The iGen: the most diverse and transformational generation in U.S. history who have literally had the world at their fingertips since birth, reportedly have been experiencing multiple crises. Recently, they have been getting closer attention from psychologists and journalists trying […]
Asteroids, meteors, and comets that orbit near the Earth (collectively referred to as Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs) pose an existential threat to all of humanity. Mitigating the danger posed by NEOs is a complex issue and one that must involve […]
This course considers how our attitudes about our ability to connect with and empathize with one another have been shaped by new technologies, especially social media. The course explores what the “problem” of empathy means in our current cultural moment, […]
From the politics of social media and autonomous vehicles to asteroid mining, gene-editing, environmental issues, and innovations and implications we can’t yet imagine – the future of technology policy is as interesting and important as ever. As consumers, entrepreneurs, citizens, […]
The aim in this course is to achieve a deeper understanding of how justice and history are interwoven, and to see some of the limits and possibilities of the human condition more clearly. Through ancient and contemporary plays, literature, and […]
This Complex Problems course will introduce students to the complex problem: How we can create and support social entrepreneurs? Social entrepreneurs are individuals who create businesses to address social problems or needs that are unmet by governments and current markets. […]
This course helps students understand and apply a powerful new approach to solving complex problems through human-centered thinking. Design thinking is a problem-solving framework that is transforming fields from entertainment to international development. Students will learn critical thinking, empathy, how […]
Universities teach about the past and the present in depth, but what about the future? This course’s dual goals are to develop an anticipatory future consciousness and to equip each student with practical methods and first-hand experience in a futures study. Future […]
Surveillance has become a commonplace term, yet it is often dismissed as only the concern of those who have something to hide. This suggests that only criminals/criminal activity is watched and having a public persona online means we agree to […]
This course will look at the amazing discovery of planets around stars other than the sun. This wondrous adventure is happening right now and showing us much more about our place in the universe. We will look at how these discoveries […]
What is reality? How can we know whether our perceptions are accurate representations of the world? What happens when one person’s conception of reality disagrees with another person’s? These questions have been addressed in different ways in nearly every domain […]
What is real, how do we know, and what does it mean? These simple sounding questions, as old as humankind, have no simple answers. The questions, however, have become only more interesting as science, and particularly physics, continues to reveal […]
Today, contaminants enter our water, air, and land through many routes. This course is broken into these three sections (water, air, and land) as students pursue issues surrounding pollution in the environment including how and why pollution occurs. The course […]
As of 2017, 7.5 billion people inhabit the planet Earth. This is more than double the population of just 50 years ago when Paul Ehrlich published his dire warning (The Population Bomb) of famines and societal collapse due to population […]
When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, he said that it was a small step for man and a giant leap for mankind. Today, this new giant leap may be represented by the advancement of small steps in nanotechnology […]
Food, energy, and water resources are interconnected, so addressing one resource will cause scarcities in others. This complex problem requires innovative, cooperative, and interdisciplinary solutions utilizing the skills from multiple disciplines. The next generation must be equipped with sustainability and […]
Sequencing the entire human genome has advanced from a 13 year, multi-institutional project, completed in 2001, to a simple automated procedure taking less than 24 hours to complete. Over the past 15 years, costs of sequencing the human genome have […]
This course explores divisive bioethical issues surrounding our growing ability to analyze and manipulate genes in humans, animals and plants. Students are introduced to the basics of the human genome, the technology such as CRISPR that allows for genetic manipulation […]
The explosion of information in the 21st century has centralized the role of curiosity in our everyday lives. Never have the production mills of detail been more active. But how should we engage with this burgeoning of information in both […]
What is wonder’s purpose and progress in the human story? Investigating this question, The Shape of Wonder seeks to articulate the purpose of structures, stories, music, drama, and other arts and sciences that are engineered to inspire not fear or instruction but […]
From early amorphous blobs of computer generated sounds, to the pulsating beats of contemporary hip hop, we are experiencing electronic music in both conscious and unconscious ways. This course will explore the impact that electronics have had on music since […]
This interdisciplinary course explores a pressing intellectual challenge of our time: Americans’ ambivalent historical relationship with the state. It explores how Americans from the era of Alexander Hamilton to the Age of Obama conceptualize and confront the state by demanding, […]
This course investigates the links between the global spread of neoliberal economic policies and novel interpretations of jihad among Muslims since the 1970s. We will examine the numerous economic and political crises that shook the post-WWII internationalist world order during […]
How has social media changed how people communicate, collaborate and mobilize? This course will examine whether online tools lead to offline action and how digital advocacy has impacted American culture, fundraising and politics. Students will also explore the role of information literacy, how to engage those without […]