SCI2099 Special Topics in Science
Special Topics in Science classes (SCI X099) typically cover a specific topic in Science and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester.
Credits
Variable Credits SCI
Notes
SP16: 2099D: The Intersection of Art, Biology and Technology; 4 credits (Donis-Keller)
Please note that this course must be taken concurrently with AHSE2199D (4 credits)
This project?based course will encourage participants to cross boundaries between art, biology and technology with hands?on projects inspired by contemporary and historical work in these fields. How might biology inform art practice and how might art inform biology? What role does technology play in advancing or setting back each field and how might art and biology inspire technological breakthroughs? What are the implications of being able to change the genome of an organism? These are just some of the questions we will pursue during this course. Students will conduct a CRISPR genome editing experiment and consider the ethical implications of such work. We will also work with visualization technologies such as the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Studio work will employ a variety of technologies old and new such as 3D printing in preparation for final student?directed projects that are informed by biology, art and technology. The literature in the area of art and science, particularly with respect to biology has grown considerably and we will delve into a variety of written works, films and video resources, and listen first?hand to practitioners in these areas about the challenges and rewards of interdisciplinary work in fields that most would regard as unrelated. The goal by the end of the course is to acquire an attitude that allows fluid movement from one field to the other in thinking and doing so as to garner creative strength not possible from study of each field alone.
SP15: 2099A: Paradigms, Predictions and Joules: A Historical and Scientific Approach to Energy and the Environment; 3 credits (Martello, Brabander)
Please note that this course must be taken concurrently with AHSE2199A (3 credits).
This interdisciplinary course, featuring faculty and students from both Olin and Wellesley colleges, will focus on ?grand challenges? at the interface between energy and the environment through the disciplinary lenses of the history of technology and environmental science. We will study the changing relationship between human societies and their natural environment, focusing upon the consequences of human energy use (agricultural production, power generation, and other forms of energy) at the local, regional, and global scales. By combining the tools, analytical frameworks, and skills found in the history and environmental science fields, we will build first-?order ""hindcast"" models that explain the observations and trends that we observe from historical case studies. By the end of the semester we will determine the key components required for assembling forecast-?oriented energy use models that extrapolate the impacts of present environmental technologies and practices into the future.
This course will include equal numbers of Olin and Wellesley students, and will alternate class sessions at both campuses. Students will begin the semester with a series of readings and exercises that build skills and familiarity in the broad area of environmental studies: for example, we will work with framing environmental concept maps using environmental engineering principles (e.g. control volumes, flux, residence time) and environmental science concepts (energy conservation and energy density calculations), historical research and analysis, environmental ethics, and writing/presentation exercises centered around important case studies of interactions between societies, energy technologies, and the natural environment. We will use these skills and perspectives for the remainder of the semester as we conduct two research projects related to energy use, sustainability, and environmental impacts in both ancient societies and the modern day. This course involves extensive team project work and will offer many opportunities for students to identify their own goals and shape their studies in order to achieve those goals.