In preparation for a fluid and evolving contemporary design practice, this course introduces physical prototyping and computational design strategies for an era of environmental transformation and climate crisis. Across platforms and instruments, exercises and readings emphasize process development as a core competency in architecture. A lecture component provides a technological overview, situated in a long-term cultural perspective and a theoretical framework. Focused lab modules provides exposure to a range of prototyping and fabrication resources at SOA, where students gain hands on experience.

From the ubiquitous water bottle to food packaging to Barbie, we live in a plastic world. While plastics provide benefits from safe food delivery to sterile healthcare products, only a small percentage is recycled. This course addresses the historical development of plastics and their impacts. We'll discuss the science of plastics and their lifecycle from sourcing through manufacturing, use, and end-of-life. Topics will include microplastics, plastics in the ocean, and the impacts of additives (e.g. BPA). Finally, we'll examine solutions including recycling and bio-based plastics from scientific, behavioral, and economic perspectives.

An introductory course with several demonstration and hands-on components of fabrication with autonomous and robotic systems. Covers formal methods of fabrication and programming of moderately complex elements, including related fabrication platforms, extrusion platforms, various designs of material, structure, and programming of toolpath. The course is centered around lectures with laboratory/virtual studio individual and team-based assignments involving computer-controlled additive manufacturing and robotic systems, student reading, and peer-reviewed presentation and reporting assignments.

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of past and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering, while providing a comprehensive overview appropriate for all students.

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of past and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering, while providing a comprehensive overview appropriate for all students.

Within a broad context of historical, social, and ethical concerns, a survey of normal childhood development and selected disorders from the perspectives of the physician, the biologist, and the bioethicist. There is an emphasis on the complex relationship between genetic and acquired causes of disease, the environment, medical practice, social conditions, and cultural values. The course features visits from children with some of the conditions discussed, site visits, and readings from the original medical, scientific, and bioethical literature.

What do informed citizens and future leaders of our society need to know about physics and technology? This course is designed for non-scientists who will someday become our informed citizens and decision-makers. Whatever the field of endeavor, they will be faced with crucial decisions in which physics and technology play an important role. This course will present the key principles and the basic physical reasoning needed to interpret scientific and technical information to make the best decisions. Topics include energy and power, atomic and subatomic matter, wave-like phenomena and light, and technologies based on advances in physics.

What do informed citizens and future leaders of our society need to know about physics and technology? This course is designed for non-scientists who will someday become our informed citizens and decision-makers. Whatever the field of endeavor, they will be faced with crucial decisions in which physics and technology play an important role. This course will present the key principles and the basic physical reasoning needed to interpret scientific and technical information to make the best decisions. Topics include energy and power, atomic and subatomic matter, wave-like phenomena and light, and technologies based on advances in physics.

Musical instruments reside at the intersection of varied topics: sound, perception, embodiment, music theory, social values, and more; how has their design influenced the development of music and how might they be reinvented to spur new ideas? We will explore these questions through readings, listening, analysis, labs, and composition. Specific topics include: harmony and the keyboard; tuning and temperament; preparing the piano, digital and analog. More generally, we will consider the productive tension between qualitative and quantitative understandings of musical concepts.

Baseball is somewhere in the middle of a data revolution. From high-speed video and structure from motion, to doppler radar and wearable global positioning systems, observational data are becoming ubiquitous, both on the TV, and on the practice field. However, little is known about the precision and accuracy of the various devices scattered around stadiums, and less is known about how to distill actionable information from the overwhelming quantity of data. In this course, you will design experiments, collect data, write computer code, and communicate results, with the aim of informing new strategies for training, scouting, and competing.

This course will teach STEM & non-STEM majors how to write about research in STEM fields with clarity and a bit of flair. Goal will be to learn to convey technical topics to non-experts in a compelling, enjoyable way while staying true to the underlying facts, context and concepts. We'll do this through readings, class discussion, encounters with professional writers and journalists of all sorts, across several different media. Most important of all, students will practice what they learn in frequent writing assignments that will be critiqued extensively by an experienced science journalist.

This cross-genre, interdisciplinary, and creative project based course explores digital imagery combined with human movement. Students work with technologies including projectors, projection mapping software, modular coding, Unreal engine, and mocap suits, to create works of art and shareable experiences incorporating images, space, and the human body. They will learn of the body as a robust technology through embodiment, movement, and motion capture. Discover how to get beyond the screen: how working with multimedia can involve movement in space, and how images can escape from your screen to become part of the three dimensional world.