2013-2014 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog (without addenda) 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2013-2014 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog (without addenda) [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


A Brief Guide to Course Descriptions

Each program described in this catalog contains detailed descriptions of the courses offered within the program.

The first line gives the official course number for which students must register and the official course title. The letters indicate the discipline of the course and the first number of the official course numbers indicates the level of the course. The levels are as follows:

  • 1XXX - Freshman Level
  • 2XXX - Sophomore Level
  • 3XXX - Junior Level
  • 4XXX - Senior Level
  • 5XXX to 9XXX - Graduate level

Typically the last number of the course number indicates the number of credits. The breakdown of periods of the course is also listed.

When selecting a course for registration, the section of the course may include the following notations:

  • “LEC” - lecture section
  • “RCT” or “RC” - recitation section
  • “LAB” or “LB” - lab section

Additionally, any other letter or digit listed in the section will further identify the section and being liked to another section of the class with the same letter and/or digit combination. Further information on sections is available from academic advisers during registration periods.

The paragraph description briefly indicates the contents and coverage of the course. A detailed course syllabus may be available by request from the office of the offering department.

“Prerequisites” are courses (or their equivalents) that must be completed before registering for the described course. “Co-requisites” are courses taken concurrently with the described course.

The notation “Also listed…” indicates that the course is also given under the number shown. This means that two or more departments or programs sponsor the described course and that students may register under either number, usually the one representing the student’s major program. Classes are jointly delivered.

 

Physics

  
  • PH 9541 Graduate Seminar in Physics II

    1.5 Credits
    Students presenting current topics in Physics in a seminar setting to other students and supervising faculty. Topics chosen by the student with guidance from faculty.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 1.5 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0

Psychology

  
  • PS 997X MS Thesis


    This course is an independent research project that demonstrates scientific competence and that is performed under the guidance of advisers. The course may be repeated for total up to 6 credits.

    Prerequisite(s): consent of adviser.
  
  • PS 2323W Environmental Psychology

    3 Credits
    This course looks at how people interact with their environments: how settings affect behavior; how people change environments to fit their needs; and how people can become an active part of the environmental-design process. The course discusses how people use space and the way environmental design meets (or fails to meet) human needs. These concerns are valid for very-small-scale design problems (as in human-factors engineering); mid-size spaces (architecture and interior design); large scale spaces (communities, urban areas).

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 2613 Psychology of the Internet

    3 Credits
    This class investigates aspects of human behavior in terms of the Internet. The Internet is a technological phenomenon that allows people separated by huge distances to interact with each other in relatively seamless fashion. Does the Internet allow people to connect in ways never possible before? Or are these new connections variations of previous human interactions, only on a computer screen. For all of its positive attributes, the Internet has a negative side: People become increasingly dependent on interacting only through the Internet. Is this dysfunctional? What characterizes addictive behavior? Can addictive behavior be attributed to a physical action as opposed to a biological substance?

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 2643 Creativity and Innovation

    3 Credits
    This course explores the nature of the creative act. What does it take to be creative? What are some of the cognitive and personality variables that aid and hinder creativity? What are the characteristics of great innovators? Is innovation purely individual? Or are innovators a product of their time? The course also surveys literature on teaching creativity and innovation

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 2663 Intelligence: Real and Artificial

    3 Credits
    This course explores the nature of intelligence, both human and computer, and covers historical debates centered on intelligence testing. Can computers be programmed to think? If they can, what would a “thinking” computer look like? The course covers issues such as the Turing test and human-computer interaction.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 2723 Human Factors in Engineering Design

    3 Credits
    The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with basic concepts, research findings and theories related to the way in which human characteristics, capabilities and limitations, including physiology and psychology, affect system design and performance. Students will develop a basic understanding of methods for studying and assessing human behavior and for analyzing human performance. It will introduce aspects of system, interface, organizational design and physical setting as they influence operators and performance.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3163 Health Psychology

    3 Credits
    This course is designed to acquaint students Health psychology as a field concerned with how to promote and maintain health through examination of causes and correlates of health, and prevention, intervention and treatment of illness. The course will 1) provide a thorough examination of health beliefs, illness cognitions and psychological aspects of health care (such as factors affecting service utilization, the role of health care provider and of patient) all of which are of vital importance in the prevention and treatment of illnesses; 2) focus on changing specific health related behaviors through prevention and intervention programs, and the role of stress, coping and social support in maintaining one’s physical and emotional well-being and in the etiology of diseases; and 3) explore the management of chronic and terminal illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and HIV. It is expected that by the end of the semester, students will have a deep understanding of the relationship among biological, psychological and social factors in predicting individuals’ health status.

  
  • PS 3603 Psychology of Internet Security

    3 Credits
    This course looks at the relationship between psychology and online security. How do computer hackers access secure computers strictly by asking people for their password? What are the key features of current security messages and how can they be made more explicit so the average computer user can understand them? What social-psychology principles are required for a secure network? And what perceptual issues help secure a computer network?

    Prerequisite(s): One level 2 STS cluster course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3693 Humor and Modern Media

    3 Credits
    Humor is considered one of the most pleasurable positive emotions. The questions asked will include: What makes something funny? Why do people find someone falling down funny in one culture and tragic in another? What are the cross-cultural implications of humor and how have they been affected by a global worldview? How has the Internet changed our view of humor, now that technologies like YouTube make it possible for anyone to be a director or cinematographer with a worldwide audience? Topics will include psychoanalysis; superiority; reversal theories of humor; the psychology and psychobiology of humor; and humor, laughter and mental health.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3723 Psychology of Sustainability

    3 Credits
    This course addresses the psychological bases of environmental problems, investigates theories of behavior change as they relate to environmental issues and introduces practical strategies to foster behavior change. Topics include the ways in which the fit (or lack of it) of design to human behavior can affect environmentally relevant behaviors, such as energy use and recycling. Course issues include designing green buildings and creating sustainable communities.

