COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

This course is about cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluations of policies and projects. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) consists of a comprehensive set of techniques used to evaluate government programs. It is now routinely applied in such program areas as transportation, water projects, health, training and education, criminal justice, environmental protection, urban policy and even in the international arena such as foreign direct investment. Many of the techniques of CBA can also be applied to private sector decision-making. The objective of CBA is to determine whether the benefits of a particular program, policy or decision outweigh its costs. The techniques used to determine this are sometimes quite simple, but on other, increasingly frequent occasions are highly sophisticated. Sophisticated cost benefit studies are based on a framework that utilizes the basic concepts of economic theory. In addition, statistical and econometric analyses are often needed to estimate program effects from diverse available data. The course has two parts: methodology and practice. The goal is for students to be practically adept to undertake an independent cost-benefit analysis.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou
  Info
• 3 points

Solutions for Changing Global Forests

PRED EFFCT CLIMATE CHNGE

This course examines the science behind our understanding of how and why forests are responding to changing climatic baseline conditions, and how this can inform management, mitigation and restoration efforts going forward. We will study how climate change affects forest structure, function, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, and delve into the emerging field of climate-smart forestry. Students will integrate theory with hands-on field methods in a pair of 1-hectare forest plots, where they will learn how to measure, analyze, and interpret climate impacts at local scales.

• Department: Auditing
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Mukund P Rao
  Info
• 0 points

CURATING ORAL HISTORIES

This seminar is one of our core course, in which students will learn and practice the skills required to conceptualize, conduct, analyze and curate oral history interviews. In Curating Oral Histories we focus our attention on the curation and amplification of oral histories, including archiving, online presentation, museum exhibits, oral history documentary, advocacy, and teaching oral history. Our work this semester will emphasize interpretive processes, collaborative work, and how the public perceives and receives oral history.  Students will be expected to be primarily working on their own thesis or capstone projects. Our core question:
 How do we present oral histories, with all of their length, depth, complexity and intersubjective richness, in an accessible way to a public audience without sacrificing those qualities we so value?

• Department: Oral History
• T 10:10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy A Starecheski
  h-index: 5 Info
• 5 points

RES SEM IN QUANT MTHS-SOC SCI I

This course is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from private, government, and non-profit settings. QMSS students participate in a weekly seminar. Speakers include faculty from Columbia and other universities, and researchers from the numerous corporate, government, and non-profit settings where quantitative research tools are used. Topics have included: Now-Casting and the Real-Time Data-Flow; Art, Design - Science in Data Visualization; Educational Attainment and School Desegregation: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries; Practical Data Science: North American Oil and Gas Drilling Data.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

RES SEM IN QUANT MTHS-SOC SCI I

RES SEMINAR I

This course is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research. Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from private, government, and non-profit settings. QMSS students participate in a weekly seminar. Speakers include faculty from Columbia and other universities, and researchers from the numerous corporate, government, and non-profit settings where quantitative research tools are used. Topics have included: Now-Casting and the Real-Time Data-Flow; Art, Design - Science in Data Visualization; Educational Attainment and School Desegregation: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries; Practical Data Science: North American Oil and Gas Drilling Data.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• M 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Sandhya Kajeepeta
  Info
• Instructor: Steven Hubbard
  Info
• 3 points

THEORY & PRACTICE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSME

THEORY & PRAC OF LIFE CYC

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology to assess the environmental impact of products, services, and industrial processes is an increasingly important tool in corporate sustainability management. This course teaches both the theoretical framework as well as step-by-step practical guidelines of conducting LCAs in companies and organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on separating the more academic, but less practically relevant aspects of LCA (which will receive less focus) from the actual practical challenges of LCA (which will be covered in detail, including case studies). The course also covers the application of LCA metrics in a companies’ management and discusses the methodological weaknesses that make such application difficult, including how these can be overcome. Product carbon footprinting (as one form of LCA) receives particular focus, owing to its widespread practical use in recent and future sustainability management.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Christoph J Meinrenken
  h-index: 15 Info
• 3 points

THEORY & PRACTICE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSME

THEORY & PRAC LIFE CYCL ASSMNT

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology to assess the environmental impact of products, services, and industrial processes is an increasingly important tool in corporate sustainability management. This course teaches both the theoretical framework as well as step-by-step practical guidelines of conducting LCAs in companies and organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on separating the more academic, but less practically relevant aspects of LCA (which will receive less focus) from the actual practical challenges of LCA (which will be covered in detail, including case studies). The course also covers the application of LCA metrics in a companies’ management and discusses the methodological weaknesses that make such application difficult, including how these can be overcome. Product carbon footprinting (as one form of LCA) receives particular focus, owing to its widespread practical use in recent and future sustainability management.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Kim Matsoukas
  Info
• 3 points

Earth Studio: Toward Climate Justice and

Earth Studio: Climate Jus

“Earth Studio: Toward Climate Justice and Resilience: Caribbean Basin
is a (3) credit elective course offered in the Columbia Climate School Masters of Climate and Society Program.
Taught in a collaborative format with GSAPP’s Water Urbanism Design (UD) Studio, this course will explore climate justice and action through the intersections of urban planning, design, and policy in support of communities and ecologies on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

• Department: Climate School
• R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Johanna Lovecchio
  Info
• 3 points

RES SEM IN QUANT MTHS-SOC SCI II

This course has two goals.  One, it is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research.  Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from other settings. Two, it is also designed to give students important professional development skills, particularly around academic writing, research methods and job skills.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

RES SEM IN QUANT MTHS-SOC SCI II

RES SEMINAR II

This course has two goals.  One, it is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research.  Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from other settings. Two, it is also designed to give students important professional development skills, particularly around academic writing, research methods and job skills.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• M 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Sandhya Kajeepeta
  Info
• 3 points

RES SEM IN QUANT MTHS-SOC SCI II

This course has two goals.  One, it is designed to expose students in the QMSS degree program to different methods and practices of social science research.  Seminar presentations are given on a wide range of topics by faculty from Columbia and other New York City universities, as well as researchers from other settings. Two, it is also designed to give students important professional development skills, particularly around academic writing, research methods and job skills.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Steven Hubbard
  Info
• 3 points

Climate Change Law and Policy

This course surveys the legal and policy mechanisms, and political and social forces, that can be utilized to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases and to adapt to a warming planet. We will start with a brief introduction to the kinds of policy challenges that climate change poses to international and domestic legal regimes.  The course will then consider the international, federal, state and local legal regimes applicable to climate change, with an emphasis on U.S. law and policy.

In particular, the course will cover the negotiation, implementation and current status of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Accord, the Paris Agreement, the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. The focus will then turn to the past and proposed actions of the U.S. Congress, the executive branch and the courts, as well as regional, state and municipal efforts. The Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act will receive special attention, as will the authority of an administration to reverse prior policy. We will examine efforts in the U.S. and other countries to use the courts to force action on climate change.

We will evaluate the various legal tools that are available to address climate change, including cap-and-trade and carbon offsets; command-and-control regulation; litigation; and securities disclosures. Implications for international human rights, environmental and climate justice, international and intergenerational equity will be discussed.

• Department: Climate School
• M 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Sheila Foster
  Info
• 3 points

CINEMA HIST IV:AFTER 1990

CINEMA HIST IV: AFTER 1990

• Department: Film
• T 9:10 a.m.-1:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Racquel Gates
  Info
• 3 points

ILLNESS/DISABILITY NARRATIVES

• Department: Narrative Medicine
• W 6:10 p.m.-9 p.m.
• Instructor: Mary E Sormanti
  Info
• 4 points

MARKETING STRATEGY

Prerequisites: BUSI PS5020 Introduction to Marketing/or Professor Approval is required Students will develop analytical skills used to formulate and implement marketing driven strategies for an organization. Students will develop a deeper understanding of marketing strategies and how to implement tactics to achieve desired goals. Students will work on case study projects in both individual and team based projects. By the end of this course, you will be able to develop a marketing strategy based on market assessments and company needs.

