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FALL 2003 FRESHMAN SEMINARS
The School of Biological Sciences also offers freshman seminars during spring quarter. For more information, please visit http://freshmanseminars.bio.uci.edu/. Please note that students may take a maximum of three freshman seminars for credit, so long as subjects vary, over their entire university career.
CLAIRE TREVOR SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Changing Nature of American Jazz Dance Bob Boross, Dance F 10:00-10:50am, MAB 317 Course Code 87590 American jazz dance has regularly adopted new looks as styles, technology, and popular culture have evolved throughout the twentieth century. Yet, the fundamental basis of jazz dancing - feeing and reacting to rhythm - still remains the same. This seminar will examine the roots of jazz dance, its philosophy, societal influences, and the pioneers of the changing nature of American jazz dance. Bob Boross has written on jazz dance for national publications, as well as choreographed and taught jazz dance on an international level. He is the head of the jazz and tap dance areas within the UCI Dance Department, and artistic director of the UCI Jazz Dance Ensemble. Creating "a Look" in Hollywood: Costume Design for Contemporary Film & Television Madeline Ann Kozlowski, Drama W 12:00-12:50pm, MAB 302 Course Code 87563 Every actor in a film needs "a look"... clothes that make his character unique and tell a story. This seminar will examine the basics of fashion styling and its pivotal role in creating character and influencing society's fashion trends. Students will create new "looks" using their own research and current fashion styles. Emmy Award winning Costume Designer Madeline Ann Kozlowski's work has been seen across the United States at the Nederlander Theatres, NY City Center, The Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, the Pasadena Playhouse and the Ahmanson Theatre of the Music Center of Los Angeles. Her design work has earned four DramaLogue, six L.A. Weekly Awards, and three Emmy nominations. As a member of USA Local 829 and The Costume Designer's Guild, IATSE Local 892, Madeline works in television, film, video, arena, and live stage. Her 17 television movie credits include The Return of Hunter, The Hat Squad, and Red River. Madeline Ann's dedication to excellence in Children's TV programming resulted in an Emmy Award for the CBS series Pryor's Place. From Shakespeare to Sitcoms, her work exhibits a diversity that "keeps her looking forward to the challenge of each new project." Women, Performance and Power Daphne Lei, Drama Tu 10:00-10:50am, Drama 145 Course Code 87564 Dragon ladies, temptresses, or martyrs? Mothers or mistresses? What are the traditional roles that women play in relation to performance? How are women represented in performance? How do women empower themselves through performance? What are the struggles, compromises and triumphs of women through performance in history? This class will examine the various aspects of women and performance (women as writers, performers and dramatic characters) and analyze the significance of gender, power, performance and socity. Daphne Lei, assistant professor in Drama and affiliated faculty in Asian American Studies, teaches Asian and Asian American theatre, and is interested in intercultural and gender theory in relation to performance. High Anxiety: Practical Approaches to Coping with Public Speaking Nerves. Philip Thompson, Drama W 10:00-10:50am, DRA 145 Course Code 87586 Glossophobia or fear of speaking is often listed as a "# 1 fear." In this seminar we will read some theoretical work on performance anxiety as well as researching some "helpful tips." Finally, we'll practice some techniques from the Theatre for reducing anxiety and relaxing the voice. Philip Thompson is an Assistant Professor who earned his M.F.A from the University of California, Irvine. He teaches voice and speech and works as a voice and dialect coach for professional and university productions. Most recently served as voice and text coach for King Lear at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (his fifteenth production there). Coached the past five seasons at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Appeared as an actor at the Grove and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals. As an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, he teaches in national training workshops in New York and Chicago. He also erves as secretary for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Why People Believe Weird Things Nancy Burley, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Th 3:00-3:50pm, Steinhaus Hall 425 Course Code 87554 We live in an age of scientific enlightment...or do we? Why are educated people often attracted to pseudoscience and superstition? Is this attraction harmless? How can we recognize pseudoscientific claims? Nancy Burley is a behavioral ecologist who studies animal communication, social organization and mating systems. Her empirical research focuses on mating decisions made by birds. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin and taught at McGill University and University of Illinois before moving to Irvine. Water Crisis in the West Richard Symanski, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology M 1:00-1:50pm, Steinhaul Hall 425 Course Code 87571 Water is one of the important issues in the West, and water scarcity is particularly important in Southern California where the human population is large and growing and a water crisis is at hand. In this seminar we focus on readings in Marc Reisner's classic book, "Cadillac Desert: The American West and it's Disappearing Water." In series of open-ended discussions based on the readings, we will critically examine the history of water problems in the West and possible solutions in an uncertain future. Richard Symanski is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He is the author of six books, including two on conservation issues in Australia and one on wild horses in the American West. He teaches courses in introductory biology, conservation in the American West, and writing for upper-division biology and engineering majors. