Practical implementation of neuroimaging techniques, data types, processing methods and clinical findings on independent datasets across a variety of neurological and psychiatric conditions. Basics from anatomy to digital image analysis will be explored culminating in a final project.
This seminar explores the intersections between Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy and key developments in artificial intelligence. We will examine how Wittgenstein’s later philosophy challenges contemporary debates about the capabilities and limitations of machine intelligence. We will also learn how AI practitioners actively engage with Wittgenstein’s ideas, developing innovative methods in machine translation, semantic networks, or natural language processing (NLP) in general.
This seminar provides an overview of sacrifice in both theory and practice. The concept of sacrifice, and its contestation, allows us to explore a range of issues and institutions related to the (often violent) act of “giving up,” or exchange. What must a sacrifice be, and how do its instantiations—for God; for country; for kin; for love; for rain; etc.—take shape? Readings are drawn from a range of sources, including Biblical texts and commentaries, the anthropological record, critical theory, comparative literature, and work on race and gender. The seminar aims to provide students with a strong foundation for relating sacrifice to broader concerns with the body, media/mediation, religion, politics, and kinship.
Required for all graduate students in the Medical Physics Program. Practicing professionals and faculty in the field present selected topics in medical physics.
Design, fabrication, and application of micro-/nanostructured systems for cell engineering. Recognition and response of cells to spatial aspects of their extracellular environment. Focus on neural, cardiac, coculture, and stem cell systems. Molecular complexes at the nanoscale.
Design, fabrication, and application of micro-/nanostructured systems for cell engineering. Recognition and response of cells to spatial aspects of their extracellular environment. Focus on neural, cardiac, coculture, and stem cell systems. Molecular complexes at the nanoscale.
The course covers a general introduction to the theory and experimental techniques of structural biology (protein expression and purification, protein crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance) and then how to use the structural information to understand biochemical and biological processes. The first part of the course will cover the general introduction to structural biology. The second part of the course will involve discussions and explorations of various structures, led by the instructor but with substantial participation from the students, to understand the molecular mechanisms of selected biochemical and biological processes. In the final part of the course, each student will select and lead discussions on a primary structural biology paper. The overall goal of the course is to increase the understanding of how protein structures are determined, what protein structures look like, and how to use the structures to understand biology.
The aim of this course is to examine the built environment of New York City as it enters – and helps define – the modern era. The scope of our study is the last quarter of the 19th century to today and the strategy to tackle the vast topic will be to highlight significant moments and monuments – for example, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central, Empire State Building, NYCHA housing, the U.N. complex, postwar Park Avenue, the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and Twin Towers – and question “In what ways are they modern?”
The lectures and class discussion will explore the idea of modernity using multiple lenses, including technological advances, architectural style and ideology, products and sites of construction and real estate investment, and acts of government planning and social policy. Throughout, the urban dimension will be key in our critical analysis. Classroom sessions, for the most part, will be organized as lectures and discussions of assigned readings. There will also be sessions outside the classroom, including a visit to the drawing collection of Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library and to The Skyscraper Museum, as well as a walking tour of Midtown Manhattan.
From the notion of a type-specimen for a species to a wild-type mouse strain, biology has long relied on the idea of an archetype. In reality, however, there is variation everywhere one looks—no wild-type, only mutants. This variation is what makes some families taller than others or more susceptible to autism. Making sense of these differences is what led from the study of “the” human genome to that of millions of genomes. Notably, this goal is central to precision medicine, undergirding accurate disease risk prediction and tailored individual treatments. This shift in perspective poses new and fundamental questions, challenging us to understand how genetic perturbations and environmental effects together give rise to human difference. The goal of this course is to provide a basis for the study of such questions, by focusing on the causes and consequences of human genetic variation. It aims to provide a fundamental toolbox with which to approach human genetic data and to facilitate access to exciting developments in the field, from weekly discoveries about our prehistory to major developments in our understanding of the genetic basis for disease risk. The basis for the course is a new, freely available textbook, An Owner’s Guide to the Human Genome, by Jonathan Pritchard.
This course is designed as an introductory exposure to entrepreneurial concepts and practical skills for engineering students (and others) who wish to explore entrepreneurship conceptually or as a future endeavor in their careers. The class will be a mix of lecture, discussion, team-building and in-the-field workshopping of concepts we cover.
The last decade of 20 th century witnessed a rapid convergence of three C’s: Communications, Computers, and Consumer Electronics. This convergence has given us the Internet, smart phones, and an abundance of data with Data Science playing a major role in analyzing these data and providing predictive analytics that lead to actionable items in many fields and businesses. Finance is a field with a large amount of information and data that can utilize the skills of Data Scientists, however, to be effective in this field a data scientist, in addition to analytic knowledge, should also be knowledgeable of the working, instruments, and conventions of financial markets that range from Foreign Exchange to Equities, Bonds, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies and host of other asset classes. The objective of this course is to provide Data Science students with a working knowledge of major areas of finance that could help them in finding a position in the Financial Industry. The wide range of topics covered in this course besides expanding the range of positions where students could be a fit, it gives them more flexibility in their job search. The course will also be of value to them in managing their own finances in the future.