    Prerequisite(s): One level 2 PS course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3743 Psychology of Transportation

    3 Credits
    The human element is the central focus of all transit systems. How users respond to a transportation system ultimately determines its success or failure. Psychological and behavioral issues range from the small scale (ergonomics of signal and platform design; design that causes slips, trips and falls), to the psychological and psycho-physiological (such as commuter stress), through large-scale implementation (mode choice, social impacts of highways or transit lines).

    Prerequisite(s):  Completion of first year writing requirements and One level 2 PS course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3753 Psychology of Living in Extreme Environments

    3 Credits
    This course considers issues, research and theory in relation to creating human habitats in extreme space, undersea and polar regions. The course reviews firsthand experiences and formal studies of life in these settings, and extrapolates from work in other, less extreme human settings. Psychological issues include privacy, territoriality, isolation and crowding, light and views of nature, as well as personality and organizational issues. Students complete a research paper and engage in a team-design project.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3813 Social Psychology of Virtual Worlds

    3 Credits
    This course explores human relations in the virtual world. Do real-world interactions maintain themselves in an online community, or do the rules of social interaction change significantly in a virtual environment? When people perceive themselves as being anonymous, do they feel the same responsibility for their own behavior, or do they interact with others differently as they would in the real world? This course examines the psychology of online, virtual relationships with a view to compare and contrast them with real-world relationships.

    Prerequisite(s): One level 2 PS course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 3833 Special Topics in Psychology

    3 Credits
    This course discusses new or experimental topics in psychology offered by current or visiting faculty.

    Prerequisite(s): One level 2 PS course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 4443 Guided Readings in Psychology

    3 Credits
    The course focuses on selected problems in psychology. Faculty members supervise students in pre-arranged individual or group studies/projects involving guided reading or research. This course is for mature students who undertake specialized independent study under tutorial guidance.

    Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • PS 9053 Psychology: Applied

    3 Credits
    This course demonstrates how various problems, particularly in work, can be solved through the judicious use of psychological principles. Phenomena addressed include human-machine interaction and other engineering-behavior interactions, smoking, study habits, memory, creative thinking, group interaction, raising children, influencing people, self control and specific problems brought up in class by students. Students learn to employ behavioral analysis to understand various problems. Students select a problem, perform behavioral analysis and modify it as a class project.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9063 Human Cognition and Information Processing

    3 Credits
    This course covers human cognitive capabilities, including natural language and information processing. Topics: Memory, internal representation of knowledge, concept information, symbol manipulation, language acquisition, reasoning and problem solving. Artificial intelligence approaches to natural language learning and acquisition of cognitive skills.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9073 Human-Computer Interaction

    3 Credits
    This course introduces students to human behavioral issues in designing and using interfaces for information systems. Basic issues of behavioral research and evaluation methods are discussed. Sensory systems and memory and learning theory relevant to human factors systems are reviewed and related to specific interface issues, such as interaction devices, dialogue design and reference material. The focus is on understanding the issues involved in creating systems amenable to human use.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9083 Research Methods

    3 Credits
    This course examines theory and methods of sensory-functions measurement in human and animal subjects. Topics: Examination of the concept of the threshold and problems of its measurement. Investigation of learning— motor and verbal, simple and complex— including problem solving and creative thinking. Students perform a series of experiments with human and animal subjects.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9093 Experimental Psychology

    3 Credits
    The course explores experimental and descriptive methods, including quasi-experimental design and large-scale survey techniques used by social, environmental and developmental psychologists to assess human behaviors in laboratory and natural settings. The course focuses on laboratory and observational methods used to assess environmental effects, attitude measurement, social impact assessment and theory and psychometric bases of normal personality development and assessment.

    Prerequisite(s): PS 9083  or consent of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9103 Theories of Learning

    3 Credits
    The course looks at programmed learning, behavior therapy, attitude function and social interaction. All students are required to perform one experiment on learning under instructor guidance. Available to undergraduate majors in social science.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9113 Psychology of Language and Communication

    3 Credits
    The course deals with methodological problems in analysis of language, verbal behavior in animals, anatomical and physiological aspects of speech apparatus, operant and respondent conditioning of verbal behavior, semantics, statistical approaches and mathematical models, contextual factors and pathology of speech. All students are required to perform one experiment under guidance of instructor.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9123 Sensation and Perception

    3 Credits
    This course reviews different sensory systems: vision, audition, taste, smell, touch, temperature sensitivity, vestibular and kinesthetic senses and their relations to nonsensory controlling stimuli such as states of the organism, learning and social psychological variables. Topics: Techniques for obtaining psychophysical data on each sensory system and relations of these techniques to theories of discrimination. Available to undergraduate majors in social science.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9133 Physiological Psychology

    3 Credits
    The course covers physiological and anatomical bases of behavior. Topics: Memory, motivation, emotion, sleep reward mechanisms, psychosurgery and higher cortical functions.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9153 Behavioral and Societal Aspects of Transportation

