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CS 12SC: Computational Decision Making

Although we make decisions every day, many people base their decisions on initial reactions or ¿gut¿ feelings. There are, however, powerful frameworks for making decisions more effectively based on computationally analyzing the choices available and their possible outcomes. In this course we give an introduction to some of these frameworks, including utility theory, decision analysis, game theory, and Markov decision processes. We also discuss why people sometimes make seemingly reasonable, yet irrational, decisions. We begin the class by presenting some of the basics of probability theory, which serves as the main mathematical foundation for the decision making frameworks we will subsequently present. Although we provide a mathematical/computational basis for the decision making frameworks we examine, we also seek to give intuitive (and sometime counterintuitive) explanations for actual decision making behavior through in-class demonstrations. No prior experience with probability theory is needed (we¿ll cover what you need to know in class), but students should be comfortable with mathematical manipulation at the level of Math 41. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Sahami, M. (PI)

EARTHSYS 12SC: Environmental and Geological Field Studies in the Rocky Mountains (EESS 12SC, GES 12SC)

The Rocky Mountain area, ecologically and geologically diverse, is being strongly impacted by changing land-use patterns, global and regional environmental change, and societal demands for energy and natural resources. This three-week field program emphasizes coupled environmental and geological problems in the Rocky Mountains and will cover a broad range of topics including the geologic origin of the American West from three billion years ago to the recent; paleoclimatology and the glacial history of this mountainous region; the long- and short-term carbon cycle and global climate change; and environmental issues in the American West that are related to changing land-use patterns and increased demand for its abundant natural resources. These broad topics are integrated into a coherent field study by examining earth/environmental science-related questions in three different settings: 1) the three-billion-year-old rocks and the modern glaciers of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming; 2) the sediments in the adjacent Wind River basin that host abundant gas and oil reserves and also contain the long-term climate history of this region; and 3) the volcanic center of Yellowstone National Park and mountainous region of Teton National Park, and the economic and environmental problems associated with gold mining and extraction of oil and gas in areas adjoining these national parks. Students will complete six assignments based upon field exercises, working in small groups to analyze data and prepare reports and maps. Lectures will be held in the field prior to and after fieldwork. Note: This course involves one week of backpacking in the Wind Rivers and hiking while staying in cabins near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and horseback riding in the Dubois area of Wyoming. Students must arrive in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 1. (Hotel lodging will be provided for the night of Sept. 1, and thereafter students will travel as a Sophomore College group.) We will return to campus on Sunday, Sept. 21. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2

ECON 13SC: A Random Walk Down Wall Street

The title of this course is the title of one of the books that will be required summer reading. The course will introduce modern finance theory and cover a wide range of financial instruments: stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, mortgage back securities, etc. Historical returns on different asset classes will be examined. The efficient market hypothesis and the case for and against index funds will be discussed. The course for 2015 will examine the ongoing policies to stimulate the economy, including the quantitative easing policy of the Federal Reserve. There will be coverage of global financial markets. We will try to reconcile the long-run return on stocks, bonds, and money market instruments with the capital asset pricing model. We will try to connect financial markets with the problems of the real economy including the entitlement programs. We will talk with venture capitalists, Federal Reserve officials, hedge fund and mutual fund managers, and those who manage large institutional endowments. Students 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 market regulation, the introduction of new financial instruments, the functioning of commodity futures markets, and evaluations of the federal government intervention in financial markets. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Shoven, J. (PI)

EESS 10SC: In the Age of the Anthropocene: Coupled-Human Natural Systems of Southeast Alaska

Southeast Alaska is often described as America's "last frontier," embodying a physical reality of the "pristine" that was once revered by the early romantics and founders of the modern conservation movement throughout Western North America. Although endowed with more designated Wilderness land than any other state, Alaska remains a working landscape: a mixed cash-subsistence economy where communities rely upon the harvest and export of natural resources. Here, ecosystem services remain tangible, and people living in communities that are unconnected by roads confront questions of sustainability on a daily basis. This field-based course introduces students to the global questions of land use change and sustainable resource management in the American West through the place-based exploration of Southeast Alaska. Focused on four key social-ecological challenges -- fisheries, forestry, tourism, and energy -- the coupled human-natural systems of Southeast Alaska provide a unique lens for students to interpret broader resource management and conservation issues. The curriculum balances field explorations and classroom lectures with community exploration in which students will engage with fishermen, hatchery workers, forest managers, loggers, mill owners, tour operators, tourists, city officials, citizens, and Native residents. Students will catch their own salmon, walk through old-growth and logged forests, kayak next to glacial moraines, and witness the impacts of human activities, both local and global, on the social-ecological systems around them. In the context of rapidly changing ecosystems, students will confront the historical, ecological, and economic complexities of environmental stewardship in this region. By embedding their experiences within frameworks of land change science, land-ocean interactions, ecosystem ecology, and natural resource management and economics, students will leave this course ready to apply what they have learned to the global challenges of sustainability and conservation that pervade systems far beyond Alaska. This course is co-sponsored by the School of Earth Sciences and takes place in Sitka, Alaska. Students arrange for their arrival in Seattle, WA on August 30; all subsequent travel is made possible by Sophomore College and the School of Earth Sciences.
Terms: Aut, Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Dunbar, R. (PI)