Each offering of this course is devoted to a particular sector of Operations Research and its contemporary research, practice, and approaches. If topics are different, then course can be taken more than once for credit.
Each offering of this course is devoted to a particular sector of Operations Research and its contemporary research, practice, and approaches. If topics are different, then course can be taken more than once for credit.
Statistical machine learning techniques and advanced mathematical concepts for analysis of high-dimensional biomedical data. Topics include optimal transport and probabilistic modeling for multi-modal genomic and imaging data integration and analysis of spatial and temporal dynamics. Programming assignments, problem sets, and a final project will be required.
This Columbia University course offers a project-based learning experience focused on systematic quantitative investment. It covers the full data science workflow, from concept to performance evaluation. Students will engage in a real-time financial forecasting competition, using open-source financial and alternative data, to make and present investment decisions. Ideally, this course suits students aspiring to careers as quants or data scientists in the financial sector.
Since the 1950’s, built environments across Latin America increasingly served as testing grounds for new strategies of urban solidarity in architecture. Writing on the rapid modernization of this period, social theorists in the region have identified solidarity as a distinct marker of Latin American modernity. This seminar examines the role of architecture in this recent history of Latin America with a focus on the cultural forms and social practices that fostered solidarity processes since the mid-twentieth century. Through interdisciplinary and cross-border collaborations, communities, architects, social thinkers, and policy makers combined experimental ideas of aided housing and public spaces with new social concepts in efforts to restructure Latin American cities reshaped by the “great urban explosion.” These social projects in architecture were closely followed by their North American counterparts and soon connected vaster Pan-American territories. Seen primarily as the pursuit of egalitarian and inclusive values in the built environment, we will examine the many forms that these constructs of solidarity in Latin America assumed in architecture during the following decades.
Conceived to look closely and critically at the projects, social concepts, and institutions behind solidarity programs and designs, this seminar will concentrate on two interwoven threads: 1. Architectural theories and projects that fostered community, cross-class, or state programs of solidarity in the design of housing, public spaces and services; 2. The social theories and institutions that supported these approaches in architecture. From self-construction to “superbloques,” and from self-organized social movements to state-sponsored pre-fabrication, we will investigate the strategies through which Latin American communities and professionals redefined collaborative practices and pursued ideas of emancipation, autonomy, and social citizenship. Adopting a comparative and relational approach, we will examine how these architectural concepts, technologies, and social theories subsequently informed Pan-American movements for housing and building aid across Latin America.
The course focuses on a PRACTICAL study of how to quantify & predict RISK in organizations by using learnings from: Regression analysis; Monte Carlo simulation; Factor analysis; Cohort analysis; Cluster analysis; Time series analysis; Sentiment analysis. Expectation is that incoming students should have a basic understanding of such concepts and statistics. The course will offer meeting & listening to CXO's & top executives from companies who have implemented robust AI & Applied Risk solutions to solve real-world problems in their own industries.
It will give students a great opportunity to learn practical applications of predictive analytics to solve real business problems
By taking this course, students will gain the tools and knowledge to develop a comprehensive new venture that is scalable, repeatable and capital efficient. The course will help students formulate new business ideas through a process of ideation and testing. Students will test the viability of their ideas in the marketplace and will think through the key areas of new venture. The first part of the course will help students brainstorm about new ideas and test the basic viability of those ideas through of process of design and real world tests. After an idea is developed students will work towards finding a scalable, repeatable business model. We will cover customer discovery, market sizing, pricing, competition, distribution, funding, developing a minimal viable product and many other facets of creating a new venture. The course will end with students having developed a company blueprint and final investor pitch. Course requirements include imagination, flexibility, courage, getting out of the building, and passion.
In this course, you'll leverage student engagement data to create a photo and text recommendation app similar to Instagram/Twitter. This app will utilize AI-generated photos and text and require you to recommend a feed from over 500,000 pieces of AI generated content. We'll explore various techniques to achieve this, including, but not limited to: Candidate Generation (Collaborative filtering, Trending, Cold start, N-tower neural network models, Cross-attention teachers, Distillation, Transfer learning, Random graph walking, Reverse indexes, LLMs as embedding), Filtering (Small online models, Caching, Deduplication, Policy), Prediction/Bidding (User logged activity based prediction (time-series), Multi-gate mixture of experts (MMOE), Regularization, Offline/Online evaluation (NDCG, p@k, r@k), Boosted Trees, Value Based Bidding), Ranking (Re-ranking, Ordering, Diversity, Enrich/Metadata/Personalization, Value Functions), Misc (Data Privacy and AI Ethics, Creator Based Models, Declared, Explicit and implicit topics, Explore/Exploit, Interpret/Understand/Context/Intention).
These concepts are applicable to various recommendation systems, from e-commerce to travel to social media to financial modeling. The instructor's experience at Uber Eats, Facebook, Instagram, and Google will provide valuable insights into real-world use cases.