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION The Arts and the Creation of Mind Liane Brouillette, Education Th 2:00-2:50pm, Berkeley Place 2001A Course Code 87553 This seminar will look at how various kinds of thinking are evoked, developed, and refined through the arts. Discussion will center on how the arts help to develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind. Students will explore ways in which these forms of thinking may be more helpful in dealing with the ambiguities and uncertainties of daily life than formally structured, analytic approaches. Dr. Brouillette has a longstanding interest in the special character of learning in the arts. She presently serves as Principal Investigator on a project, funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, that helps high school arts teachers to integrate writing and critical thinking into their teaching. Why Read the Communist Manifesto Today? Rodolfo Torres, Education M 7-7:50pm, Berkeley Place 2001A Course Code 87581 Nineteen ninety-eight was the 150th anniversary of the publication of the "Manifesto." Apart from Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species," Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' slim pamphlet is considered the most important work of nonfiction written in the 19th century. This freshman seminar is intended as an introduction to Marxist thinking. It introduces a way to think about history, about the present, about social and economic relations. If there is a central assumption that guides this seminar, it is that the human world as we know it-the world of money, things, social relations, environmental relations, etc.-is not natural, or commonsensical, or in any way determined by forces external to humans. Humans made the world, and I hope in Marx's analysis to show ways to think about that making. One of the central questions of this seminar is , after the collapse of communism , what if anything is the legacy of the "Communist Manifesto" in the 21st century. Rodolfo D. Torres is Associate Professor of Education, Political Science, and Urban & Regional Planning, and member of the Focused Research Program in Labor Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is also director of the Latino Cultural Citizenship Research Group at UC Irvine. Among his books are Latino Thought ( Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), Latino Metropolis (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), Latino Social Movements (Routledge, 1999), Race, Identity, and Citizenship (Blackwell, 1999). He is currently associate editor of New Political Science (Carfax, UK) and member of the International Advisory Board of Ethnicities , a journal published by UK Sage HENRY SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Engineering, patents, and patent law. Jim Brody, Biomedical Engineering W 2:00-2:50pm, CS 219 Course Code 87588 Understanding patents is important for practicing engineers in order to profit from ideas. Patent law is also a career option for engineering students. This seminar gives an introduction to the patent process. Students will understand the legal requirements for a patent and grounds on which a patent can be challenged. We will read and discuss an introductory book on patents and key court decisions that have formed today's patent law. Jim Brody is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. He has nine US patents. His current research interests include control of gene expression, cancer, and instrumentation for molecular biology. Virtual Cancer: A Computer Model of Cancer Progression and Treatment Vittorio Cristini, Biomedical Engineering W 5:00-5:50pm, REC 200 Course Code 87592 We will present and discuss computational models of cancer. The students will be exposed to interdisciplinary research involving tumor biology, clinical protocols, mathematical modeling and computer simulation. The outcome of computer simulations of diverse scenarios of cancer progression and response to treatment will be analyzed. Optimal therapy protocols will be formulated from this analysis. Dr. Cristini develops computer simulation algorithms and methods to investigate complex fluids, materials, bio structures, and biological processes such as cancer. His computer simulation platform of cancer, VIRTUAL CANCER, incorporates the complex biophysical and biochemical processes that determine cancer growth, spread and the formation of metastases. When implemented, VIRTUAL CANCER could be used to test and recommend the most effective treatment options. Cristini's lab also is creating a simulation of blood flow and red-cell deformation that could be used to optimize the design of arterial valves and to prevent heart illness. In addition, the algorithms could be used in asthma and diabetes treatment, drug delivery and in open-heart surgery devices. Harnessing the Power and Complexity of Cell Processes Nancy Da Silva, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science M 4:00-4:50pm, Engineering Tower 918 Course Code 87595 Discoveries in biological sciences coupled with new biochemical engineering approaches have led to tremendous advances in biotechnology. The cell (ranging from microbial cells to animal cells) can be harnessed to produce a wide variety of compounds or to grow and metabolize in a desired manner. Cell-based synthesis can also replace existing traditional chemical synthesis processes. This freshman seminar will introduce the basic methods of cell and process engineering while focusing on a large range of applications. Examples will include the synthesis of valuable pharmaceuticals, the production of indigo ? the dye in blue jeans, biodegradation of pollutants, genetic engineering of plants, etc. Nancy Da Silva has been a faculty member at UCI since July 1988. She received her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Her research is in biochemical engineering, focusing on the molecular level design of recombinant expression systems and subsequent analysis and application. An example is metabolic engineering for the production of pharmaceuticals or other products. Chemical Engineering Principles as Applied in Chemical Processes and Operations Juan Hong, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science M 5:00-5:50pm, Engineering Tower 918 Course Code 87595 Chemical engineering is that engineering activity concerned with the exploitation of chemical processes on a commercial scale. Its goal is the successful design and operation of chemical processes. A successful chemical engineer needs more than a knowledge and understanding of the fundamental sciences and the related engineering subjects such as thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and computer technology. The engineer must also have the ability to apply this knowledge to practical situations for the purpose of accomplishing something that will be beneficial to society. In this course, the students will be introduced to the chemical engineering principles as applied to various chemical processes including petroleum refinery, polymer production, semiconductor processing, kidney dialysis, recombinant cell culture, to name a few. The course will emphasize qualitative arguments and simple design methods. The course is open to students in science and engineering as well as chemical engineering. Juan Hong is Professor of Chemical Engineering. