101 - 110 of 272 results for: all courses

In nearly all polls, American voters rank the economy as one of their most important concerns. In the presidential election, much of the debate for voters will be on questions of economic policy. In this course, we will delve deeply into economic policy issues to understand options for government intervention and possible outcomes. We will combine economic analysis with political science methodology to understand efficient and implementable policy proposals.nnSpecific areas of interest will be taxation, budget, entitlement programs, economic regulation and competition policy, trade, demography, income inequality, and monetary policy. The course will incorporate other timely and salient policy issues as they arise during the course of the campaign. n nStudents will be expected to write a short paper and make an oral presentation to the class. A wide range of topics will be acceptable, including those directly related to campaign issues as well as other long-term economic issues facing the country.

What is going on in mathematics education in the United States? Why do so many people hate and fear math? What contributes to the high levels of innumeracy in the general population? Why do girls and women opt out of math when they get a chance? In this seminar we will consider seminal research on math learning in K-12 classrooms, including a focus on equity. We will spend time investigating cases of teaching and learning, through watching videos and visiting schools. This seminar is for those who are interested in education, and who would like to learn about ways to help students (and maybe yourselves?) learn and enjoy mathematics. If you have had bad math experiences and would like to understand them ¿ and put them behind you ¿ this seminar will be particularly good for you. The final project for this class will involve developing a case of one or more math learners, investigating their journeys in the world of math.

With more than two million copies in print, Howard Zinn¿s A People's History is a cultural icon. We will use Zinn¿s book to probe how we determine what was true in the past. A People's History will be our point of departure, but our journey will visit a variety of historical trouble spots: debates about whether the US was founded as a Christian nation, Holocaust denial, and the "Birther" controversy of President Obama.

In this seminar you will explore theory and practice, sociological data, spiritual writing, and case studies in an effort to gain a more nuanced understanding about how religion, spirituality, and secularism attempt to make legible the constellation of concerns, commitments, and behaviors that bridge the moral and the personal, the communal and the national, the sacred, the profane, and the rational. Together we will cultivate critical perspectives on practices and politics, beliefs and belonging that we typically take for granted.

Preference to freshmen. The stories behind disruptive inventions such as the telegraph, telephone, wireless, television, transistor, and chip are as important as the inventions themselves, for they elucidate broadly applicable scientific principles. Focus is on studying consumer devices; projects include building batteries, energy conversion devices and semiconductors from pocket change. Students may propose topics and projects of interest to them. The trajectory of the course is determined in large part by the students themselves.

The goal of this seminar is to introduce freshmen to the design process associated with an engineering project. The seminar will consist of a series of lectures. The first part of each lecture will focus on the different design aspects of an engineering project, including formation of the design team, developing a project statement, generating design ideas and specifications, finalizing the design, and reporting the outcome. Students will form teams to follow these procedures in designing a term project of their choice over the quarter. The second part of each lecture will consist of outside speakers, including founders of some of the most exciting companies in Silicon Valley, who will share their experiences about engineering design. On-site visits to Silicon Valley companies to showcase their design processes will also be part of the course. The seminar serves three purposes: (1) it introduces students to the design process of turning an idea into a final design, (2) it presents the different functions that people play in a project, and (3) it gives students a chance to consider what role in a project would be best suited to their interests and skills.

Nanotechnology is an often used word and it means many things to different people. Scientists and Engineers have some notion of what nanotechnology is, societal perception may be entirely different. In this course, we start with the classic paper by Richard Feynman ("There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"), which laid down the challenge to the nanotechnologists. Then we discuss two classic books that offer a glimpse of what nanotechnology is: Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology by Eric Drexler, and Prey by Michael Crichton. Drexler's thesis sparked the imagination of what nano machinery might do, whereas Crichton's popular novel channeled the public's attention to this subject by portraying a disastrous scenario of a technology gone astray. We will use the scientific knowledge to analyze the assumptions and predictions of these classic works. We will draw upon the latest research advances to illustrate the possibilities and impossibilities of nanotechnology.

Preference to freshmen. Forms of imaging including human and animal vision systems, atomic force microscope, microscope, digital camera, holography and three-dimensional imaging, telescope, synthetic aperture radar imaging, nuclear magnetic imaging, sonar and gravitational wave imaging, and the Hubble Space telescope. Physical principles and exposure to real imaging devices and systems.

Preference to freshman. Natural hazards, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, and fires, and how they affect people and society; great disasters such as asteroid impacts that periodically obliterate many species of life. Scientific issues, political and social consequences, costs of disaster mitigation, and how scientific knowledge affects policy. How spaceborne imaging technology makes it possible to respond quickly and mitigate consequences; how it is applied to natural disasters; and remote sensing data manipulation and analysis. GER:DB-EngrAppSci