad of topics related to data analysis and hypothesis testing, and are responsible for application through statistical packages or manual programming. Topics include, exploratory data analysis & descriptive statistics, review of sampling distribution, point estimation, review of hypothesis testing & confidence interval procedures, non-parametric tests, computational methods (Monte Carlo, bootstrap, permutation tests), categorical data analysis, linear regression, diagnostics & residual analysis, robust regression, model selection, non-linear regression & smoothers, aspects of experimental design (ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, blocking, multiple comparisons, ANCOVA, semi-parametric procedures, random effects models, mixed effects models, nested models, repeated measures), and general linear models (logistic regression, penalized logistic, multinomial regression, link functions).
Also, time permitting the class covers:
survival analysis (hazard function, survival curve), time series analysis (stationarity, ACF/PACF, MA, AR, ARMA, ARIMA, order selection, forecasting).
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.
Communication skills are critical to the career trajectory of a risk professional. This workshop-style course develops the practical skills needed to communicate effectively with a diverse set of internal associates ranging from board members and executive officers to subject matter experts, as well as external stakeholders such as rating agencies and regulators. In this course, students learn techniques for effective listening and reading body language; creating and delivering professional presentations; leadership communication and persuasion; negotiation and conflict resolution; professional interactions and presence; and adapting to different communication styles. Through exercises, presentations, and case-based applications, students develop the ability to influence outcomes, achieve objectives, and build stronger professional relationships.
(Students must take this course in the first semester.)
Note: This course starts with a multi-day, on-campus Residency in late Aug./early Sept. and continues online thereafter.
Knowledge-driven organizations increasingly dominate the economy. What are their attributes? What vision and strategy guides their development? How are they designed? What are the jobs necessary for this new workplace? This course has been designed to give students a grounding that will be important for their future working career. It will focus on how the global economy and all its subsequent ramifications has evolved from a predominantly industrial base to one based on knowledge.
The Foundations course will begin by giving students a historical perspective as to how the "knowledge" economy specifically came about. We will be using historical and economic data and models which offer a clear understanding as to how the global economy and organizations evolved into their current state-where value is produced by knowledge and ideas significantly more than the earlier industrial processes and operations.
The course will then present detailed and comprehensive treatments of how societies, organizations and individual lives have been changed due to this great shift in the factors of production. The course will also focus on how networks, communities and practices work and have evolved to focus more on knowledge production and transfer than on the more industrial factors of production such as land, labor and capital. In addition, the course will examine the critical role of intangibles such as culture, trust and missions in the workings of organizations in this new era. Insights from anthropology, psychology and sociology as well as economics will be incorporated into the course curriculum.
A complex and comprehensive case study on NASA and their knowledge operations will be one of the key learning tools for this course as it proceeds.
IMGT5300PS
The hedge fund industry has continued to grow after the financial crisis, and hedge funds are increasingly important as an investable asset class for institutional investors as well as wealthy individuals. This course will cover hedge funds from the point of view of portfolio managers and investors. We will analyze a number of hedge fund trading strategies, including fixed income arbitrage, global macro, and various equities strategies, with a strong focus on quantitative strategies. We distinguish hedge fund managers from other asset managers, and discuss issues such as fees and incentives, liquidity, performance evaluation, and risk management. We also discuss career development in the hedge fund context.
The NMED PCC approved reducing the credits for QRM from 4 to 3 and in shifting this course from a core course to a program elective.
Nonprofit organizations compete for scarce philanthropic and government funding and are expected to account for how these resources are utilized for the greater good. However, understanding how well nonprofit programs and services produce their desired outcomes can be a challenge. This course is designed to provide a broad – yet rigorous – overview of the knowledge and tools available to evaluate the effects of nonprofit and social impact programs and policies.
Foundations of valuation is an introductory finance course required for all MBA students. It is designed to cover those areas of finance that are important to all managers, whether they specialize in finance or not. At the end of the course, you will be familiar with the most common financial instruments (stocks, bonds, options) and the methods to value them. More specifically, we will cover the following topics:
1. General framework for valuation (present value formula)
2. Bond and bond valuation (spot rates, yield to maturity, duration, convexity)
3. Stocks (stock valuation, dividend growth model)
4. Basic concepts of risk and return and the CAPM
5. Options (Black-Scholes formula)
The course will be a mix of lectures and cases. Students are expected to come prepared to class since the course relies on several in-class exercises students will solve in excel.
