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The physics and chemistry of volcanic processes and modern methods of volcano monitoring. Volcanoes as manifestations of the Earth's internal energy and hazards to society. How earth scientists better forecast eruptive activity by monitoring seismic activity, bulging of the ground surface, and the discharge of volcanic gases, and by studying deposits from past eruptions. Focus is on the interface between scientists and policy makers and the challenges of decision making with incomplete information. Field trip to Mt. St. Helens, site of the 1980 eruption.

(Formerly GEOLSCI 30N) Science fiction writers craft entire worlds and physical laws with their minds. While planetary formation in the real world is a little different, we can use fantastical places and environments from film, television, and literature as conversation starters to discuss real discoveries that have been made about how planets form and evolve over time. The class will focus on the following overarching questions: (1) What conditions are required for habitable planets to form? (2) What types of planets may actually exist, including desert worlds, lava planets, ice planets, and ocean worlds? (3) What kids of life could inhabit such diverse worlds? (3) What types of catastrophic events such as supernovas, asteroid impacts, climate changes can nurture or destroy planetary habitability? Change of Department Name: Earth and Planetary Science (Formerly Geologic Sciences).

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

Many of us have heard his declarations of the death of God, the arrival of the Superman, and the need to live beyond good and evil. But what, beyond such sound bites, did Nietzsche actually teach? How can his writings be understood in the context of their own time? And what significance might they hold for us today? Taught in English.

Even the most artistically accomplished and well-managed performing arts organizations--symphony orchestras, operas, dance companies, and many theaters--tend to live on the edge financially. In fact, most performing arts groups are organized as nonprofit organizations, because they cannot make enough money to cover costs and survive as profit-seeking businesses. In this seminar we will explore the reasons for the tension between artistic excellence and economic security,drawing on the experience of performing arts organizations in the United States and in countries(whose governments have adopted quite different policies toward the arts). Using economic concepts and analysis that we develop in the seminar, you will first examine the fundamental reasons for the economic challenges faced by performing arts organizations. In later sessions, we will consider and evaluate alternative solutions to these challenges in the United States and other countries. The seminar may include meetings with managers and/or trustees of arts organizations.nnnBy the end of the seminar, you will be able to assess the economic condition of an arts organization, evaluate alternative strategies for its survival, and understand the consequences of alternative government policies toward the arts.nnnDuring the early part of the course, you will prepare two short papers on topics or questions that I will suggest. Later, you will prepare a longer paper applying concepts learned to one of the performing arts or a particular arts organization that interests you. You will submit that paper in stages, as you learn about concepts and issues that are relevant to your analysis. There will also be a final exam.

Nature is everywhere. It pops up in advertisements, in news stories, and popular culture. We talk about nature all the time, sometimes without even realizing it: conserving nature, loving nature, and being in nature. But what actually is nature? Are oak trees nature? What about gardens, sunsets, or garbage? Are human beings nature, or is nature a state one can enter into? Do you have to go outdoors to be in nature? In this course we'll get out of the classroom and use the Stanford campus to explore how people in the past have thought about nature and why it has been and continues to be such a potent idea that is so hard to define. Together in this seminar we'll examine the history and design of Stanford University. We'll explore a range of narrative approaches to nature stories. And we'll consider current problems and debates about nature from pollution, to drought, to wildfire, and climate change. The course will culminate in a fun, hands-on project.

Worldwide there are more refugees and displaced people today than in any other period of human history. More than 90 million people across the planet have been forcibly displaced from their homes in recent years. How do we account for this crisis? And how might we imagine altering its trajectory? This course explores the varied forces, from war to climate change to narcotrafficking, that have uprooted these populations. It also seeks to understand the politics of migration by focusing on the experiences of refugees narrated by themselves. We analyze films, memoirs, novels and scholarly literature. Students will have the option of producing papers and/or audio and visual projects.Readings include:Viet Than Hguyen, ed., The DisplacedReyna Grande, The Distance Between Us Behrouz Boochani, No Friend But the MountainsEmmanuel Mbolela, RefugeeLeila Abdelrazaq, Badddawiand others

What does it mean to start a country, or to acquire and possess sovereignty over a territory? This course will examine the historical evolution of fundamental concepts in our international system: state formation, statehood, and sovereignty. Each week will spotlight a case-study in which sovereignty and statehood have appeared greatly confused and hotly contested. These include: the UK-China lease for control of Hong Kong; the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay; the corporate state of the legendary British East India Company; and Disney World.

This course examines classic approaches to war as an intellectual problem, looking at how a matter of such great physical violence and passions can be subjected to understanding and used in philosophy, political theory, and art. Questions to be examined include the definition of war, its causes, its moral value, the nature of its participants, its use in the self-definition of individuals and societies, its relation to political authority, warfare and gender, and the problem of civil war.