Fundamentals of nanobioscience and nanobiotechnology, scientific foundations, engineering principles, current and envisioned applications. Includes discussion of intermolecular forces and bonding, of kinetics and thermodynamics of self-assembly, of nanoscale transport processes arising from actions of biomolecular motors, computation and control in biomolecular systems, and of mitochondrium as an example of a nanoscale factory.
This graduate seminar examines the intersections of Edward Said’s
Orientalism
(1978) with the study of art, architecture, and visual culture. It asks how the Saidian critique—conceived in a literary framework—has been applied, adapted, and contested in the analysis of visual forms from the eighteenth century to the present. Foregrounding aesthetics as a political language, the course traces how “Orientalist” motifs and styles have been negotiated, re-appropriated, and hybridized, often complicating the very notion of an identifiable “Orientalist” aesthetic. We map sites where Orientalism is expected, where it proves elusive, and where the label itself obscures more than it reveals, while testing the usefulness—and limits—of
Orientalism
as an analytic for visual and spatial evidence. Along the way, we consider whether “Orientalism” functions as an artistic style; questions of authorship and intention in painterly practice and studio/market contexts; late Ottoman self-representation (e.g., Osman Hamdi Bey); neo-Orientalist urbanism and the redevelopment of Mecca; religion’s place in visual Orientalism (crusade imaginaries, typologies of the “Saracen” and the “Jew,” and “sacred photography”); the weaponization of Orientalist codes in propaganda and heritage destruction; the category of “Islamic art” and its historiography; and the museum—especially the Metropolitan Museum of Art—as a site where collecting, classification, and display mediate knowledge and power. The seminar closes by considering decolonial proposals that refine, extend, or challenge the Saidian paradigm for art and architectural history.
Topics include biomicroelectromechanical, microfluidic, and lab-on-a-chip systems in biomedical engineering, with a focus on cellular and molecular applications. Microfabrication techniques, biocompatibility, miniaturization of analytical and diagnostic devices, high-throughput cellular studies, microfabrication for tissue engineering, and in vivo devices.
Sumptuous attire, aromatics, heady intoxicants, pleasure gardens, water sports, and the games of love and sex. Medieval South Asians marshaled these and other aesthetic practices to fashion the spaces they moved in, show themselves to one another, and make sense of their social worlds. In this seminar, we approach the Indian subcontinent’s extensive body cultures in three related ways. Considering a range of visual media, we explore how bodies were imagined and constituted alongside image theories from early South Asia, portraiture, and the construction of personhood through epigraphs. What physical features characterized the bodies of ascetics, divinities, human beings, demi-gods, spirit deities, and even the body of the cosmos? How did certain visual markers communicate emotional states and moral attributes, such as defeat, grief, piety, and purity? Diving into the spaces period bodies occupied, we investigate how somatic cultures forged the accessories and accouterments of material existence. In tandem, we unpack the aesthetic values and theories central to medieval India’s court cultures, from kāma, līla, and alamkāra to rasa theory. Students will be encouraged to research and write on body cultures specific to their own regional or cultural interests.
The IEOR Department hosts Business Analytics Practitioners Seminars throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. There are 5-6 seminars per semester, for a total of 10-12 seminars a year. These seminars feature a variety of academics and professionals in the field of Business Analytics; they are meant to educate and expose students to the latest research and practice.
First year BA students are required to attend all BA seminars during their first year
as well as submit journals about the material.
What happens to a body stilled in space, when it takes a shape and holds it? How does its relationship to public space change? How is its transformation attenuated when the body is in formation with other bodies, a breathing still life of people and props? This performance art course will use the question of a body’s stillness as a platform to create interdisciplinary projects that exist between dance, sculpture, collaborative movement, and performance art. Through core readings and case study presentations, we will discuss unique possibilities of representation and challenges this form enables, and the prominent role it has been taking within the visual arts in recent years. Students will engage with a variety of aesthetic strategies and formal techniques such as movement workshops, sensory exercises, video, wearable sculptures, collaboration, scores, and group meditation. Studio work will focus on concrete intersections between the body and the object, and case studies chosen to encourage students to think of movement as a form of resistance, and to consider the political implication of collaborative work that unfolds over time. Performativity in the context of this class is widely defined, and no prior experience is required.
The course studies control strategies and their implementation in the discrete domain. Introduction with examples; review of continuous control and Laplace Transforms; review of continuous state-space representation and Solutions; review of difference equations, discretization in time and frequency, the WKS (aka Shannon) sampling theorem, windowing, filters, Transforms: Fourier series, Fourier transform, z-transform and their inverses; Ideal sampler, Sample-and-hold devices, zero, one, polygonal, and slewer hold; Transfer functions, block diagrams, and signal flow graphs for discrete systems; Discrete State-Space transformation, controllabililty, observability, and stability in the state-space domain. Discrete time and z domain analysis, steady state analysis, discrete-time root-locus, and pole-zero placement; Discrete Nyquist stability criterion, Bode plot, Gain and Phase Margin analysis, Nichols chart, bandwidth and sensitivity analysis; Design criteria, self-tuning regulator, Kalman filter, and simulation, followed by advanced stability analysis such as Lyapunov stability; Overview of the discrete Euler-Lagrange equations, discrete maximum and minimum principle, optimal linear discrete regulator design, optimality and dynamic programming.
