Prerequisites: MATH UN2010 and MATH GU4041 and MATH GU4051 The study of topological spaces from algebraic properties, including the essentials of homology and the fundamental group. The Brouwer fixed point theorem. The homology of surfaces. Covering spaces.
This seminar examines ways in which Italy is understood and represented by Italians and non-Italians. It will analyze the formation of multiple discourses on Italy, how Italian culture and society are imagined, represented and/or distorted. Based on an anthropological perspective, this course will examine ways in which we can understand Italy through the intersections of pluralism, ethnicity, gender, and religion. The course will study how Italy strives for political and economic unity, while there is a concurrent push toward inequality, exclusion, and marginalization. Moreover, the course will analyze the revitalization of nationalism on one hand of regionalism on the other, and will focus on the concepts of territory, identity, and tradition. Short videos that can be watched on computer and alternative readings for those fluent in Italian will be assigned. There are no pre-requisites for this course.
The course is dedicated to “Chevengur”, Andrey Platonov's famous and complicated novel about the Russian Revolution. The novel will be interpreted as a compendium and a peculiar philosophical exploration of various forms of utopian thinking and will be used as a perspective to the history of the utopian genre.
After introductory reading of parts of the novel, the first part of the course will juxtapose Platonov’s work to famous literary and philosophical versions of utopian thinking (like Thomas More’s “Utopia”; Fourier’s “Ideal community”; texts of Marx, Engels and Lenin that exemplify the fate of utopia in the communist philosophy and politics, as well as the transformation of the genre into "science-based" project for transformation of society). A following lecture will provide the students with a general overview of the contradictory history of the utopian genre and its branches in the elitist and popular culture. Discussing briefly the birth of anti-utopias and dystopias, the course will pay special attention to the utopian projects of the Russian avant-garde, created during the Revolution and in the times of war communism.
Having this historical context in mind, the second part of the course will focus on close reading of the novel and will handle various problems, such as:
1. The structure of plot, narrative perspective, voice of the narrator, unusual deviations in Platonov’s style and language, structure of metaphors and tropes, etc.
2. The place and meaning of various strange peasant and “stupid” utopias, which are part of the novel’s imaginary world. Here the class will discuss Platonov's attempt to create an absurd meta-utopia (utopia exploring other utopias), which is exemplified in the town of Chevengur – the fictional ‘axis mundi” of sentimental fools.
3. The novel’s inter-textual references to other important works of the classical Russian literature and to the religious and philosophical/political projects of Russian Cosmism and Biocosmism. Here the focus of discussion will move toward Platonov’s own metaphysical and “biocosmic” ideas (or illusions) in their dramatic relations to the complex literary work.
In its third part, the course will return to the present-day and will focus on the critical reception of “Chevengur” in recent decades, paying special attention to some contemporary
Enrollment limited to 12 students. Mechatronics is the application of electronics and microcomputers to control mechanical systems. Systems explored include on/off systems, solenoids, stepper motors, DC motors, thermal systems, magnetic levitation. Use of analog and digital electronics and various sensors for control. Programming microcomputers in Assembly and C. Lab required.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1202 or the equivalent, and MATH UN2010. The second term of this course may not be taken without the first. Real numbers, metric spaces, elements of general topology, sequences and series, continuity, differentiation, integration, uniform convergence, Ascoli-Arzela theorem, Stone-Weierstrass theorem.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1202 or the equivalent, and MATH UN2010. The second term of this course may not be taken without the first. Power series, analytic functions, Implicit function theorem, Fubini theorem, change of variables formula, Lebesgue measure and integration, function spaces.
Building the functional map of the fruit fly brain. Molecular transduction and spatio-temporal encoding in the early visual system. Predictive coding in the Drosophila retina. Canonical circuits in motion detection. Canonical navigation circuits in the central complex. Molecular transduction and combinatorial encoding in the early olfactory system. Predictive coding in the antennal lobe. The functional role of the mushroom body and the lateral horn. Canonical circuits for associative learning and innate memory. Projects in Python.