    3 Credits
    This course explores behavioral analyses of transportation decision-making and travel characteristics. Topics: User needs in design of transportation systems: crowding, social isolation, crime, comfort and convenience. Social impact of transport systems on communities.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9203 Seminar in Psychology

    3 Credits
    This seminar discusses major areas of psychology required of all MS candidates. Topics: History and systems, sensation and perception, learning, developmental and abnormal.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9253 Social Impact Assessment

    3 Credits
    This seminar discusses major areas of psychology required of all MS candidates. Topics: History and systems, sensation and perception, learning, developmental and abnormal.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9263 Environmental Psychology

    3 Credits
    The course covers theory and methods of measuring sensory functions in human and animal subjects. Topics: Examination of the concept of the threshold and problems of its measurement. Investigation of learning— motor and verbal, simple and complex— including problem solving and creative thinking. Students perform a series of experiments with human and animal subjects.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • PS 9283 Advanced Topics in Environmental Psychology

    3 Credits
    This course varies from year to year depending on the needs and interests of students and instructors. Potential subjects include social impact of transportation systems; stress and the environment; aversive environmental factors; laboratory assessment of environmental effects on animal learning; effects of pollution; human factors of software design; assessing the built environment, including the office; and applied behavioral analysis. The course may be repeated for total of up to nine credits.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0

Registrar

  
  • RE 9990 PhD Examination

    0 Credits
    PhD students register for this course in any semester in which a PhD qualifying exam is taken. This course carries no credit, and the student incurs no fees. It provides a place in the student’s official transcript to record when the qualifying exam was taken and the result.


Science and Technology

  
  • STS 241x Special Topic in STS

    Variable. Credits
    Variable credit special topic in Science and Technology Studies. Topic to be decided by instructor.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 340x Independent Study in STS

    Variable. Credits
    Variable credit independent study in Science and Technology Studies. Topic to be decided by instructor.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 Humanities and Social Sciences Elective from the STS Cluster and instructor’s permission.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 341x Special Topic in STS

    Variable. Credits
    Variable credit special topic in Science and Technology Studies. Topic to be decided by instructor.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements and one Level 2 STS Cluster Humanities and Social Sciences Elective and instructor’s permission.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2003/W Science, Technology, and Society

    3 Credits
    This course introduces students to important issues, historical and contemporary, related to science and technology from a variety of social, political, and philosophical viewpoints. We shall use a multidisciplinary approach to understand the interaction between science, technology and society and to discover the conditions that foster technological innovation. The scientific and technological way of thinking will become clear through historical examples, helping us to consider important issues of science and technology policy, such as how science and technology can be used to benefit society and how one can foster innovation in a society or an organization.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2113/W History and Philosophy of Internet Technology

    3 Credits
    This course investigates implementations of internet technologies. We will examine the founding premises of the internet, uncovering the assumptions about culture, policy objectives, and ideals of practitioners, both before and after the worldwide web. The course investigates typical claims about the internet, such as its capability to inculcate democracy, and also the development of the attendant hardware and software infrastructure.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2123/W Digital Humanities

    3 Credits
    What happens to works of the humanities when they are distributed electronically and created on computers? What values from the analog humanities should be preserved in the digital world? This course examines traditional works of literature available in electronic formats as well as digital-only creations.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • STS 2133W Perspectives on Science and Technology Reporting

    3 Credits
    The effective communication of scientific and technological ideas is essential in a society and culture as influenced by science and technology as our own. At some point in their careers, scientists and engineers will be called on to convey technical concepts and ideas to each other, to government agencies, to private corporations, and to the public at large. These job functions are required for various reasons, including: (1) to support the marketing and public relations efforts of a company, (2) to provide the latest state-of-the-art information for the benefit of peers working in a specific industry and (3) to demonstrate to shareholders and customers the achievements attained in the corporation’s research and development laboratories. Moreover, non-experts in technical fields may be called on to participate in these and similar discussions. This course addresses these issues by having students study, research and write articles about three technologies where R&D activity is proceeding at a rapid pace: telecommunications, plastics materials development and processing, and energy.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2143W Public Policy Issues in Telecommunications

    3 Credits
    This course addresses the myriad public policy issues arising from the phenomenal growth of the telecommunications industry, especially in light of convergence and the fierce competition that it has spawned over the past decade. Among the most pressing issues of the day are networking neutrality, Internet censorship, privacy, standardization, the enforcement powers of the FCC, workplace monitoring, and spectrum allocation. In addition, the course will introduce the student to the basic concepts of the technology, provide a historical perspective of the industry (with an emphasis on the cataclysmic chain of events set off by the Modified Final Judgment in 1983 that led to the break-up of AT&T), and explore trends. As a major requirement, students will be asked to give oral and written presentations on a major international or domestic public policy issue currently besetting this industry.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2153 Addressing Public Policy Issues in the Sciences, Engineering and Medicine

    3 Credits
    This course explores public-policy issues on critical and often controversial questions in science (e.g., cap-and-trade, global warming, LEDs as lighting sources, biofuels, spectrum allocation), medicine (e.g., embryonic stemcell research, national health care, genetic therapy, workplace risks of nanotechnology), and technology (e.g., off-shore drilling, biotechnology, clean coal, nuclear energy, “smart” power). Students will select areas in which to specialize and will be required to submit a white paper on one of these major issues. The report will be based on library research and face-to-face interviews with experts in the field. As students draft sections of their white papers, they will submit them for class discussion and they will meet periodically with the instructor to review their progress.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2163/W Science Fiction