The course studies control strategies and their implementation in the discrete domain. Introduction with examples; review of continuous control and Laplace Transforms; review of continuous state-space representation and Solutions; review of difference equations, discretization in time and frequency, the WKS (aka Shannon) sampling theorem, windowing, filters, Transforms: Fourier series, Fourier transform, z-transform and their inverses; Ideal sampler, Sample-and-hold devices, zero, one, polygonal, and slewer hold; Transfer functions, block diagrams, and signal flow graphs for discrete systems; Discrete State-Space transformation, controllabililty, observability, and stability in the state-space domain. Discrete time and z domain analysis, steady state analysis, discrete-time root-locus, and pole-zero placement; Discrete Nyquist stability criterion, Bode plot, Gain and Phase Margin analysis, Nichols chart, bandwidth and sensitivity analysis; Design criteria, self-tuning regulator, Kalman filter, and simulation, followed by advanced stability analysis such as Lyapunov stability; Overview of the discrete Euler-Lagrange equations, discrete maximum and minimum principle, optimal linear discrete regulator design, optimality and dynamic programming.
Focus on capacity allocation, dynamic pricing and revenue management. Perishable and/or limited product and pricing implications. Applications to various industries including service, airlines, hotel, resource rentals, etc.
Additive manufacturing processes, CNC, Sheet cutting processes, Numerical control, Generative and algorithmic design. Social, economic, legal, and business implications. Course involves both theoretical exercises and a hands-on project.
Fundamentals of sustainable design and manufacturing, metrics of sustainability, analytical tools, principles of life cycle assessment, manufacturing tools, processes and systems energy assessment and minimization in manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing automation, sustainable manufacturing systems, remanufacturing, recycling and reuse.
Frontiers of Justice is designed to encourage students and equip them with the skills to become active and effective “Change Agents” within their academic institutions and larger communities.. Oriented by the question,
What does justice look like?
, this course aims to raise political and social awareness and engagement with the challenges facing New York City and strengthen ties between Columbia University, disadvantaged communities, and city government agencies and community organizations. Through sharing ideas about how to make structural and systemic change in ways that integrate science, law, politics, history, narrative and community engagement, the course is intended to support students in working to break down racial and ethnic barriers and toward a more fair and just society.
Introduction to industrial automation technologies. Recognizing, modeling and integration of industrial automation problems. Hands-on experiments with robots, computer vision, data management and programming. Sensors engineering and measurement tools; process control; automation hardware and software architectures; programmable logic controllers.
This course examines the transformation of natural environments, rural and urban landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau in the 20th and 21st centuries, with a special emphasis on the material and social lives of rivers, roads and infrastructure. We will draw on primary source readings (in English) and maps, as well as secondary readings in anthropology and human geography, to examine the processes of infrastructure creation, national integration, urbanization and adaptation in the Tibetan regions of China.
Prerequisites: the instructors permission; some basic knowledge of social psychology is desirable. A comprehensive examination of how culture and diversity shape psychological processes. The class will explore psychological and political underpinnings of culture and diversity, emphasizing social psychological approaches. Topics include culture and self, cuture and social cognition, group and identity formation, science of diversity, stereotyping, prejudice, and gender. Applications to real-world phenomena discussed.
This is a third year (or sixth semester) course in the Hindi-Urdu program that aims to continue building upon the existing listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural skills in Hindi and Urdu. Students will be exposed to a variety of authentic materials, such as stories, plays, newspapers, magazines, videos and film clips. They will be expected to expand their vocabulary, enhance their grammatical accuracy and develop their cultural appropriateness through their enthusiastic participation in classroom activities and immersing themselves in the speech community outside.
The objective of the course is to promote meaningful interaction with literary texts and to strengthen students’ language skills to understand and describe situations and people in diverse academic settings of modern Hindi. Writing in the target language will be emphasized throughout the semester to enable students to use their diverse vocabulary and grammatical structures. The students will gain better understanding of the craft of creative writing in Hindi as the writers explore the innermost sentiments and compulsions of their characters to make us wonder about life, language and emotions, all in conjunction with each other.
Self-contained treatments of selected topics in soft materials (e.g. polymers, colloids, amphiphiles, liquid crystals, glasses, powders). Topics and instructor may change from year to year. Intended for junior/senior level undergraduates and graduate students in engineering and the physical sciences.
In lieu of the failure of legislatures to pass comprehensive carbon taxes, there is growing pressure on the financial system to address the risks of global warming. One set of pressures is to account for the heightened physical risks due to extreme weather events and potential climate tipping points. Another set of pressures are to find approaches to incentivize corporations to meet the goals set out in the Paris Treaty of 2015. These approaches include (1) mandates or restrictions to only hold companies with decarbonization plans, (2) development of negative emissions technologies such as direct-air capture and (3) promotion of natural capital markets that can be used to offset carbon emissions. Moreover, financial markets also provide crucial information on expectations and plans of economic agents regarding climate change. This course will cover both models and empirical methodologies that are necessary to assess the role of the financial system in addressing global warming.