Prerequisites: one year each of biology and physics, or the instructor's permission. This is a combined lecture/seminar course designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The course will cover a series of cases where biological systems take advantage of physical phenomena in counter intuitive and surprising ways to accomplish their functions. In each of these cases, we will discuss different physical mechanisms at work. We will limit our discussions to simple, qualitative arguments. We will also discuss experimental methods enabling the study of these biological systems. Overall, the course will expose students to a wide range of physical concepts involved in biological processes.
Please refer to Institute for African American and African Diaspora Studies Department for section-by-section course descriptions.
Please refer to Institute for African American and African Diaspora Studies Department for section-by-section course descriptions.
Please refer to Institute for African American and African Diaspora Studies Department for section-by-section course descriptions.
RNA has recently taken center stage with the discovery that RNA molecules sculpt the landscape and information contained within our genomes. Furthermore, some ancient RNA molecules combine the roles of both genotype and phenotype into a single molecule. These multi-tasking RNAs offering a possible solution to the paradox of which came first: DNA or proteins. This seminar explores the link between modern RNA, metabolism, and insights into a prebiotic RNA world that existed some 3.8 billion years ago. Topics include the origin of life, replication, and the origin of the genetic code; conventional, new, and bizarre forms of RNA processing; structure, function and evolution of key RNA molecules, including the ribosome, and RNA therapeutics including vaccines. The format will be weekly seminar discussions with presentations. Readings will be taken from the primary literature, emphasizing seminal and recent literature. Requirements will be student presentations, class participation, and a final paper.
Prerequisites: (MATH GU4051 or MATH GU4061) and MATH UN2010 Concept of a differentiable manifold. Tangent spaces and vector fields. The inverse function theorem. Transversality and Sards theorem. Intersection theory. Orientations. Poincare-Hopf theorem. Differential forms and Stokes theorem.
An introduction to how the Earth and planets work. The focus is on physical processes that control plate tectonics and the evolution of planetary interiors and surfaces; analytical descriptions of these processes; weekly physical model demonstrations.
Students will read and discuss classical as well as contemporary research papers on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of membrane excitability, synaptic transmission and sensory transduction, and the pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutics of certain neurological diseases related to these processes. Focus will be on intellectual creativity, conceptual breakthroughs, and technical advances. A key goal of the course is to help students become a critical reader and thinker. Graduate students in all disciplines are welcome. Advanced undergraduate students can enroll with instructor’s permission.
For PhD students in the Biological Sciences Program, this is a tier 3 course.
This course looks closely at objects and images produced by Native North Americans across history. Grounding our study in essays and guest lectures from Native scholars, we will investigate the significance of the works and how and to whom meaning is communicated. Beginning with an introduction that links aesthetics and worldview using the conventional organizing principle of the culture area, we quickly move on to case studies that take up key issues that persist for Native people living under settler colonialism today, including questions of sovereignty, self-expression, transformation and representation. Along the way, we will also tackle historiographic questions about how knowledge about Native art has been produced in universities and museums and how Indigenous people have worked to counter those discourses.
“Sacred” space in the Indian subcontinent was at the epicenter of human experience. This course presents Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, and Jain spaces and the variety of ways in which people experienced them. Moving from the monumental stone pillars of the early centuries BCE to nineteenth century colonial India, we learn how the organization and imagery of these spaces supported devotional activity and piety. We discuss too how temples, monasteries, tombs, and shrines supported the pursuit of pleasure, amusement, sociability, and other worldly interests. We also explore the symbiotic relationship between Indic religions and kingship, and the complex ways in which politics and court culture shaped sacred environments. The course concludes with European representations of South Asia’s religions and religious places.
Prerequisite: open to public. Presentations by medical informatics faculty and invited international speakers in medical informatics, computer science, nursing informatics, library science, and related fields.
Provides an opportunity for students to engage in independent study in an area of interest. A mentor is assigned.