• Department: Strategic Communication
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Sandy Becker
  Info
• 3 points

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AND S

CORP SUST REPORTING & STR

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of trends and best practices in corporate communications relating to sustainability, with a particular focus on global sustainability reporting frameworks and green marketing communications. It is designed for those who hold/will hold positions in organizations with responsibilities for communicating the sustainability goals, challenges and achievements, as well as accurately and honestly communicating the environmental aspects of an organization's products and services. Increasingly, large corporations are creating c-suite roles or dedicated departments to oversee this function. More typically, multiple functions contribute information such as: Corporate Communications, Marketing, Community Affairs, Public Policy, Environmental Health & Safety, R&D, Facilities, Operations and Legal. Benefits of reporting range from building trust with stakeholders, and uncovering risks and opportunities; to contributing to stronger long-term business strategy, and creating new products and services.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Celine S Ruben-Salama
  Info
• Instructor: Jessica M Thurston
  Info
• 3 points

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AND S

CORP SUST REPORTING & STR

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of trends and best practices in corporate communications relating to sustainability, with a particular focus on global sustainability reporting frameworks and green marketing communications. It is designed for those who hold/will hold positions in organizations with responsibilities for communicating the sustainability goals, challenges and achievements, as well as accurately and honestly communicating the environmental aspects of an organization's products and services. Increasingly, large corporations are creating c-suite roles or dedicated departments to oversee this function. More typically, multiple functions contribute information such as: Corporate Communications, Marketing, Community Affairs, Public Policy, Environmental Health & Safety, R&D, Facilities, Operations and Legal. Benefits of reporting range from building trust with stakeholders, and uncovering risks and opportunities; to contributing to stronger long-term business strategy, and creating new products and services.

• Department: Auditing
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Jessica M Thurston
  Info
• 0 points

Black Ecologies

African and African Diasporic peoples have been central to the creation and transformation of global ecologies and landscapes. As the birthplace of humankind, the African continent features the longest archaeological record in the world, with abundant, yet often underrepresented, material and historical evidence for remarkable Indigenous African innovations in the areas of technology, food production, and resource and land use. This course specifically examines Black ecologies preceding and then radically transformed by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, the enslavement of millions of Africans and their forced translocation to the Americas and Caribbean precipitated ecological transformations on all sides of the Atlantic, as African peoples, knowledge, resources and ecological inheritances were appropriated by the European mercantile system. Enslaved Africans transformed American landscapes via extractive industries of plantations and mines and suffered the emergence of toxic landscapes and disease alongside Native American communities. Africans also recreated African ecologies as they created livelihoods and landscapes of resistance and freedom in the Americas. The legacies of the Atlantic Era maintain a persistent dynamic in which African and African Diasporic communities experience disproportionate burdens of environmental injustice today. The concept of Black ecologies reflects the marginality, systemic racism and dispossession experienced by Black peoples and their landscapes. Black ecologies also allow us to understand African and African Diasporic ecological innovations, resistance and resilience, and the pathways to future sustainability and justice they promise.

• Department: Climate School
• R 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Kristina Douglass
  Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO LIFE INSURANCE

• Department: Actuarial Science
• M 2:40 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Darryl Wagner
  Info
• 3 points

NUMERICAL METHODS IN FINANCE

Prerequisites: some familiarity with the basic principles of partial differential equations, probability and stochastic processes, and of mathematical finance as provided, e.g. in MATH W5010. Prerequisites: some familiarity with the basic principles of partial differential equations, probability and stochastic processes, and of mathematical finance as provided, e.g. in MATH W5010. Review of the basic numerical methods for partial differential equations, variational inequalities and free-boundary problems. Numerical methods for solving stochastic differential equations; random number generation, Monte Carlo techniques for evaluating path-integrals, numerical techniques for the valuation of American, path-dependent and barrier options.

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Jaehyuk Choi
  Info
• 3 points

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: DEVELOP/IMPLEMENT NEW

This course is designed for students interested in entrepreneurship and becoming CEO/Founders or leaders in industry as innovators and operators. The class is appropriate for those with a strong interest in new ventures or innovation at the corporate level, or for those who want to develop an entrepreneurial mindset even if you have no plans to start a business. This includes potential entrepreneurs, those interested in the financing of new ventures, working in new ventures, or a portfolio company, or in broader general management of entrepreneurial firms. Entrepreneurial topics include: the entrepreneurial journey, founders & co-founders, the art of the pitch, shaping opportunities, traditional business models, business models for the greater good, the lean startup method and the hypothesis-driven approach, technology strategy, product testing, marketing strategy, entrepreneurial marketing, venture financing and emerging developments. Academic readings, analysis of case studies, class discussions, independent exercises, reading assessments, team work, guest speakers, investor panels, weekly deliverable options and a final investor pitch are the main modalities used to help you learn and assist you on your entrepreneurial path. There are no prerequisites for this course.

• Department: Technology Management
• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael E Jr McGuire
  Info
• 3 points

Genetics

Prerequisites: BIOL UN2005 and BIOL UN2006 or the equivalent. General genetics course focused on basic principles of transmission genetics and the application of genetic approaches to the study of biological function. Principles will be illustrated using classical and contemporary examples from prokaryote and eukaryote organisms, and the experimental discoveries at their foundation will be featured. Applications will include genetic approaches to studying animal development and human diseases.  All students must get permission from the instructor to be added from the waitlist.

• Department: Biological Sciences
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• 3 points

Disaster Research Methods

The field of disaster research is relatively new in the United States, as a specific field of study, with the first disaster research center being founded in the early 1960s. The field itself is now highly multi-disciplinary, drawing from the social sciences, anthropology, political science, computer science, engineering, earth sciences, psychology, and medicine and public health. These academic fields have intersected with the practice community by informing holistic emergency planning for all members of a community. Furthermore, these research outputs have informed federal and state policy, the private sector, and community organizations to inform program design and implementation. Translating research into practice remains a constant challenge in this rapidly evolving field. The methodological approaches to disaster research are just as diverse and have become increasingly complex with the advent of big data, the ubiquity of spatial information, and novel cross-disciplinary research. As a new era of compound and cascading disasters has triggered a constant “response” mode within the field of emergency management, the need for practitioners and research with a fluency in research and evaluation methods is required to critically evaluate or generate high quality and ethically based research.

• Department: Climate School
• T 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Jonathan J Sury
  Info
• 3 points

PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS

• Department: Dental and Oral Surgery
• 0 points

DECISION MODELS & MANAGEMENT

This course provides an introduction to computer-based models for decision-making.  The emphasis is on models that are widely used in diverse industries and functional areas, including finance, accounting, operations, and marketing.  Applications will include advertising planning, revenue management, asset-liability management, environmental policy modeling, portfolio optimization, and corporate risk management, among others. The applicability and usage of computer-based models have increased dramatically in recent years, due to the extraordinary improvements in computer, information and communication technologies, including not just hardware but also model-solution techniques and user interfaces.  Twenty years ago working with a model meant using an expensive mainframe computer, learning a complex programming language, and struggling to compile data by hand; the entire process was clearly marked “experts only.”  The rise of personal computers, friendly interfaces (such as spreadsheets), and large databases has made modeling far more accessible to managers.  Information has come to be recognized as a critical resource, and models play a key role in deploying this resource, in organizing and structuring information so that it can be used productively.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Lucius J Riccio
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

DECISION MODELS & MANAGEMENT

This course provides an introduction to computer-based models for decision-making.  The emphasis is on models that are widely used in diverse industries and functional areas, including finance, accounting, operations, and marketing.  Applications will include advertising planning, revenue management, asset-liability management, environmental policy modeling, portfolio optimization, and corporate risk management, among others. The applicability and usage of computer-based models have increased dramatically in recent years, due to the extraordinary improvements in computer, information and communication technologies, including not just hardware but also model-solution techniques and user interfaces.  Twenty years ago working with a model meant using an expensive mainframe computer, learning a complex programming language, and struggling to compile data by hand; the entire process was clearly marked “experts only.”  The rise of personal computers, friendly interfaces (such as spreadsheets), and large databases has made modeling far more accessible to managers.  Information has come to be recognized as a critical resource, and models play a key role in deploying this resource, in organizing and structuring information so that it can be used productively.