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University, Korea, and Purdue University, Indiana, respectively. After serving as a professor of chemical engineering for the University of Maryland and Illinois Institute of Technology, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Irvine, in 1987. His research interests include biochemical engineering and separation processes. A Desire Named Streetcar Michael McNally, Civil and Environmental Engineering W 2:00-2:50pm, SST 506 Course Code 87566 Over the last 30 years, the Federal government has promoted and funded a resurgence of rail transit in metropolitan areas. Centerline, a light rail transit system, is being planned for Orange County with UCI at one end of the line. Will this $1.5 billion dollar investment address today's transportation problems or will this be a step back in technology and policy? Dr McNally is Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Social Ecology, Director of the Graduate Program in Transportation Science, and a Faculty Associate of the Institute of Transportation Studies. Research interests focus on the study of complex travel behavior, investigations of interrelationships between transportation and land use, and the development of new technologies and modeling methodologies which reflect and support these research areas. Problem Solving Through Recreational Mathematics Amelia Regan, Civil and Environmental Engineering M 11:00-11:50am, Engineering Gateway E4171 Course Code 87567 Many important mathematical concepts were developed from problems that were recreational in origin. Though published accounts of recreational mathematics can be found as early as the year 500, a sharp increase in popularity was seen in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Using the book, Problem Solving through Recreational Mathematics by Bonnie Averbach and Orin Chein as our guide, we'll explore some of the best known and most interesting problems in recreational mathematics. Our class will commence each day with the reading and the collaborative solving of one or more problems. Some interest in mathematics would be helpful of course, but no more than average talent is required. Students from all majors are welcome. Amelia Regan studies applications of information technologies and optimization methods for logistics and supply chain management. She spends most of her time building mathematical models and developing computer based algorithms to solve the problems generated by these models. Ever Changing World of Electronic Communications and Computing Ender Ayanoglu, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science W 2:00-2:50pm, CS 219 Course Code 87594 The fields of electronic communications and computing have created enormous changes in our lives during the 20th century. The seminar will discuss the past, present, and future of these fields, with an emphasis on their intersection. The goal is to create a basic understanding of this exciting field and then understand where the world may be headed in telecommunications and information technology during the 221st century. Ender Ayanoglu is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UCI. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing, and holds the Conexant-Broadcom Endowed Chair. Prior to joining UCI in July 2002, he was with Cisco Systems (1999-2002) and Bell Labs (1986-1999). He is an IEEE Fellow, an editor of the IEEE Transactions on Communications, and holds two best paper awards from the IEEE Communications Society. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT Use of Experiments to Test Tobacco Use Prevention Approaches Cornelia (Connie) Pechmann, Graduate School of Management Every other Monday, 1:00-2:50pm, GSM 111 Course Code 87577 Why do teenagers smoke cigarettes? Are they influenced by cigarette ads? By smoking scenes in movies? Do antismoking ads work? In this seminar, students will view pro- and anti-smoking ads and movie clips, discuss whether these materials might encourage youth to smoke, and share their ideas about how effective antismoking ads might be constructed. The instructor will discuss her past research findings, and explain why she conducts experiments to examine these issues. This 1 unit seminar will be offered in Fall quarter (2003), and we encourage you to sign up now. The class will meet every other Monday starting Sept. 29, from 1 pm - 2:50 pm, in GSM 111. The instructor has won numerous teaching awards at GSM. Web Site: http://www.gsm.uci.edu/~cpechman/. SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES To Hell with Dante James T. Chiampi, Italian Tu 12:00-12:50pm, HH 251 Course Code 87556 We will choose passages and themes from Dante's Inferno and study the way they have been studied and illustrated through the ages to learn what that tells us about Dante's time, that of his commentators, and ours. Among his commentators, we shall read passages from the Old Commentators down to T. S. Eliot; among his illustrators, we shall study artists from Botticelli through Doré to Baskin. Professor James T. Chiampi was educated at Fordham, Yale, the University of Florence and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He has published a book and more than twenty articles on various aspects of the Divine Comedy . Story and Novel Alexander Gelley, English and Comparative Literature M 11:00-11:50am, KH 537 Course Code 87558 Is a novel simply an expanded story? Walter Benjamin in his essay "The Storyteller" claimed that they are quite different. The story derives from oral practices and implies the authority of someone in touch with the traditions of a community. The novel, by contrast, reflects the "homelessness" of modern life, where communal values often survive only at the level of memory and nostalgia, as something lost. Benjamin was one of the most original literary critics of the earlier 20th century. In "The Storyteller" and elsewhere he developed a highly influential theory of the way literary forms are related to historical periods. Alexander Gelley has taught Comparative Literature at UC Irvine for many years and published on theories of narrative and on the writings of Walter Benjamin. His courses deal with European and Anglo-American literature from the Romantic period to the present, and with such topics as the city in literature and film, and German-Jewish culture. Disease as Metaphor Douglas Haynes, History W 2:00-2:50pm, KH 126 Course Code 87584 This seminar explores disease as a means to understand our society --past and present. Our weekly seminar discussions will focus on the construction of disease knowledge, the representation of illness, and the politics of treatment. Among the diseases the seminar will consider include HIV-AIDS, Ebola, Cancer, Malaria, Sickle-Cell Anemia, Sleeping Sickness and others. Douglas Haynes is an Associate Professor of history. As a historian of medicine, I am intrigued by disease as a way to understand the complexities of our society. There is a lot more to disease than simply pathogens and illness. Let`s find out together. 