International Environmental Law is a fascinating field that allows students to consider some of the most important questions of the 21st century – questions that have profound ramifications for the quality of life for our generation as well as future generations. Global environmental problems are real and urgent. Their resolution requires creative and responsible thought and action from many different disciplines.
Sustainability practitioners must understand global environmental issues and their effects on what they are charged to do. At one level, this course will consider the massive challenge of the 21st century: how to alleviate poverty on a global scale and maintain a high quality of life while staying within the bounds of an ecologically limited and fragile biosphere -- the essence of sustainable development. From a more practical perspective, the course will provide students with an understanding of international environmental policy design and the resulting body of law in order to strengthen their ability to understand, interpret and react to future developments in the sustainability management arena.
After grounding in the history and foundational concepts of international environmental law and governance, students will explore competing policy shapers and the relevant law in the areas of stratospheric ozone protection, climate change, chemicals and waste management, and biodiversity. The course satisfies the public policy course requirement for the M.S. in Sustainability Management program.
Corporate finance is an introductory course required for all MBA students. It is designed to cover those areas of finance that are important to all managers, whether they specialize in finance or not. At the end of the course, you will be able to value a firm. To reach this goal, the course covers the following topics:
1. Introduction to frameworks for firm valuation (enterprise DCF and multiples)
2. Multiple valuations
3. Free cash flows (definition, projections)
4. Residual value
5. Weighted average cost of capital
6. Optimal capital structure
The course will consist of approximately one‐half lecture and one‐half in‐class case discussions, for which students should prepare carefully. The course aims to provide students with an understanding of sound theoretical principles of finance and the practical environment in which financial decisions are made.
Understanding the root causes and drivers of conflict and peace are essential when designing international development interventions of any kind and at all levels. In international development organizations that operate in the fragile and conflict-affected areas of the world, the objective of conflict analysis is a dual one: 1) to improve the effectiveness of international development policy and programming in their contribution to conflict prevention, mitigation, and/or peacebuilding; and 2) to ensure principles of conflict sensitivity and “do no harm” are applied in order to prevent inadvertently worsening existing conflicts or creating new tensions. However, each organization has their own way of undertaking such analysis, which may include an initial literature and desk review, consultations in the field with relevant stakeholders, discussion with the relevant target audience including the Country Director/Resident Coordinator, and final preparation and integration into country strategies and programming. This course will introduce students to the different frameworks and approaches for conflict analysis used within various international development organizations, most significantly within multilaterals like the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN) and its various agencies and entities; as well as government departments and bilateral organizations including the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and the United States Department of State; and finally international non-governmental organizations like Collaborative Learning Projects (CDA). Students will learn how to conduct a conflict analysis (also sometimes called a conflict assessment) at an international organization and will get a chance to work through the issues faced by policymakers in a country-level scenario simulation where they will put the theory and methodologies they have learned to the test. The course will include assigned readings and assignments due before class begins; group and individual assignments for each of the days; and assignments after the active class session ends. During the second day, there will be a discussion with a panel of experts who have conducted conflict assessments at these institutions. Students will leave the course with practical knowledge that will lend itself to conducting conflict assessments at international development organizations and beyond.
This course explores the evolving field of philanthropy by examining its historical foundations and the rationale for the continued existence of philanthropic organizations, like foundations, today. From the industrial-era legacies of figures like Rockefeller and Ford to the modern innovations driven by today's billionaires, students will analyze how generational and societal shifts have shaped the strategies and impact of philanthropy over time.
A key focus of the course is on how philanthropic organizations respond to complex societal issues such as racial justice, climate change, healthcare, and human rights. Through centering diverse perspectives and critical engagement with power structures, this course equips students with the tools to navigate, critique, and influence the philanthropic sector in impactful ways. Students will appraise both the catalytic role philanthropy can play in driving social change and instances where such efforts have backfired and reinforced systematic inequities. The course will further explore how foundations’ missions, values, and goals shape their decisions on funding, project duration, grantee expectations, and impact evaluation methods.