• Department: Auditing
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Lucius J Riccio
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 0 points

History of the Climate Crisis

The climate crisis is a defining feature of contemporary life. How did we get here? This course considers the historical, social, ethical, and political life of global warming in an effort to better understand the present climate age. Themes and topics include: the origins of fossil fuel-based energy systems and the cultural life of oil; the history of climate science and the geopolitics of climate knowledge production; the emergence of climate change as a global political issue; debates about political responses to climate change versus market-based approaches; the question of culpability and who should be held responsible for causing global warming; and the recent emergence of a global climate justice movement and its relationship to racial justice and indigenous rights movements.

• Department: Climate School
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Leah V Aronowsky
  Info
• 3 points

GHG EMISSIONS: MEASURING AND MINIMIZING

GHG EMISSIONS CARBON FOOT

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now at a record high, and the world’s scientific community agrees that continued unabated release of greenhouse gases will have catastrophic consequences. Many efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, both public and private, have been underway for decades, yet it is now clear that collectively these efforts are failing, and that far more concerted efforts are necessary. In December 2015, the world’s nations agreed in Paris to take actions to limit the future increase in global temperatures well below to 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C. Achieving this goal will require mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, both public and private. Critical to any attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is a clear, accurate understanding of the sources and levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This course will address all facets of greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting and will provide students with tangible skills needed to direct such efforts in the future.

Students in this course will gain hands-on experience designing and executing greenhouse gas emissions inventories for companies, financial institutions and governments employing all necessary skills including the identification of analysis boundaries,  data collection, calculation of emissions levels, and reporting of results. In-class workshops and exercises will complement papers and group assignments. A key component of this course will be critical evaluation of both existing accounting and reporting standards as well as GHG emissions reduction target setting practices.

This course will introduce many of the challenges facing carbon accounting practitioners and will require students to recommend solutions to these challenges derived through critical analysis. Classes will examine current examples of greenhouse gas reporting efforts and will allow students the opportunity to recommend improved calculation and reporting methods.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• 3 points

Climate Risk Assessment

This graduate-level course surveys the many components that go into climate risk assessment, with an emphasis on climate impacts and vulnerability.  We will survey the latest research on climate hazards, with an emphasis on the types of extreme weather events that have the largest societal impacts.  We will then explore these impacts in detail, by sector and system.  We will next investigate determinants of vulnerability, and how vulnerability magnifies climate impacts.  We then query how climate solutions can be integrated into risk assessments in a recursive manner. Throughout the course, we will strike a balance between foundational (‘IPCC-type’) examples on the one hand, and emerging topics like compound extreme events and existential risk on the other.  Throughout the course we will study and employ a number of risk assessment methodologies, based on case studies from within the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

• Department: Climate School
• R 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Radley M Horton
  Info
• 3 points

Extreme Weather Events and Climate Chang

Extreme Weather and Clima

This seminar class will give an overview of the current knowledge of extreme weather events and the impact of anthropogenic climate change on their characteristics. We will start the course by defining extreme weather events and the current state-of-the-art knowledge of how anthropogenic activities influence them, including trends, detection and attribution, as well as future projections. We will discuss the methods typically used for analyzing extreme events and what are the existing uncertainties. The existing warning systems and forecasts for extreme events will be briefly discussed, including their communication and impacts and possible mitigation measures.

• Department: Climate School
• R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Suzana J de Camargo
  Info
• 3 points

Survey & Polling Methodology

Survey research has played a pivotal role in politics for the better part of the last century, with a wide range of campaign and public policy professionals conducting surveys to gain insight into the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of the electorate and citizenry as a whole. Since the early 2000s, the use of survey experiments has become exponentially more prevalent in the political realm as a way to assess attitudes, anticipate reactions, or measure causal relationships. Recent trends point to the growing importance of the internet and social media to conduct surveys and the linkage of survey data with the wealth of publicly available personal information as well as with information on individuals’ social and economic behavior. In this course, students will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of survey research as well as limitations associated with survey design and various analytical techniques, and they will acquire concrete knowledge of practical tools used in campaigns, advocacy, and election forecasting. Students will be introduced to a set of principles for conducting survey research and analyzing survey data that are the basis for standard practice in the field. Students will be familiarized with terminology and concepts associated with survey questionnaire design, sampling, data collection and aggregation, and survey data analysis to gain insights and to test hypotheses about the nature of human and social behavior and interaction. The course will present a framework that will enable students to evaluate the influence of different sources of error on the quality of data.

• Department: Political Analytics
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Kelly T Rader
  Info
• 2 points

ESG ALIGNED CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

ESG ALIGNED CORP GOVERNAN

Environmental, social and governance issues (‘ESG’) are moving to center stage for corporate boards and executive teams.  This elective course complements management and operations courses by focusing on the perspective and roles of the board and C-suite of corporations, financial institutions and professional firms in addressing ESG risks as well as promoting and overseeing governance aligned with ESG principles. The course focuses on the interchange between the external legal, competitive, societal, environmental and policy ‘ecosystems’ corporations face (which vary around the world) and a company’s internal structure, operations and pressures. We will use the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UN Global Compact Principles (which incorporate all aspects of ESG) as the central frameworks to explore the concept of a corporation’s responsibility to respect and remedy human rights and environmental harms.  We will also examine the Equator Principles and other frameworks that spell out good practices for project finance and other investment decisions, and reference a wide range of the myriad indices, supplier disclosure portals and benchmarks that exist in this inter-disciplinary field.  Relevant regulations, corporate law regimes and court cases will be discussed from the point of view of what business managers need to know. While most of the course will deal with companies and firms serving global, regional or national markets, several examples will deal with the question of how the ESG ecosystem affects or offers opportunities to start-ups.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Bridget C Murphy
  Info
• 3 points

ESG ALIGNED CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

ESG ALIGNED CORP GOVERNAN

Environmental, social and governance issues (‘ESG’) are moving to center stage for corporate boards and executive teams.  This elective course complements management and operations courses by focusing on the perspective and roles of the board and C-suite of corporations, financial institutions and professional firms in addressing ESG risks as well as promoting and overseeing governance aligned with ESG principles. The course focuses on the interchange between the external legal, competitive, societal, environmental and policy ‘ecosystems’ corporations face (which vary around the world) and a company’s internal structure, operations and pressures. We will use the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UN Global Compact Principles (which incorporate all aspects of ESG) as the central frameworks to explore the concept of a corporation’s responsibility to respect and remedy human rights and environmental harms.  We will also examine the Equator Principles and other frameworks that spell out good practices for project finance and other investment decisions, and reference a wide range of the myriad indices, supplier disclosure portals and benchmarks that exist in this inter-disciplinary field.  Relevant regulations, corporate law regimes and court cases will be discussed from the point of view of what business managers need to know. While most of the course will deal with companies and firms serving global, regional or national markets, several examples will deal with the question of how the ESG ecosystem affects or offers opportunities to start-ups.

• Department: Auditing
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Bridget C Murphy
  Info
• 0 points

Spatial Analysis of Food Security

Spatial Analysis Food Sec

Globally, over 2 billion people are suffering from moderate-to-severe food insecurity and the Sudan famine being the first famine declared in 2025 since 2020. One key aspect to understanding food insecurity is its spatial distribution and trends that contribute to how food secure a population is. This course will teach students how to collect and analyze spatial data related to food security, as well as touch on important topics in food insecurity. The course will focus on taking real-life food security questions and applying spatial analysis techniques to these questions. In the course, we will cover an introduction to spatial analysis, natural experiments in geography, applying remote sensing to food insecurity, climate shocks and food security, and seasonal forecasting and food security.  

This class will have a lecture aspect, which will mainly focus on topics in food security and how they relate to data collection, and a lab section, which will be an opportunity for students to collect data directly, clean the data, and analyze the data using the R programming language with spatial research methods. Example topics in class will be climate variability and food insecurity, policies that can successfully address food insecurity, and understanding spatial aggregation in food security statistics and how that can influence interpretation. These topics will then be further explored in the lab section of the class: specifically focusing on downloading weather data for time series analysis, using a convergence of datasets to map hotspots, and investigating how survey data intersects with spatial datasets.