'Third World' Women Writers Ketu Katrak, Asian American Studies Tu 2:00-2:50pm, HH 226 Course Code 87561 This Freshman Seminar introduces students to selected literary works by 'third world' women writers. We undertake cross-cultural comparisons in terms of a common British colonial past, and the legacy of the English language in which writers express themselves even as they speak their own native mother tongues. We discuss issues of colonial(ist) educational systems, pressures of tradition especially on women, and the social, cultural, and political realities faced by postcolonial societies. Ketu H. Katrak is Chair of the Department of Asian American Studies, and Professor of English & Comparative Literature. Her research & teaching areas include Asain American Literature, 20th Century postcolonial writers, 'third world' women writers and feminist theory. She has published widely in these areas. Her current research explores the intersections of ethnicities multiple locations, and the impacts of new immigration on ethnic formation in the United States. Language Myths and Linguistics Wars Glenn Levine, German F 3:00-3:50pm, KH 400D Course Code 87593 In this seminar we will delve into (excerpts from) three important and enjoyable books that deal with language and linguistics. First we will poke around in some common "Language Myths," such as "the media are ruining English" or "women talk too much." Then, with the help of some of Pullum & McCawley's tongue-in-cheek essays, we'll yank some of the theory-bricks from the Ivory Tower of Linguistics and have a good hard look at them (and we might even put some of them back). Finally, we'll 'get serious' as we trace the development of modern linguistics through Randy Harris's fabulous The Linguistics Wars, which offers a very readable account of how we got from viewing language as a bunch of stimulus-response patterns to seeing it as an innate set of structures 'hard-wired' in the brain at birth, to asking ourselves the important follow-up question: How do meaning and social context fit into the picture? In the process, we'll hear from such venerable personages as Noam Chomsky, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Miss Piggy, and Mr. Spock, all of whom have had important things to say about the ways we understand human language. Course grade will be based on attendance, class participation, and a short oral presentation. Glenn S. Levine is an Assistant Professor and Language Program Director in the Department of German. He has published on bilingualism, codeswitching, language pedagogy, and Yiddish language and literature. Professor Levine is currently working on a book on codeswitching in the foreign language classroom. Comics, Criticism, Culture Glen Mimura, Asian American Studies M 11:00-11:50am, HIB 110 Course Code 87578 Passing trivia or serious art? Comics have been a ubiquitous, if marginal form of cultural expression since the 1920s. Largely ignored by serious criticism until the 1960s, comics became a significant object of creative scrutiny in Pop Art, especially in the work of Roy Lichtenstein. Since the late 1960s, comics have become increasingly articulated in three "serious" directions. First, within the comics form itself, the past three decades have witnessed the emergence of art comics or "indy" (independent) comics, elevating the form to such a degree that it is now regarded as a legitimate, if still marginal literary-artistic genre. Second, comics continue to be appropriated as a thematic object or style into high art proper, as in the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the music of Laurie Anderson, and writing of Michael Chabon. Third, less "legitimately," comics have provided much of the visual vocabulary of contemporary graffiti art. The course will examine this rich history, focusing on the status of comics in these three post-1960s directions, toward an understanding of the significance of comics in modern culture. Dr. Mimura's interests include visual media, cultural studies, popular culture and more generally, the interrelations between gender, race, class and sexuality. His dissertation, "New Ethnicities on the Edge of Time," situates textual analyses of Asian American media in spatial-historical contexts, specifically the Western United States and the Asia-Pacific region. Combining critical attention to the symbolic and material dimensions of culture, his research broadly examines the historical relationship between identity and representation as it is constituted by national and transnational formations. Glen Mimura's research interests include Visual Studies and Critical Theory; Cultural Studies of Race, Ethnicity, and Globalization; Queer Theory and Racialized Sexuality; and Popular Culture Studies. His publications include essays on film, video, photography and art. History at the Opera: Puccini's Madama Butterfly Robert Moeller, History W 10:00-10:50am, Murray Krieger Hall 126 Course Code 87579 This seminar will engage students in an in-depth study of this famous opera and will culminate with attendance of a performance of the opera at Opera Pacific, Orange County's opera company. Students will learn about the composer, Giacomo Puccini; the historical context of the opera (late nineteenth century Europe and European attitudes toward Asia); and possible interpretations of the opera. Robert Moeller is a professor of History who specializes in modern German and comparative European history. He is very interested in opera as a historical source, and looks forward to exploring Madama Butterfly with students who share these interests SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTER SCIENCE Future Impacts of Biological and Computer Sciences and Technologies Pierre Baldi, Information and Computer Science M 1:00-1:50pm, CS 432 Course Code 87551 This seminar will examine some of the current trends in biological and computer sciences and technologies and extrapolate them into the future. Specific topics will be selected