    3 Credits
    A distinct genre of literature emerges during the twentieth century that imagines new possibilities and challenges for human society in light of scientific and technological change. This course reviews important authors of this field, considering whether science fiction can be an agent of social change and how well it can critique or imagine the interaction between science, technology, and society.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2223 Medical Ethics

    3 Credits
    This course is concerned with the many ethical issues that arise in the field of medicine, issues such as: patient autonomy, informed consent, experimentation on live subjects, confidentiality, truth telling, conflict of interest and the treatment of relatives. We will also study moral issues pertaining to new medical techniques such as online medicine and prenatal genetic screening. These issues will be approached via an understanding of important historical, legal and philosophical foundations of medical ethics. We will study ideas from the Hippocratic Oath and Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions up to the codes of today’s ethics review boards. Important legal issues explored involve the right to healthcare, the obligation of parents to seek proper medical care for their children and euthanasia. Some of the important ethical-philosophical notions studied will be: the law of double effect, the obligation of beneficence and non-malevolence, utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics. While this course is open to all majors, it’s specific aim is to prepare the future medical practitioner to understand and deal with the various moral challenges of the profession.

    Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites:  EN 1013 or EW 1013, and HUSS 1023 or EW 1023.
  
  • STS 2233W Magic, Medicine, and Science

    3 Credits
    This course looks at the metaphysical and epistemological origins of three systems of thought - the organic, the magical, and the mechanical - and considers the extent to which modern science can be seen as arising from their synthesis. Topics include Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, the Hermetic Corpus, Ficino’s naturalistic magic, Pico’s supernatural magic, Paracelsus and the ontic theory of disease, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, the Cambridge Platonists, and Newton.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2243 Physics and Society

    3 Credits
    This course examines the historically contingent relationship between physical knowledge and society, from ancient Greece to the present. Investigations include how scientific knowledge is constructed locally and the impact of sociocultural factors on such knowledge. The course also examines the conceptual foundation of physics, its history, and how physics has influenced culture and society over two millennia.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • STS 2253/W Biology and Society

    3 Credits
    This course explores the relationship between the biological sciences and society from Enlightenment France to the Human Genome Project and biotechnology in the United States. Ever since the Enlightenment, the study of nature has played an ever-increasing role in shaping social issues. For example, we shall exam the roles played by gender, social class, and natural theology in eighteenth-century classifications of plants and animals. We shall also investigate how biologists and anthropologists drew upon rather ambiguous notions of nature to classify humans into races. We shall then trace Darwin’s theory of evolution and how it shaped, and was shaped by, socio-economic, political, and religious views. We shall discuss the depressing history of eugenics in Britain and the U.S. We shall conclude by provocatively asking if there is a link between eugenics and the Human Genome Project. We shall also see how economics, politics, and religion have shaped biotechnology and human-embryonic-stemcell research. The student is invited to think about the way in which debates concerning “nature versus nurture” have been framed historically, in order to understand current controversies over that distinction.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2263W The Rhetoric of Science

    3 Credits
    This course is an introduction to the history, theory, practice, and implications of rhetoric - the art and craft of persuasion. Specifically, this class focuses on the ways that scientists use various methods of persuasion as they construct scientific knowledge. By first examining the nature of science and rhetoric, we will then examine texts written by scientists and use rhetorical theory to analyze those texts. We will look at the professional scientific research articles and other genres of scientific writing. Finally, we’ll investigate the way that rhetoric plays a role in the everyday life of scientists. Throughout the class, we will wrestle with questions, such as: How is science rhetorical?; What can rhetorical analysis tell us about the ways that scientists use persuasion?; and, How might rhetorical analysis limit our understanding of science?

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2273W Science and Sexuality

    3 Credits
    This course explores and analyzes the constructions of sexuality in the biological, social, and medical sciences, focusing on issues in evolutionary biology, endocrinology, neuroscience, psychiatry, comparative anatomy, and genetics. Throughout the semester, we shall compare the various meanings given to sexuality across disciplinary frameworks, paying attention to the increasingly unstable relationships between the categories of fiction and science, reproduction and sexuality, nature and culture, male and female, animal and human, and hetero- and homosexuality. We shall also assess how expert scientific discourses influence popular understandings of sexuality and vice versa. Specifically, we will examine how they contribute to the normalization and official regulation of certain kinds of behavior, how they satisfy a desire for stories about human origins, and how they fashion terms of attraction, repulsion, affection, antagonism, dominance, and submission according to which sexuality is putatively expressed.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2313 It’s About Time

    3 Credits
    From looking at our watch and noting the change from day to night and counting the days, months and years, time seems so mundane that we take it for granted and usually think little more about it. But what is time and why do we measure it so obsessively and with such precision? This course will concern itself with all aspects of time, from the evolution of calendars (including our own) to precision timepieces and our own internal clocks. And finally, the nature of time itself and its relationship to space and other aspects of our universe will be discussed. This course will draw on knowledge from history, anthropology, psychology, technology, astronomy and physics to gain an understanding of this very basic “dimension”.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2323 Dinosaurs: Resurrecting an Extinct Species

    3 Credits
    Large fossil bones have fascinated people since ancient times, and after 1842 some of these fossils were described as belonging to the taxum Dinosauria. Since then, new discoveries and scientific techniques have led to a series of changes in both the views of scientists and the public as to what dinosaurs were, what groups they were related to, and how they behaved and interacted with their environments. This course will look at the views of fossils in ancient Greece and Rome, and also in some modern tribal societies. Most emphasis will be on the changing views of paleontology, geology, biology and evolution from the Enlightenment period to the present. All major dinosaur groups will be discussed, as well as their physiology, relationships to other animals, behavior and ecology, as scientific ideas evolve and new discoveries are made. Finally, how scientists reconstruct dinosaurs through images, sculpture and mountings for the public and popular culture’s fascination with dinosaurs will be discussed.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2333 Evolution