• Department: Climate School
• W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Sarah L Blakeley
  Info
• 3 points

ESG - Corporate Strategy

Publicly traded companies are increasingly challenged to contribute to sustainable development and improve quality of life for everyone. The years ahead will reveal the negative side effects and blind spots of conventional strategy tools, which often focus on short-termism, profit maximization, and share price. Historically, social expectations of businesses have been limited to the creation of wealth for owners and shareholders as well as the creation of jobs and economic development for the communities in which they operate. This limited set of expectations has allowed managers to focus on profit maximization as their primary objective and source of value creation. 

Transformative business models, however, will become increasingly important as businesses face the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and social inequity that dominate today’s competitive business landscape. Acquiring the skills to help navigate these conditions will be essential to businesses that seek to thrive and foster a more sustainable world and create shared stakeholder value. 

This course will explore the fundamental role of business in contributing to a more sustainable and just world and the emerging strategies companies are using to align business value creation with social and environmental impacts.  How corporations successfully balance the expectations and interests of stakeholders with profit maximization will be explored. This course will also identify the impacts, risks, and opportunities that leadership must assess and develop strategies to address. The course will explore the benefits of ESG/Sustainability in business, how for-profit businesses can thrive in a competitive setting while still creating long-term stakeholder value, and how companies have embedded ESG strategies, plans and programs to address their related challenges and opportunities. In addition, the course will consider business drivers and macro forces that inform ESG strategy and key concepts and tools that are essential to developing value generating ESG strategies that are good for people, planet, and enterprise profitability.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Pamela Alabaster
  Info
• 3 points

INDUSTRY INSIDER

This course gives students visibility into the rapidly changing communication industry and the wide range of careers available. Curated site visits take us inside world-class agencies and corporate/nonprofit organizations to see how they use strategic communication in the real world. Students gain firsthand exposure to leading practitioners while learning the dynamics of collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. Relevant coursework provides additional perspective.

• Department: Strategic Communication
• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Juli Falkoff
  Info
• Instructor: Andrea Legnani
  Info
• 3 points

STRATEGIC NEGOTIATION IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS

STRAT NEG IN COMPLEX SYST

Negotiation today requires navigating complexity, interpreting incomplete data, managing uncertainty, and fostering trust in environments where clarity is scarce and stakes are high. Practitioners must address information gaps and asymmetry, regulatory pressures, and power dynamics while aligning diverse interests and shaping agreements that endure.

This course prepares students with skills to negotiate effectively across healthcare, technology, and business—domains where outcomes hinge on data limitations, contractual nuance, and shifting stakeholder priorities. Trust and credibility are emphasized as essential currencies, especially when agreements depend on long-term relationships, compliance, and cross-functional collaboration.

Guest speakers from multiple industries will share practical insights into negotiating across roles and power structures. Their perspectives will underscore the value of preparation, trust-building, and adaptive strategies for navigating uncertainty in dynamic environments.

Students will:


Build and apply negotiation frameworks in complex, multiparty environments.

Learn how to extract meaning from structured (quantitative) and unstructured (qualitative) data.

Develop data-informed narratives to guide decision-making and stakeholder alignment.

Practice identifying cognitive bias, ethical tension, and strategic leverage points.

Engage in simulations and case studies grounded in real-world contracting and influence challenges.


Note for NECR Students
: As an elective offered by the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program, this course builds on students’ conflict negotiation skills (PS5105) and their application in healthcare. Students will further engage with concepts on the influences and cultural understandings of conflict parties, and conflict analysis (PS5124 and 6050). The aforementioned courses will contribute to the understanding of this course’s content and should, in general, be taken before this elective.

• Department: Auditing
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Rodney K Jr. Erb
  Info
• 0 points

STRATEGIC NEGOTIATION IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS

STRAT NEG IN COMPLEX SYST

Negotiation today requires navigating complexity, interpreting incomplete data, managing uncertainty, and fostering trust in environments where clarity is scarce and stakes are high. Practitioners must address information gaps and asymmetry, regulatory pressures, and power dynamics while aligning diverse interests and shaping agreements that endure.

This course prepares students with skills to negotiate effectively across healthcare, technology, and business—domains where outcomes hinge on data limitations, contractual nuance, and shifting stakeholder priorities. Trust and credibility are emphasized as essential currencies, especially when agreements depend on long-term relationships, compliance, and cross-functional collaboration.

Guest speakers from multiple industries will share practical insights into negotiating across roles and power structures. Their perspectives will underscore the value of preparation, trust-building, and adaptive strategies for navigating uncertainty in dynamic environments.

Students will:


Build and apply negotiation frameworks in complex, multiparty environments.

Learn how to extract meaning from structured (quantitative) and unstructured (qualitative) data.

Develop data-informed narratives to guide decision-making and stakeholder alignment.

Practice identifying cognitive bias, ethical tension, and strategic leverage points.

Engage in simulations and case studies grounded in real-world contracting and influence challenges.


Note for NECR Students
: As an elective offered by the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program, this course builds on students’ conflict negotiation skills (PS5105) and their application in healthcare. Students will further engage with concepts on the influences and cultural understandings of conflict parties, and conflict analysis (PS5124 and 6050). The aforementioned courses will contribute to the understanding of this course’s content and should, in general, be taken before this elective.

• Department: Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Rodney K Jr. Erb
  Info
• 3 points

INTERNSHIP IN SOCIAL RESEARCH

This course gives students two credits of academic credit for the work they perform in such an social science oriented internships.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 1 points

GEO INFO SYSTEMS (GIS) FOR SUST SCIENCE

Many environmental and sustainability science issues have a spatial, location-based component. Increasingly available spatial data allow location-specific analysis and solutions to problems and understanding issues. As result, analyzing and identifying successful and sustainable solutions for these issues often requires the use of spatial analysis and tools. This course introduces common spatial data types and fundamental methods to organize, visualize and analyze those data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Through a combination of lectures and practical computer activities the students will learn and practice fundamental GIS and spatial analysis methods using typical sustainable science case studies and scenarios. A key objective of this course is to provide students with essential GIS skills that will aid them in their professional career and to offer an overview of current GIS applications. In the first part, the course will cover basic spatial data types and GIS concepts. The students will apply those techniques by analyzing potential impacts of storms on New York City as part of a guided case study. A mid-term report describing this case study and the results is required. In the second part, building on the basic concepts introduced in the first part, students will be asked to identify a sustainable science question of their choice that they would like to address as a final project. Together with the instructor they will be developing a strategy of analyzing and presenting related spatial data. While the students are working on their projects additional GIS method and spatial analysis concepts will be covered in class. At the end of the course Students will briefly present their final project and submit a paper describing their project. This course does not assume that students have had any previous experience with GIS.

• Department: Sustainability Science
• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Frank Nitsche
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 29 Info
• 3 points

MATH FINANCE PRACTITIONERS SEMINAR II

MATH FINANCE PRACTITION S

This seminar offers participants the opportunity to listen to practitioners discuss a range of important topics in the financial industry.  Topics may include portfolio optimization, exotic derivatives, high frequency analysis of data and numerical methods. While most talks require knowledge of mathematical methods in finance, some talks are accessible to a more general audience.

• Department: Mathematics
• R 7:40 p.m.-8:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Jaehyuk Choi
  Info
• 1.5 points

INTERNSHIP IN SOCIAL RESEARCH II

INTERNSHIP IN SOCIAL RSRC

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 1 points

PRACTICUM IN DATA ANALYSIS

This practicum course is meant to offer valuable training to students. Specifically, this practicum will mimicthe typical conditions that students would face in an internship in a large data-intense institution. Thepracticum will focus on four core elements involved in most internships: (1) Developing the intuition andskills to properly scope ambiguous project ideas; (2) practicing organizing and accessing a variety oflarge-scale data sources and formats; (3) conducting basic and advanced analysis of big data; and (4)communicating and “productizing” results and findings from the earlier steps, in things like dashboards,reports, interactive graphics, or apps. The practicum will also give students time to reflect on their work, andhow it would best translate into corporate, non-profit, start-up and other contexts.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Nicole C Dicrecchio
  Info
• 3 points

METHODS WORKSHOP

Introducing students to a series of methods, methodological discussions, and questions relevant to the focus of the Masters program: urban sociology and the public interest. Three methodological perspectives will frame discussions: analytical sociology, small-n methods, and actor-network theory.