depending on student interest. Examples of possible topics include: (a) artifical intelligence; (b) the Internet; (c) embryonic stem cells; (d) human cloning; (e) nanotechnology; (f) bioethics. Pierre Baldi is a professor in the School of Information and Computer Science, in the Department of Biological Chemistry (College of Medicine), and the founder and director of the UCI Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics. Dr. Baldi received his PhD in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1986. Dr. Baldi's main areas of research are computational biology, bionformatics, data mining, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He is the author of over 80 scientific articles and several books. Beyond his scientific interests, Dr. Baldi has long-standing interests in more philosophical issues related to bioethics and what it means to be human in light of the current technological revolution in biology and computers, as exemplified by the Human Genome Project and the Internet. He is the author of a trade book on these topics: The Shattered Self--The End of Natural Evolution (MIT Press). Applied Computer Science and Everyday Life Tony Givargis, Information and Computer Science Th 2-3:20pm, CS 432 Course Code 87559 Computer science is a part of everyday life for all of us. No mobile phone, no computer, no aircraft, no car would work without software and digital hardware. Software and digital hardware are what make our answering machines function and our video recorder programmable. The universal presence of computer science will continue to grow in our technological world. Applied computing is particularly closely linked with many other disciplines. Indeed, computers and IT applications are becoming ever more important in fields such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, business administration and management, media management, and many other disciplines. This seminar will give an overview of all that is enabled through computer science. Tony Givargis received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of California, Riverside, in 1987 and in 2001, respectively. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is also a member of the Center for Embedded Computer Systems at UC Irvine. He is a coauthor of the textbook Embedded System Design (New York: Wiley, 2002). His research interests include platform-based system design, real time resource management of embedded computing systems, and design space exploration. SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES Nanotechnology - Present and Future Philip Collins, Physics M 3:00-3:50pm, FRH 2111 Course Code 87557 Nanotechnology is the art of building useful things at the atomic scale - electronics, machines, robots, etc - most of which we don't yet know how to do. We'll discuss nanotechnology from multiple points of view, including its potential for the future, the current state of the art, and its possible risks and dangers. We'll also look at what's available on campus for interested students who want to learn more or get involved. Philip Collins is a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. His research focuses on unusual nanomaterials for next-generation electronics at the molecular scale. He has helped to form a startup company on this topic, and has performed research at IBM, UC Berkeley, and MIT. Mirror symmetry for beginners Ludmil Katzarkov, Mathematics M 5:00-5:50pm, MSTB 256 Course Code 87562 Mirror Symmetry for beginners: String theory is the ultimate physics theory, which is supposed to explain everything. In this course we will concentrate on its geometric aspects beautifully revealed on a phenomenon that has attracted a lot of attention - Mirror Symmetry - studying behavior of particles can be done by looking at their "mirrors'', which at times are easier to understand. Ludmil Katzarkov is a Professor in Mathematics and does Algebraic geometry. He publishes in and is an editor of very good journals. He has a lot of experience working with extremely bright kids - high school students - some of them have published research papers. For example, H. Havens from Costa Mesa High - as a result she was accepted to Harvard, MIt and Caltech. Introduction to Physics & Astronomy at UC Irvine Roger McWilliams, Physics M 10:00-10:50am, FRH B012 Course Code 87583 Physics & Astronomy majors, and those considering becoming a major, will be given an introduction to the research topics and people in the department, learning what topics are exciting and touring the facilities in which the work is pursued. Learn about the department's leading edge science and scientists and what is done outside the classroom at Irvine. Professor McWilliams earned his Ph.D. in 1980 from Princeton University and the B.A. from the University of California, Irvine in 1975. Prior to finishing his Ph.D. he joined the faculty at UCI. His teaching has been recognized with multiple awards for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education at UCI. He was the inaugural winner of the UC systemwide Presidential Faculty Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizing his leadership in creating and overseeing undergraduate research opportunities. He is founding director of the Campuswide Honors Program and founder of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. The Human Side of Physics Nathan Rynn, Physics W 2:00-2:50pm, PSCB 210 Course Code 87598 This seminar will explore the lives, times and discoveries of some of the scientists who established the foundations of Physics in various epochs from Copernicus to Einstein . We will examine the societies in which they lived and why their discoveries shook the world as it was known at the time. For example, the theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not vice versa (the heliocentric theory) had been around at least from the days of Omar Khayyam (1048-1123). So why was there such negative reaction when Copernicus ( 1473-1543) published his version? In fact he came close to being burned at the stake. Why was Galileo (1554-1642) condemned by the Church when he pointed his modification of a new-fangled gadget, the telescope, at the Moon and announced that the Moon and other celestial bodies were not perfect? Why did many scientists dismiss Einstein’s theory of relativity when he first propounded it? These ideas are now firmly embedded in our culture, so what made the difference? These issues will be discussed in class with the help of assigned, related readings. Once under way the seminar participants will decide on what portions of this very large field to examine for the balance of the quarter. No mathematical background is required or needed Professor Rynn joined the Physics Department in 1966 and became Emeritus in 1994. He has had a broad background in science and technology including the early development of computers and color TV at RCA Laboratories at Princeton, N.J.; development of high power microwave tubes at Stanford University where he earned his Ph.D.; and participation in the Controlled Fusion program at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he originated and developed a research facility, the Q-Machine. Upon joining the UCI faculty, he built another Q-Machine facility and launched a program in fundamental research in Plasma Physics, under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. An avid reader, Professor Rynn has always had a strong interest in the history of cultures, societies and ideas. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Why Things Are the Way They Are Clare Yu, Physics M 3:00-3:50pm, RH 184 Course Code 87597 Why makes different materials different? Why are some materials magnets but others are not? Why do metals conduct heat better than glass? Why is a superconductor able to conduct electricity without any resistance? These are some of the questions we will investigate in this course. Clare Yu is a physics professor who does research in condensed matter physics and biophysics. She received her Ph.D from Princeton University. School of Social Ecology Understanding Cities: Learning from Popular Film, Television, Song, and Print. Victoria Basolo, Urban and Regional Planning W 4:00-4:50pm, SEI 225 Course Code 87574 Images of cities are developed through experience, mostly second-hand through film, television, song, and print. This seminar explores the images of cities offered through these sources and challenges course participants to analyze the presentation of cities and city life as depicted through the mass media. Victoria Basolo, Ph.D., AICP is an assistant professor in the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design. Her research interests focus on urban planning and policy issues including housing, economic development, intergovernmental relations, and politics. Health Care Fraud Paul Jesilow, Criminology, Law and Society W 4:00-4:50pm, SE2 2372 Course Code 87560 Fraud committed by doctors against government programs steals billions of dollars from taxpayers each year. This seminar will explore some of the causes of this behavior. Paul Jesilow is a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and the winner of numerous teaching awards. He has published extensively on crime and justice issues, including Myths That Cause Crime (winner of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' Outstanding Book of the Year Award), Prescription for Profit: How Doctors Defraud Medicaid , Doing Justice in the People's Court: Sentencing by Municipal Court Judges , and In the Same Voice: Women and Men in Law Enforcement . He currently is preparing a book based on the experiences of the survivors of the disappeared in Guatemala. Global Environmental Problems: An Economic Perspective Jean-Daniel Saphores, Urban and Regional Planning W 1:00-1:50pm, SE2 1304 Course Code 87568 The purpose of this seminar is to provide an overview of the role economics could play in tackling some regional and global environmental problems. We will examine at the management of natural resources (such as fisheries and forests), the shortages of freshwater in many parts of the world, the impacts of urbanization, the loss of biodiversity, and global warming. Although we will adopt a broad, multidisciplinary overview, we will discuss some economic concepts more specifically to explore their advantages and drawbacks. The course will rely on several videos, on scientific papers, and on material available on the Internet. Jean-Daniel Saphores holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, with a specialization in Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, and an MA in Economics, both from Cornell University. He also has a civil engineering background with a degree from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris, France), an MS in Geotechnical Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder, and an MS in Environmental Systems from Cornell University. His professional experience includes three years as a consulting engineer with Woodward Clyde Consultants, in Denver, CO, and three years as an assistant professor in the Economics department at Laval University, in Québec, Canada. His research interests: include Environmental and Natural Resource Economics and Policy (with a special interest for water resources, waste management, and the management of stock pollutants); Transportation Economics, Planning, and Policy; and Quantitative Methods. Why Water? Sharon Stern, Environmental Analysis and Design W 9:00-9:50am, SE2 1306 Course Code 87570 Water is a fascinating molecule that occurs as a liquid, solid, and gas on earth, and ranges from pure fresh water, to salty water, to polluted water. It is often referred to as "liquid gold," because water is necessary for life and for all societies. Conflicts have already developed about the apportionment, use, and discharge-quality of water and more problems will likely occur as populations increase and agriculture in marginal areas becomes increasingly necessary. This course addresses the problems of water management, using local and international examples, and provides solutions to these problems. Sharon Stern has a Ph.D. in Biology, specializing in aquatic ecology. She is interested in interdisciplinary studies involving water and land use. Her research interests fall into two broad categories: pollution, primarily water pollution, and conservation biology. Current projects involve analyzing the efficacy of various wastewater treatment methods in the USA and Mexico, justification for their selection, and the ecological and public health consequences of the treated products. An additional project is an analysis and evaluation of the designs of local open space preserves, use of ecological information, goals, and success. Human Response to Risk and Danger Elaine Vaughan, Psychology and Social Behavior M 2:00-2:50pm, SE2 3384 Course Code 87587 Many of the United States' most difficult and controversial policies involve decisions about threats to human health. For example, the new Department of Homeland Security regularly informs the American public about the danger that might be presented by terrorists targeting civilian populations in the United States. But are there negative psychological consequences to issuing warnings when information about risk may be uncertain