    3 Credits
    This course discusses the development of the theory of evolution based on the amassed evidence from the geological and biological sciences over the past two hundred years. Darwin’s idea that natural selection was the driving force behind evolution will be considered in detail. Early rival theories to Darwin’s ideas will also be discussed as part of the process leading to the modern theory. The integration into the theory of genetics and molecular biology have led to a much deeper understanding of how organisms are related. The role of chance factors will also be considered. Application of evolution theory to problems in economic biology and modern medicine and epidemiology will also be discussed. Finally, current controversies regarding Intelligent Design will be addressed and put into a historical context.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 2343 Imaging the Past

    3 Credits
    Images of prehistoric landscapes, creatures and human cultures abound in our society. This course will discuss the scientific bases for reconstructing prehistoric environments and cultures. Information derived from field work in geology, paleontology and archaeology - stratigraphy, fossils, mineralogy and human artifacts - is used to piece together an ancient landscape and its life. The use of modern chemical and isotopic techniques to establish paleoclimates and water conditions will be described. Information from taxonomy, biomechanics, and comparative anatomy, physiology and genetics can “flesh out” the appearance and lifestyles of extinct groups. Equally important, is how this scientific information is transformed into images, sculpture, dioramas and digital information that can physically visualize past life, culture and environments. The history of such depictions and the scientific techniques that have produced them will be discussed in some detail.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3003/W Seminar in Science and Technology Studies

    3 Credits
    This course considers the current state of the field of Science and Technology Studies. Students are exposed to the range and methods of STS as well as their own place within the field. The course is designed specifically to bring students with different academic backgrounds into contact with each other in a classroom setting.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 STS Cluster Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3013 Directed Study in STS

    3 Credits
    Directed study under supervision of faculty adviser in Humanities and Social Sciences. Students are exposed to foundational research techniques under the guidance of a faculty adviser. Library research, written and oral reports required.

    Prerequisite(s): STS 2003/W  and permission of STS faculty adviser.
    Note: Does not satisfy a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3163 Science and Technology in the Literary Sphere

    3 Credits
    How does literature seek to accommodate new ideas from science? When do new technologies find their way into the public sphere? What happens when scientists and engineers translate their findings into novels or other narratives? This course reads literature as evidence of the diffusion of technological and scientific ideas. When literary forms are used to promote, challenge, or even misrepresent scientific or technical developments, we gain insight into the interaction between scientists, engineers, and society at large. This course may be organized around different themes, but it always explores how scientific and technological ideas fare in the republic of letters.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 STS Cluster Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3173 Hypermedia in Context

    3 Credits
    This course investigates precursors to new media, revealing the possibilities and limitations of today’s incarnations. Searching analog media for examples of supposedly new technologies like associative thinking, multimedia, and participatory design, we will examine the social and economic structures that allow for such tools to arise and to determine what exactly is new in new media. Further, we consider how we can use the concept of antecedent to critique present manifestations of media and how we can incorporate ideas from the past into the present while avoiding homologies.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements, and one Level 2 STS Cluster Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3243W Humans, Machines, and Aesthetics

    3 Credits
    This seminar proffers a glimpse into the historically contingent relationships between machines and humans from the Enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution. We shall underscore the ways in which those interactions helped define aesthetics, particularly in music. In a very real sense this course traces the history of creativity over the past three centuries.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 STS Cluster Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.
    Note: Satisfies a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 3263/W Science and Difference

    3 Credits
    This course considers the historical development of the science of difference – in particular, race and gender – from the scientific revolution to the present. We seek to understand historical episodes of cultural anxiety over biological variation by examining the construction of difference in living populations. Topics include historical theories of human variation, scientific racism and its rejection, the history of ethnicity and sexuality, colonialism and eugenics.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 STS Cluster HuSS Elective, and completion of first year writing requirements

    Note: Satisfies a HuSS Elective

  
  • STS 3273 Science & Feminism


    This course will introduce students to feminist perspectives from the field of Science & Technology Studies (STS). Scholars from anthropology, sociology, history, and philosophy of science are studied to gain insight on how gender and race affect the practice of science and how we come to think about facts, progress, modernity, and our technological and scientific worlds. Students are expected to become familiar with the basic theories, concepts, and questions of STS and will learn to apply critical feminist theory to analyze the day-to-day practice of science.

    Prerequisite(s): One Level 2 STS Cluster TCS Elective
  
  • STS 4003 Study Abroad

    3 Credits
    For STS majors only. Takes the form of either an internship or a semester studying abroad. Internship option: Supervised semester-long project carried out in a community or industry setting. Evaluated on the basis of written and oral reports presented to faculty and external project Co-sponsors. Students must maintain a course-load equivalent of 12 credits (including the 3 for STS 4003) during this semester. Study-Abroad option: Semester-long course of study at a foreign institution. Students must maintain a course-load equivalent of 12 credits (including the 3 for STS 4003) during this semester.

    Prerequisite(s): Junior/Senior status and permission of STS faculty adviser.
    Note: Does not satisfy a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 4014 Capstone Project

    4 Credits
    This is a research project under the supervision of an STS faculty adviser. Library research, written and oral reports are required.