• Department: Sociology
• R 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Yao Lu
  h-index: 25 Info
• 4 points

Computing and Research Methods for Clima

Nearly all subdisciplines in climate now rely on aspects of data science to understand problems and evaluate solutions. Climate science is generating “big data” including petabytes of observations from sources such as NASA and even more from climate models. With this big, complex data burden comes the need for advanced data science techniques such that scientists can better understand our climate system and explore possible solutions to the challenge of climate change. 

This course is a broad introduction to research computing and data science drawing from examples in climate science. Students will learn how to work with, analyze, and visualize big datasets. The course will utilize the scientific python ecosystem, Unix/Linux, shell scripting, terminal commands, git/github, and other techniques.

• Department: Climate School
• T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Westervelt
  Info
• 3 points

PRACTICUM IN DATA ANALYSIS II

This practicum will mimic the typical conditions that students would face in an internship in a

large data-intense institution. The practicum will focus on four core elements involved in most

internships:

• developing the intuition and skills to properly scope ambiguous project ideas;

• practicing organizing and accessing a variety of large-scale data sources and formats;

• conducting basic and advanced analysis of big data; and

• communicating and “productizing” results and findings from the earlier steps, in things

like dashboards, reports, interactive graphics, or apps.

The practicum will also give students time to reflect on their work, and how it would best

translate into corporate, non-profit, start-up and other contexts.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Nicole C Dicrecchio
  Info
• Instructor: Benjamin Kinsella
  Info
• 3 points

Sovereign Finance, Climate and Developme

Sovereign Finc, Climate,

The ability of many emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) countries to meet their climate financing objectives depends to a large extent on their cost of capital, which in turn is impacted by the actual and perceived risks of their sovereign debt.  According to the Jubilee Report published in June 2025 by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue, 54 countries spend over ten percent of their revenues on interest payments, and 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest than healthcare.  EMDE countries need workable tools to reduce financing costs and manage sovereign debt in order to fund their development needs and to achieve the climate objectives set out in their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.  

This course will explore the roots of the problem, including the pro-cyclical nature of sovereign financing and refinancing; the role of international financial institutions and credit rating agencies; and the main obstacles to resolving sovereign debt distress in an orderly and timely way, contrasting resolution tools for sovereign debt with those available in the private sector.  Drawing on real-world case studies, we will look at structural innovations that could help debottleneck climate finance, and how effective they can be.  We will consider several prominent proposals to reorient the global financial architecture, focusing on whether and to what extent they can reduce EMDE funding costs and unlock financing for sustainable development and climate investment.

• Department: Climate School
• F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Andrew A Bernstein
  Info
• 1.5 points

INTERNSHIP IN SOCIAL III

INTERNSHP III

Students enrolled in the Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences M.A. program have a number of opportunities for internships with various organizations in New York City. Over the past three years, representatives from a number of different organizations – including ABC News, Pfizer, the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Merrill Lynch, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – have approached students and faculty in QMSS about the possibility of having QMSS students work as interns. Many of these internships require students to receive some sort of course credit for their work. All internships will be graded on a pass/fail basis.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 1 points

Applied Climate II

This course is a core course for all Climate School students in the MA in Climate and Society and MS in Climate .5 credits in the fall and 5. credits in the spring. It is a practicum-style course focused on the application of classroom learnings in a range of professional and real-world situations.

At the beginning of the fall semesters, students will be grouped in teams and assigned a previous years’ Capstone project (a summer project that former CS students have produced in partnership with an external partner). Students will use this previous capstone project to practice skills including: stakeholder engagement strategies, communication and presentation skills, systems thinking, and project planning. 

The fall will be focused on grounding in the topic and challenge of the capstone project, stakeholder discovery and mock engagement, and evaluating its application to the New York City context. The spring will be focused on evaluation of problem definition of the client, work planning and project planning, learning from the client and/or alumni about the outcomes and contemporary challenges/applications of the project, and producing a final project as a team. By the end, students will be prepared to fully engage with their own capstone projects in future semesters, will have honed critical skills to support successful professional applications of their Climate School courses, and will have a ‘mission and values statement’ to guide their future practice as professionals.

• Department: Climate School
• F 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Marcia N Macedo
  Info
• Instructor: Sandra Goldmark
  CULPA: 4 Info
• Instructor: Andrew J Kruczkiewicz
  Info
• Instructor: Radley M Horton
  Info
• 0.5 points

PRACTICUM IN DATA ANALYSIS

This practicum course is meant to offer valuable training to students. Specifically, this practicum will mimicthe typical conditions that students would face in an internship in a large data-intense institution. Thepracticum will focus on four core elements involved in most internships: (1) Developing the intuition andskills to properly scope ambiguous project ideas; (2) practicing organizing and accessing a variety oflarge-scale data sources and formats; (3) conducting basic and advanced analysis of big data; and (4)communicating and “productizing” results and findings from the earlier steps, in things like dashboards,reports, interactive graphics, or apps. The practicum will also give students time to reflect on their work, andhow it would best translate into corporate, non-profit, start-up and other contexts.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• R 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Charles R Riemann
  Info
• Instructor: Gregory A Kossinets
  Info
• 3 points

Global Institutions and the Architecture

Global Inst. & Climate Fi

This course explores the role of international institutions—including the IMF, World Bank, UN agencies, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, regional development banks, and national development banks—in shaping the global response to climate change. We will analyze how mandates, governance structures, financial instruments, and geopolitical dynamics shape the capacity of these institutions to mobilize and allocate climate finance. 

The course emphasizes how current institutions emerged from historical conditions (e.g., the Bretton Woods system, the dollar’s role as anchor currency, and mechanisms to prevent financial instability), and how those legacies both enable and constrain climate finance today. Students will examine reform debates and the rise of new institutions (e.g., AIIB, BRICS’ New Development Bank) as potential complements or alternatives to the prevailing institutions.  

Site visits to the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C. and the United Nations Headquarters in New York will provide first-hand exposure to the workings of these institutions.  The class will also have live video interactions with other global institutions.

• Department: Climate School
• F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Jeffrey D Sachs
  CULPA: 15 Wikipedia Info
• 1.5 points

PRACTICUM IN DATA ANALYSIS

This practicum course is meant to offer valuable training to students. Specifically, this practicum will mimicthe typical conditions that students would face in an internship in a large data-intense institution. The practicum will focus on four core elements involved in most internships: (1) Developing the intuition andskills to properly scope ambiguous project ideas; (2) practicing organizing and accessing a variety oflarge-scale data sources and formats; (3) conducting basic and advanced analysis of big data; and (4)communicating and “productizing” results and findings from the earlier steps, in things like dashboards,reports, interactive graphics, or apps. The practicum will also give students time to reflect on their work, andhow it would best translate into corporate, non-profit, start-up and other contexts.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• R 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Charles R Riemann
  Info
• Instructor: Gregory A Kossinets
  Info
• 3 points

Water Governance

Water is widely recognized as the most essential natural resource for both society and Earth’s ecosystems. Yet the relationship between society and water is complex. While water is critical for livelihoods, it is also frequently a hazard. Floods, droughts, and contaminated water are formidable threats to human well-being. To deal with this dual nature of water, people have long modified the water cycle through engineering schemes like dams, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and interbasin transfer systems as well as through land use and land-cover change.

We need more than just technical solutions. Society needs a clear and robust plan to manage and govern water given its intertwined relationship with this critical resource. In Water Governance, we will explore the political, social, economic, and administrative systems that affect the use, development, and management of water resources. You will be introduced to current themes that influence water governance including sustainable development, integrated water resource management, water rights and pricing, corruption, and equity for marginal groups. These themes will be explored at the local, national, and international levels to provide you with a broad understanding of water governance issues.

• Department: Climate School
• W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael J Puma
  h-index: 23 Info
• 3 points

Water Governance

Water is widely recognized as the most essential natural resource for both society and Earth’s ecosystems. Yet the relationship between society and water is complex. While water is critical for livelihoods, it is also frequently a hazard. Floods, droughts, and contaminated water are formidable threats to human well-being. To deal with this dual nature of water, people have long modified the water cycle through engineering schemes like dams, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and interbasin transfer systems as well as through land use and land-cover change.