EESS 12SC: Environmental and Geological Field Studies in the Rocky Mountains (EARTHSYS 12SC, GES 12SC)

The Rocky Mountain area, ecologically and geologically diverse, is being strongly impacted by changing land-use patterns, global and regional environmental change, and societal demands for energy and natural resources. This three-week field program emphasizes coupled environmental and geological problems in the Rocky Mountains and will cover a broad range of topics including the geologic origin of the American West from three billion years ago to the recent; paleoclimatology and the glacial history of this mountainous region; the long- and short-term carbon cycle and global climate change; and environmental issues in the American West that are related to changing land-use patterns and increased demand for its abundant natural resources. These broad topics are integrated into a coherent field study by examining earth/environmental science-related questions in three different settings: 1) the three-billion-year-old rocks and the modern glaciers of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming; 2) the sediments in the adjacent Wind River basin that host abundant gas and oil reserves and also contain the long-term climate history of this region; and 3) the volcanic center of Yellowstone National Park and mountainous region of Teton National Park, and the economic and environmental problems associated with gold mining and extraction of oil and gas in areas adjoining these national parks. Students will complete six assignments based upon field exercises, working in small groups to analyze data and prepare reports and maps. Lectures will be held in the field prior to and after fieldwork. Note: This course involves one week of backpacking in the Wind Rivers and hiking while staying in cabins near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and horseback riding in the Dubois area of Wyoming. Students must arrive in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 1. (Hotel lodging will be provided for the night of Sept. 1, and thereafter students will travel as a Sophomore College group.) We will return to campus on Sunday, Sept. 21. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2

ENERGY 11SC: Energy in the Southwest (CEE 16SC, POLISCI 25SC)

The technical, social, and political issues surrounding energy management and use in the West, using California, Nevada, and Arizona as a field laboratory. Students explore energy narratives, such as: Who supplies our energy and from what sources? How is it transported? Who distributes to users and how do they do it? Water for energy and energy for water, two intertwined natural resources. Meeting carbon emission goals by 2020. Conflicts between desert ecosystems and renewable energy development. Emphasis on renewable energy sources and the water-energy nexus. Central to the course is field exploration in northern and southern California, as well as neighboring areas in Arizona and Nevada, to tour sites such as wind and solar facilities, geothermal plants, hydropower pumped storage, desalination plants, water pumping stations, a liquid fuels distribution operations center, and California's Independent System Operator. Students meet with community members and with national, state, and regional authorities to discuss Western energy challenges and viable solutions. Site visits to Stanford's new energy facilities. Introduction to the basics of energy and energy politics through discussions, lectures, and with the help of guest speakers. Assigned readings, online interactive materials, and relevant recent news articles. Participants return to Stanford by September 19. Travel expenses during the course provided (except incidentals) by the Bill Lane Center for the American West and Sophomore College.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2

ENGLISH 15SC: The New Millennium Mix: Crossings of Race & Culture

Recently, The New York Times and the National Geographic have hailed the "new face of America" as young, global, and hybrid. The NY Times gave this demographic a name: Generation E.A. (Ethnically Ambiguous). Our course examines the political and aesthetic implications of Generation E.A., and the hot new vogue for all things mixed. Galvanized by the 2000 census with its "mark one or more" (MOOM) racial option, dozens of organizations, websites, affinity and advocacy groups, modeling and casting agencies, television pilots, magazines, and journals--all focused on multi-racial/multi-cultural experiences--have emerged in the last few years. We will analyze representations of mixed race and multiculturalism in law, literature, history, art, performance, film, comedy, and popular culture. These cultural and legal events are changing the way we talk and think about race. nImportantly, our seminar also broadens this discussion beyond race, exploring how crossings of the color-line so often intersect with other aspects of experience related to gender, religion, culture, or class.nField trips, films, communal lunches, and interactive assignments help us explore the current controversies over mixed-race identification and, more generally, the expressive and political possibilities for representing complex identities. Requirements include three two- to three-page analytical writing assignments, a presentation that can include an optional artistic or media component, and a final group-designed project. nIf you are a citizen of the 21st century, this class is for and about you. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Elam, M. (PI)