    Prerequisite(s): Senior status, permission of STS faculty adviser, STS 2003/W , STS 3003/W , and STS 3013 .
    Note: Does not satisfy a Humanities and Social Sciences Elective.

  
  • STS 4033 Internship

    3 Credits
    Students may undertake an internship for academic credit with an appropriate private, public, or non-profit agency or firm.  The internship is an opportunity to extend learning outside of the classroom into a real world setting, and to explore career options tied to the major.  Students complete 140 hours at the internship site and attend occasional class meetings.  The course involves completing a learning contract, regular reflections, assignments, and a final presentation. 

    Prerequisite(s): IDM/SUE/STS majors only.  Permission of instructor required.
  
  • STS 4401 Independent Study in Science and Technology Studies

    1 Credits

Society, Environment and Globlization

  
  • SEG 291x Special Topics in Society, Environment and Globalization

    Variable Credits
    This course looks at selected topics and issues concerning human society, the environment or globalization at the 2000 level.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • SEG 391x Special Topics in Society, Environment and Globalization

    Variable Credits
    This course covers selected topics and issues concerning human society, the environment or globalization at the 3000 level.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • SEG 491x Special Topics in Society, Environment and Globalization

    3 Credits
    This course looks at selected topics and issues concerning human society, the environment or globalization at the 4000 level.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • SEG 2183W Beyond Oil: Fueling Tomorrow’s Vehicles

    3 Credits
    This course explores the alternatives to oil that vehicle manufacturers are pursuing in their desire to wean away from oil and its mercurial price swings. Students will be required to choose two of these alternative approaches and prepare white papers on each, covering the technology, advantages, limitations or drawbacks, cost saving, environmental impact and likelihood of success in the market place. The focus will be on biofuels, hybrids, the fuel cell, natural gas, hydrogen, the electric car.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • SEG 2193W Writing About Nature and the Environment

    3 Credits
    In this course, students explore today’s major environmental and ecological issues and write a number of pieces that discuss causes and possible solutions. Each article is based on a literature search and on interviews with professionals. Class critiques of articles are an integral part of the learning process. Topics include global warming, renewable energy, health and the environment, environmental law and biodiversity. Authors of the best pieces are encouraged to submit them for publication.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
  
  • SEG 3213 Sustainable Systems and the Natural History of Whaling

    3 Credits
    The Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), including some of the largest animals ever known to have lived, have evolved many unusual structures, physiologies and social organizations. This course discusses Cetacean biology, including their ecological relationships and their social and migratory behaviors. The course covers the history of the whaling industry, ships, catching whales, processing them and shipping the products. The uses and markets for the products also are discussed. Topics include the global aspects of whale harvesting, the depletion of whale stocks, and attempts by governments and concerned groups to control and stop the hunting. Discussions include international frustrations over whaling-control bans—whales were part of the ocean “commons,” accessible to all nations. The course also looks at the seal-fur trade industry and fishing threats to the dolphin/porpoise population.

    Prerequisite(s): One level 2 PS course.
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.


Transportation

  
  • TR 900X Readings in Transportation

    Variable Credits
    This is an individually guided effort involving research into a topic of interest, usually growing from a course the student has taken. Readings courses should not duplicate material available in a regularly scheduled course, but should involve additional research on a topic or topics of interest to the student that is related to a course or courses. A formal written report is required. The student must have a faculty adviser who agrees to work with them and an agreed-upon topic before registering. The student may register for 1 to 3 credits for a readings effort, in proportion to the effort and as approved by the supervising instructor.

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of supervising instructor.
  
  • TR 997X MS Thesis in Transportation

    3 Each Credits
    Students electing to take a 6-credit MS Thesis commit to a significant individually guided research effort, resulting in a formally defended thesis report, bound in accordance with Institute requirements.

    Prerequisite(s): MS degree status and permission of thesis adviser.
  
  • TR 999X PhD Dissertation in Transportation Planning and Engineering

    Variable (24 Total) Credits
    The dissertation is an original investigation embodying the results of comprehensive research in a specific area of transportation worthy of publication in a recognized, formally refereed transportation journal. Students must defend formally their dissertations and submit a bound written document. Students must complete a minimum of 24 credits of dissertation registration before defending. Once the dissertation is started, the student must maintain a minimum of 3 credits of registration during each semester (not including summer) until the dissertation is complete. During the last semester of registration, the student may be permitted to register for .5 credit with the permission of the Graduate Office and dissertation adviser.

    Prerequisite(s): Passing grade for RE 9990 PhD Qualifying Exam, graduate standing, and dissertation advisor approval
  
  • TR 6011 Fundamental Concepts in Transportation

    1.5 Credits
    This course provides the contextual foundation for the study of transportation systems that reflect the perspectives of users, system providers/owners, and communities. The connection between transportation supply, travel demand, service volume, and level of service will be explored and quantified for travelers and freight movement. The impacts of transportation system performance on travel behavior will be discussed. The roles of technology and institutions in transportation will be explored through class discussions.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 1.5 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6013 Fundamental Concepts in Transportation

    3 Credits
    This course provides the contextual foundations to study urban transportation systems, using performance criteria reflecting the perspectives of system providers/owners, users and communities. The connection between transportation supply, travel demand, service volume and level of service is explored and quantified for various travel modes. The impacts of transportation system performance on travel behavior, communities and the environment is discussed. The role of technology and institutions is examined with case examples.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6021 Quantitative Analysis in Transportation

    1.5 Credits
    An overview of basic concepts in statistics and analytical analysis that are commonly used in transportation engineering.  Issues of sample size are addressed for both collection of field data and conducting various types of user surveys.  Statistical interpretation of study results is also treated.  Introductions, with transportation illustrations, to queuing theory, regression analysis, and ANOVA are included.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of instructor
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 1.5 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6113 Forecasting Urban Travel Demand

    3 Credits
    The purpose of this course is to study methods and models used in estimating and forecasting person travel in urban areas. The objective is to understand the fundamental relationships between land use, transportation level of service and travel demand, and to apply methods and state-of-the-practice models for predicting person travel on the transportation system.