We need more than just technical solutions. Society needs a clear and robust plan to manage and govern water given its intertwined relationship with this critical resource. In Water Governance, we will explore the political, social, economic, and administrative systems that affect the use, development, and management of water resources. You will be introduced to current themes that influence water governance including sustainable development, integrated water resource management, water rights and pricing, corruption, and equity for marginal groups. These themes will be explored at the local, national, and international levels to provide you with a broad understanding of water governance issues.

• Department: Climate School
• W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael J Puma
  h-index: 23 Info
• 3 points

Insurance for Climate Change in the Glob

Climate change is overwhelming the world’s capacity to manage climate risk. Index insurance and other financial risk transfer tools, such as derivatives, cat-bonds, and humanitarian disaster funds are being increasingly looked to as solutions to address year to year climate risk to support climate adaptation. However, success is mixed, with experiences of inadequate performance, opaqueness, exploitation, incentivization of mal-adaptation, and approaches that undermine sovereignty and governance. Co-generation and governance tools are not yet developed enough to assure that those who the financing is intended to benefit have an adequate voice in design, or understand critical limitations. There are no easy solutions, with many difficult trade-offs, unsolved problems, and justice challenges. 

In the class, students work to understand the relationship between academic research and project level challenges. The course will be an insider view of practical real world case studies. Students will use real world project materials, data, and software tools to work through the evolution of thought over time, exploring issues such as incentivization of adaptation through community driven strategies, avoiding potential pitfalls, and responsibly implementing financial solutions for large numbers of low-income people. Students will use interactive software tools, quantitative games, and project workflows to analyze case studies and cumulatively develop their own real world case study, guided by academic debates and their own insights to build their own interactive tools and finance solutions.

• Department: Climate School
• W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Osgood
  h-index: 23 Info
• 3 points

Leadership

Successful leaders in politics, campaign management, and related professions must be able to lead change in their organizations, not only motivate and manage their teams toward a common goal. The aims that leaders seek to achieve are determined by their ability to create value, collaborate, influence, navigate uncertainty, and advance ideas, programs, and movements. In this course, students will learn about how the development of personal attributes and abilities lays the groundwork for building the core leadership competencies that are essential for high-impact management as well as changing the behavior and the culture of organizations with particular emphasis on how to successfully introduce the methods and results of analytics. Students will explore the motivations, obstacles, and interventions of change, and learn to build alliances, facilitate difficult meetings and develop a transformation plan. They will also review some of the most important academic research and business publications on change management and the implementation of analytics. The course is intended to enhance practical skills through dynamic interactions with the instructor, role-playing with classmates, and other real-world experiences.

• Department: Political Analytics
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: David Wolfson
  Info
• 2 points

SUSTAINABLE FASHION AND STARTUP STRATEGY

SUST FASHION & STARTUP ST

Fashion’s consistent ranking among the top 3 global polluters has become a decades old fact struggling to gain a proportionate response among the brand startup and sourcing community. With industry revenues set to exceed $1 trillion, there is an opportunity to critically address existing revenue models predicated on traditional metrics, such as constant growth, and singular bottom lines. The course attempts to create a nexus between the fashion entrepreneur and systems thinker to explore strategic solutions that address sustainability though an environmental, social and economic lens. The aim is to foster a mindful, yet critical discourse on fashion industry initiatives, past and present, and to practice various tools that help transition existing organizations and incubate new startups towards sustainable outcomes.

• Department: Sustainability Management
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Ammar Belal
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICS, DATA ANALYSIS, AND CODING FO

STATS, DATA, ANLYS&CODING

Students in the Master of Science in Sustainability Science program will encounter a range of scientific problems throughout their Science-specific courses that require a strong working knowledge of computer programming.  This course provides an introduction to scientific programming using Python. Computer coding skills gained in the course will prepare students for coursework in the Master of Science in Sustainability Science program as well as to succeed in a career having a programming component.  Students enrolled in this course will learn through lectures, class discussion, and hands-on exercises that address the following topics:


Basics of computer programming, including precision of variables, arrays and data structures, input/output, control flow, and subroutines.

Applying Python to read common scientific data formats, including NetCDF for gridded climate and other environmental data.

Applying Python for data analysis, with a focus on popular machine learning methods including linear regression, decision trees, neural networks, principal component analysis, and clustering.

Applying Python to visualize scientific data through basic X-Y plots as well as images of data fields on a global map.


This course will train students to analyze and model scientific data using Python in order to better understand current and future environments and their interactions with human systems.  By learning analysis and modeling with Python, students will be better able to inform sustainability policy, management, and decision-making.

• Department: Sustainability Science
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Previdi
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICS, DATA ANALYSIS, AND CODING FO

STATS, DATA, ANLYS&CODING

Students in the Master of Science in Sustainability Science program will encounter a range of scientific problems throughout their Science-specific courses that require a strong working knowledge of computer programming.  This course provides an introduction to scientific programming using Python. Computer coding skills gained in the course will prepare students for coursework in the Master of Science in Sustainability Science program as well as to succeed in a career having a programming component.  Students enrolled in this course will learn through lectures, class discussion, and hands-on exercises that address the following topics:


Basics of computer programming, including precision of variables, arrays and data structures, input/output, control flow, and subroutines.

Applying Python to read common scientific data formats, including NetCDF for gridded climate and other environmental data.

Applying Python for data analysis, with a focus on popular machine learning methods including linear regression, decision trees, neural networks, principal component analysis, and clustering.

Applying Python to visualize scientific data through basic X-Y plots as well as images of data fields on a global map.


This course will train students to analyze and model scientific data using Python in order to better understand current and future environments and their interactions with human systems.  By learning analysis and modeling with Python, students will be better able to inform sustainability policy, management, and decision-making.

• Department: Auditing
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Previdi
  Info
• 0 points

SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

The course is designed to teach students the foundations of network analysis including how to manipulate, analyze and visualize network data themselves using statistical software. We will focus on using the statistical program R for most of the work. Topics will include measures of network size, density, and tie strength, measures of network diversity, sampling issues, making ego-nets from whole networks, distance, dyads, homophily, balance and transitivity, structural holes, brokerage, measures of centrality (degree, betweenness, closeness, eigenvector, beta/Bonacich), statistical inference using network data, community detection, affiliation/bipartite networks, clustering and small worlds; positions, roles and equivalence; visualization, simulation, and network evolution over time.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

DATA VISUALIZATION

This course is designed to the interdisciplinary and emerging field of data science. It will cover techniques and algorithms for creating effective visualizations based on principles from graphic design, visual art, perceptual psychology, and cognitive science to enhance the understanding of complex data. Students will be required to complete several scripting, data analysis and visualization design assignments as well as a final project. Topics include: data and image models, social and interactive visualizations, principles and designs, perception and attention, mapping and cartography, network visualization. Computational methods are emphasized and students will be expected to program in R, Javascript, D3, HTML and CSS and will be expected to submit and peer review work through Github. Students will be expected to write up the results of the project in the form of a conference paper submission.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Thomas Brambor
  h-index: 9 Info
• 3 points

PROSEMINAR II

• Department: Sociology
• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• 1 points

BAYESIAN STATS FOR THE SOC SCI

An introduction to Bayesian statistical methods with applications to the social sciences. Considerable emphasis will be placed on regression modeling and model checking. The primary software used will be Stan, which students do not need to be familiar with in advance. Students in the course will access the Stan library via R, so some experience with R is necessary. Any QMSS student is presumed to have sufficient background. Any non-QMSS students interested in taking this course should have a comparable background to a QMSS student in basic probability. Topics to be covered are a review of calculus and probability, Bayesian principles, prediction and model checking, linear regression models, Bayesian calculations with Stan, hierarchical linear models, nonlinear regression models, missing data, and decision theory.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• M 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Hadi Katesari
  Info
• 3 points

FIELD WORK II

• Department: Sociology
• F 8:10 a.m.-9 a.m.
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• 1 points