GES 12SC: Environmental and Geological Field Studies in the Rocky Mountains (EARTHSYS 12SC, EESS 12SC)

The Rocky Mountain area, ecologically and geologically diverse, is being strongly impacted by changing land-use patterns, global and regional environmental change, and societal demands for energy and natural resources. This three-week field program emphasizes coupled environmental and geological problems in the Rocky Mountains and will cover a broad range of topics including the geologic origin of the American West from three billion years ago to the recent; paleoclimatology and the glacial history of this mountainous region; the long- and short-term carbon cycle and global climate change; and environmental issues in the American West that are related to changing land-use patterns and increased demand for its abundant natural resources. These broad topics are integrated into a coherent field study by examining earth/environmental science-related questions in three different settings: 1) the three-billion-year-old rocks and the modern glaciers of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming; 2) the sediments in the adjacent Wind River basin that host abundant gas and oil reserves and also contain the long-term climate history of this region; and 3) the volcanic center of Yellowstone National Park and mountainous region of Teton National Park, and the economic and environmental problems associated with gold mining and extraction of oil and gas in areas adjoining these national parks. Students will complete six assignments based upon field exercises, working in small groups to analyze data and prepare reports and maps. Lectures will be held in the field prior to and after fieldwork. Note: This course involves one week of backpacking in the Wind Rivers and hiking while staying in cabins near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and horseback riding in the Dubois area of Wyoming. Students must arrive in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 1. (Hotel lodging will be provided for the night of Sept. 1, and thereafter students will travel as a Sophomore College group.) We will return to campus on Sunday, Sept. 21. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2

HISTORY 24SC: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the African American Freedom Struggle

Many of us understand Martin Luther King, Jr. through the lens of his most civil rights activities and his "I Have a Dream" oration at the 1963 March in Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But who was King really? What can we learn about his inner life? To what extent did he actually lead a movement that was beyond the control of any single leader? How did thousands of grassroots activists become a movement that changed the course of history? This course will examine these questions and more by utilizing the vast number of primary source materials of the King Institute. Students will have the opportunity to conduct research and carry out their own individual research projects, which can be traditional papers, multi-media presentations, or even educational websites. Guest speakers may include various experts, such as King Institute scholar-in-residence Clarence Jones, who served as King¿s attorney, adviser, and occasional speechwriter. Sophomore College Course: Application required, due noon, April 7, 2015. Apply at http://soco.stanford.edu.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Carson, C. (PI)

HUMBIO 17SC: Darwin, Evolution, and Galapagos

The tiny remote islands of Galápagos have played a large and central role in the study of evolution. Not surprisingly, they have also been central to the study of conservation. The fascinating adaptations of organisms to the unique ecosystems of the archipelago have left them particularly vulnerable to outside introductions. This seminar explores evolution, conservation, and their connection in the Galapagos. Using case-study material on finches, iguanas, tortoises, cacti, Scalesia plants, and more, we will explore current theory and debate about adaptation, sexual selection, speciation, adaptive radiation, and other topics in evolution. Similarly, we will explore the special challenges Galápagos poses today for conservation, owing to both its unusual biota and the increasing human impact on the archipelago. The first week is held on-campus, followed by an intensive eleven-day expedition to Galápagos to observe firsthand evolutionary phenomena and conservation issues. A chartered ship will serve as our floating classroom, dormitory, and dining hall as we work our way around the archipelago to visit as many as ten islands. For this portion of the class, undergraduates will be joined by a group of Stanford alumni and friends in a format called a Stanford "Field Seminar." Students are required to complete all course readings over the summer. Students will be asked to lead discussions and carry out literature research on the evolutionary and conservation biology of particular Galápagos species. The final assignment is a seven- to ten-page paper and class presentation as we travel in Galápagos. Travel to Galápagos will be provided and paid by Sophomore College (except incidentals) and is made possible by the support of the Stanford Alumni Association Travel/Study Program and generous donors. Students will return to campus late afternoon Sunday, September 20.
Terms: Sum | Units: 2
Instructors: Durham, W. (PI)
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