Prerequisites: (ENME E3106) or equivalent. Basic concepts of seismology. Earthquake characteristics, magnitude, response spectrum, dynamic response of structures to ground motion. Base isolation and earthquake-resistant design. Wind loads and aeroelastic instabilities. Extreme winds. Wind effects on structures and gust factors.
Fluid dynamics and analyses for mechanical engineering and aerospace applications: boundary layers and lubrication, stability and turbulence, and compressible flow. Turbomachinery as well as additional selected topics.
People are living 30 years longer than we did 100 years ago. We have created a whole new stage of life. How do we prepare to benefit from our longer lives? What can you do in your own life? This course explores the personal, population, community, and societal dimensions of our now-longer lives, of aging itself, and the role of health and societal design in the experience of aging. The course examines the meaning of aging and the attendant expectations, myths, fears, and realities. The course examines an aging society as a public health success, the potential for building health futures, the health plan you want to be healthy in old age, and the potential for longer lives and how we unlock it. It addresses the roles public health currently plays and can play in shaping a society for an aging population. The course explores how a public health system—indeed, a society—optimized for an aging population stands to benefit all. The course also examines the physical, cognitive, and psychological aspects of aging, the exposures across our lives that affect these, the attributes and challenges of aging, keys to successful aging, and aging around the globe. The culminating project will design elements of our society that are needed to support the opportunity of having longer lives. This course comprises lectures, class discussions, individual assignments, in-class case activities, and a group project in which students shall take an active role. You will be responsible for regular preparatory assignments, writing assignments, one group project, and attending course sessions. Please note: GSAS students must receive permission from their department before registering for this course.
This course will begin by clearly defining what sustainability management is and determining if a sustainable economy is actually feasible. Students will learn to connect environmental protection to organizational management by exploring the technical, financial, managerial, and political challenges of effectively managing a sustainable environment and economy. This course is taught in a case-based format and will seek to help students learn the basics of management, environmental policy and sustainability economics. Sustainability management matters because we only have one planet, and we must learn how to manage our organizations in a way that ensures that the health of our planet can be maintained and bettered. This course is designed to introduce students to the field of sustainability management. It is not an academic course that reviews the literature of the field and discusses how scholars thing about the management of organizations that are environmentally sound. It is a practical course organized around the core concepts of sustainability.
An introduction to the analytic and geometric theory of dynamical systems; basic existence, uniqueness and parameter dependence of solutions to ordinary differential equations; constant coefficient and parametrically forced systems; Fundamental solutions; resonance; limit points, limit cycles and classification of flows in the plane (Poincare-Bendixson Therem); conservative and dissipative systems; linear and nonlinear stability analysis of equilibria and periodic solutions; stable and unstable manifolds; bifurcations, e.g. Andronov-Hopf; sensitive dependence and chaotic dynamics; selected applications.
Prerequisites: Organic chemistry and biology courses, neuroscience or neurobiology recommended, but not required. The study of the brain is one of the most exciting frontiers in science and medicine today. Although neuroscience is by nature a multi-disciplinary effort, chemistry has played many critical roles in the development of modern neuroscience, neuropharmacology, and brain imaging. Chemistry, and the chemical probes it generates, such as molecular modulators, therapeutics, imaging agents, sensors, or actuators, will continue to impact neuroscience on both preclinical and clinical levels. In this course, two major themes will be discussed. In the first one, titled Imaging brain function with chemical tools, we will discuss molecular designs and functional parameters of widely used fluorescent sensors in neuroscience (calcium, voltage, and neurotransmitter sensors), their impact on neuroscience, pros and cons of genetically encoded sensors versus chemical probes, and translatability of these approaches to the human brain. In the second major theme, titled Perturbation of the brain function with chemical tools, we will examine psychoactive substances, the basics of medicinal chemistry, brain receptor activation mechanisms and coupled signaling pathways, and their effects on circuit and brain function. We will also discuss recent approaches, failures and successes in the treatment of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Recent advances in precise brain function perturbation by light (optogenetics and photopharmacology) will also be introduced. In the context of both themes we will discuss the current and future possibilities for the design of novel materials, drawing on the wide molecular structural space (small molecules, proteins, polymers, nanomaterials), aimed at monitoring, modulating, and repairing human brain function. This course is intended for students (undergraduate and graduate) from the science, engineering and medical departments.