NATURAL LANG PROCESSING SOCIAL SCIENCES

Social scientists need to engage with natural language processing (NLP) approaches that are found in computer science, engineering, AI, tech and in industry. This course will provide an overview of natural language processing as it is applied in a number of domains. The goal is to gain familiarity with a number of critical topics and techniques that use text as data, and then to see how those NLP techniques can be used to produce social science research and insights. This course will be hands-on, with several large-scale exercises. The course will start with an introduction to Python and associated key NLP packages and github. The course will then cover topics like language modeling; part of speech tagging; parsing; information extraction; tokenizing; topic modeling; machine translation; sentiment analysis; summarization; supervised machine learning; and hidden Markov models. Prerequisites are basic probability and statistics, basic linear algebra and calculus. The course will use Python, and so if students have programmed in at least one software language, that will make it easier to keep up with the course.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Patrick Houlihan
  Info
• 3 points

NATURAL LANG PROCESSING SOCIAL SCIENCES

NATURAL LANG PROC SOC SCI

Social scientists need to engage with natural language processing (NLP) approaches that are found in computer science, engineering, AI, tech and in industry. This course will provide an overview of natural language processing as it is applied in a number of domains. The goal is to gain familiarity with a number of critical topics and techniques that use text as data, and then to see how those NLP techniques can be used to produce social science research and insights. This course will be hands-on, with several large-scale exercises. The course will start with an introduction to Python and associated key NLP packages and github. The course will then cover topics like language modeling; part of speech tagging; parsing; information extraction; tokenizing; topic modeling; machine translation; sentiment analysis; summarization; supervised machine learning; and hidden Markov models. Prerequisites are basic probability and statistics, basic linear algebra and calculus. The course will use Python, and so if students have programmed in at least one software language, that will make it easier to keep up with the course.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Samira Zaroudi
  Info
• 3 points

THESIS SEMINAR II

• Department: Sociology
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Denise Milstein
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 5 Info
• Instructor: Adam Reich
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 3 points

APPLIED DATA SCI FOR SOC SCIENTISTS

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Marco A Morales Barba
  Info
• 3 points

GIS & SPATIAL ANALYSIS-SOC SCI

Prerequisites: Undergraduate Statistics This course introduces students to basic spatial analytic skills. It covers introductory concepts and tools in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and database management. As well, the course introduces students to the process of developing and writing an original spatial research project. Topics to be covered include: social theories involving space, place and reflexive relationships; social demography concepts and databases; visualizing social data using geographic information systems; exploratory spatial data analysis of social data and spatially weighted regression models, spatial regression models of social data, and space-time models. Use of open-source software (primarily the R software package) will be taught as well.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Edwin Y Grimsley
  Info
• 3 points

Machine Learning in Sustainability Scien

This course is for students who wish to participate in a hands-on, project-based, exploration of how machine learning (ML) can be harnessed to tackle challenges in sustainability science.  Students will work collaboratively on a semester-long coding project, applying ML techniques to real sustainability problems in data analysis and visualization. Along the way, they will sharpen their skills in AI-assisted coding with tools such as ChatGPT, using these technologies not just to write and debug code more efficiently, but also to enhance creativity, streamline collaboration, and bring complex ideas to life. By the end of the course, students will have experienced the full arc of designing, building, and refining an ML solution with direct relevance to the future of our planet.

This course equips students with experience using advanced scientific and computational tools for tackling environmental and sustainability challenges. Through AI-assisted coding of ML solutions, students develop creative approaches to analyzing, modeling, and interpreting state-of-the-art observations of Earth systems using rigorous, quantitative methods. Guided readings and discussion will help students achieve mastery of the subject. The class takes place in a project-based setting where students collaborate on a semester-long project, requiring them to plan together, manage tasks, and integrate diverse skills in applying scientific principles to real-world problems. In doing so, the course not only deepens technical expertise but also strengthens students’ ability to provide data-driven insights that inform sustainability decision-making.

• Department: Sustainability Science
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: James L Davis
  h-index: 57 Info
• 3-4 points

Machine Learning in Sustainability Scien

This course is for students who wish to participate in a hands-on, project-based, exploration of how machine learning (ML) can be harnessed to tackle challenges in sustainability science.  Students will work collaboratively on a semester-long coding project, applying ML techniques to real sustainability problems in data analysis and visualization. Along the way, they will sharpen their skills in AI-assisted coding with tools such as ChatGPT, using these technologies not just to write and debug code more efficiently, but also to enhance creativity, streamline collaboration, and bring complex ideas to life. By the end of the course, students will have experienced the full arc of designing, building, and refining an ML solution with direct relevance to the future of our planet.

This course equips students with experience using advanced scientific and computational tools for tackling environmental and sustainability challenges. Through AI-assisted coding of ML solutions, students develop creative approaches to analyzing, modeling, and interpreting state-of-the-art observations of Earth systems using rigorous, quantitative methods. Guided readings and discussion will help students achieve mastery of the subject. The class takes place in a project-based setting where students collaborate on a semester-long project, requiring them to plan together, manage tasks, and integrate diverse skills in applying scientific principles to real-world problems. In doing so, the course not only deepens technical expertise but also strengthens students’ ability to provide data-driven insights that inform sustainability decision-making.

• Department: Auditing
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: James L Davis
  h-index: 57 Info
• 0 points

MODERN DATA STRUCTURES

This course is intended to provide a detailed tour on how to access, clean, “munge” and organize data, both big and small. (It should also give students a flavor of what would be expected of them in a typical data science interview.) Each week will have simple, moderate and complex examples in class, with code to follow. Students will then practice additional exercises at home. The end point of each project would be to get the data organized and cleaned enough so that it is in a data-frame, ready for subsequent analysis and graphing. Therefore, no analysis or visualization (beyond just basic tables and plots to make sure everything was correctly organized) will be taught; and this will free up substantial time for the “nitty-gritty” of all of this data wrangling.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Raymond Hicks
  Info
• 3 points

MACHINE LEARNING SOC SCI

Prerequisites: basic probability and statistics, basic linear algebra, and calculus This course will provide a comprehensive overview of machine learning as it is applied in a number of domains. Comparisons and contrasts will be drawn between this machine learning approach and more traditional regression-based approaches used in the social sciences. Emphasis will also be placed on opportunities to synthesize these two approaches. The course will start with an introduction to Python, the scikit-learn package and GitHub. After that, there will be some discussion of data exploration, visualization in matplotlib, preprocessing, feature engineering, variable imputation, and feature selection. Supervised learning methods will be considered, including OLS models, linear models for classification, support vector machines, decision trees and random forests, and gradient boosting. Calibration, model evaluation and strategies for dealing with imbalanced datasets, n on-negative matrix factorization, and outlier detection will be considered next. This will be followed by unsupervised techniques: PCA, discriminant analysis, manifold learning, clustering, mixture models, cluster evaluation. Lastly, we will consider neural networks, convolutional neural networks for image classification and recurrent neural networks. This course will primarily us Python. Previous programming experience will be helpful but not requisite. Prerequisites: basic probability and statistics, basic linear algebra, and calculus.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Mazen Asaad
  Info
• Instructor: Haiyuan Wang
  Info
• 3 points

PROJECTS IN ADVANCED MACHINE LEARNING

ADV MACHINE LEARNING

Machine learning algorithms continue to advance in their capacity to predict outcomes and rival human judgment in a variety of settings.  This course is designed to offer insight into advanced machine learning models, including Deep Learning, Recurrent Neural Networks, Adversarial Neural Networks, Time Series models and others.  Students are expected to have familiarity with using Python, the scikit-learn package, and github.  The other half of the course will be devoted to students working in key substantive areas, where advanced machine learning will prove helpful -- areas like computer vision and images, text and natural language processing, and tabular data.  Students will be tasked to develop team projects in these areas and they will develop a public portfolio of three (or four) meaningful projects.  By the end of the course, students will be able to show their work by launching their models in live REST APIs and web-applications.

• Department: Quantitative Methods/Social Sciences
• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Alexander Peterhansl
  Info
• 3 points

ORAL HISTORY INTERNSHIP

• Department: Oral History
• R 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy A Starecheski
  h-index: 5 Info
• 2-4 points

INTRO SOCIAL DATA ANLYS II LAB

• Department: Sociology
• F 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Robin I Hart
  Info
• 0 points

THE AUTHENTIC LEADER

Effective leaders are able to think critically about problems and opportunities, imagine unexpected futures, craft a compelling vision, and drive change. In this course, we study the theoretical underpinnings of leadership communication, relying on empirical evidence as a guide for practice. Students gain important perspective on leadership styles, mastering the competencies required for a variety of contexts.