and non-specific? Whether we consider the country's decisions about the threat of terrorism, environmental hazards or new infectious diseases (e.g., the AIDS virus), understanding how humans respond to danger and risk is essential to design effective public health policies. In this seminar we will consider the psychology of risk emotions, beliefs and behaviors, and the range of human responses to circumstances of danger and threat. We also will examine how the broadcast and print media portray risk events, and whether the coverage is likely to influence risk perceptions, fear and actions to minimize the threat. Our discussions will consider why some individuals react effectively in situations of risk, whereas others experience long-term negative psychological consequences. This course also will explore how cultural background may influence risk decisions, and whether diverse communities are likely to react similarly when confronting the possibility of physical harm from hazardous substances or processes. Elaine Vaughan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior in the School of Social Ecology. She conducts research on individuals' response to health and environmental risks, and has recently published articles on communicating the risks of bioterrorism and the psychological response of residents in lower-income communities to sudden and serious environmental accidents. Professor Vaughan has served on various national and state committees considering how society should manage risk, including a recent panel of the Institute of Medicine on Protecting the Health of Deployed Troops from Biological and Chemical Weapons. Global Tobacco Epidemic John Whiteley, Environmental Analysis and Design W 5:00-5:50pm, SE 200 Course Code 87572 There is a global tobacco epidemic and the global public health community through the World Health Organization is actively developing a framework convention (form of global treaty) to combat it. The problem of smoking in American society has also been addressed by the public health community with strong success in some areas and continued set backs in others. Tobacco use remains one of the world most preventable public health problems. John Whiteley ia a professor in the School of Social Ecology who teaches in the general areas of international environmental cooperation, peace from a cross disciplinary perspective and I am active in the campus' Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Quantum Mysteries for Everyone Jeffrey Barrett, Logic and Philosophy of Science M 12;00-12:50pm, SST 603 Course Code 87573 If quantum mechanics is right, then the structure of the physical world is very different from what one might have imagined. In this seminar we will discuss how quantum mechanics explains the counterintuitive experimental evidence we find when we look at small, well-isolated physical systems. We will also discuss the famous quantum measurement problem. Jeffrey Barrett earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research interests include philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, quantum mechanics, theory of knowledge. He is interested in the philosophy of science and the theory of knowledge generally, but most of his research has been in the philosophy of physics. U.S. Immigration and American Diversity Frank D. Bean, Sociology Jennifer Lee, Sociology Wed 12:00-12:50pm, SSPB 4206 Course Code 87552 This seminar will explore the ways recent U.S. immigration trends have increased the relative sizes of racial/ethnic groups (and racial/ethnic diversity and intermarriage) and thus may be changing the nature and strength of historical color lines in the country. Frank Bean joined the Sociology Department in the Fall of 1999. He is former Director of the Center for U.S/Mexico Border and Migration Research at the University of Texas, Austin. Dr. Bean's current research examines four areas: the intersection of race/ethnicity in the United States, immigration and U.S. welfare patterns, migration within and from Mexico, and the effects of immigration on labor markets. He has just completed a year as a Guggenheim Fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York working on questions of immigration and diversity in the United States. Jennifer Lee is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Before joining the department at UC Irvine, she was a University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA and received her B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. Her recent articles focus on race and ethnic relations, black/immigrant competition, employers hiring practices, and immigrant entrepreneurship. Scams and Popular Delusions Carter Butts, Sociology F 12:00-12:50pm, SSPB 4206 Course Code 87582 This course will survey a variety of long-running scams and popular delusions from a sociological point of view. Emphasis will be on the social processes which allow for the persistence of pathological social behavior, and which facilitate victimization. Examples will include Ponzi schemes, Satanic Ritual Abuse panics, and the marketing of perpetual motion devices. Dr. Butts's research involves the application of formal (i.e., mathematical and computational) techniques to theoretical and methodological problems within the areas of social network analysis, mathematical sociology, quantitative methodology, and human judgment and decision making. Currently, his work focuses on: the structure of spatially embedded large-scale interpersonal networks; models for informant accuracy, network inference, and graph comparison; graphical representations of life history data; and models for human behavior in strategic situations. His teaching interests include social networks, the sociology of decision making, quantitative methodology, and computational methods. Art and Vision Charles Chubb, Psychology Tu 2:00-2:50pm, SSL 105 Course Code 87591 How do paintings and sculptures achieve their power? What is it about the workings of the eye and the brain that lets a painting such as Picasso's Guernica grip one's heart. What are the perceptual roots of balance and dynamism in works of art? What makes something whole for vision? What is a visual part? What are the visual meanings of brightness, of color, of shape? How is portraiture related to face perception? We will explore these and other questions in informal discussions, looking at paintings and sculptures for insight and inspiration as we go. Charles Chubb is a professor in the Cognitive Sciences Department. His primary research interests are in the areas of human visual perception and visual-motor interaction. What Can Social Network Analysis Teach Us? Linton