Introduction to stochastic processes and models, with emphasis on applications to engineering and management; random walks, gambler’s ruin problem, Markov chains in both discrete and continuous time, Poisson processes, renewal processes, stopping times, Wald’s equation, binomial lattice model for pricing risky assets, simple option pricing; simulation of simple stochastic processes, Brownian motion, and geometric Brownian motion. A specialized version of IEOR E4106 for MSE students.
A course on synthesis and processing of engineering materials. Established and novel methods to produce all types of materials (including metals, semiconductors, ceramics, polymers, and composites). Fundamental and applied topics relevant to optimizing the microstructure of the materials with desired properties. Synthesis and processing of bulk, thin-film, and nano materials for various mechanical and electronic applications.
Prerequisites: two years of college Polish or the instructors permission. Extensive readings from 19th- and 20th-century texts in the original. Both fiction and nonfiction, with emphasis depending on the interests and needs of individual students.
This course is designed for students who have completed seven semesters of Vietnamese class or have equivalent background of advance Vietnamese. It is aimed at developing more advance interpersonal communication skills in interpretive reading and listening as well as presentational speaking and writing at a superior level. Students are also prepared for academic, professional and literary proficiency suitable for post-secondary studies in the humanities and social sciences.
This undergraduate-level introductory course provides an overview of the science of nutrition and nutrition's relationship to health promotion and disease prevention. The primary focus is on the essential macronutrients and micronutrients, including their chemical structures, food sources, digestion and absorption, metabolism, storage, and excretion. Students develop the skills to evaluate dietary patterns and to estimate caloric requirements and nutrient needs using tools such as Dietary Guidelines for Americans, My Plate, Nutrition Facts Labels, and Dietary Reference Intakes.
This course builds on an introductory course in statistics and dives deeper into linear regression models, including generalized linear models, mixed/hierarchical models, model diagnostics, and model selection. It focuses on the practical applications of these methods rather than the mathematical complexities. A prior course or equivalent knowledge of fundamental concepts in statistics as well as familiarity with R programming are required pre-requisites for this course.
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Greek at the 3000-level or higher. Readings in Greek literature from Homer to the 4th century B.C.
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Greek at the 3000-level or higher. Readings in Greek literature from Homer to the 4th century B.C.
This undergraduate-level introductory course is the first of a two-course-series on human anatomy and physiology. Using a body systems approach, we will study the anatomical structure and physiological function of the human body. Foundational concepts from chemistry, cell biology, and histology are reviewed and built upon through the progression of topics. Each of the body systems will be studied for their structure, function, and mechanisms of regulation. The core concepts of levels of organization, interdependence of systems, and homeostasis will be emphasized throughout the course. This beginner level course will lay the foundation for further advanced study of physiology and pathophysiology within a nursing curriculum.
The goal of this course is to convey an important amount of knowledge on the religious history of the Roman empire focusing both on paganism, Christianity and Judaism and their interaction. We will study the religious space, the agents of cults and religions, rituals and networks and dynamics of power. The course will also face the challenge to reconsider the points of view from which to think the religious history of the Roman Empire and therefore it will be an invitation to revise our intellectual tools and questions towards an awareness to what is at stake when an object of religious debate emerges.
Some of the main stochastic models used in engineering and operations research applications: discrete-time Markov chains, Poisson processes, birth and death processes and other continuous Markov chains, renewal reward processes. Applications: queueing, reliability, inventory, and finance.
Prerequisites: KORN W4006 or the equivalent. Selections from advanced modern Korean writings in social sciences, literature, culture, history, journalistic texts, and intensive conversation exercises.
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Latin at the 3000-level or higher. Latin literature from Augustus to 600 C.E.