• Department: Auditing
• S 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Jenny M Fernandez
  Info
• 0 points

THE AUTHENTIC LEADER

Effective leaders are able to think critically about problems and opportunities, imagine unexpected futures, craft a compelling vision, and drive change. In this course, we study the theoretical underpinnings of leadership communication, relying on empirical evidence as a guide for practice. Students gain important perspective on leadership styles, mastering the competencies required for a variety of contexts.

• Department: Strategic Communication
• S 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Jenny M Fernandez
  Info
• 3 points

THE DOCUMENTARY TRADITION

• Department: Film
• R 2 p.m.-5:45 p.m.
• Instructor: Nico Baumbach
  Info
• 3 points

MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING

MULTIMEDIA PRACTICE

This course is a survey of the documentary craft and industry through the lens of the documentary relationship. We will define the documentary relationship as those relations organic to the process of crafting documentary. Those can be between narrator and producer, between collaborators, and between material and meaning. We will ask questions about craft, ethics, and power within documentary work and workshop short documentary works of our own

• Department: Oral History
• W 5:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Destry M Sibley
  Info
• 4 points

MONITORING AND ANALYSIS OF COASTAL MARIN

MARINE & ESTUARY SYSTEMS

From a global perspective, many of the earth’s most important environments and resources for global sustainability are located in marine and estuarine areas.  This class will explore open-ocean and estuarine processes, reviewing what is known about the temporal variability and interconnectedness of these physical and biologic systems.. A few examples include; 1.) oceanic environments were incompletely understood processes regulate the exchange of heat, water and carbon dioxide gas with the atmosphere, 2.) the relationship between nutrients and primary production and fisheries in open ocean, estuarine and coral reef environments and climatic phenomenon such as El Niño South Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). 3.) For estuaries, current sea level and urbanization stresses on the coastal environments will be discussed.  Professionals working in the environmental and engineering fields will benefit from a wide-ranging discussion of the multi-scaled processes influencing estuaries. Knowledge of the processes operating in these environments will lead to a more thorough understanding of the complex issues that may influence infrastructure and coastal development in and around estuarine environments in the near-future. Throughout the class we will explore marine and estuarine processes by studying regional and local responses to broader scale climatic forcing. Reading of textbook chapters and journal articles will supplement in-class lectures and discussion. Grading will be based on class participation, a two exams and a research paper. At the end of the course, students will have a strong scientific understanding about the impacts made on marine and estuary systems through physical, chemical, and biological processes. The course will prepare students to be well-trained in the core features of these systems and the relationship between natural and human processes, and equip them with the skills needed to explore marine and estuary systems in diverse scales and functions in the future.

• Department: Sustainability Science
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Braddock Linsley
  h-index: 42 Info
• 3 points

MONITORING AND ANALYSIS OF COASTAL MARIN

MONIT & ANLYS OF COASTAL

From a global perspective, many of the earth’s most important environments and resources for global sustainability are located in marine and estuarine areas.  This class will explore open-ocean and estuarine processes, reviewing what is known about the temporal variability and interconnectedness of these physical and biologic systems.. A few examples include; 1.) oceanic environments were incompletely understood processes regulate the exchange of heat, water and carbon dioxide gas with the atmosphere, 2.) the relationship between nutrients and primary production and fisheries in open ocean, estuarine and coral reef environments and climatic phenomenon such as El Niño South Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). 3.) For estuaries, current sea level and urbanization stresses on the coastal environments will be discussed.  Professionals working in the environmental and engineering fields will benefit from a wide-ranging discussion of the multi-scaled processes influencing estuaries. Knowledge of the processes operating in these environments will lead to a more thorough understanding of the complex issues that may influence infrastructure and coastal development in and around estuarine environments in the near-future. Throughout the class we will explore marine and estuarine processes by studying regional and local responses to broader scale climatic forcing. Reading of textbook chapters and journal articles will supplement in-class lectures and discussion. Grading will be based on class participation, a two exams and a research paper. At the end of the course, students will have a strong scientific understanding about the impacts made on marine and estuary systems through physical, chemical, and biological processes. The course will prepare students to be well-trained in the core features of these systems and the relationship between natural and human processes, and equip them with the skills needed to explore marine and estuary systems in diverse scales and functions in the future.

• Department: Auditing
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Braddock Linsley
  h-index: 42 Info
• 0 points

Quantum Simulation and Computing Lab

Quantum Simul. & Computin

The “Quantum Simulation and Computing Lab” will give students in the Quantum Masters program hands-on experience in quantum optics, quantum simulation and quantum computing. The course combines lectures, tutorials, and two lab sections. In one lab section, students will do experiments with entangled photons. In the second lab section, students will program quantum computers and run algorithms on them using the IBM Qiskit platform.

The course starts with a recap of linear algebra and quantum mechanics, followed by an introduction to quantum optics and quantum information. Two-level systems, Bloch sphere, quantum gates, and elementary quantum algorithms will be discussed. Quantum teleportation and quantum key distribution will be introduced as applications of entanglement. The lecture content will be directly applied in experiments with entangled photons. In the following, state-of-the-art quantum algorithms will be discussed, related to cutting-edge research results in quantum computing. This includes quantum Fourier transform, quantum simulation of the Schroedinger equation, and the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. During the course students will do one experimental project with entangled photons and one quantum programming project. Students will be guided to implement a quantum algorithm of their choice and run it on a quantum computer (IBM, IonQ, QuEra).

• Department: Physics
• WF 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Zhenjie Yan
  Info
• 3 points

DIGITAL MEDIA & ANALYTICS

Digital media opens new opportunities for increasingly targeted communications across a variety of channels, which rapidly expands the importance of analytics in tracking and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs). This course prepares students to work within data- and model-driven environments with an emphasis on using analytics to develop insights and support strategic decisions.

• Department: Strategic Communication
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Lilian Ore
  Info
• 3 points

DIGITAL MEDIA & ANALYTICS

Digital media opens new opportunities for increasingly targeted communications across a variety of channels, which rapidly expands the importance of analytics in tracking and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs). This course prepares students to work within data- and model-driven environments with an emphasis on using analytics to develop insights and support strategic decisions.

• Department: Auditing
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Lilian Ore
  Info
• 0 points

FUNDAMENTLS OF OMBUDS PRACTICE

This is a practice-based course designed to introduce students to ombuds work, and to help students develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to succeed in the role of an organizational ombuds.  Underlying theory will be explored in the context of practice. This course will emphasize the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics put forth by the International Ombudsman Association (IOA).  Upon successful completion of the course, students will be fundamentally prepared to apply for entry-level positions in the field of organizational ombuds and should have the requisite knowledge base to sit for the IOA’s Certified Organizational Ombuds Practitioner exam.

Note for NECR Students
: This course is offered as an elective in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program. The course builds upon students’ negotiation and mediation skills and self-awareness as a practitioner.  It is highly recommended that students complete PS5105, PS5107 and PS5124 prior to enrolling in this course.

• Department: Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
• S 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Amy E Sereday
  Info
• 3 points

COMPLEXITY OF CONFLICT AND CHANGE MANAGE

Complexity of Conflict and Change Management (NECR K5095) is an elective course in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) Program. The course explores how change can create conflict and also how conflict requires change. Conflict is generally about differences in how people think, know, prefer, believe, and understand. By entering into a conflict resolution process, people can shift their understanding and beliefs about the conflict, the other party or parties, and possible outcomes. The course reviews literature and case studies of how people are impacted at a fundamental level when change occurs. Understanding this elemental human experience can lead to greater self-awareness and the ability to manage change professionally and personally, in order to become effective change agents, negotiators, mediators, and peacemakers. We will also explore how leaders at all levels in organizations can play an important role in implementing change in an organizational context. Thoughtful and strategic approaches that consider the impact of a change management process can mitigate and even prevent conflict. We will review change management models and links to developments in neuroscience and how humans are biologically wired to resist change. Balancing theory and practice, this course will focus on the experience and expertise of the students. They will learn to apply practical conflict resolution approaches to change efforts at the individual and organizational levels as well as consider national and international applications.

• Department: Auditing
• WR noon-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Susan Levin
  Info
• 0 points