Freeman, Sociology W 2:00-2:50pm, SSPB 4206 Course Code 87575 An introduction to the structural perspective of social network analysis. Thes seminar will include a review of important applications like interlocking directorates, organizational form, terrorist networks and networks and health. Linton Freeman is a Research Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Sociology. He has taught at UCI for 24 years and has served as Dean of the School of Social Sciences. His primary focus is in the area of social network analysis. His recent work has focused on graphic presentations of network structure. His vita, listing publications, is available online at http://moreno.ss.uci.edu/vita.html. Why Some Nations are Rich and Others are Poor Amihai Glazer, Economics W 2:30-3:20pm, SSPB 3266 Course Code 87589 Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has worked. The course will describe these solutions, and explore how these solutions violate the basic principle of economics, that people--private individuals and businesses, government officials, even aid donors--respond to incentives. Amihai Glazer has been part of the faculty at UCI since 1979. He studies the behavior of government, co-edits a journal entitled Economics of Governance, and recently published a book called Why Government Succeeds and Why It Fails . Sociology of Cartoons Belinda Robnett, Sociology Every other Wednesday 6-7:50pm, SE2 1304. Course Code 87580 Cartoons provide powerful messages to viewers about race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, and violence. Millions of children and adults view these seemingly innocuous messages on a daily basis. In this course, we will examine and critique cartoons, including Disney features, Anime, and current popular shows. Belinda Robnett is a professor of Sociology and former Director of African-American Studies. Her publications include numerous articles and books including How Long? How Long? African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights . She teaches courses on race/ethnicity, gender, and social movements. Dilemmas of Introducing Market Capitalism into China Dorothy Solinger, Political Science W 3:30-4:20pm, SSPB 1208 Course Code 87569 The People's Republic of China, ruled by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949, was managed economically under the institution of a centrally-planned economy from 1953 until the 1980s. Since then, capitalist market reforms were gradually introduced. From around 1996, huge numbers of workers were suddenly fired from their jobs. The seminar would look at how the planned economy works and how it treated workers. It would review the process leading to the decision to carry out massive layoffs. Then, the workers problems in surviving without formal jobs would be studied. We can discuss the pros and cons of these reforms. Dorothy Solinger has been in the Department of Political Science at UCI since 1986. Before that, she taught at the University of Pittsburgh (since 1975). She also taught one year each at the University of Michigan and Stanford (by invitation in each case). Her Ph.D. is from Stanford, as is her M.A., in both cases in Chinese politics. Her B.A. is from the University of Chicago and is also in Political Science. She has published 5 single-author books, edited one book, and co-edited another, and has also written over 60 articles, mostly peer-reviewed. All of her publications have concerned China, except for the co-edited book. Some of her published work, as well as some of her teaching, also involves other countries. COLLEGE OF MEDICINE The Science of Plastic Surgery: Tissue Engineering Jay Calvert, Surgery Tu 11:00-11:50am, PSCB 230 Course Code 87555 As the populations ages, new methods to replace parts of the body will be necessary to maintain quality of life. Plastic surgeons have led the field of tissue engineering since the focus of their work is to restore form and function. This seminar will discuss current plastic surgery techniques and how tissue engineering stands to transform the way medicine is practiced. Jay Calvert, M.D., is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery. He is the director of research in the Division of Plastic Surgery and has extensive experience in tissue engineering research. He is a practicing plastic surgeon and performs all types of plastic surgery, such as facelifts, liposuction, and facial trama reconstruction. The evolution of the religion versus science controversy over evolution. Cal McLaughlin, Biological Chemistry Tu 2:00-2:50pm, Medical Sciences I, D240 Course Code 87565 The publication of Charles Darwin's seminal book The Origin of Species in 1859 ignited an important religion versus science controversy that has persisted to this day. We will take both a historical and a conceptual point of view to try to understand why thsi cotroversy has been so durable, especially in America. We will start by reading portions of Darwin's book so that we can understand what biologists and other scientists mean by evolution. We will then examine the point of view of religious figures who oppose the theory of evolution so we can understand their objections to the theory or evolution. We will also examine the ideas of religious figures who do not oppose evolution. While we will focus on objections to evolution from within the Christian tradition we will examine the objections to evolution from other great religions. It may surprise many to learn that most of the major religions have branches of thought that oppose the theory of evolution. Since neither the theory of evolution no the objections to it have remained static, we will document how both sides have evolved since 1859. Science and non-science majors are welcome. The course is designed for students who are religious and want to understand the meaning of evolution and for students who are interested in the nature of conflict and conflict resolution that involve belief systems. Calvin S. McLaughlin is a Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biolgical chemistry in the College of Medicine. After studying religion at Yale Divinity School as a Rockefeller Brother fellow, he obtained his doctorate in biochemistry from MIT. He has published extensively on the molecular biology and genetics of yeast. He is currently involved in genomic research involving bacteria, yeast, flies, and humans. |
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| Freshman Seminar Program 256 Aldrich Hall Irvine, CA 92697-5675 Phone (949) 824-6987 Fax (949) 824-3469 A Division of Undergraduate Education Program © 2006-2008 The Regents of the University of California All Rights Reserved |