    Pre/Co-requisite: TR 6013  or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6211 Economic Analysis of Transportation Alternatives

    1.5 Credits
    This course introduces students to the basic principles of engineering economic analysis and their application to transportation project alternatives.  Fundamental concepts such as present worth and annual cost are described and illustrated.  Methodologies for comparison of transportation alternatives are introduced, including the Present Worth Method, the Annual Cost Method, the Benefit-Cost Ratio Method, and the Rate of Return Method.  The nature of the costs and benefits of transportation alternatives is discussed

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 1.5
  
  • TR 6223 Intelligent Transportation Systems and Their Applications

    3 Credits
    This course introduces the concepts and applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and its growing role in the management of transportation systems. The course stresses the role of ITS as national policy, as specified in major transportation funding legislation – ISTEA, TEA21 and SAFETY-LU. A systems engineering approach to overall development of ITS technologies is stressed. Major components of ITS are discussed, and examples of their application treated. Coordination and integration of ITS components are treated.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6231 Transportation Planning Principles and Practice

    1.5 Credits
    This course discusses the principles guiding the planning, design and operation of urban transportation systems. The concepts of mobility and accessibility are explored  through an analysis  of the interactions of land use, transportation supply and travel demand. Examples of transportation planning practice include a review of the Urban Transportation Planning Process in metropolitan areas and presentations from guest speakers.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of instructor
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 1.5 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6313 Traffic Control and Signalization I

    3 Credits
    Traffic controls are imposed to provide for safe, efficient and orderly movement of people and goods on our nation’s street and highway systems. Traffic control is examined in the urban context in which both vehicles and pedestrians be accommodated. Techniques for quantifying traffic stream behavior are described. Federal, state and local standards for designing and implementing control devices are presented. Selection of control measures, design and timing of traffic signals at individual intersections and in arterial networks is treated in detail. Use and application of current computer tools – HCS++ and Synchro – are illustrated.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6323 Traffic Control and Signalization II

    3 Credits
    In furtherance of the material covered in TR 6313 , emphasis is on the arterial as a facility and on systems concepts such as traffic calming, access management and roundabouts as a design element. Also covered are network problems induced by traffic congestion and remedies such as critical intersection control, network metering, oversaturated control policies and real time sensing, and traffic impacts from growth and development, including assessment and mitigation. The course employs the use of modern tools, including VISSIM, Synchro/SIMTraffic and HCS++, and two projects must be completed by students working in teams. This course should be taken in the student’s last or penultimate semester.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6313  or equivalent and TR 6113  or equivalent.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6333 Transportation and Traffic Concepts, Characteristics, and Studies

    3 Credits
    The course covers basic concepts in transportation and traffic engineering, including:  volume, demand, and capacity; traffic stream parameters and their meaning; transportation modes and modal characteristics.  The impact of traveler and vehicle characteristics on traffic flow and on other modes is presented and discussed.  The importance of data collection is emphasized with sample studies, such as volume, speed and travel time, and safety.  Capacity and level of service analysis for uninterrupted flow facilities, including freeways, multilane highways and two-lane highways is demonstrated using methodologies of the 2010 Highway Capacity Manual.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission of instructor
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 6343 Traffic Operations & Control

    3 Credits
    The course focuses heavily on signalization, with an introduction to simulation and signal timing tools. The course covers warrants, timing pretimed signals, understanding actuated controllers and their settings, as well as detector types placement.

    Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or departmental consent
  
  • TR 6403 Transportation and Traffic Project

    3 Credits
    This is a capstone course involving individual and/or group projects that include several different aspects of transportation planning and engineering. The project will be different each year, and focus on a problem of current interest and importance.

    Prerequisite(s):   ,   ,   or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7033 Multimodal Transportation Safety

    3 Credits
    Technology, legislation and market forces have contributed to improved transportation safety for decades. But one must consider which metrics are most relevant for which modes, the role of demographics and traffic levels and other factors when analyzing and predicting safety trends. The course pays attention to a systems view, to metrics by mode and to both standard field and statistical analyses. Consistent with current priorities, the course addresses security as well as safety issues.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7123 Management of Urban Traffic Congestion

    3 Credits
    The purpose of this course is to (1) understand the causes of traffic congestion and to measure how congestion impacts transportation users and communities, (2) set forth a vision for managing congestion and (3) develop and evaluate strategies and policies that achieve the vision.

