UNST 300-0001: SCIENCE, PSEUDOSCIENCE, AND LOGICAL FALLACIES
MON/WED 9:35-10:50 DARCUS JOHNSON HALL 1006 Dr. Phil Frana & Dr. Jennifer Mangan
The world is changing at a rapid pace, driven by science and technology. Countless expressions of cutting-edge science and high technology pervade our world, and they profoundly affect the social, economic, and cultural outlooks of societies and individuals. In this course, we will examine the politics of science, public perceptions of science, scientific literacy, and the co-evolution of scientific expertise and democracy. What does it mean to be objective? Who can we rely upon as trusted authorities? How will science address, and potentially alleviate, the wicked problems plaguing our world? What is the impact of society on science? Topics will include past and present controversies within the history of modern science and technology (e.g. the geocentric universe, evolution, climate change, artificial superintelligence) as well as studies of what are generally considered pseudosciences (e.g. astrology, paranormal activity, cryptozoology, UFOs).
UNST 300-0002: Knowledge, Power, and Inequality
Tues/Thurs 12:45 to 2:00 Darcus Johnson Hall G004 Dr. Matt Chamberlin
How does knowledge shape the human world? This course examines human knowledge at the intersection of past and future, self and other, imagination and memory, desire and fear, truth and bullshit, freedom and constraint, fiction and nonfiction, science and fantasy, and the possible and impossible. Knowledge is at the root of the human experience, where it governs the relationships that exist or can be envisioned among human beings, lending itself to various forms of power, including structural inequalities that profoundly determine our cultures, identities, and lived worlds and also the pathways of agency that permit rethinking, resisting, and revising those worlds.
What will we do in this course? We will read, watch, think, write, and discuss. We will try to locate and explain things known, with special attention to their knowers. We will watch short films, read long poems, and write letters to the future. We will do a bit of research. We will allow our imagination and creativity free reign but weigh our words and choices. We will explore, with equal parts caution and abandon, our own self-knowledge. We will study the linkages between knowledge, power, and inequality by drawing on the multiple, often diverging voices of storytellers, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, poets, astrobiologists, moviemakers, artists, activists, and more, with special attention paid to the voices of indigenous, non-white, non-male, and non-cis-gendered populations.
UNST 300-0003: URBAN AMERICA: DETROIT as “Motor City”
TUES/THURS 2:20-3:35pm | Darcus Johnson Hall G004 | Dr. Johnathan Walker
The focus of this seminar will be to understand the city of Detroit, Michigan through spatial dynamism and cultural place-making in what became America’s “Motor City”. The goal of the course is to develop an inclusive perspective of the people and powers that shaped Detroit with emphasis on equity/inequity and the development and perpetuation of diverse and “undiverse” landscapes. Students will develop a critical eye toward issues of gender, race, and power and understand its spatial manifestation.
UNST 300-0004: Generative Design
Mon 3:00 to 5:30 pm | Lakeview Hall 1102 3D printing lab | Dr. Laura Taalman
This interdisciplinary project-based course will explore the idea of constrained randomness in a range of design contexts. Students will use generative design to create unique collections of surface patterns, visualizations, animations, digital 3D models, and physical artifacts. Students will work in teams to generate and control random parameters using basic programming in p5.js and OpenSCAD. Throughout the course, students will use critical reasoning to examine how constrained randomness can arise in nature, data science, probability, chaotic behavior, and design.
No prior experience with programming, mathematics, or design is needed for this course, although the ability and academic maturity to research and learn new things from online resources is a requirement. Students should be prepared to learn independently about software, hardware, design, and topics related to their projects, and to work productively in teams. At the end of the semester, each team will give public presentations of their work. Due to the hands-on nature of this course, enrollment is limited to 18 students. Students do not need to have experience with 3D printing or design for this course.
UNST 300-0005: ETHICS OF HUMAN SUBJECT EXPERIMENTATION
TUES/THURS 2:20-3:35pm | Holland Yates Hall 1053 | Dr. Mark Mattson
Amazing knowledge can be gained from human-subject experimentation, so why is it so highly regulated? The history behind it is complex. For instance, following World War II the United States offered amnesty to enemy medical personnel who gained unique data through brutal human-subject experiments in exchange for their help to interpret the information. Was it right to reconcile the otherwise unobtainable information gained with the horrifying suffering of the victims? How is science used nowadays to justify “destructive research on human embryos?”1
Through the use of historical role-playing, debate, and project development, students will gain greater understanding of the intersection between ethics and human experimentation and how it may affect them in their career. This is a 300-level interdisciplinary course anticipated to meet the needs of non-freshman students who still have to satisfy the General Education Cluster One Critical Thinking requirement. The anticipated enrollment of the course is approximately 20 students and class will meet face-to-face twice a week for 75-minute sessions. This course will introduce students of all majors and interests to the protocols and regulations of experiments that involve humans as subjects; it will also address the often horrifying history of human-subject experimentation that led to the development of these protocols. Students will engage with the subject by developing their own proposals for human-subject research and following a process that mimics the necessary steps to secure legal permission to engage in this research.
1 Douglas, T., & Savulescu, J. (2009). Destroying unwanted embryos in research. Talking Point on morality and human embryo research. EMBO Reports, 10(4), 307–312. http://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2009.54
UNST 300-0006: COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL MEDIA
WED 3:25 to 5:55 pm | Darcus Johnson 1010 | Dr. Kathryn Hobson
Communication is an ever-changing process in which we construct and respond to messages that are consistent with a communication purpose, audience, and context. With media having such a large presence in our lives, how could different mediums and platforms affect your verbal and nonverbal communication skills? How does the media platform alter the way you both portray yourself and others online? Are there consequences for different portrayals? If so, what are they? How do different types of media affect how you negotiate relationships with others? What communication barriers might arise as you negotiate those relationships? Come study how messages are shaped and altered by media platforms and messaging.
LTLE 375-0001: 3D PRINTING AND OCEAN SOLUTIONS
TuTh 11:10AM - 12:25PM | Lakeview Hall 1102 3SPACE lab | Dr. Jamie Calcagno Roach & Dr. Joi Merritt
How can we make our oceans healthier? How can we use new technologies to solve real world problems? Could 3D printing be the answer? 3D printing has been used to develop products and processes. Such products range from objects for sale, fun, or decoration. You may have seen larger projects where 3D printing has been used to print houses. To learn how we can do this, we will explore how 3D printing can be used to develop solutions to reduce the amount of plastics in our oceans, as well as how to educate and engage the public about these solutions. You will then apply these skills to develop 3D printed solutions for other real-world problems.
Students do not need to have experience with 3D printing or design for this course.
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