Models for pricing and hedging equity, fixed-income, credit-derivative securities, standard tools for hedging and risk management, models and theoretical foundations for pricing equity options (standard European, American equity options, Asian options), standard Black-Scholes model (with multiasset extension), asset allocation, portfolio optimization, investments over longtime horizons, and pricing of fixed-income derivatives (Ho-Lee, Black-Derman-Toy, Heath-Jarrow-Morton interest rate model).
Students will learn how Western medical knowledge entered Japan, how it intersected with existing traditions such as kanpō, and how medicine was mobilized for nation-building, imperial expansion, and war. This course covers topics including the introduction of Western medical knowledge, the modernization and professionalization of medical practices, the advent of colonial medicine, and the ethical challenges of postwar biomedicine.
This course will explore major themes in the growing field of Sound Studies with a focus on the rich history of sound and varied cultures of sound and listening in the Indian subcontinent. The main questions that we will address include: how have political, commercial, and cultural movements shaped
what
the diverse populations of South Asia listen to and
how
they listen? How have different forms of media shaped/ informed listening experiences in South Asia? How do listening practices and cultures from the subcontinent differ from those in other regions? In this class we will listen to the human voice, rumor/gossip, gramophone, loud speakers, radio, film, and mp3. We will discuss the role political speeches, film songs, and devotional songs in shaping South Asian politics and culture in the twentieth-century as the subcontinent transitioned from colonial rule to nation-states. Drawing on the interdisciplinary nature of Sound Studies, we will read works from across the disciplines—anthropology, ethnomusicology, Religious Studies, Media Studies, and history. Organized thematically, this course will focus on the twentieth century, but the readings will address earlier time periods.
This is an upper-level undergraduate and graduate (MA) seminar. Students are expected to have some background in South Asian studies/history or media/sounds studies. The class will meet once a week for discussion of readings. In addition to readings there will be a several required film screenings or listening activities.
Recording Studio Sessions places students in weekly recording sessions with guest bands and music ensembles. The course aims to give students as much hands-on recording studio experience as possible, with the end goal of developing studio skills that lead to the production of professional-level audio materials. Students explore a wide range of studio experiences, from learning both digital and analog workflows to handling varied musical groups, so that, following the course, they may either pursue further study in upper-level sound engineering programs, find work in professional studios, or simply gain a more profound understanding of the studio environment for their own creative work.
Two semesters of prior coursework in Urdu for Heritage Speakers (Urdu for Heritage Speakers I and II) or one semester of Advanced Urdu or the instructor’s permission. This course is a literary course, with in-depth exposure to some of the finest works of classical and modern Urdu poetry i.e. genres of
ghazal
and
nazm
. This course is open for both undergraduates and graduates. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.
Prerequisites: Some knowledge of Research Methods, Statistics, and Social Psychology, plus Instructors Permission. Reviews and integrates current research on three important topics of social psychology: culture, motivation, and prosocial behavior. Discussions and readings will cover theoretical principles, methodological approaches, and the intersection of these three topics. Students will write a personal research proposal based on the theories presented during the seminar.
This course focuses on how to identify, evaluate, and capture business analytic opportunities that create value. The course covers basic analytic methods alongside case studies on organizations that successfully deployed these techniques. The first part of the course is on using data to develop insights and predictive capabilities with machine learning techniques. The second part focuses on the use of A/B testing, causal inference, ethics, and optimization to support decision-making.
This course is a combination of lectures, seminar participation, and group practicums which probes the possibility of a decolonial art research practice. This course introduces students to western approaches to politics and art through a sustained engagement with critical Indigenous and anticolonial theories of human relations to the more-than-human world. It is a mixture of lectures, class discussion, and individual practicums which lead to final projects that combine image and text.
This course will explore recent histories of post-independence India, focusing on the first three decades of independence (1947-1977) following the end of British colonial rule. Until rather recently, most histories of South Asia concluded with independence, casting, perhaps unconsciously, the end of British rule as the end of history in the region. However, in recent years, we have witnessed a boom of historical writing on post-independence India. In this class, we will analyze this emerging scholarship and focus on the themes of democracy and majoritarianism. We will read about the establishment of universal franchise in 1950s India, the writing and implementation of the constitution, and the country’s experiments with various economic plans. At the same time, we will study the Indian state’s often violent integration of regions originally outside Britain’s direct domain, including the princely states of Kashmir and Hyderabad, and the development of what scholars have described as new forms of colonialism in the region after 1947. Likewise
,
we will study the growth of majoritarian ideologies and the continued struggle against caste oppression, all while considering India’s place in the larger Cold War. Throughout the class, we will remain attendant to aesthetic developments in media and literature during this period. While the course focuses on India—or more specifically on various communities’ interactions with the Indian state—we will also study developments in Pakistan (and Bangladesh after 1971) and other neighboring states, recognizing that their shared histories did not end with Partition.
Engineering of biochemical and microbiological reaction systems. Kinetics, reactor analysis, and design of batch and continuous fermentation and enzyme processes. Recovery and separations in biochemical engineering systems.