    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7133 Urban Public Transportation Systems

    3 Credits
    This course provides a thorough understanding of policy, planning, operational and technical issues that affect urban public transportation. It includes the historical development of cites and the rise of urban transport. Also covered are the characteristics of various urban transportation modes (their specific operating and infrastructure characteristics), as well as key elements that are critical to service provision, such as service planning, scheduling, fare collection, communication and signaling, station design and customer service. The course offers a broad perspective on regional planning, capital programming and policy matters. Special focus will be on emerging technologies and their practical applications.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7213 Transportation Management

    3 Credits
    This course presents an overview of the transportation management profession. Levels of management and unique objectives of management in the transportation sector are presented and discussed. Management structures for private and public transportation organizations are analyzed. Management practices are treated from the perspective of organizations, optimization of the use of public resources, legislative and legal contexts and operations.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7223 Management of Transit Maintenance and Operations

    3 Credits
    This course provides a comprehensive understanding of modern public transportation systems, emphasizing their technology and operational practices. Planning and management aspects are also covered. Such operational management issues as maintenance practices, scheduling, procurement and labor relations are broadly outlined and discussed. Planning and capital programming issues are also treated.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7233 Transportation Management

    3 Credits
  
  • TR 7243 Intelligent Transportation Systems: Deployments and Technologies

    3 Credits
    Transportation infrastructure deploys a wide range of modern technology to provide service to travelers, the general public and private entities. This technology enables other systems to function effectively and serve societal needs. This course focuses on data communications and applications in intelligent transportation systems: communications alternatives and analyses, emerging technologies, geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS).

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6223  or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7323 Design of Parking and Terminal Facilities

    3 Credits
    This course covers design techniques and approaches to a variety of pedestrian and vehicular needs in conjunction with access to land functions. Parking serves as the primary access interface to many land facilities, from shopping centers and sports facilities, to medium- and high-density residential developments. The planning and design of parking facilities, and the planning of access and egress from these facilities, is critical to the economic success of a development. Terminals are inter-modal interface facilities involving the transfer of people and/or goods from one mode of transportation to another. This course covers essential elements of terminal planning and design, including transit stations and terminals, major goods terminals at ports and railheads and others. The design of pedestrian space and ways within terminal structures is also treated.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013  or permission of adviser.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7343 Urban Freeways and Intercity Highways

    3 Credits
    This course focuses on the design, analysis, control and management of urban freeways and intercity highways of all classes. The course covers geometric design standards and principals, the application of highway capacity and level of service analysis methodologies (including HCS++), marking and signing, speed control and modern freeway management systems and approaches.

    Prerequisite(s): TR 6013 , TR 6313 , or equivalents, or permission of instructor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 7353 Adaptive Control, Simulation, and Software

    3 Credits
    This course introduces software used in various transportation analyses, traffic simulation and signal optimization software. The course covers SYNCHRO, software for creating optimal signal timings and progression offsets, as well as performing a capacity and level of service analysis of signalized intersections in accordance with the Highway Capacity Manual. Also covered is the use of the AIMSUN simulation program to analyze a traffic network. The course will focus on the theory behind the programs, as well as on practical examples of how to optimally use each package. Applications will include analysis of adaptive control systems and implementations.

    Prerequisite(s):   and   or equivalents; or permission of academic advisor.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 8011 Special Topics in Transportation A

    1.5 Credits
    Subject(s) of a highly focused nature on a topic of current interest.  Subject will vary with each offering.

  
  • TR 8013 Selected Topics in Transportation I

    3 Credits
    These courses are given as needed to present material on current topical subjects that are not expected to be given on a regular basis. The topic(s) for each offering are indicated and are listed on the student’s transcript. These courses may be taken more than once if the listed topics are different.

    Prerequisite(s):   and as approved for the topic(s); to be specified for each offering.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0
  
  • TR 8021 Special Topics in Transportation B

    1.5 Credits
    Subject(s) of a highly focused nature on a topic of current interest.  Subject will vary with each offering.

  
  • TR 8023 Selected Topics in Transportation II

    3 Credits
    These courses are given as needed to present material on current topical subjects that are not expected to be given on a regular basis. The topic(s) for each offering are indicated and are listed on the student’s transcript. These courses may be taken more than once if the listed topics are different.

    Prerequisite(s):   and as approved for the topic(s); to be specified for each offering.
    Weekly Lecture Hours: 3 | Weekly Lab Hours: 0 | Weekly Recitation Hours: 0

Urban Studies

  
  • URB 2023W Design of Cities

    3 Credits
    This course helps students examine cities from different perspectives, and to understand the design principles that create effective city spaces and how the city is a dynamic force, always changing through the impact of individuals and organizations. The class focuses on the role of historical, physical and social context in making sense of cities and how city problems can be identified, presented to others and addressed in various ways (through psychological and sociological studies, literature, art, etc.). Students complete a team-based project that involves the study of an innovative development project within the city and how it relates to its physical and social context.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • URB 2033 Humans in the Urban Environment

    3 Credits
    In an increasingly urban dominated world, the environmental and ecological underpinnings of the human species help us understand why and how permanent settlements and cities evolve. The course covers basic environmental and ecological relationships, including geological, climatological, biomes, population growth models and carrying capacity. Receiving special emphasis are those ecosystems most important to humans throughout prehistory and history. The development of agriculture, increased human resource productivity and the resulting increase in population density is discussed as an underlying basis for developing and maintaining urban population areas. Also included is a discussion of changes in human social organization and psychology necessary for urban living.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
    Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.

  
  • URB 2043 Methods for Studying Urban Environments

    3 Credits
    This course provides students with a foundation for understanding and using social science research methods to study urban environments.  In this course, students will gain an understanding of quantitative and qualitative approaches to social science research.  They will be introduced to a range of data collection methods that are used to study urban environments and also strategies for data analysis.  The course will involve a group research project with a real world client, as well as lectures, discussions, a group presentation and paper, exams, readings and several assignments.

    Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
 

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