Prerequisites: at least two terms of Latin at the 3000-level or higher. Latin literature from Augustus to 600 C.E.
This undergraduate-level introductory course is the second of a two-course series on human anatomy and physiology. Using a body systems approach, we will study the anatomical structure and physiological function of the human body. Foundational concepts from chemistry, cell biology, and histology are reviewed and built upon through the progression of topics. Each of the body systems will be studied for their structure, function, and mechanisms of regulation. The core concepts of levels of organization, interdependence of systems, and homeostasis will be emphasized throughout the course. This beginner level course will lay the foundation for further advanced study of physiology and pathophysiology within a nursing curriculum.
This seminar explores the screen cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Polar and Circumpolar regions of Canada, The United States, Russia, Scandinavia, and Greenland as they exist at the unstable boundary between cinematic object and creative subject. Viewing work by Indigenous filmmakers, we will draw on from Indigenous Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and Film Studies to examine the complicated role of film in the Arctic.
Supply chain management, model design of a supply chain network, inventories, stock systems, commonly used inventory models, supply contracts, value of information and information sharing, risk pooling, design for postponement, managing product variety, information technology and supply chain management; international and environmental issues. Note: replaced IEOR E4000 beginning in fall 2018.
Against the backdrop of the heated critical debate on the boundaries and limitations of the autobiographical genre, this course addresses the modern and contemporary tradition of autobiographical writings, focusing in particular (but not exclusively) on exploring and positing the potential difference between male and female autobiographers. More specifically, we will question the adequacy of the traditional model of autobiographical selfhood based on the assumption of unified, universal, exemplary and transcendent self to arrive at an understanding of women's autobiography. Topics to be addressed include: the crisis of the subject, je est un autre, the man with a movie camera, strategies of concealment and disclosures. Authors to be studied include: D'Annunzio, Pirandello, Svevo, Fellini, Moretti, Ortese, Ginzburg, Manzini, Cialente, Ramondino. In Italian
This course will wrangle with three simple-seeming, but actually fraught and electrified questions: what does it mean to be “feminist”? What is “poetry” in the contemporary American poetry world? And what is “avant-garde?” One could read a thousand books of poetry to answer these questions, but in this course, we’ll stick to works written by women between 1990 and today. We will pay sustained, careful attention to poetic form and structure, and we will look at how formal experimentation might intersect with ethical and political realities. And, as a heuristic device, we’ll read two or three works by individual authors, to get a sense of their evolution over the course of a period of their careers.
This online undergraduate-level introductory course focuses on the core concepts and principles of microbiology. We will explore how microorganisms co-exist and interact with humans creating both beneficial and pathological results. We will survey the diversity of microorganisms, their classification, and the essential processes needed for survival; which will dictate the environments in which they can thrive. This exploration of microorganism diversity will include topics such as microbial nutrition and metabolism, genetics, and antimicrobial mechanisms employed by and against microorganisms. Special attention will be given to understanding the human immune system, mechanisms of infection by pathogenic microorganisms, and the role non-harmful microbiota serve in supporting immune function. The weekly lab component of this course will support and complement each learning module and familiarize students with basic microbiologic lab techniques.
The fundamentals of database design and application development using databases: entity-relationship modeling, logical design of relational databases, relational data definition and manipulation languages, SQL, XML, query processing, physical database tuning, transaction processing, security. Programming projects are required.
Aims to develop and harness the modeling, analytical, and managerial skills of engineering students and apply them to improve the operations of both service and manufacturing firms. Structured as a hands-on laboratory in which students "learn by doing" on real-world consulting projects (October to May). The student teams focus on identifying, modeling, and testing (and sometimes implementing) operational improvements and innovations with high potential to enhance the profitability and/or achieve sustainable competitive advantage for their sponsor companies. The course is targeted toward students planning careers in technical consulting (including operations consulting) and management consulting, or pursuing positions as business analysts in operations, logistics, supply chain and revenue management functions, positions in general management, and future entrepreneurs.