The ‘twin crises’ of biodiversity and climate change are inextricably linked. Biodiversity, much like climate, is a fundamental characteristic of our Earth system and includes not only individual plant, animal, and microbial species, but also their ecological interactions at local, regional, and global scales. Climate change is exacerbating biodiversity loss, which further reduces ecosystem resilience and efficiency, jeopardizing the delivery of services essential to human well-being such as water purification, flood control, soil fertility, pollination and seed dispersal, temperature moderation, direct material and non-material benefits, carbon sequestration, control of non-indigenous species, and regulation of zoonotic diseases. In this course we will use a combination of lectures, student-led discussions, and research papers to explore these interconnections, focusing on food security, habitat types, tipping points, equity, and how biodiversity can both support and be affected by climate mitigation and adaption strategies.
Course is aimed at senior undergraduate and graduate students. Introduces fundamental concepts of Bayesian data analysis as applied to chemical engineering problems. Covers basic elements of probability theory, parameter estimation, model selection, and experimental design. Advanced topics such as nonparametric estimation and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MEME) techniques are introduced. Example problems and case studies drawn from chemical engineering practice are used to highlight the practical relevance of the material. Theory reduced to practice through programming in Mathematica. Course grade based on midterm and final exams, biweekly homework assignments, and final team project.
Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful tools for analyzing fundamental geographic questions. GIS involves generating, linking, manipulating, and analyzing different sorts of spatial data; creating outputs commonly visualized as two- and sometimes three- dimensional maps. This course will cover major topics in GIS with applications for the broad field of biology and natural sciences, using QGIS and R. The goal of this course is to teach students a level of GIS proficiency such that they will be self-sufficient in their further learning and use of GIS.
Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Comparison of major theoretical perspectives on social behavior. The nature of theory construction and theory testing in psychology generally. Exercises comparing the predictions of different theories for the same study are designed to acquire an appreciation of how to operationalize theories and an understanding of the various features of a good theory.
The primary goals of environmental justice advocacy are to ensure the equitable treatment and meaningful participation of historically impacted communities in environmental and climate related matters. The movement is deeply rooted in civil rights, human rights, and environmental law. In this course, we will explore the legal framework that advances environmental justice on the local, state, and federal levels. Our course will also explore the interdependent relationship between environmental justice and sustainability. Students will take a hands-on approach to environmental justice and will develop key advocacy skills that practitioners use for the communities that they serve. This course will engage students in a critical analysis of existing environmental justice issues to develop a holistic approach for more effective advocacy.
Markets are inescapably entangled with questions of right and wrong. What counts as a fair price or a fair wage? Should people be able to sell their organs? Do companies have a responsibility to make sure algorithmic decisions don’t perpetuate racism and misogyny? Even when market exchange seems coldly rational, it still embodies normative ideas about the right ways to value objects and people and to determine who gets what. In this seminar, we will study markets as social institutions permeated with moral meaning. We will explore how powerful actors work to institutionalize certain understandings of good and bad; unpack how particular moral visions materially benefit some groups of people more so than others; examine the ways people draw on notions of fairness to justify and contest the market’s distribution of resources and opportunities; and consider who has agency to build markets according to different normative ideals. Most course readings are empirical research, so we will also critically discuss how social scientists use data and methods to build evidence about the way the world works.
Sustainable water supply, essential for life, is complex and challenging, particularly in the context of climate change. Changing climate affects the availability and quality of water globally. In turn, human use of water produces greenhouse gasses (GHGs) that further exacerbate climate change. Spanning global and individual scale, this course will examine changing interactions of climate and water, implications for human water supply, and steps toward greater sustainability.
Part 1
of the course establishes baseline understanding of natural and human water systems in the context of climate change. What it takes to transform water from its source to “fit-for-purpose” water for domestic, commercial, industrial, and agricultural uses will be examined. The implications of climate change for water systems and the impacts of water development on climate change will also be assessed. The growing challenges of water security, water quality, and water affordability/accessibility will be considered, along with institutional models for water delivery.
Part 2
will delve into pathways toward more sustainable water supplies, with emphasis on safe and affordable drinking water. Means of adaptation and resilience will be explored, from evolving human uses to optimizing water storage and delivery. Throughout Part 2, case studies will bring concepts to reality, engaging students in further exploring strategies and actions to address crucial issues for water sustainability. Practicing leaders from the water field will bring real-world perspectives as guest speakers, sharing direct experience with a specific problem, and engaging with the class in a broader discussion of the issues, led by the instructor.
Life as a trans person can feel like an unrelenting cacophony of hammers. Around the world, fascist
parties and paramilitaries have set their sights on transgender people and through a torrent of
accusations of crime and depravity all but authorized violence against trans people. Through
explorations of trans* history and social movements in the United States, Turkey, India, and Pakistan
(and to a lesser extent Argentina), this course will provide a space to both understand the global
anti-gender and anti-trans panic and to relate ourselves to the strategies that trans people have used
to both survive and the demands that they have made for structural change and liberation. The goal
of this course will be to provide a space of critical study and a site of learning to be in community as
well as to equip you with both the knowledge and capacity to understand and intervene in
contemporary trans panics wherever you encounter them. Assignments will be a combination of
collaborative skill-building, self-reflections, and analyses of the tactics and strategies employed by
social movements.