The course will examine different approaches to grantmaking, including social entrepreneurship, effective altruism, social justice grantmaking, and strategic philanthropy. Students will learn the differences across these conceptual frameworks and understand how they influence the ways in which foundations operate. By exploring both the conceptual and pragmatic dimensions of across these frameworks, students will understand the tensions and debates within the philanthropic sector and be well prepared to identify those foundations most likely to support their work.
Students will also analyze the role of foundation program officers as change agents who navigate power, influence, and institutional constraints to drive change. Through case studies, guest speaker sessions, and real-world examples, participants will learn how these professionals influence funding priorities and partnerships in response to societal needs.
Students will develop and pitch a concept for a new funding initiative to a mock foundation board. This exercise will require them to demonstrate an understanding of the foundation’s mission and approach while proposing improvements to its strategic direction. The final assignment will require the student to pull together their funding concept into a Transformative Phil
In contemporary bioethics, we find ourselves grappling with practically important, and at the same time, philosophically fundamental questions such as: When does someone’s life begin and how should it end? What is the proper role of physicians, nurses and other health care providers and what are the rights of their patients? What is a just and fair way to provide access to health-care services and resources? Which potential uses of new genetic and reproductive technologies would represent a legitimate advance in medicine and which would signify the beginning of a humanly degrading "brave new world"? Indeed, in a society committed to protecting a diversity of lifestyles and opinions, how can citizens resolve significant policy controversies such as whether there should be public funding of human embryonic stem cell research, or a legally protected right to physician assistance in ending one’s life?
The aims of this course are to identify the fundamental ethical questions that underlie contemporary biomedical practice; develop skill in analyzing and clarifying key concepts such as autonomy, justice, health and disease; critically assess the healthcare implications of different ethical outlooks; explore how citizens can reasonably address controversial bioethical issues in a mutually respectful and constructive way.
The course meets once a week for an hour and a half. Live-session interaction and post-session discussion forums play a key role as students explore, in a give-and-take spirit, the pros and cons of each position.
This course is designed for medical students, nursing students, and other healthcare professionals, as well as for students at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level in biology, philosophy, political science, public health, law, and related fields.
Review of the types of strategic risks, such as a flawed strategy, inability to execute the strategy, competitor risk, supply chain risk, governance risk, regulatory risk, M&A risk, international risk, etc. Includes case studies, research, and common mitigation techniques, such as strategic planning practices, management techniques, governance practices, supply-chain management, etc.
Review of the types of strategic risks, such as a flawed strategy, inability to execute the strategy, competitor risk, supply chain risk, governance risk, regulatory risk, M&A risk, international risk, etc. Includes case studies, research, and common mitigation techniques, such as strategic planning practices, management techniques, governance practices, supply-chain management, etc.
This course examines how artificial intelligence is transforming negotiation practice and equips students with a framework for strategic, ethical negotiation. The course explores negotiations in which AI serves as a preparation tool, a negotiating assistant, an agent, and a counterpart. Students engage with AI-enhanced human negotiation, human-to-AI negotiation, and AI-agent negotiation. Through recorded negotiations, prompt design, bot-building, negotiations with and against AI agents, an asymmetric access exercise, and a live simulation integrating all modalities, students build technical fluency with emerging technologies while critically examining the ethical, cultural, and professional challenges they introduce.
This course will examine the data collection process, application, and management practices as it applies to soccer, specifically Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League. Using soccer as a platform to explore techniques, students will develop a working knowledge of the practical applications of analysis and models used to make management decisions within an organization and a professional league. With growing global connectivity, and access to data across various international leagues, the ability to embrace in-game analytics to improve team's performance, evaluate talent, develop in-game strategies, and more efficiently manage their roster in order to create financial value for their stakeholders has become an invaluable skill.
In response to the sports industry turning more towards application of analytics and critical thinking skills, Soccer Analytics aims to develop students into managers who can make decisions, based on provided models, regarding both player and team valuations. Students should be able to demonstrate the capability to apply advanced critical thinking skills to sports business issues and have the ability to integrate objective analysis with subjective judgment in a way that adds value to decision processes.
The class will be taught through a combination of lectures, class discussion, group presentations and guest speakers. Each class will include a review of the reading assignments noted in the syllabus, and students are expected to be fully prepared. Students are required to read assignments from the texts as well as additional sources provided by the professor. Students must attend class prepared to engage in discussions; have, articulate and defend a point of view; and ask questions and provide comments based on their reading.