This course will offer an examination of the birth and development of the Franciscan Order between 1200-1350. The topics will include Francis of Assisi, the foundation of the three orders of Franciscans, education, poverty, preaching, theology internal strife, antifraternalism, and relations with secular governments and papacy.
Prerequisite(s): IEOR E4106 or E3106. Required for undergraduate students majoring in OR:FE. Introduction to investment and financial instruments via portfolio theory and derivative securities, using basic operations research/engineering methodology. Portfolio theory, arbitrage; Markowitz model, market equilibrium, and the capital asset pricing model. General models for asset price fluctuations in discrete and continuous time. Elementary introduction to Brownian motion and geometric Brownian motion. Option theory; Black-Scholes equation and call option formula. Computational methods such as Monte Carlo simulation.
Prerequisite(s): IEOR E4106 or E3106. Required for undergraduate students majoring in OR:FE. Introduction to investment and financial instruments via portfolio theory and derivative securities, using basic operations research/engineering methodology. Portfolio theory, arbitrage; Markowitz model, market equilibrium, and the capital asset pricing model. General models for asset price fluctuations in discrete and continuous time. Elementary introduction to Brownian motion and geometric Brownian motion. Option theory; Black-Scholes equation and call option formula. Computational methods such as Monte Carlo simulation.
Prior knowledge of Python is recommended. Provides a broad understanding of the basic techniques for building intelligent computer systems. Topics include state-space problem representations, problem reduction and and-or graphs, game playing and heuristic search, predicate calculus, and resolution theorem proving, AI systems and languages for knowledge representation, machine learning and concept formation and other topics such as natural language processing may be included as time permits.
This course examines the ways that technological shifts have catalyzed innovation and social change in human societies. The focus is on the social basis for creativity. Analysis centers on the conflicts, disruptions and tensions that emerge in society when new and/or competing technologies are introduced. Students will explore two substantive spheres of social life. The first is war. Throughout recorded history, participants have sought to garner competitive advantages in battle via technological innovation. We look at several moments in which the development of a particular innovation helped bring about massive societal change. The second focus is on commerce. The class will examine the impact of digital technologies on those who work in creative industries undergoing transformation via technology and diffusion of tech-inspired ideas. The learning objectives for students are: • To situate technology within a wider social and historical context. • To consider creativity as a social activity, not only as individual aptitude. • To place the contemporary period of so-called “fast paced technological progress” within a sociological framework of change and innovation.
Digital communications for both point-to-point and switched applications is further developed. Optimum receiver structures and transmitter signal shaping for both binary and M-ary signal transmission. An introduction to block codes and convolutional codes, with application to space communications.
This course covers research methods and research design in political science. We cover concrete and practical issues of conducting research that are useful for all types of empirical political science research: picking a topic, generating hypotheses, case selection, measurement issues, and the ethics of research; with a focus on qualitative and mixed-methods tools such as: interviews, fieldwork, case studies, archival research, ethnographic work, designing and conducting experiments, coding data and working with data sets, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, etc.
The course is designed for several audiences in Political Science, including:
PhD students
MA students undertaking a major research project or intending to continue on to the PhD
Advanced undergraduates writing or contemplating an honors thesis, or another major research project
This graduate course is only for M.S. Program in Financial Engineering students. Multivariate random number generation, bootstrapping, Monte Carlo simulation, efficiency improvement techniques. Simulation output analysis, Markov-chain Monte Carlo. Applications to financial engineering. Introduction to financial engineering simulation software and exposure to modeling with real financial data. Note: Students who have taken IEOR E4404 Simulation may not register for this course for credit.
Introduces emerging area of Financial Technology (FinTech) within decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchains. Topics: blockchain fundamentals: major (permissionless) blockchain protocols, permissioned blockchains, and their applications; DeFi fundamentals: Layer-2 primitives (AMMs, lending, liquidity staking, MEV, etc) and stablecoins; markets and trading: market microstructure and on-chain data analytics; and emerging applications: institutional DeFi, real-world asset tokenizations (RWAs), and AI integration. Emphasis on both mathematical foundations and empirical designs.
This class has no prerequisites, however those who have taken Intro Darkroom or Intro Digital will find additional linkages. You will have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, Printing, and Camera equipment during the semester. Your final project will be exhibited at the End of Semester Visual Arts Show.
This course will explore the photobook as a central medium of contemporary lens-based practice. Students are exposed to a variety of approaches and viewpoints through historical lectures, class trips, and presentations by guest photographers, curators, critics, editors, graphic designers, etc. Each student will propose, develop, and produce editioned books during this course. Over the last decade, a significant change in the circulation of the photographic image has been the rise of the “photo book” as designed art object. Artists such as Dayanita Singh in India, publishers such as Steidl and Taschen, organizations such as Penumbra and Aperture, and events such as Paris Photo and NY Art Book Fair have all entered this vibrant space. At the same time, novelists such as Teju Cole and photographers such as Gauri Gill produce books that weave text and image in a new way. This course requires reading, research, photography, and book design culminating in an end of semester show.
Computational approaches to the analysis, understanding, and generation of natural language text at scale. Emphasis on machine learning techniques for NLP, including deep learning and large language models. Applications may include information extraction, sentiment analysis, question answering, summarization, machine translation, and conversational AI. Discussion of datasets, benchmarking and evaluation, interpretability, and ethical considerations.
Due to significant overlap in content, only one of COMS 4705 or Barnard COMS 3705BC may be taken for credit.
This graduate course is only for MS program in FE students. Modeling, analysis, and computation of derivative securities. Applications of stochastic calculus and stochastic differential equations. Numerical techniques: finite-difference, binomial method, and Monte Carlo.
This graduate course is only for M.S. Program in Financial Engineering students. Empirical analysis of asset prices: heavy tails, test of the predictability of stock returns. Financial time series: ARMA, stochastic volatility, and GARCH models. Regression models: linear regression and test of CAPM, non-linear regression and fitting of term structures.
Principles of Ethical Artificial Intelligence across technical and societal dimensions. Combines technical AI and machine learning implementations and ethical analysis. Students will learn to build, audit, and mitigate ethical risks in AI systems using tools like fairness libraries, explainability frameworks, and privacy-preserving techniques. Emphasizes coding, algorithmic critique, and real-world cases.
Topics include: foundations of AI ethics, fairness, interpretability, explainability, accountability, privacy, robustness, alignment, safety, and societal benefit.
Assessments include coding projects, bias auditing assignments, and ethical analysis papers.
Prerequisites: (Econ UN3211) and (ECON UN3213) and (STAT UN1201) This course uses economic theory and empirical evidence to study the links between financial markets and the real economy. We will consider questions such as: What is the welfare role of finance? How do financial markets affect consumers and firms? How do shocks to the financial system transmit to the real economy? How do financial markets impact inequality?
While helping students advance their levels of oral and written expression, this course focuses on literature of the modern and medieval periods, with particular emphasis on the development of the modern novella and traditional and new forms of poetry. In addition to literature, students are introduced to a wide variety of genres from political and cultural essays and blogs to newspaper translations of the early 20th century. They will be further exposed to ta?rof in reference to a wide variety of socio-cultural contexts and be expected to use ta?rof in class conversations. Students will be exposed to popular artists and their works and satirical websites for insight into contemporary Iranian culture and politics. No P/D/F or R credit is allowed for this class.
Prerequisites: POLS W4710 or the equivalent.
This course will
intensively
examine some of the data analysis methods which deal with problems occurring in the use of multiple regression analysis. It will stress computer applications and cover, as needed, data coding and data processing. Emphasis will also be placed on research design and
writing research reports
.
The course assumes that students are familiar with basic statistics, inference, and multiple regression analysis and have analyzed data using computer software (e.g., any standard statistical programs on micro-computers or larger machines -- Stata, “R”, SPSS, SAS, etc.). Students will be instructed on the use of the microcomputers and the R and Stata statistical software program(s) available as freeware (R) or in the CUIT computer labs (Stata; several campus locations) or through SIPA. The lectures and required discussion section will emphasize the use of “R.” Students may use whatever computer programs they prefer for all data analysis for the course. There may be an
additional fee
for classroom instructional materials.
This is the required discussion section for
POLS GU4712.
“Imag(in)ing the Ottoman Empire: A visual history, 18th-20th centuries” is an undergraduate/graduate seminar focusing on visual representations of the Ottoman Empire during the last two centuries of its existence, from the early eighteenth to the early twentieth century. The objective is to study the development of visual representations both
by
and
about
the Empire, from Ottoman miniatures to early European paintings, and from the surge of Western illustrated magazines to the local uses of photography. The seminar’s chronological thread will be complemented by a thematic structure designed to explore different aspects and influences concerning the production and diffusion of images: curiosity, documentation, exoticism, propaganda, orientalism, modernity, self-fashioning, eroticism, policing, to name just a few.
During the past 15 years the behavior of market options prices have shown systematic deviations from the classic Black-Scholes model. Examines the empirical behavior of implied volatilities, in particular the volatility smile that now characterizes most markets, the mathematics and intuition behind new models that can account for the smile, and their consequences for hedging and valuation.
In the first half of this course we will read the major works of Freud that make up his “metapsychology.” Metapsychology is psychoanalysis’ “speculative superstructure,” the most philosophical part of psychoanalytic theory, providing a broad theoretical “standpoint” on the mind that is both informed by and guides both empirical research and clinical practice. Freud articulated four metapsychologies (dynamic, economic, topographical, and structural). The aim will be to read Freud somewhat as we read, for example, Aristotle’s or Kant’s or Nietzsche’s moral psychology. What are the basic theoretical posits? What are these claims based on? From what perspective (first-personal or third-personal) are these claims made? How does Freud’s picture advance our own practical self-understanding? Etc.
In the second half of the course we will read some major responses to Freud in the context of philosophical moral psychology. So we will read some critical theorists, some engagements with psychoanalytic theory regarding gender and race, and some contemporary analytic philosophers.